Yesterday we made our way from the Visitor’s Center in the Dismal Swamp Canal to Elizabeth City where we are now. We left the Visitor’s Center dock at 7:15. It was pretty chilly with a low mist on the water.
Along the way, we motored through some of the most magnificent scenery you will find anywhere on the ICW. 
This is where we first saw Bald Cypress, the sort of tree that grows in the swamps. They have the distinctive “knees” roots that stick up around the base of the trees. I guess that means we are now really in the south. The view was spectacular.
Our trip through the two locks at either end of the canal were uneventful. The very pleasant lock tender Robert, was as helpful as always. We entered the first lock, the Deep Creek lock, to begin our 8′ lift into the canal. 
The gate was closed and the water rushed in. 
Here we are “all risen” and ready to go. 
It seems that it is part of human nature to measure. This list in the canal tells visitors how far they are from nearly everywhere. Only 1,087 miles to go to Miami!
Brenda did a great job in handling Pandora in the locks. Perhaps it was the flowers.
As we came through the lift bridge into Elizabeth City we were treated to a display of perhaps the greatest “big boy toy” I have ever seen. A massive crane that was dropping this huge metal thing into the water, over and over again. It seems that they are crushing an old bridge foundation. Here’s the crane preparing for a “drop”. 
And, the drop… I want to do that… I’d probably wet myself as I pushed the button to let her rip. 
OK, enough about yesterday, so it’s now Saturday morning. I have to think about that for a moment as the days do run together, and all is well on Pandora. The sun is up and we are on a dock which means that it’s warm in the cabin. Unfortunately, the diesel heater has been on the fritz for much of our trip from Annapolis. It seems that the “overheat sensor” failed and that means that it thinks that it’s too hot to run. Ha!!! NOT. It’s frigging cold actually. Anyway, we were warm last night as we tied up to a dock and plugged in our little electric heater.
While the last few days have been pretty chilly, in the 40s at night, with last night dipping into the 30s, the next week promises to rise to meteoric highs of 50s at night and 70s during the day. No, that’s not too hot by “southern standards”, but it’s warm enough to get by without a real heater and unplugged from a dock.
Spending time on docks isn’t something that we do often as the cost can really add up at docks where fees often run as much as $3-$4 a foot per night. However, the dock we are on here in Elizabeth City run $35 per night for any size boat that can fit and that includes electric. Low dock prices are the norm here as the town let’s visitors stop at the town dock for FREE for two nights, and they throw in a cocktail party, again for free. “Stop at Elizabeth City on our free dock and we’ll buy you a beer, or two.” In exchange they will give you a sales pitch on why you should spend some money in town while you are here. It’s hard to compete with FREE so the local dock prices are pretty low.
Along with the free beer and wine at the town docks each night, each lady aboard is presented with a rose from the town garden. The nice folks who present the roses, mostly retired men, are real southern gentlemen are thus nicknamed the “rose buddies”. You can read about our first experience with Elizabeth City in this post from last year when we came through town.
That’s all great but the thing that has made our visit to EC this year all the more remarkable is the gentleman that visited us yesterday to work on Pandora’s engine.
You may recall that I had lots of work done on Pandora’s engine over the summer up in Deep River CT. I had this work done as the engine had 3,500 hundred hours on the clock and had not been really worked over since we purchased the boat seven years ago. With this in mind I gave them the charge to take apart, check and replace whatever they recommended so that she was fit for another long run to the Bahamas and back. If you have been following this blog, the results were not as good as I had hoped.
Over the last few weeks aboard the engine developed leaks of nearly every sort of fluid an engine can leak. “So, Bob, tell us what sorts of fluids an engine can leak?” Thanks for asking. The engine started leaking salt water from the intake water hose on the new raw water pump. That was the easy one as it was a loose hose clamp on the hose. “Easy” is a relative term as had it slipped off, and it was plenty loose, water would have been rushing into the bilge at an alarming rate. It’s a 1 1/2″ hose. Luckily, I caught it before it slipped off entirely.
Second, an I have to number them as the list is long. Second, the new oil pressure sensing switch was leaking oil. Not a lot, but enough to make a mess in the pan under the engine. That was new since the engine was worked on too.
Third, the fuel lift pump, was leaking. This pump delivers the fuel to the high pressure pump. It has a cover plate with six or so screws. Apparently, several of these were loose and fuel was leaking from around the seal. Annoying and messy but not a huge leak.
