Those Pesky Engines!

December 10, 2017



It’s a beautiful chilly morning here in Florida and I’m loving it!

I was hoping it would be Mark posting this time but he’s been greased up fixing our engine. We launched Tarwathie December 6th and other than tightening up a seacock and a few other items, we were ready to go! When a boat sits for a while it’s not uncommon once launched to have issues surface that you wouldn’t otherwise see when it’s on the hard.

Our launch time was 8:00 a.m. and our plan was to work our way through the canals which is said to take approximately 90 minutes and then anchor for the night before going out through a lock that enters Charlotte Harbor. We needed a tide high enough to accommodate the draft on our boat which is 5 feet.



Bob and Alicia gave us a lovely send off as we had headed out with instructions in hand on the intricacies of going through the canal without going aground. The canals are very shallow and I had already seen a few alligators so I was doing my best to breath deeply and keep my center. Not only was I doing something I wasn’t that familiar with (operating a boat) but now I’m worrying about running aground and having alligators come out of the mangroves for breakfast. I know, it’s a bit dramatic but my mind couldn’t help but go there! Mark did not have those same concerns.

About 45 minutes into it, smoke appeared in the cabin and the engine shut down. We’re in this narrow channel which isn't that deep to begin with and quite shallow on either side with a boat that weighs 20,000 pounds.…HELP!! Mark remained so incredibly calm and went about looking for the problem while I was at the tiller. He tried the engine again, it started so we idled out of the Santa Cruz Canal to Interceptor Lake.

We spent 2 days in the lake and fortunately we were in a beautiful peaceful spot with a plethora of birds and wild life. Without boring you too much with the details, Mark worked on the engine, a diesel mechanic came out and also worked on it and thought we were good to go! The next morning we pulled up anchor and were on our way! As we approached the lock, the engine overheated… drat!  A storm was forecast with 20-25 MPH winds and not having a good working engine under those conditions was reason to return to the Marina where we launched.

We’ve been here since Friday and Mark has been greased up from head to toe and working hard to figure out the underlying problem. He’s ruled several things out but I’m wondering how much more could there be?

Our solar shower warmed up after a day in the sun.

Oh! I forgot to add that while we were anchored in the middle of the lake with our inoperative engine, we decided to take our Fatty Knees dinghy out for a row to free up some pent up energy. Upon getting it down which we hadn’t quite figured out a good system yet, we managed to punch a rather large hole in it. So, not only were we without and engine, we no longer had a viable dinghy. Just part of the adventure…

This is my little friend who greeted us the day we left and the day we returned. It's a Florida soft shell turtle and he has such a soulful face. I know, I'm anthropomorphizising but I believe animals have a soul. People must feed this little guy as he appears very tame. He captured my heart. ❤️