This post could go several ways
I'll list a few
I'll list a few
- More proof that paying it forward is alive and well
- Evidence that being prepared helps (well duh)
- Dumb luck favors the ignorant (not true, but it reads well)
- Redundancy - redundancy - redundancy
- Do County Cops work late?
- Do regular auto parts work on boats?
- enough already
I'll try to just hit the important points.
We were on the hook at Jones for two days, the battery switch was clearly on #1, saving #2 for starting. Lights and the fridge killed #1 as expected. But what we did not know, was that #2 had shorted while we sat and only held 10 volts -it sounded like this -- #2 click click, #1 click click, oh crap! #all click click, shit!
I fired up the portable Honda 2000 and plugged in the shore-power cord, plus I plugged in my portable smart charger, only to discover that my on-board Guest 2 bank smart charger wasn't smart enough to coexist with my portable smart charger meaning nothin worked - grrrrrr.
One and a half hours later, after separating wiring charging circuits and waiting and waiting, the diesel fires up. We are of course not going to turn it off for anything.
Previously I had pulled the stern anchor, against my own advise to not pull anchors until the motor is idling. So I'm frantically re-anchoring my dead boat from the dinghy - nice show for everyone watching and wondering.
When we arrive at the San Juan County Dock in Eastsound 2 hours later, I squeeze our thirty feet onto fifteen feet of dock right under the sign saying four hours max. (or is it two?)and -no over-nighting-
At midnight the local constable wrote us a warning and taped it to the stern rail. It said -vacate immediately- or risk getting cited. Midnight! I know it was midnight cause he wrote 11:55 pm in the box.
The next day a really nice guy living offshore in a boat, gave us a ride to NAPA,(he owned a rusty Land Cruiser)(it was his inflatable I squeezed) and he carried the new battery down to the boat for me (see, paying it forward works).
By noon we were in good shape and on our way back to Jones Island.
OK, lets wrap this up. Our misadventure turned out to be slightly inconvenient at most. We got to bike around Eastsound and had breakfast out. The battery I bought, I would have bought anyway. We met a nice guy. It was creepy knowing a cop had been hanging around our boat while we slept.
The lessons learned are:
- don't pull anchors until the motor is running or your ready to hoist sail
- don't leave home without the Honda. (we have a Honda kicker too)
- get an old fashioned dumb charger for the tool bag
- have two batteries that work if your going cruising overnight
- stuff happens, and things break at inconvenient places - be prepared
- be flexible, take it easy (and bring a credit card)