Tuesday 5 January 2021 Demopolis,
AL
“Moored as before,” as our
midnight deck logs used to start out in the Navy taking electrical and water
service from the pier. Engineering plant
is in “cold iron” status.
Yesterday was a sort of idle day
as we busied ourselves finding a rental car.
Enterprise has an office at a local car dealer, but we ended up renting
from a used car lot as Enterprise had no car available. The young man who rented me the car has lived
here all his life. He is a college
graduate from a local one just down the road.
We sat and chatted about the various aspects of a mobile life versus the
more static existence. He never expects
to go anywhere, but he wonders what other places and countries are like. I told him to stay home because the world at
large sucks.
Later in the afternoon I wandered
over to the Liberty to see how Shorty was doing with his running light issue
which caused him to have to clear the river and get moored the other night
rather than wait his turn out there in the dark for fuel behind us as barges
bore down on him. I ended up getting my voltmeter
and tracking down the issue which turned out to be several – burned out bulbs,
wrong bulb bases, and disconnected wiring at the starboard side light. Once we had power at each light, the hunt was
on for bulbs. He could not find them
(24-volt) until this morning when he was looking for something else. There is a fancy alarm and indicator panel over
his head in the pilothouse featuring an outline of the boat with over twenty
small red LEDs indicating everything from bilge water levels to whether the
running light switch has been depressed.
In the case of the running lights, it does not tell him whether the individual
lights are shining. I think he has been
running for a while thinking the lights were on just because the indicator light
said they were.
Mary got a complete tour of the
sumptuous Liberty today including at my insistence, the gleaming “chromeness”
and shiny white paint of the spotless engine room featuring two 700-horespower turbo-charged
Cats. She’ll never get a chance to see that kind of
thing again. They are shoving off for
parts south tomorrow, and we’ll miss them.
Bon voyage, Liberties.
I have also spent some time
speaking to the owner of a Grand Banks 46 moored next to the Liberty. A unique feature I had not seen before is the
widening of the deckhouse into the walkway where the aft cabin begins. That must give a lot of extra walk around
room in that cabin. He bought the boat
in Wisconsin in November and had to scoot south before everything up there froze
over which meant that he had no time to learn the boat and its systems. He has some interesting experiences to speak
of!
We have elected to remain here in
Demopolis until Saturday morning the ninth for a couple of reasons. We are ahead of the nominal schedule due to
never staying more than a night at our previous stops, and the weather is better
after Friday. I have to remember to
confirm gasoline availability at Bobby’s Fish Camp 97 miles down the river. If they do not, we will have to go very
slowly in order to have enough to make it to Mobile on fumes.
Today was a genuinely nice day
with clear skies and a warm sun when you were in it with temps about 60. Fliers would call it “clear and visibility
unlimited” or CAVU meaning they could fly not having to rely on instruments or
under visual flight rules. Oddly enough
there are two boats on this pier within several slips of each other named CAVU. How odd; must be aviator owners.
My big accomplishment today was
to track down why the single windshield wiper was not working – note past
tense. I have been far too busy and/or
tired to look into this mystery. The
previous owner had told Frank, the new owner, it was inoperative, and Frank
accepted that on face value as he had little option to do otherwise. What puzzled me was that I found all the
parts to a pantograph wiper arm down in the storage compartment. Looking at the upper part of the windshield
(I guess it’s just a “window” on a houseboat when it is not underway), I noted
the splined shaft of the wiper motor sticking out of the cabin side (wall? I am so confused!) when I went out on deck,
but pressing “On” part on the “Wiper” button on the helm console failed to run
the motor. A few minutes behind the
console with a flashlight revealed a burned-out fuse, which I promptly replaced
resulting in a running motor. A quick
trip to the NAPA store netted a brand new 22-inch wiper blade to replace the
shredded 18-incher found with the other parts.
I sent Frank a short video of the operating wiper explaining that I did
not want him to think I was just goofing off here and got a laugh out of him. I guess he had not looked at the latest
delivery expense spreadsheet I sent him.
Mary had an even more productive
day; she got the laundry done after a number of trips back and forth to the
laundry room down the looong ell-shaped pier, but having spent so little time helping
there, I cannot give as complete a description of events as in the case of the
wiper.
Tonight, we went to one of two
acceptable dining out establishments here in town, the Red Barn, where we both
ordered the fillet mignon, yum. We have
decided to pace ourselves with lunch out followed by a snack at night and
dinner out the next day preceded by a light lunch on the next day. Must watch our girlish figures.
Oh! The big news here is that tomorrow is
MEATLOAF day at the Simply Delicious Bakery and Café out near Walmart. Attendance mandatory, then a food coma
nap. The delivery captain life is rough.
