Ship’s Log: Days 16-20
September 17 - 21, 1999
Friday, Sept. 17
First thing in the morning, we went up to the motel and called a cab. The cab took us to the grocery store, the liquor store, and the auto parts store for filters and a gas station for five gallons of fuel. We were back on board by 9:30. We stored the provisions, changed fuel filters, added five gallons to the tank and kept five on deck as an emergency supply. A worker on the marina building project stopped by to collect $20 for overnight dockage. A bit expensive for a place to tie off and no services, but we needed to go ashore. By 10:15 we were underway and ready to leave the Ohio River and enter the Tennessee River.
It was another great day and we motored the 22 miles up the Tennessee River with the commercial towboats without incident. Most powerboats use the less industrial Cumberland River and the Barkley Lock and Dam route to avoid the longer lock wait time at the Kentucky Lake Lock, but the extra 20 miles of motoring for us would not offset the wait time at the lock, so we went up the Tennessee. We arrived at the lock at about 2:15 P.M. and found another powerboat waiting to lock through, in fact he had locked through with us on the second lock the day before. He had been waiting since noon. Our timing was lucky as we were in the lock with the powerboat within 45 minutes of our arrival. It was an interesting lock as we rose 57’ to Kentucky Lake. The lock has floating bollards, so handling the boat was easy as compared to the day before. When the lockmaster filled the 110’x660’ chamber with 57’ of water, it boiled!
When we emerged on the up side, we were in a different world. After two weeks of being on the rivers with mostly commercial barge traffic, suddenly we were back in the world of pleasure boating. On Kentucky Lake we saw sailboats sailing, we saw water skiers, we saw houseboats and there were marinas. Unfortunately, KY Lake Sails Marina didn’t have room for us, so we took a slip at Kentucky Dam Marina. We topped off the tank with 10.6 gallons of gas and by 5:00 P.M. we were docked. The powerboat that had locked through with us the last two days was in the slip next to us. He was from the Chicago area and headed south also. Ron and I ate aboard, cleaned up and had a leisurely evening.
The big rivers portion of the trip was over. It was great and I really enjoyed going where few boaters and darn few sailboats travel. The Missouri was by far the most interesting river. River travel is a bit remote as there is little opportunity to go ashore and few services, but it is ”the road less traveled” if one desires that path.
Saturday, Sept. 18
This was a day to catch up on boat work. Ron and I stayed at the slip and gave Telesis a good cleaning. We scrubbed the decks and hull, vacuumed the interior and generally cleaned up things. Teletubbie also got a good cleaning. Ron scrubbed all the fenders (for you non-boaters, those are not the covers over wheels, but the vinyl bumpers used to protect the sides of boats from docks, locks, etc.) The fenders were very dirty from the lock walls.
That afternoon we made a $5 contribution to the courtesy car fund and used the marina’s huge old Ford station wagon to go into town to run errands. Ron got a new battery put in his watch, we got groceries, I picked up more fuel filters and stainless steel bolts to make repairs on Telesis before we have the mast stepped (put up) on Monday. Our trip was not complete as we found ourselves in a dry Kentucky county and we were very low on beer. The nearest place to by booze of any kind was 30 miles back in Paducha, out of the authorized range for us to travel with the old Ford courtesy car. We returned to the boat and I spent several hours getting my logs caught up on the computer. I keep daily notes in my planner, then write my logs from the notes.
Late afternoon, a J-9.2 sailboat competing in the big lake wide regatta hosted out of the KY Sails and Lighthouse Marina that weekend took the slip next to us. They were talking about making a beer run so I asked them to bring us back a supply, which they did. The beer problem was resolved.
Also that weekend, the Grand Lakes Yacht Club was having big doings at the Kentucky Dam Marina. Grand Lakes is a social yacht club of almost all stink pot owners (powerboats) from various marinas around the lake. They have had some blow boat members (sailboaters) in the past, but none at present. They were a very friendly group and a number of them stopped by to chat, give advice on our route, caution us about hurricanes in the gulf, etc.
As there were no restaurants nearby, we grilled pork chops and dined aboard.
