Is departing on Saturday the 13th a wise move? A bit of a haze, but a calm Long Island Sound once we got there. Picking up our speed to 15 knots, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP from one of our engines! Our first thought was something caught on a prop, so we made our way to a nearby harbor in Long Island to dive down & take a look. Nope – nothing caught, bent or suspicious… Our next thought was the damper plate on a transmission, or ??? Not willing to turn around back to Deep River, we continued onward as we could still proceed at up-to 10 knots with whatever this problem was.

A restored commuter yacht or just a classic day-cruise yacht?

Once to NYC, we knew we couldn’t make it our usual 115nm offshore directly to Cape May in daylight going only 9 – 10 knots, so we booked the marina in Atlantic City as several days of windy weather was forecast.

Not quite as glamorous up close – the marina & casinos were built in the ’80’s.

Once the winds & rains relented we headed out again offshore the rest of the way to Cape May. Like magic, no more strange noises at high speed! Up the Delaware, across the C & D Canal & began down the Chesapeake, when suddenly the noise came back accompanied by a VERY LOUD ALARM!

What the heck does PRIMARY SOLENOID FAILURE – PORT PCU mean? A Goggle search told us the PCU was our electronic “powertrain control unit” & being hydraulic transmissions, each transmission has 2 solenoids – “primary” for forward & “secondary” for reverse. Why the heck couldn’t this alarm have gone off days ago? Now I could zero in on the exact problem. Either the wiring or the solenoid itself was bad, so I started with the wire connectors. They were quite corroded, being down in the bilge near the shaft. I cut off the special Volvo Penta connector, cleaned up the corrosion & installed ordinary connectors as a temporary test. There is a very good chance the THUMPING was the solenoid momentarily kicking on/off due to the poor connection. The next couple hundred miles will tell…

But first … Imelda & Humberto (this was an early model before they performed their fortunate sharp turns away from the U.S.).

We were about 1/2 way down the Chesapeake (around 80 miles from the Atlantic) – far enough away with dozens of creeks to hide out in. The next day, it looked like both storms were staying south, so we decided to push down to Hampton (otherwise we would have been “stuck” waiting up in the Chesapeake for nearly a week with high easternly winds, even after the storms went by).

There is an unremarkable creek in downtown Hampton, VA between bridges & protected by tall buildings we knew we’d be o.k. anchoring in. Other boaters were panicking, so the marinas we checked with were all booked up, plus sitting at an expensive marina for 4 – 6 days could hit nearly $1,000. Wanting to have enough drinking water & to top off our diesel tanks, we stopped at the Safe Harbor Bluewater Marina. As we pumped the last of their diesel (their low-level alarm was going off, but still 2′ of diesel to go), we asked for perhaps their last boat slip too? No, sorry – all slips are booked solid … all we have is this fixed dock out back:

Darn, it’s behind all of their fancier floating slips, so more protected. Oh, because you’re a Safe Harbor Marina customer, it’s free for 3-days! Oh, with your Safe Harbor membership the diesel was only $2.99/gallon!  Happy Us!!

With the sharp turn East of both hurricanes back out into the Atlantic, we’re expecting winds gusting only to around 30 knots with a few rain showers. The minimal rain will help greatly with our next leg on Thursday, as the upcoming bridges & the Great Bridge Lock often shut down if too much rain due to flooding. Things are certainly looking up!

Summer ends for us when my feet first get cold & I am forced to dig out our portable space heater once the nighttime temp hits 50. Time to go!

Summer has gone by much too quickly, as it usually does. This summer has been partially consumed by troubleshooting an air-in-the-diesel line problem which I discovered early March during our trip north. Usually, having 2 of everything helps troubleshoot boat troubles, but in this case both engines had the same problem, even though separate fuel tanks & systems. Hoses & fittings replaced, filters re-built & tested, various bypasses tested, pressure testing, etc., etc. Pretty sure Lori was getting tired of all the test runs, as most took longer to unhook & re-hook than to go the 2 miles.

As our fuel tanks are almost 3′ below our engines & 10′ away, out of desperation, I temporarily installed a fuel pump in the line to an engine as a test, which resulted in no air getting to the filters & engine – yea! I then came across diesel lift pumps which are designed for my exact issue, particularly with remote gensets & reefers (up on refrigerated containers) which need a little fuel “lift”. My “virtual” mechanic in Florida (my lifeline), says they shouldn’t be necessary for our engines, but the very slight positive fuel pressure won’t hurt anything either.

Looks like an added fuel lift pump for each engine will be our answer – so far so good – no more air getting into any of the engine filters or engines. It’s been a long, head-scratching 5 months.

A Deep River morning as the sun begins to burn off the fog. A neighboring boat here on a mooring came up with an appropriate saying, “A different movie every morning & night” – how true!

The Old Lyme Amtrak bridge is finally being replaced after 118 years. Ohhh…could you please make the new bridge a few inches higher as we barely squeak under at high tide?

Between our fuel line issues & our muffler repairs, we unfortunately didn’t get out to do much local cruising, although we did make it out to a few favorites including Mystic, CT along with Greenport & Sag Harbor, NY.

The S & P Oyster House in Mystic has been our go-to restaurant in Mystic for about 28 years, usually arriving by whichever boat we had at the time. Always a great meal with a view! The famous, historical Mystic River Bascule Bridge (just to the left) with its hourly opening “shows” where all of the tourists gawk, point, photograph & video.

Lunch at Claudio’s Restaurant in Greenport has been the spot to people watch (for me) for even longer – over 55 years I figure. However … the boats (now yachts) have gotten a little bigger since coming here as a little kid.

Coecles Harbor (on Shelter Island, Long Island) was my parents’ favorite anchorage for good reason.

Sag Harbor (the Hamptons) is a magnet for the rich & famous. Our favorite restaurant over the years (Dockside) is now a more fancy-like restaurant. While still great food, $24.00 for a cocktail?! Although … local little neck clams garnished with crab meat in bucatini pasta – yum!

Billy Joel’s famous Downeaster ALEXA. She’s a classic lobster/swordfish type of boat he helped design & had built years ago. It is said his song was named after this boat, which in turn was named after his daughter Alexa Ray Joe.  Out of his dozen-plus boats over the years, this is said to be his favorite.

Newport may have the most extensive luxury sailboats in the northeast, but Sag Harbor wins out with the most extravagant motor yachts of every description, from classic to modern.

Labor Day weekend brought us driving up north to Burlington, VT to celebrate Benj’s birthday. For one of our dinners – sunset on the Lake Champlain waterfront (of course).

Unlike last year departing CT early September for a haul-out in the Chesapeake, this year we’re good. However … it does begin to get cold at night, a tropical storm could eventually show up & we don’t want to get stuck in the East River (like 2 years ago when the Coast Guard completely closed the East River for an extended time when the UN was in session). So, by mid-September is our target. Finishing projects, final visits with friends & family, along with stocking up is our plan.