Arrived at Pier 33 Marina in St Joseph Michigan Friday night around 8pm. One of our shore power cords looked like one of the prongs was blackened/burnt 😳. Connected another cord and got reverse polarity lights😖. After messing with some cords and other power pedestals we determined that one of the outlets on our slips pedestal was wired incorrectly. Switched to an alternate outlet on a neighboring pedestal and finally got the power up and fridge running. Got beds made up, heater plugged in, Riva fed, water system un-winterized and finally sat on the aft deck and watched the boats passing before heading to bed.
Saturday began with COFFEE! Actually, for Renee the morning started with a loud pop sound coming from the bathroom followed by the sound of water spraying 😬. After shutting the water system off, it was coffee before plumbing repairs. Neither one of us slept very well so it took a few to get motivated. Not to mention how serene it feels just sitting on the back of the boat watching the boats going in and out. Erik repaired the bathroom plumbing then got everything unloaded from the car, set up our new toilet, and started un-winterizing the heat pumps. He had tried to turn the heat on while Renee was still sleeping and had found that the seacocks had small cracks. First was an attempt to repair one of water pumps for the heat pumps that had broken when we winterized. The Marina had a repair kit but it didn’t work on our very old, original pump. Ended up replacing the pump at Wolf’s Marine (huge boating supply place….boaters paradise!). The other issue was now the cracks in both seacock valves. Fortunately they are not leaking with valves closed, but we can’t use heat or A/C until they are replaced. The Marina said they can get them replaced during the coming week. Erik could replace them but a little scary opening up a hole in the bottom of the boat while it’s in the water 😳. Renee worked on unpacking, opening bags of stored towels, blankets, etc, and general cleaning. She also put on her tech hat to connect our nebo link that will track our travels and allow family and friends to see where we are in real time.
https://trackme.nebo.global/?link= T7C60YX9ABV41X12MAT1HI2O1I
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| Cracked seacocks 😭 |
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| Another sunset on the water(note our looper flag back up😎) |
Spent some time putting bimini tops up and installing fly bridge enclosure panels. We were famished because lunch consisted of chips and snack cakes (bread was moldy 😒). We went to Clementines for a yummy dinner of Perch for Erik and Thai chicken pasta for Renee, YUM! Off for a quick run to Lowe’s and Meijer to pick up a few things and back to the boat. When we got back to the boat we spent some time relaxing on the aft deck listening to live music from “On The River Tavern” and watched the boats coming and going on the very busy St Joseph River. The Buffet’ish cover band was not great but did supply some entertainment.
After a much better night of sleep Saturday night we awoke to a beautiful morning. Our usual coffee(of course!) started the day and after we started up engines, checked all systems, showered then went out into the lake for a shake down cruise. It was a calm and beautiful morning! This is what it’s all about 😍. Boat ran great, but transmission was still leaking a little (we had it removed and all seals replaced earlier in the year) and needed to add a little oil to bring things up to full after the fluid changes. Newly conditioned and pitched props worked great, and the lake was perfect 🤩
We finished up several odd jobs, made lots of lists, and Renee did some shopping on Amazon 😳. Erik grilled some delicious steak and salmon. After dock walking and visiting with other fellow boaters we returned to our aft deck for some much better live music and boat watching ❤️
