July Trip 2023

Claire and I blasted off from the Dog River Yacht Basin Tuesday morning, with our destination being Tim’s slip at Lulu’s.

We got there around 4, and relaxed with cocktails after we arrived and again later that evening. It was crazy hot outside, and we really hid in the shade.

The next day was a long haul to Destin harbor to meet Tim & Trish and Rob & Bea. They had been there a couple days riding out the daily thunderstorms. I had a vibration at 1700rpm and dove under the boat to check the prop. Although it was painted with bottom paint, it was covered in barnicles from less than two months in the water. Took me awhile but I finally got it clean and the vibration disappeared.

We had a relaxing dinner and drinks at a local eatery, we then turned in for the night. Destin harbor has nightly booze cruises, so it’s like anchoring in a parking lot with teenagers. Not really relaxing.

We met Danny and Rosie at a cajun restaurant where they were staying. We loaded them and their daughter’s family for a dolphin tour while dodging thunderstorms. Was also first time I have run aground…ever.

The next day Tim left early for their new destination and Rob followed a couple hours later. Claire and I pulled anchor and went to Blue Water Marina in Niceville. A cool local marina with a resturant and bar, that gets busy. Attached are day and night pictures. Good relaxing people watching. We have always tied up at the same slip.

While there I looked closely at an old GB 36 Europa. It has definitely been used and not yet restored. A couple things caught my eye. The side rail gate was farther forward than ours, next to the helm door.

Also the window moulding was canted at an extreme angle compared to all others. Maybe a solution for water drainage. This old gal had what looked like kerosine lamps inside.

After two days we left and met Tim and Trish at a sand bar anchorage behind marker 50 on the ICW. A quiet place where we rode out several thunderstorms. Tim and Trish had happy hour floating behind their boat.

Then we headed to Navarre Beach. A cool little beach bar and restaurant called Juanita’s had hard bodies playing beach volleyball along with lots of eye candy. Didn’t take any pictures, just looked..

Kite surfers we’re going at it as the thunderstorms approached. We saw 40+ winds for awile.

We then motored to Pensacola and stayed at what is left of Palafax Marina. We came in together, and side tied along the outer wall.

Good spot for walking into town in crazy heat. This little bird, a Green Heron, according to my mother, loved sitting on my stern line. Never have seen one before.

Tim and Trish chose to stay another night, but Claire and I headed back toward Lulu’s. Our plan was to anchor behind Pirate’s Cove for a night, but we chose to tie up and get a good night’s sleep.

Next day we made the four hour run back home, after having breakfast with John. Can’t believe his wife did not get up at seven and join us.

Defender Marine Mercury dinghy fiasco

We bought a beautiful white hypalon Mercury dinghy and 5 hp outboard in 2017. The package was three years old and had been sitting on the shelf for three years, and discounted a couple hundred dollars for each. Warranty started date of purchase and with the discount and shipping was under $2k. Not a bad deal.

Claire and I used it very little. Once in the Keys, a couple times in Demopolis. Total time maybe thirty minutes. It ran that long in my pool. Was stored rolled up in the garage.

I ran the outboard for a few minutes when I thought about it but they are kind of a pain to drain the fuel out of. It rides up on the roof of Choices and the outboard on a rack behind the salon wall.

So imagine my surprise when zipping across the marina in Demopolis the stern starts to separate and fall off, and outboards don’t float.

We deflated it, rolled up the boat, and dug out the invoice to call Defender. What a shocking surprise. The extended warranty we were promised on boat and motor was not in writing, and they had no idea what I was talking about. The real kicker was the warranty was expired by a month, by their records, but the Mercury warranty was only a year on the stern, oar locks, rub rail, and bottom. So kind of a bait and switch. No wonder Mercury had been sued.

Now Defender offered to repair it in their service center for a reduced price, but I was stuck with repair cost and the $400 freight bill. Basically I was out the cost of the boat new. Needless to say, I was pissed, and still am.

So I have told the Trawler Forum, Cruisers Forum, and everyone I can about it. If you think I am wrong, “stick it.”

So we are going on a several week trip with friends, and I decided to fix it myself. How hard can it be?

