Oct 2019: Sea Trial to Captiva Island

TS Nestor Moved Quickly from the Southwest Caribbean & Into the Gulf
Towards Florida.  But Its Winds Stayed At or Below 50 MPH.

We took a break from boat business from 10-October to 15-October to enjoy a visit from daughter Suzanne…a friend’s wedding and copious amounts of wine were involved. It was a great family break.  During that time Rick was trying to decide between selling the boat and taking it out for a sea trial, with the latter winning out for now.  Besides, our local Grady-White boat club has scheduled a long weekend get-together at nearby South Seas Resort on Captiva Island, and that looked to be a good excuse and opportunity to wring out the systems.

So by Thursday, 17-October, we were back on the boat to prepare for the sea trial.  We packed and provisioned for a short three day jaunt and performed our usual pre-departure checks on Ghost Rider.  The weather forecast wasn’t particularly good for the coming weekend – actually it rather sucked.  A tropical depression was spooling up in the southwest Caribbean and would eventually become a named storm (Nestor), and head in the general direction of the Florida panhandle….just close enough to cause some nearby meteorological chaos, but nothing dangerous in our estimation.  At a minimum we thought our departure and return windows looked reasonably good, even if in between that wasn’t the case.

Our Track from Fort Myers to Captiva Island and Back

So on the morning of Friday, 18-October we steered Ghost Rider out of her mooring at Legacy Harbor – ever so slowly and carefully, paying very close attention to throttle behavior and response – and then chugged down river, across to Pine Island Sound and then north up the ICW to the tip of Captiva Island.  It was a short sortie, just over three hours to cover 25 NM to the South Seas Resort Marina.  We had overcast skies but warm and dry (albeit humid) conditions with a light southerly breeze from the south.  The bottlenose dolphins were plentiful and playful. During our wide open throttle (WOT) run towards the end of the short cruise, five of them flew formation on our starboard side for nearly ten minutes, with one adult in particular enjoying repeated leaps and side flops in the slipstream.  You’ll find one video link HERE (taken from the upper boat deck).  And another taken from closer to the fish and the water HERE.

The Dolphins Put On a Show for Us in Pine Island Sound

          

And the boat (and its new electronic throttle system) performed perfectly:  docking at the South Seas marina was mercifully boring.

Upon arrival we were met by good friends Bill and Terri from our Grady-White boat club, who had arrived the previous day in their gorgeous Marlin 300.  The remainder of the GW boat club contingent had cancelled out due to the deteriorating forecast, understandably so.  But the four of us enjoyed an excellent dinner at the marina’s Harbourside Bar & Grill, and then gathered on Ghost Rider for Goombay Ghost citrus rum drinks to conclude a good day.  As expected we got plenty of rain overnight and into Saturday morning, along with gusty winds from Nestor.  But by midday the storm’s rain bands had cleared out and allowed for some pool and beach time.  The ocean was all commotion (video link HERE). Unfortunately the strong southerly winds also brought a red tide algae bloom into the area, so we spent much of our remaining time in Ghost Rider’s air conditioned salon to avoid the respiratory impacts.  

Bill & Terri

A frontal passage dragged some more rain across the area early Sunday, 20-October, but that too cleared out rather quickly, and by 1130 we were back underway and heading back to our home port in Fort Myers. Winds continued to die down as the day progressed, with some sun peeking through a broken cloud layer, although the red tide aerosol lingered enough to tickle the throat.  The egress channel between the marina and the ICW was a little sporting at low tide, with barely a foot of water below the keel at one point, but we stayed off the bottom.  As expected, boat traffic was very light on the waterway and Ghost Rider continued to run well and without any issues throughout the warm and humid day.  Less than four hours after departure - punching into a current the whole way - we were back home at Legacy Harbour in Fort Myers, and the stern-in docking maneuver proceeded smoothly.

So overall the sea trial went well and the short journey was enjoyable.  It was a good reminder that the boating between breakages can be good fun.  Now to see how long that lasts.

Bill & Terri's Grady-White Marlin 300, Starship, Docked at South Seas.

