Went out to the Sun Dragon Saturday to do a little work(take my bimini down, trace some wires for the radio, fix the potable pump, etc.) and lo and behold when I get there , no power; zip, zilch, nada. Started trouble shooting and figured out that idiot that I am, I left one of the keys on. Hmm, lets see 8 instruments at negligible power drain over a week = 2 dead batteries.
Cussed a little, sweated a lot, and then dug out my Sunsei Solar Charger and hooked it up; made sure everything was turned off and left. Went to Wallyworld and bought a 600 amp jumpstarter. Charged the jumpstarter overnight and went out to the boat the next morning.
Hooked up the jumpstarter and guess what....no joy. Didn't try hooking it up straight to the starter but going through both batteries on that beast that is the 350 Mercruiser, forget about it.
Went out yesterday to Gander Mountain and bought the Honda EU2000i genset. Let me tell you that if you decide to buy a generator you can't go wrong with this unit. It's the only generator I know of that you can actually stand next to within touching distance and hold a conversation. 54-59db. I did some research and found a HAM radio operator comment site with about 4 pages of reviews of this unit and most of the ratings were 5 out of 5. Supposedly extremely low RF noise and no power frequency, current or voltage fluctuations.
Probably going out to the boat today and hook it up to my shore power connection and charge up my batteries.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
First Cruise and Experience
Well, I am finally the registered owner of a 1993 Bayliner Ciera Command Bridge hole in the water. Banks finally got thier proverbial stuff in one sock and transferred the title. The previous owner and I went down to the Tax Collector(another agency that needs all thier employees horse-whipped), and got everything legal.
Then this past Saturday, we took the boat from his place on the Intercoastal to Mulberry Cove Marina at Naval Air Station Jacksonville(The Best Marina and Staff in the world, but more on that later).
The next day me and my Admiral Patti, gathered up some picnic noshes and my mother(who we still hadn't let in on the secret) and went down and got on the boat. My mom still thought that I had rented the boat for the day(folks, Patti and I aren't scraping the bottom to put food on the table but ain't no way we can afford to rent a boat this size in Florida).
Anyway we got underway about 1000 and went upriver on the St. Johns to just past Racy Point just to see how she'd run. Cruised at about 25 mph at about 3400 rpm at half throttle, trimmed out like a dream and ran like a champ; beautiful wake(not enough to swamp even a seadoo going past).
Turned around at Racy Point because the weather was getting hot(96) and the Admiral and the mom were getting tired. Got back to Mulberry Cove about 1400, and the Admiral got to drive us up to the mooring bouy, and she did great put us on spot on the first try, (it took two but that was because this captain can't use a boat hook for shit). We got back into shore and that's when I realized the sun was just a little bit hotter and I was just a little bit more dehydrated then I realized. Folk's I know what heat exhaustion and heat stroke are and I was right between the two. Kinda scary to say the least. Anyhow, we finally cooled off and gathered everything up and came home. It was looking a little cloudy off in the distance but I thought nothing of it.(Read this as I was an idiot).
Monday morning, I call the marina from heaven because I heard the storm was pretty bad on that side of town.(Read 60mph winds, lighting, and torrential rain and hail). Found out that SunDragon tore loose from her mooring and decided to try to sneak downriver. Tommy on the marina staff was out tying down canoes and dingies and happened to look up and saw her drifting free. He immediatly jumped in one of the marina's tenders, went out and caught her and tied her up to another mooring. Those folks were out there taking care of customer's untill 2000 on a Sunday.
I got the news, left work, and headed over. When I got there Tracy let me know that there was no damage that they could tell, and she started instructing me on what proper mooring tackle should be. Her and the rest of the staff hooked me up with the right stuff and I went out started remooring her to the right bouy; three lines at 5/8 with all the metal tackle in the world it'll take a hurricane to break her loose now.
Then this past Saturday, we took the boat from his place on the Intercoastal to Mulberry Cove Marina at Naval Air Station Jacksonville(The Best Marina and Staff in the world, but more on that later).
The next day me and my Admiral Patti, gathered up some picnic noshes and my mother(who we still hadn't let in on the secret) and went down and got on the boat. My mom still thought that I had rented the boat for the day(folks, Patti and I aren't scraping the bottom to put food on the table but ain't no way we can afford to rent a boat this size in Florida).
Anyway we got underway about 1000 and went upriver on the St. Johns to just past Racy Point just to see how she'd run. Cruised at about 25 mph at about 3400 rpm at half throttle, trimmed out like a dream and ran like a champ; beautiful wake(not enough to swamp even a seadoo going past).
Turned around at Racy Point because the weather was getting hot(96) and the Admiral and the mom were getting tired. Got back to Mulberry Cove about 1400, and the Admiral got to drive us up to the mooring bouy, and she did great put us on spot on the first try, (it took two but that was because this captain can't use a boat hook for shit). We got back into shore and that's when I realized the sun was just a little bit hotter and I was just a little bit more dehydrated then I realized. Folk's I know what heat exhaustion and heat stroke are and I was right between the two. Kinda scary to say the least. Anyhow, we finally cooled off and gathered everything up and came home. It was looking a little cloudy off in the distance but I thought nothing of it.(Read this as I was an idiot).
Monday morning, I call the marina from heaven because I heard the storm was pretty bad on that side of town.(Read 60mph winds, lighting, and torrential rain and hail). Found out that SunDragon tore loose from her mooring and decided to try to sneak downriver. Tommy on the marina staff was out tying down canoes and dingies and happened to look up and saw her drifting free. He immediatly jumped in one of the marina's tenders, went out and caught her and tied her up to another mooring. Those folks were out there taking care of customer's untill 2000 on a Sunday.
I got the news, left work, and headed over. When I got there Tracy let me know that there was no damage that they could tell, and she started instructing me on what proper mooring tackle should be. Her and the rest of the staff hooked me up with the right stuff and I went out started remooring her to the right bouy; three lines at 5/8 with all the metal tackle in the world it'll take a hurricane to break her loose now.
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