My last act was to call Eddie at Inflatable Boat Repair in Pensacola, 850-418-1323 cell, or inflatableboatrepair@gmail.com. For some reason he had escaped my previous searches.

We talked and I sent him pictures and he agreed to fix it in a couple weeks before 4th of July.

So, there is a guy doing good reasonable work out there on the Gulf Coast. Give him a call and tell him I sent you.

Quick Trip

Well, at the end of May we washed the spiders off the boat and went for a couple week boat ride to work on our tans. We had just cleaned the bottom and replaced the zincs, but this time I painted the prop with bottom paint. Should be interesting to see how it holds up.

Our Traveling buddies, Tim and Trish, were out in their GB 36 Europa, wondering around, so we snuck into their slip at our old marina, LuLu’s to overnight an catch up with friends we have not seen in awhile, including Rob working on getting his boat ready for his wife, Bea.

First morning we wandered down the Intercoastal to Fort McRee. This is a protected lagoon near the pass that for now is silted up, but after a storm can open up to make a great partying place for families. Must have been a hundred boats in there during the weekend.

The water is very deep up close, and we actually ran Choices up onto the beach, and could drop the anchor right onto the sand, with at least ten feet of water at the stern, very clear. This picture is when we first arrived looking at the entrance and back toward Orange Beach.

Claire and I spend two nights here, one uneventful, and the last one with a norther coming through. Most were unaware or intoxicated enough not to pay attention to the weather, and in the morning there was a collection of sail boats all tangled up on the beach.

After this we checked out Pirates Cove and Barber’s, then spent another night at LuLu’s before heading to Fairhope for a night. We stayed at the Municipal docks, explored Fairhope in 100 degree heat, ate ice cream and it was pretty nice. There is a good restaurant and bar next door, but a little far to walk.

They are cleaning the place up and making a bunch of improvements. We will be back.

Boat performed perfectly.

Moving Rob’s GB 42 Classic, “BISCUIT”

All good deeds get punished.

Rob has spent a lot of money and time getting his boat ready to move 1 mile from his house in Kemah to 8 hours plus from his house to LuLu’s in Orange Beach, Alabama. Seems his wife is retiring this month, and they are going on their first extended trip together with all of us going to referee and video the event. In case you are unaware, Rob is the one that left his wife on the dock untying the line when he was departing Houston Yacht Club. I laughed so hard I peed myself.

Talk about fire drill, he loaded every spare part and tool he had, and thank God he did, cause when we needed it he had it. Not like me who leaves doing the same trip with a jar of peanut butter and a box of crackers.

I will gloss over the fact that when we left it was colder than shit.

It was so cold I pretty much sat in the captains chair down stairs where it was much warmer, we just did not have enough clothes.

It was unanimously agreed that we would eat our way down the Intercoastal, and we did.

First docked stop was Shell Morgan, where Claire came in my car to take us to Shucks, in Abbeville, LA.

Damn good eating.

We made such good time the next restaurant was Christopher’s in Houma, where we sat out a rain day to make some self inflicted repairs.

Going through the New Orleans locks was interesting, they put us in with a pushboat and barge. Never will do that again. Thank goodness there were three of us on the boat. Another day and we were in Gulfport, MS for some more seafood at Half Shell Oyster House. Do you get the theme here? We don’t charge for our expertise, but the owner pays expenses and we get him on the ice teas…..

The boat performed perfectly until after Gulfport, MS. There we had the port engine stumble a few times and figured it was a fuel issue, we had just taken on fuel twice.

After changing the filters really quick in Biloxi we headed out to the same problem again. This time we turned around and spent the night in Biloxi and trouble shot the boat that night after dinner at……..Half Shell Oyster House. This is Rob and I stripping down for some LGBT time in the 120 degree engine room.

Best I could tell we had a bad starter relay base or bad connection, maybe both. We reterminated the wires and Rob had a new relay base and blasted off the next day and never had the problem again.

We arrived at LuLu’s and after a nice dinner cleaned the boat up so they could drop me off in Lafayette and take the rental car back to Kemah.

We were on time even with our delays, and would have been a couple days early without them, but, that’s what a shake down cruise is for.