Ghost Rider Docked Up at South Seas

The Gulf of Mexico Was a Boiling Mess Even Though Nestor Was a Good 200 Miles Away

Sep-Oct 2019: Maintenance Wrap-up

Ross & Jerry in Ghost Rider's Engine Room Working on
Installing the New Transmission Cable and the New
 ZF MicroCommander 9110 Brain Box.

We have noted before, and not without some humility and embarrassment, that experience can be a tough teacher.  And within that realm of education, that failure is the absolute best instructor.  Based just on failure frequency alone we're now thinking we should be at genius level by year end.

At 0815 on the morning of Friday, 27-September, Ross and Jerry of Classic Yacht Service showed up at the boat with a new throttle control brain box.  The ZF 9110 – the latest edition of the “MicroCommander Marine Propulsion Control System” – was identical in size and proportion to the old unit, so it dropped right in.  Jerry worked on attaching the small lead wires from each of the three throttle stations while Ross ran the new cable to the transmission.  Calibration of this unit is done with electronic programming vs. the old style dip switches, and that takes time and patience (as well as two people.)  But three hours later we were dock testing successfully.

After another inspection of the fly bridge throttle station we all agreed that it warranted a new replacement unit.  Ross’s normal supplier had a six week lead time (ZF bought Mathers years ago, thus it's mostly an overseas operation now), so Rick went hunting online and found one in Tennessee (through Marine Parts Source, LINK) and placed an order for the last one they had in stock.  The new 400 Series control head, a Mathers 453-3R, arrived via FedEx a few days later.  On Tuesday, 01-October Ross called to say he had found a sudden hole in his schedule, so that afternoon we rendezvoused at the boat, uninstalled the old fly bridge throttle, installed the new unit (with seven new crimp terminals and heat shrink sleeves), and got it all tested out. 

The New MicroCommander 9110 Brain Box.  In Addition to Upgraded Mother Board Electronics It Also Provides
an LED Digital Readout (Yellow Arrow) For Status & Error Codes.

The New Fly Bridge Throttle Control Station (Red Arrow).  It Isn't Easy to Access the Underside but We Found
Removing the Instrument Cluster Panel (Yellow Arrow) At Least Made That Possible.

Shortly thereafter Mike from Brightworks stopped by the boat to take a closer look at the port side rub rail damage.  As expected he was not very optimistic….it’s an extremely thick and heavy duty piece of stainless steel hardware; it will require special cutting tools to remove the damaged segments, and then it’s likely the replacement strips will need to be custom machined to fit.  We decided that was a job for a yard more experienced with the beefy build of the Nordhavn, so that will get deferred until we can get the boat back over to the east coast.  We'll discuss further with Yacht Tech in Palm Beach, but that will be a next year thing.  Rick spent a couple of hours each day during the first week of October sanding and polishing the deep scratches in the rub rail and was at least able to make it less ugly in the interim.

Accessing the Mid Bilge Drain is a Royal Pain,
But the Arrows Point to its General & Well
Hidden Location.

Amidst all the throttle system work we also encountered more standing water in the mid bilge area.  By this time Rick was getting thoroughly irritated.  The previous water leaks we had found and fixed were still fixed….no leaks from the new Whale fitting on the accumulator tank, ditto for the tightened water maker line on the water manifold.  But after once again tearing into that mid bilge area Rick did find an A/C condensate hose (from the pilot house unit) that was steadily dripping into that bilge cavity.  That part of the puzzle is actually normal – the issue had to be with a plugged limber hole or drain, preventing a flow back to the aft bilge (where the pumps are located.) 

It took some taxing boat yoga to locate, but eventually Rick found a plugged drain in that small bilge recess.  Fortunately and eventually we were able to snake a hose from the wet-dry shop vac down there and suck out the clogging debris.  If you look at the picture to the right, you can gain access to that drain via the removed panels noted by the yellow arrows -- from the top if you have five foot long arms, or from the backside if your arms and hands are less than two inches in diameter.

Yes, Seriously, There is a Drain Hidden in There.  How to Access It is Not At All Obvious or Easy.  Eventually We Were Able to Snake the Shop Vac Hose in There & Suck Out a Variety of Clogging Debris.

Next up is a sea trial....to test out the new throttle system components and find out if we broke anything else.  We'll cover that in the next blog.