Well, not quite - our home is still our home, and very lovely, indeed,
with
views from our cabin, on both sides, of the sea, as well as the
privilege of
not only taking meals, but, indeed, as well, sleeping with, the owner!

So, not steerage accommodations. However...

We left in fine order - well, other than the minor steering
excitements to
follow, thus the title. First, as we left the dock, it felt like we
had no
steering. With wheel flying and arms working the throttle for
directional
control, I managed to bring Flying Pig back to the dock against the
strong
current. A controlled crash, sort of, in that it wasn't pretty, but
there
was no damage to our or any other boats nor the docks.

After securing the boat, we tested the steering and - ironically -
found it
to be operating normally. So, with my heart still racing, we gingerly
set
out again, and all appeared well. I set Otto (Otto Pilot, the
electrical
guy who does all the work on most cruises where keeping the boat
pointed in
a certain direction is concerned), and all appeared normal. Sloooowly
I
turned....

Well, not the boat, but the mystery teaser. The boat seemed to
respond
slowly, but made it each time I adjusted the direction with Otto. The
way
out of Charleston takes us past Ft. Sumter, and the shoals around it,
and,
even more exciting, the jetties which are either submerged all the
time, or
the (other) jetties which, at high tide, which was the time we passed,
are
barely visible.

The weather service notwithstanding, despite the forecast of variable
and
extremely light winds, we had a crosswind of about 15 knots which, had
the
steering failed, would have blown us on to the rocks. So, I was
hypervigilant about our course, and relieved to find that it seemed to
be
keeping up. However, it wasn't very good, and we set about dealing
with
contingencies, expecting failure at any moment.

One of the potential contingencies was to drop the anchor and call for
help.
However, being in the middle of the channel is not a good place to do
that
at all, not to mention that it's pretty deep.

Another was to call for a tow, but the same situation applied - being
in the
middle of an active shipping channel was not a good place to be for
that
exercise.

So, we held on by our fingernails and made it outside the jetties.
Meanwhile, we had a container ship bearing down on us. They'd seen
our
erratic behavior and wanted to make sure we saw them. We advised them
that
we'd had a bit of a steering issue but would be sure to be out of
their way.

After a failed attempt to go upwind, we managed to get out of the
channel to
the downwind side and advised the container ship that we were no
longer a
threat. Using the throttle and the locked-to-starboard rudder to
keep us
pointed relatively into the wind and waves, we called TowBoatUS, where
I
have an unlimited towing policy.

They showed up in due course, and, the various excitements of being
under
tow in a shipping lane, the narrow cuts we had to traverse, and the
lift
bridge, all of which were helped by a vigorous current and wind,
aside, it
was very uneventful as we made our way to, and were tied up aside,
Ross
Marine in the extreme backwaters of the Intra-Coastal Waterway.
Larry, our
electrical buddy, had referred us to them, as that's where the boat
he's
mostly on gets all their work done.

I'll spare you the gory details, but we'd had a hydraulic leak which
caused
all the excitement. Repairing that was a very simple matter in the
end.
Also, as is always the case, once we get to digging into some problem
aboard, others surface.

Thus, we discovered that there were some loose parts in the steering
assemblies (again sparing you the gory details) which were, we feel,
on
correcting them, responsible for our difficulties in making the water
stay
out of the boat in the location in which the rudder post entered.

So, in the end, we got a trip up the creek, seeing some beautiful
countryside along the way, and the opportunity to stop and relax, and
Joe
got a ride back to City Marina with the tow operator, thus to get on
his way
back to his home. We had the longest and best night's sleep we've had
in a
great long while, because not only did we go to bed early, we had rain
which
started at 5AM, allowing it to remain dark until well after 9AM. I've
not
slept in to that degree in weeks.

All the spilled hydraulic fluid is cleaned up, the steering is
tightened to
a degree I'm sure it's not been in months, perhaps longer, and our
autopilot
motor and pump are again secure.

Cruising is boat repair in exotic locations... It's exotic here in
that
it's in the boonies both water and land-wise, but the people are
marvelous,
and despite the official policy of owners not being allowed to work on
their
boats, we were allowed to do the lion's share of the time-consuming
items
aboard, resulting in a professional oversight of the repair, but a
relatively light bill.

So, we're sitting tight for the moment, waiting for the rain to end
and
another weather window to open, and then we'll be on our way again.
Here in
the boonies, there's no internet access, but we discovered a couple of
places along the way while being towed, and likely we'll anchor in
Charleston so as to be ready early when we head out again, so whenever
this
shows up, you'll know that we found the internet!

