Day 91 - What a Relief!

It was in our heads all the way to Jacksonville Airport and Aquamarina in Daytona Beach:  is all the work really done on the props and engines and will everything work right?  We had moved up our return date by one day to make sure the boat was ready to go.  My sister Laurie and her husband Greg were flying in from Phoenix the next day to accompany us on this leg of the Loop. 

The “prop guy” met us at the marina and we got ready to take the boat out for a sea trial.  Captain Randy lifted the hatch door to the engine room and instead of staying up, it fell forward.  This was new and raised some concern.  The same thing happened with the rear engine room door.  Hmm…..We weren’t even out of the slip yet when the captain noticed that one of the transmission controls did not feel right.  Not a good sign.  I know I held my breath as Captain Randy powered up the engines.  No vibration – yes! Prop guy was in the engine room making sure all looked good there and that there were no kinks in the linkage (possibly causing the transmission issue).  Back at the dock, the captain went down into the engine room and manually shifted the transmission in and out of gear and checked the connections of the linkage to the transmission.  Although he did not see anything unusual, when he shifted the transmission at the helm, the transmission control felt normal.  What a relief!

 

 

There were several projects we wanted to get done that afternoon and we added replacing the gas shocks for the engine room doors to the list.  In the scheme of things, the shocks were the least of our problems, just ordinary maintenance.  That meant a trip to West Marine to get new ones.  They did not have the stainless steel shocks that Captain Randy wanted, but he was able to get two that would work in the meantime.  On the way back to the marina we stopped at the Chrome Bar for some lunch.  This is a new bar and grill near the beach that was getting excellent reviews on Trip Advisor.    We both had the mahi tacos and they were delicious. 

Back on the boat, the captain (with the assistance of the first mate) installed the shocks, the new fresh water pump we had sent down, and a new snap on the rear drop curtain.  We had also sent a new wiper motor down for the center wiper that had gone out, but decided we could leave that job for another day. 

We cleaned up and went to Caribbean Jack’s on the ICW for dinner.  The popular bar and restaurant is part of the Loggerhead Marina.  We sat at the outside tiki bar and had Ahi Tuna, mussels, and a seafood bowl, while listening to a reggae band.  We celebrated our successes with the boat and looked forward to the next day when my sister and brother-in-law would arrive.