NO SMOKE!!!!!!!!!

Also no photos… Jim got the fuel pump installed and we started it. NO SMOKE.  When Jim took the fuel pump back to the people who rebuilt it..he took the manual that came with the boat. It had all the fuel pump specks in it. Don’t know if that was the difference or if they found something they’d forgotten. At any rate…no extra charge..and it runs great!!

We won’t be able to launch again until the middle of July. Guess I’d better not brag just yet.

We had it hooked up to water and let it run awhile. Then Jim changed the oil and filters. Once we get back from KY we’ll be looking to put in for a few weeks.

Now he can start on the hardtop.

Rechecked, rebuilt fuel pump

Here it is… they guaranteed their work..so no extra cost..just a lot of hard work for Jim and 2 more trips to Orlando..not Jim’s favorite place.

The yellow paint is put on so they can tell if you’ve messed with any of their settings.

Jim is out there installing it now. Once in…we’ll hook up the water and see what we have. See all the little spots of yellow paint?

fuel pump is back

Jim ran to Orlando and picked up the fuel pump. The people who rebuilt it took another look at it and readjusted it…sure hope that is the problem. Evidently they couldn’t find enough wrong with it to suggest replacing it.

Jim will spend tomorrow putting it back in. We’ll fire it up and see what happens.

4 Days on the St Johns River

We launched on Monday. The weather was calling for afternoon thundershowers but we didn’t have any for the 4 days, and we were hoping for some. It was hot. We don’t use an air conditioner. If I’m going to be shut up for AC…I’ll stay home.

We went to Salt Springs. No problem with water depth, but the Hydrilla was pretty thick. Once in the springs I put on my snorkel and mask and dove down to pull it off the shaft of the prop and the rudder. We had done the forward/reverse thing on the way in a couple of times to help clear it, but it was wrapped pretty tight.

We spent a few hours in Salt River. Had a good swim. Then we headed for Silver Glen Springs to spend the night. Part way across the lake I had to do the snorkel thing and clear the prop and rudder. Lake George and the St Johns River are the color of dark tea from tannins. I thought I would be able to see once I was under the boat but I had to do it by feel. I couldn’t see anything. I used a dockline to keep my bearings and not float away from the boat. Kinda creepy not being able to see what is swimming with you.

Look at the beautiful Osprey we saw. After seeing a close up of it’s talons, I can understand why it can carry such big fish.

The Glen had several houseboats tied up. We’d forgotten about summer vacation. So we spent one night and left the next morning. I had a great time trying to photograph the River Otters. This is one of the youngsters they were supplying with fish.

This one has a piece of fish in it’s mouth.  The adults didn’t seem to mind the boats until they realized they were being watched.

That was the fun part of the trip. Now for the bad news. The boat still smokes!! Unbelievable! After a second set of injectors. So Jim has removed the fuel pump (rebuilt) and is taking it back to them. When he called and told them what it was doing they said to bring it back for them to check out. It sounded like an internal governor might not be working? So Jim spent most of the day on that. Maybe by Tuesday we’ll know if it need replacing. Keep your fingers crossed.

Solar Vents

You know how concerned I am about you’all thinkin’ Jim is just laying around…not enjoying his retirement…well, don’t worry, he’s not!

He spent two days working on the central air system. Cleaned all the ducts and replaced the flex duct. Should be a lot more efficient now.

The solar vents arrived yesterday. Today Jim got to drill holes in the boat.

We put one solar vent in the top. When the boat is closed up we get a lot of mold on the cockpit roof.

It’s located near the front., not quite over the stairway into the galley. We can leave the forward hatch board out,(odd shaped one) lay a screen over it, and lock the rear hatch board into place.This should create a chimney effect with the head port open. The solar vent will be in a position to pull the air on up thru the roof.

The second solar vent went into the sleeper berth.

Not only will it ventilate when we are gone, but will help when we have to keep the ports closed because of rain…Summer in FL means afternoon thunderstorms.

Now that we have the solar vents in we can clean up and start packing the food stuffs etc and launch on Mon., weather permitting.

So…is anyone else out there having as much fun with their boat as we are?

I hope my next post will be filled with gator shots and lots of “Woo hoos !!”..we’re having too much fun!