A postscript, rather than the new post:

We left at 2:30 PM on the slack tide, beginning to fall as we made our
way
back down the way we'd come. We're now anchored off the City Marina,
enjoying the free internet access all over this town, and posting and
catching up. We'll leave in the same fashion, absent, we hope, any
excitements, as before, but just a couple of days late.

We'll again be without internet access for a couple of days but will
try to
check in with the Maritime Mobile net as we go tomorrow night.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it
come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its
hands.
You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
ups.com...

Enjoying the continuing reports :-)

Have you been practicing steering with sails only? Seems that this recent
mishap would bring the need for that skill into the forefront. Other
emergency steering methods include things like streaming warps from port or
starboard as needed, or dragging buckets/drogues in the same manner.

Karin

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 18:33:20 -0500, "KLC Lewis"
wrote:

Have you been practicing steering with sails only? Seems that this recent
mishap would bring the need for that skill into the forefront. Other
emergency steering methods include things like streaming warps from port or
starboard as needed, or dragging buckets/drogues in the same manner.

All boats that enter the Newport-Bermuda race are required to
demonstrate that they have a viable emergency steering system. These
can get pretty creative, including such things as cabin doors lashed
to spinnaker poles, etc.

Skip,

1) Don't you have an emergency tiller that can be used for exactly this
type of situation?

2) I hate to tell you this, but the ICW does not count as an exotic
location. All that you've been doing is moving your boat and repairing it
as you go.

-- Geoff

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:18:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

All that you've been doing is moving your boat and repairing it
as you go.

I'd be slightly more charitable and call it a "shake down cruise".

It took us about a year of short cruises to work the bugs out of our
boat and have the confidence to take off and live on it for any length
of time. At least there are good service locations most places along
the east coast.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:18:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

All that you've been doing is moving your boat and repairing it
as you go.

I'd be slightly more charitable and call it a "shake down cruise".

It took us about a year of short cruises to work the bugs out of our
boat and have the confidence to take off and live on it for any length
of time. At least there are good service locations most places along
the east coast.

I was referring to Skip's quote that "cruising is repairing boats in exotic
locations." By that definition and his being in the ICW, it's not
cruising.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

On Aug 5, 10:08 am, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:18:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz

wrote:
All that you've been doing is moving your boat and repairing it
as you go.

I'd be slightly more charitable and call it a "shake down cruise".

It took us about a year of short cruises to work the bugs out of our
boat and have the confidence to take off and live on it for any length
of time. At least there are good service locations most places along
the east coast.

And, indeed, that is what I call it, and what I wanted to do all
along. The wreck was a wakeup call for Lydia and she's now fully
aboard about the purposes of this (and for however long it takes)
meander in the land of TBUS and Worst/PortSupply, complete with cell
service and fairly reliable internet.

FWIW, I just got out of the engine room where I fixed a plumbing leak,
resolved an inverter problem, am chasing an electrical glitch where
the power to the exciter (or whatever delivers positive terminal
current) on the alternator was at the root of our problems, all along
(it will be either a bad wire or a bad switch, or a connection in
between) as jumping out that line results in instant charge and tach,
and, finally, fixing whatever it is which is causing a seep from the
raw water hose somewhere near the intake of the RW pump (I'm taking it
off next).

The terminology of exotic locations, I guess, needs to be followed
with a smiley. We're under no illusions as to our world-spanning such
as Geoff has done. That will come when we have this boat shaken down
to the point where - as another M46 owner calls his - they are only
the daily crisis, not the departure-stopper.

In the meantime, for the first time, we cranked up the Honda,
connected it to the adapter pigtail, and have shorepower equivalent
aboard. Now that we've killed the inverter problem, however, we'll go
back to our regular programming. The solar's making over 10A from the
time I entered the ER (~9) and climbing. Yesterday, while we were
coming back to the anchorage off City Marina, we were seeing 20+ solar
amps and a few (very light wind) from the wind generator.

Stay tuned for the report promised on our electrical stuff. We're
going to do some tracking before posting it.

And, yes, we're out there doing it. Hands, please, for those
similarly engaged (out of the marina, dealing with whatever comes up
along the way, and going on about our lives [this is our only home],
connected to the internet without spending cell or satellite phone
money). Flame on, no problems - those who have been around for the 10
years I've been bothering this group know I'm not easily dissuaded/
discouraged :{))

Finally, apologies for the immediate preceding, as it's really best
attached to the previous day's conflagration :{)) Those of you
bothering to read likely know about it...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it
come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its
hands.
You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

On Aug 5, 10:08 am, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:18:18 -0500, Geoff Schultz

wrote:
All that you've been doing is moving your boat and repairing it
as you go.

