It was easy cruising until we got about an hour into the Sound. As the wind kicked up to 17 knots the predicted one to two foot waves became at least three if not four foot in height. Mildred says only one to two but I say they looked more like 6 footers! All I know for sure is, the windshield wipers had a full time job keeping the windows clean and there wasn't a rain drop in the sky. Docs Holiday handled the waves well and for once I didn't get sea sick. Docs Holiday handled it well that is, until we made the turn to enter the channel into Gulfport. The waves began to roll us from side to side. We were being struck on the starboard side aft quarter and it was all I could do to keep the boat in the channel. I have asked the boat experts on the Hatteras owners forum about this in the past. How should this be handled? Turn the stabilizers off or leave them on? Power up or slow down? Steer or automatic pilot? Ride the backs of the swells or stay in the trough? There were as many answers as I had questions. I've tried them all and the ride still sucks! Beth was sitting on the floor hanging on with white knuckles. Mildred was ordered back in from the side door where she was trying to get some fresh air so she wouldn't be sick. I was afraid with the violent rolling she would go flying over the rail into the water! I was struggling with the wheel and and throttles trying to prevent the roll but we had to go into the channel to get to the marina. Tom laughed. The cat puked!
Although some things were strewn about, nothing broke and when we settled into a slip in this city owned marina we had, shall we say, "a discussion". Beth said, "You should go ahead and book your colonoscopy for when we get back." "What! Why would I need a colonoscopy?" I replied. "You are going to need someone to retrieve my flip flop if you put us through that again!" she retorted. Talk about attitude! Her attitude got even worse when I told her I was thinking about leaving in the morning!
Of course there was something to fix...My brother in laws..The Dannies are probably salivating reading this because they are like Tom, they love to tinker and fix broken shit. Ok boys, here it comes. As Tom and Mildred were piloting the boat ( I was taking a Nap!) We heard the motor over rev, felt the boat lurch to the left and then stop! Damn, I thought we probably went aground and maybe lost a prop! We rushed up to the helm where stood a bewildered Mildred and Tom, "We didn't do anything wrong", Mildred blurted. "It just reved up and quit", said Tom. Maybe a shaft coupling let go or a prop fell off or we blew a transmission or ...or...or... Who the hell knows but we had better figure it out, we are in the middle of the sound in rough weather! So what do you think happened next?
I was going to wait and tell you in the next blog but, I know my brother in laws. They would have sleepless nights trying to figure it out and wondering what happened.
Taking over the helm I tried to throttle up the power. It worked on the port throttle. Nothing on the starboard throttle. Hmm the starboard tach was reading zero....Must have stalled the engine? No the engine was running...then why wouldn't it throttle up? Come on RJ got the answer yet? Well here it is. The mechanical tachometer on the starboard engine broke..therefore the engine synchronizer wouldn't work...you can't throttle up the starboard engine by its own control if the synchronizer is on. Emergency solved. We simply shut down the synchronizer and manually throttled up both engines. Yes, it was difficult since we had to adjust their rpms by ear--only one had a functioning tach but we weren't going to be stuck in the middle of Mississippi Sound. We were going to make it into a safe haven in Gulfport.
You can imagine the discussion we had after getting settled in and I suggested we would have a weather window in the morning to get across the rest of Mississipi Sound!
PS. Yes, Tom was able to repair the broken tach the same night! For those of you more technically inclined this is what he did. The tach drive housing was loose which allowed the cable adapter that fit into the tach drive to come partially out and rounded the edge off of it (it is square on the end). He was able to clean out the shavings and push the adapter further into the drive. Locking down the housing should hold it in... voila both tachs working. We will find out tomorrow if it will hold up--that is if my suggestion prevails!
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