Jun 15, 20183 min read

Great Adventure Part 5

June 12, 2018 (Tuesday): So this morning I'm walking to the bath house and this guy sitting in a cab says to me "Good morning young man". I look around for someone behind me but no one is there. I say "Are you talking to me ?". "Yes " he says. I reply "No one has called me that for a long time". "I was speaking in the biblical sense since you look like you were around with Moses and he is gone so you must be younger" he said. "Well as a matter of fact I did hang around with Moses and the gang. Back in the day we used to pub crawl together. Great bunch of guys." The guy in the cab was Jim, a driver for Affordable Cab in Ilion. He used to run a used car auction all over the US, now drives a cab. He has a wonderful sense of humor and everything is a joke. Face and voice is just like Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller but a bit shorter. We visit about stuff briefly and I am off to the bath house again.

Finally leave Ilion at 7:50 am, 392.0, and pass through Locks 19, 20, 21, 22 and enter Oneida Lake at 2:40 pm, 397.9, to transverse the lake 20 miles from East to West. Arrive in Brewerton, NY at West end of lake 5:05 pm, 400.4, and tie up at municipal free dock. Dinner at restaurant across street from dock. Escargo and fettuccine in white clam sauce, yummmmm. Stay at dock for night.

June 13, 2018 (Wednesday): Checked weather last night and was supposed to be windy with rain today so slept in and expected to stay during rain. After breakfast decided to move radio from lower helm to bridge because bridge radio was not transmitting. Tested lower radio up on the bridge and it worked so had to rewire power for this other radio. Some how in the process blew fuse which was in series with power line (I actually think I know how it happened but I'll stick with "some how" at this point). After changing fuse and wiring in radio check weather and it was OK for travel until early evening. We decided to move along to Oswego since it was only 5 hour trip then we would be at Lake Ontario to start trip across to Canada first thing Friday, June 15, 2018 (weather supposed to be bad Thursday with high winds). So started for Oswego at 10:45 pm but didn't get far. First mechanical issue occurred when noticed starboard (right) engine was overheating. Shut it down and back to free dock on port (left) engine to trouble shoot problem. Quickly found had blown impeller in starboard engine. Fortunately I had extra impellers on board and had changed impellers before. As you boaters know not an easy job but, not impossible. In consideration of you nice folks reading this blog I have sanitized the language I use in this brief description of the problem and repair (boaters understand what I'm talking about). The good news is it is the starboard not the port side engine. So after removing the impeller, which was severely damaged, from the raw water pump and removing the raw water inlet cover from the mani-cooler I removed all the damaged parts of the impeller which clogged the path from pump to mani-cooler. Replaced raw water inlet cover and inserted new impeller into raw water pump. Sounds simple but took 3 hours during which time I invented a new secret language. Tested engine and seemed OK. Exhausted took shower, tylenol, ate dinner and early bedtime. Stayed in Brewerton.

June 14, 2018 (Thursday): Supposed to be very windy today but thought if we left early before primary wind we could get to Oswego before too windy and be ready to cross Lake Ontario tomorrow when weather is forecast to be very good. Left Brewerton 7:15 am, 401.2, but again didn't get far. Wind was bad so we turned around and also found starboard engine over heating again. BUMMER. Back to free dock. Once again found new impeller severely damaged. I'll skip the details but thought maybe I didn't get all the broken pieces out last time. This time removed same parts including the first two sections of the mani-cooler. Found no stray impeller pieces so replaced parts and inserted new impeller in raw water pump. Only about 2 hours this time. Experience pays off. Tested engine this time for about 15 minutes so temperature could build. Good luck this time since temperature rose to operating level and stayed there. HOORAY. Very windy so will stay here today and tonight and head out for Oswego tomorrow am. Keep your fingers crossed; we are.

Now here are the photos I promised last time.