I have to admit, I could not have picked a better crew, Rob had every tool and spare you can imagine, John had the same boat and knew every inch of it, and I had done the trip about eight times. Together we fixed every damn thing that broke and didn’t work.

Sprucing things up

We have decided to put Choices up for sale. I have not selected a broker yet, but hope to in about a month. The boat has been great, but we are fixing to be grandparents for the first time, and I can’t keep everything going.

My first goal this spring is to really try and finish Amanda’s truck. Coming along nicely but slow. It is a 70 Chevy, short wheel base, 4 wheel drive, with three on the tree, and a 292 six cylinder. It has been sitting ten years!

Behind it is Claire’s 63 VW convertible and my 68 SS396 Chevelle. Really can’t wait to knock those out.

But I also can’t quit tinkering with Choices. Rob was extremely generous and gifted me a NOS fridge handle. I have been looking for one for years. John will gift me a set of hinges and I am set.

I bought new wool carpet for the boat. This is super nice with a denim backing, thick and heavy. It makes the boat quieter, and is wall to wall. I had the edges surged, and had enough to do the salon, galley, helm step, both berths, head, and a entrance mat.

We then decided to replace the curtains and sofa coverings. These few upgrades will put the boat over the top inside. Super plush and almost indestructible. The old curtains and coverings are shown above.

The new curtains above are super plush Cryptonite. A matching off white couch is covered in soft Sunbrella. We tested samples of the fabric with ketchup, mustard, various body fluids, and pizza. Only pizza didn’t clean with water, had to use soap.

I made a sychamore coffee table that doubles as a TV stand and foot locker. It is really nice. While weather was bad I made a stand for the tv out of the table scraps that fits over the sound bar. Now the wires are hidden and everything looks cleaner.

Grand Banks Classic Cutlass Bearing repair

During John’s trip from Lulu’s to Demopalis he noticed several problems with his new boat.

First was excessive engine movement. I mean both engines might have fallen over in big seas. John’s 42 has twin Cummins, so it has some horsepower. It seems the thirty year old motor mounts had failed. The local boat yard mechanic, who does boat work as a second evening job, quoted John $40/hr to change them out. Rob and I had changed his in a day, even with Rob helping me. These guys did both John’s engines in four hours with impact tools. They hauled ass. A week later they aligned the engines.

Alas, the clunking sounds did not go away. Best guess was the deteriorated motor mounts had allowed the prop shafts to destroy the cutlass bearings. This is a perfect example of cascading failures. Motor mounts are cheap. When they go everything they effect goes too. Transmission bearings, dampner plates, shaft logs, cutlass bearings, prop shafts, etc, etc. Those are not cheap.

What started the tear down was lack of cooling water to the packing gland. Removing the water line from the exhaust showed rubber blocking the elbow into the gland from deteriorated cutlass bearings.

John’s 42 Classic has three bearings per shaft. One in each strut, one at hull entrance to shaft tube and one at exit of the shaft tube.

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John decides to fix it himself, time to reflect. It is summer in Demopalis, 100+ degrees in the shade, 1000% humidity. Let’s go do bottom work!

During tear down it was quickly discovered that the prop shafts had crevis corrosion and had several cracks along the 20+ foot 2″ shafts. This was probably the result of the boat sitting for several years. So an order was placed for two new shafts, ouch.

The cutlass bearings assembly with black hose and the forward half containing the packing gland removed.

The arrows : A) the bronze tube containing the cutlass bearing. B) the fiberglassed in hull bronze tube same as A. C) the very worn cutlass bearings. Looking closely you can see the bronze interlocking tabs protruding.

The yellow circled pieces are the removed packing glands assembly. They are positioned to show how the the cutlass bearing half and the packing gland half interlock. The two halves are connected and sealed by the rubber hose previously shown.

The part touched by the finger fits into the cutlass bearing tightly and allows the bearing to be pulled out evenly under pressure.

To give John credit, he researched this enough that he started designing his own tools. It took about a week of pestering a local machine shop, but after several tries he eventually ended up with a stepped disc that fit into the bronze shaft tube molded into the hull, and would allow John to pull the cutlass bearings out by using a big, long-ass all thread rod with a big washer and nut at the other end.