Sunday, Sept. 19
We awoke to yet another bright and sunny day, warm with only a slight breeze. Our first task was to reinforce the stem plate (where the fore stay attaches to the hull). I fabricated a backer plate out of heavy gauge aluminum plate I had on board and then attached it with stainless steel bolts. The mast was now ready to be stepped. I’ve decided to go ahead and raise the mast now as all fixed bridges from Kentucky Lake to the Gulf have a minimum of 52 feet and with the low water, probably more. I need 45 feet to clear safely, so Telesis will become a sailboat much sooner than in my original plan. There are some draw bridges and swing bridges, mostly on railroads that I will have to have opened to pass through, but not many.
We departed the marina about 11:00 A.M. and motored south. We passed through the racing fleet of sailboats and passed near the committee boat, exchanging greetings. Unfortunately for the racers there was little wind and it was hot. It reached 90 degrees that afternoon. We only traveled a short distance to mile mark 41 and dropped anchor in Burnett Bay just after 2:00 P.M. We have an appointment Monday morning at Harbor Hill Marine near mile mark 45 to get the mast stepped. We hoped we could hear the Chiefs/Broncos football game on the radio, but ended up with the Titans/Browns game, which gave occasional updates on the Chiefs. We swam and floated some to cool off. Dinner aboard and to the bunks.
Monday, Sept. 20
We awoke, had breakfast and were underway by 7:45 A.M., and arrived at Harbor Hill Marine Services just before 9:00 A.M. We were put into the travel lift well and did our prep work to get the mast ready. We were ready to be stepped by 10:30 A.M., but this is a marina and it is in Kentucky, and they do things at their own pace, so about 1:30 P.M. they moved in to raise the mast. In the meantime, we talked with a crewmember from a 50-foot or so powerboat that was on the hard (out of the water on blocks), awaiting parts. It seams the owner was at the helm, traveling at pretty good speed and failed to notice the charts indicated low water with abandoned structures. It is thought he hit the foundation of an old house, destroying his starboard prop, shaft, and transmission. They have been there for a week trying to get parts. The bill is expected to be more than $10,000 to get underway again. Stink potters!
With the mast stepped, but not tuned or ready for sails, we departed Harbor Hill about 3:30 P.M. and motored south with a brisk following wind from the north. I’m surprised at hoe excited I am to have the mast upright like a real sailboat! Boy, I wish we had sails, but we need to get Ron to mile 115 to meet a bus to Nashville on Wednesday so he can catch a flight on Thursday, so we push on. At 6:30 P.M. we dropped anchor at mile 63 near Fort Heiman. Anchored nearby was what appeared to be a homemade plywood trimaran, but not close enough to communicate.
For dinner, we had grilled salmon, corn-on-the-cob and salad. As this was Ron’s last night of river travel, I opened the bottle of Oban single malt scotch that Shane, my son, had given me as a bon-voyage gift and we sampled it neat and toasted Telesis. In the night it stormed and rained, but the anchor was secure and we slept well.
Tuesday, Sept. 21
We were up and underway by 8:15 A.M. The weather was cool, in the low 50s with clouds and lots of wind from the north. Fortunately the rain held off, but it was still a foul weather gear day. Too bad we didn’t have our sails on yet as it would have been a fast run down wind, but we motored instead. Once again, the engine shut down when the inline fuel filter plugged, but a quick change to a new filter fired it right up again. At some point all that crude in the tank has to be cleaned out. At about 5:00 P.M. we docked at Cuba Landing Marina which is at mile mark 115 on the Tennessee River in central Tennessee where I-40 Highway crosses the river. We had covered 52 miles on the day. By the afternoon, the sun was out, but still cool and windy.
That evening Bob and Cheri Sharkey and Bobby Wolfe arrived at the marina. Ron and I cleaned up and we all went to dinner that evening. Ron and I returned to sleep on the boat and the others stayed at a nearby resort.
Upon returning to the boat I noticed a problem with the 12-volt electrical system. After some investigation, I decided to turn the system off for the night and tackle the problem in the morning.