I'd be slightly more charitable and call it a "shake down cruise".

It took us about a year of short cruises to work the bugs out of our
boat and have the confidence to take off and live on it for any length
of time. At least there are good service locations most places along
the east coast.

And, indeed, that is what I call it, and what I wanted to do all
along. The wreck was a wakeup call for Lydia and she's now fully
aboard about the purposes of this (and for however long it takes)
meander in the land of TBUS and Worst/PortSupply, complete with cell
service and fairly reliable internet.

FWIW, I just got out of the engine room where I fixed a plumbing leak,
resolved an inverter problem, am chasing an electrical glitch where
the power to the exciter (or whatever delivers positive terminal
current) on the alternator was at the root of our problems, all along
(it will be either a bad wire or a bad switch, or a connection in
between) as jumping out that line results in instant charge and tach,
and, finally, fixing whatever it is which is causing a seep from the
raw water hose somewhere near the intake of the RW pump (I'm taking it
off next).

The terminology of exotic locations, I guess, needs to be followed
with a smiley. We're under no illusions as to our world-spanning such
as Geoff has done. That will come when we have this boat shaken down
to the point where - as another M46 owner calls his - they are only
the daily crisis, not the departure-stopper.

In the meantime, for the first time, we cranked up the Honda,
connected it to the adapter pigtail, and have shorepower equivalent
aboard. Now that we've killed the inverter problem, however, we'll go
back to our regular programming. The solar's making over 10A from the
time I entered the ER (~9) and climbing. Yesterday, while we were
coming back to the anchorage off City Marina, we were seeing 20+ solar
amps and a few (very light wind) from the wind generator.

Stay tuned for the report promised on our electrical stuff. We're
going to do some tracking before posting it.

And, yes, we're out there doing it. Hands, please, for those
similarly engaged (out of the marina, dealing with whatever comes up
along the way, and going on about our lives [this is our only home],
connected to the internet without spending cell or satellite phone
money). Flame on, no problems - those who have been around for the 10
years I've been bothering this group know I'm not easily dissuaded/
discouraged :{))

Finally, apologies for the immediate preceding, as it's really best
attached to the previous day's conflagration :{)) Those of you
bothering to read likely know about it...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it
come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its
hands.
You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

On Aug 5, 11:18 am, Geoff Schultz wrote:

I was referring to Skip's quote that "cruising is repairing boats in exotic
locations." By that definition and his being in the ICW, it's not
cruising.

-- Geoffwww.GeoffSchultz.org

HEY!! :{))

Aren't you the guy who took me to task for not going up the river from
Charleston???

L8R

Skip :{))

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:24:08 -0000, Skip Gundlach
wrote:

FWIW, I just got out of the engine room where I fixed a plumbing leak,
resolved an inverter problem, am chasing an electrical glitch where
the power to the exciter (or whatever delivers positive terminal
current) on the alternator was at the root of our problems, all along
(it will be either a bad wire or a bad switch, or a connection in
between) as jumping out that line results in instant charge and tach,
and, finally, fixing whatever it is which is causing a seep from the
raw water hose somewhere near the intake of the RW pump (I'm taking it
off next).

Skip, you're apparently having fun and learning while you get your
boat shipshape. But it seems to me there is something fundamentally
wrong about your approach to your boat's mech/electrical systems.
Whether the installations were wrong from the get-go, or the product
of piecemealing mismatched components, or of using low quality
components, or you mucking up with your own hands things you don't
have the knowledge to deal with, I don't know.
If it were me I would get better advice on what works best and use it.
There are always cost compromises for most of us, but boating -
especially cruising - should *not* be "fixing things in exotic places"
or whatever cuteism you care to use.
Scheduled maintenance, proper diagnostic gear to use for
troubleshooting, and occasional replacement of broken down parts
should be the goal for cruisers.
Sometimes reading cruiser logs remind me of tales - usually from the
very young - who pick up an '89 Chevy Cavalier in NY for $300 and
set off for California.
They might make the journey, but it is doubtful it will be much fun,
and it will probably end up costing more in repairs than if they had
just bit the bullet and splurged $500 on a '92 Chevy Corsica.
Of course being at sea has dangers beyond being stalled on a road.
I hope I'm not off base here, but I've never read so many accounts of
various breakdowns as I have from you, and I'm a bit concerned, since
I do wish you the best.

--Vic