The yellow tube is in place as a spacer to pull against and a receptacle for the cutlass bearing to go into.

In the last picture the flat stepped washer shown is mounted backwards, John was tired….

Due to space limitations, John could only turn one nut flat at a time, so it could take hours to slide the bearing out, under great pressure. A cheater bar was required on the wrench to gain the leverage needed.

There were a few issues. One of the tubes had a glob of fiberglass resin in it that had to be chipped out.

Also the shaft log bearings had set screws to hold those bearings in the shaft log. So he had to grind the fiberglass away till he could find the set screws and uncover them. The second screw is 2 1/2” behind the first one, in line.

The new cutlass bearings were kept in a deep freeze for a couple days, then gently pressed in. Reassembly was rather quick, just a couple hours each side.

Once splashed, we decided to sea trial his work BEFORE taking a week trip upstream to Nashville. While backing out of the slip, I could hear a distinct ticking from the drive train. We quickly killed the engine and pulled the boat back into the slip where I decided that the shaft cutters were out of adjustment from the work being done, and touching on each revolution of the shaft.

John was chosen to jump over the side to fix it, it was his boat. Here he is playing Navy seal.

A great job and alot of information here in case you decide to tackle this yourself. If possible do it in spring or fall, under cover, with A/C units to cool the boat down. John also designed his own Jethro Bodine A/C system from Walmart for $100. We were having consecutive 100 degree days.

Grand Banks shore power incoming fuses

This is a repair Tim did on his 36 Grand Banks Europa. All GBs should be the same.

To make this replacement exciting, Tim did it in the rain with the shore power energized. Send condolences to Trish at…..

The incoming shore power for Grand Banks are protected by these fuses and fuse holder. The same units are used by Hatteras and possibly Bertram.

There are one of these for each leg of the incoming circuit.

The fuse holders have a simple circuit with a light indicating either fuse blown or good. Not sure which, since I have never seen one working. You don’t need the light working, and can buy the holder without it if you chose. If you blow a fuse, and aren’t comfortable fixing it, try powering the boat from the other shore power connections to power the boat till fixed.

The fuse is a dual element common type. It protects the cable and vessel from a short circuit, deteriorating cable, or bad connection. Usually a 250V 50A fuse is required but can also be 30A.

The fuse holder threads are very fine, and subject to corrosion resulting in it welding itself to itself. Grease these up with a dilectric grease or axle grease as a last resort.

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Corrosion occurs from the clear cover cap cracking, allowing water into the shore power protection scheme, not good! I always flench when my shore power connection gets wet.

I want to refinish the teak trim on mine, and these pictures show how the panel comes out for shore power and the shower valves. I will do my shower handles soon.

Installing Vitrifrigo Refrigerators and Freezers in a Grand Banks

This is an installation done by Mike and his family on their 42 Grand Banks Classic Wishes.

These new stainless drawer units are good looking, self contained, and frost free. They can be all freezer, refrigerator, or both. You can order them 120vac, 12vdc, or both.

Despite bad advise from John at Oxford Yacht Agency, who recommending fixing the 30 year old Grunert, Mike found two units in stock, and after some research figured he could slide the old entire package out. Sure enough, you can remove the round trim on the front, then the bungs and screws, and the entire unit is ready to slide out. No reason to fix thirty year old technology.

Mike had retrofitted one of his coolers before with a water cooled Vitrifrigo unit that had slowly lost cooling ability. His wife was demanding an upgrade.

To help these units cool Mike drilled some holes into adjacent cabinets and added some new teak vents. This entire project is a weekend job, don’t believe Oxford.

You will need some help getting these on the boat. On Classics they go through a salon window. For Europas they can fit through the door.

You must remove the stainless drain pipe to slide the unit out. Mike’s was hand tight.

In these pictures everything is working fine. Mike came back later to trim out the installation and varnish where required.

John’s Demopalis to Nashville trip.

Once repairs were done to John’s 42 we we’re off the next morning to Nashville. This is a long ass upstream trip, through dangerous shark infested waters surrounded by beautiful Amazon women…naught.

