The Gremlins

The gremlins are still with us in the navigation and autopilot systems.  They have been 'fixed' four times....  Whenever we get underway everything works for about 30-45 minutes and the systems fails again.  I understand the boat had battery problems in the past that the pros fell may be contributing to the issues.   So far we have lost four cruising days and we will be here in port for at least another two days awaiting Raymarine technical help.  We are in a beautiful marina (Harborwalk Marina & Yacht Club, Hitchcock, TX) that is the middle of nowhere.  Fortunately my son Sean and his family were able to drive down Saturday for a very pleasant family visit.  Sunday Sean came back with granddaughter Katie.  They took Sue into Galveston for provisioning and some West Marine necessities. I stayed behind to change the fresh water pump and fix a leak in the dinghy, etc.. I think you can tell that Sue and I are frustrated  with the electronic issues and the loss of cruising days. We are missing a great weather window for travel that may upset our plans to be in New Orleans for Christmas.

Enough of that. When we are able to be underway we truly enjoy our trawler.  The visability from both the flybridge and pilothouse is fantastic.  The wildlife is pleantiful and the amount commercial barge traffic is unbelievable.  Some of the barges are huge which makes passing very interesting.  The Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway is very narrow and you don't dare venture outside 'the ditch' due to very shallow water just outside the boundaries.  We had to wait 45 minutes at one of the locks that was closed for maintenance.  They finally opened one door to allow small boats to pass.  That tells you something if we are 43' in length and considered small.  Later we were boarded by the Coast Guard and the Brazos County Police for a 'safety inspection'.  Besides checking for our required safety equipment they pulled up floorboards and looked in lockers.  They checked our papers and called in our license numbers for a security check.  The lock issue and the boarding delayed our arrival in Freeport, TX until after dark which added a new twist to our adventure.

The temperature got down to 38 degrees last night but the wind finally died down. Today we will move over to the fuel dock to take on fuel and a pump out while we wait for thetech to show up tomorr

Enough for now.  Y'all stay vertical.

Capt John aboard DEBRIEF.