This is a boring trip that has so many turns auto pilot is useless. John had provisioned the boat with two jars of peanut butter, a loaf of bread, some apples, a sack of ice, and four Capri juice packs. He had also graciously granted me one side of the V-berth, the other side holding electrical spare parts, I am to the right of the laundry basket.

This trip we would navigate 25 locks, ten in one day. John would become very proficient at docking the starboard side to the dock wall. Departures took some work. But the boat never touched the wall, much to the incredible ability and super human strength of the crew. John’s wife Scotty is gonna love boating!

After you leave Demopalis the first thing you see are the white chalk cliffs. They mine this mineral near Demopalis, very striking.

The current is very slow, under a knot at this time of year. We encountered many river pushboats. These rigs are lower and the barges much smaller than intercoastal and Mississippi River rigs.

In an attempt to make some good time, we cruised at 1750 rpm making 10 knots. With new mounts and cutlass bearings the boat was virtually vibrationless, a dramatic difference. Choices does 7 knots at that rpm, with 25% less hp. We could have saved fuel by slowing down, but we were on a mission, and had one loaf of bread.

The locks on the Tenn-Tom have no place for private vessels to tie up waiting for the locks. Also, the locks on this stretch are very slow, usually 45 minutes or more to complete a cycle.

The marinas were all nice country marinas. Small operations that make their money from the Loopers and local recreational vessels.

This 75ft, $ 3M boat has not been touched in five years. Birds have built nests in every cranny on it. Bird shit and mold everywhere. Checking it out online shows it must be in questionable limbo.

There were two major highlights to this trip, the 83 foot lock lift, and locking with 24 other boats and 125+ drunk Alabama folks. The ladies were curtious enough to flash us since we had been on the water five days.

A lot of the lakes are beautiful and deep. Thousands of coves to anchor and swim in.

One of the most interesting trips we have done.

What Alarm Panel?

As we were motoring on the second day to Demopalis we had a buzzer alarm. Captain Mike quickly pulled the throttle back and, cocktail in hand, started hunting the annoying problem. Finding nothing, he decided to disconnect the buzzer when it stopped all by itself, amazing.

That night the resident mechanic and gigolo checked everything and could not find a cause. He quickly returned to gigolo duties of playing pirate captain and slave girl, a crowd favorite.

The next day, as we accelerated to pass a barge, the alarm sounded again, and this time did not stop.

Setting the cocktails down and picking up the infared gun we determined that the transmission fluid was hot. The alarm operates at 195, the tranny was 205. We reduced speed 25% and limped into Demopalis for a late dockage.

This is the same transmission that had been rebuilt eight months ago. Mike at Harbor Marine told me to pull it and ship it back and he would take care of it. We later learned the tranny had a factory flaw, that was revealed on the last rebuild. Mike finally figured it out after alot of head scratching and fixed it. Great customer service.

To us the real problem was having no idea what the alarm was.

A review of the Grand Banks wiring schematic showed three possible causes of a buzzer alarm; oil pressure, water temperature, and tranny temperature. None of those alarm lights worked at either station.

I had assumed the sensors were bad or the bulbs burned out. This was on me. So, determined to fix it, I started testing things. The sensors shorted out did nothing but actuate the buzzer, so sensors were good. Next checked power to the panel, good. But jumpering the power at the panel to the lights did nothing. The bilge pump and engine room light worked, but jumpering them to the others did not.

Very frustrated, I pulled the panel and noticed the wiring for those three lights was different from the other two.

Also discovered the wiring schematic was riddled with errors.

It became very apparent that the alarm lights had never worked, from the factory. This was after about eight hours of reaching into a compartment above my head, but taller than me sitting, very uncomfortable.

Seems the panels have LED lights, and being thirty years old they are voltage directional. I know of no other Grand Banks with these lights. After busting the wiring loom apart and rewiring them, “presto” lights.

A quick test revealed the logic was correct and the lights operated correctly, but the buzzer only worked on oil pressure alarm.

Further analysis by the role playing pirate captain showed all the blocking diodes but one had failed.

A diode blocks electrical flow in one direction. This keeps the buzzer alarm from back feeding the alarm panel and illuminating all the lights, as bad as having none.

With new diodes installed everything works as intended, thirty years and much cussing later.

Back to being a gigolo or pirate captain….