Fourth, and this was a big one, it seems that the high pressure hoses from the fuel pump had not been properly seated when they were put back on after the injectors were checked and replaced. These metal hoses carry fuel from the injector pump to the four injectors to run the engine. In a diesel engine fuel is delivered to the cylinders at something like 2,500 pounds per square inch. That’s a lot of pressure and if the fittings are not put in place perfectly, the fuel leaks out.
Well, after leaving Essex I began to notice that there was a small amount of fuel finding it’s way into the pan under the engine. Not a lot but after running for 30 hours getting to Annapolis, the leaks began to get worse. I noticed the accumulating fuel but there wasn’t much. However, that changed by the time we made our way down to Hampton as it was now a lot of fuel, perhaps a cup after a few hours of motoring. I was told by the mechanic, Dave, yesterday that these sort of injector leaks tend to get worse each time the engine heats up and runs. If the compression fittings are not set properly, they leak more and more each time they heat and cool.
I guess he was right as the leaks had gotten pretty bad and as the fuel ran down the side of the engine I could see it smoking a bit. I tried to tighten things along the way myself but wasn’t able to do anything to help improve things. So, two days ago, as we were making our way from Hampton through the Dismal Swamp, I made a reservation at a marina in Elizabeth City to have the engine worked on.
Enter “Dave the Mechanic” who dropped everything to come and work on Pandora. He spent over five hours tracking down the leaks, all of which seem so straight forward now, but believe me, finding them was not a simple feat. Diesel fuel is very viscous and as it runs down the engine, tracking where it came from is very difficult as it wicks everywhere on it’s way down to the bilge. Anyway, after many false starts and restarts, we finally identified the “leaks” and there were a number of them.
I won’t belabor the point “Sorry Bob, too late”, but after 5 1/2 hours we did a final check by running the engine and checking and rechecking for new fuel leaks, and were fairly confident that they were all resolved. I sure hope so as I am so tired of dealing with the anxiety of leaks getting worse and worse and the fear of loosing the use of the engine.
As the day was progressing and Dave ran out to get more tools and to the auto parts store for oil pressure switches and the like, I was getting anxious on what this whole deal was going to cost. Remember that I paid the marina in Deep River plenty over the summer and now I was paying someone else to redo their work.
So when Dave finished up at nearly 6pm I took a deep breath and asked him how much I owed him. He seemed to think about this for a long time. Long enough for me to fear what the number was going to be. Finally, after an interminable pause, he said “Make that $40.” My reaction was to say “are you kidding, you were here all afternoon”. His answer… “You saved me from working on my own boat and I just felt like being a good Samaritan today. You can pay me $40, including the cost of the oil pressure switch. That will be fair.”
My jaw dropped. And Brenda who was sitting in the cabin with us just stopped knitting and probably dropped a stitch, or two. I questioned him on this a number of times and his story didn’t change. I didn’t know what do to and as I reached for my wallet I was thinking “$40 for more than 5 hours of work. What’s that per hour?”
So, I got my wallet, pulled out two 20s and then another two. I approached Dave and said “Ok, here’s your $40 and I’d like to give you another $40 as a tip. That’s what I would really like to do as you put in a lot of time and $40 just isn’t enough. Ok?” He accepted the $40 and reluctantly agreed that he’d split the difference with me and took an additional $20. I couldn’t believe it. I also asked if I could buy him a case of beer to which he replied, “I haven’t had a drink in 25 years”. I was out of ideas on how to make this right.
So, it seems that Dave, like the guys who give roses to each women who comes to Elizabeth City by boat, is also a “buddy”, no make that a “motor buddy”. Hard to believe that such hospitality exists anywhere these days and it’s alive and well here in Elizabeth City, NC.
Epilogue: Brenda and I had a glass of wine after Dave left to consider what had happened (we have indeed had a drink, or two, in the last 25 years) we decided to go to the waterfront restaurant near the marina and who should we see sitting at a table having a nice steak but our “boat buddy” Dave. AHA! A chance to get even!!!
I pulled our waitress aside and told her that Brenda an I were buying Dave’s dinner.
Here’s a photo of Dave and our very nice waitress Jennifer, a recent transplant from New Orleans. It seems that Dave is a regular here.
All and all, an amazing day.
But wait, there’s more…
We were boarded by the coastguard too earlier in the day and happily we passed. Not with flying colors but we passed. It seems that I didn’t have the most current Coast Guard documentation documents for Pandora on board. I don’t know how that happened as I recall renewing it. Anyway, they let me off with a warning because I was “cooperative”.
Here come the Coasties.
Perhaps Dave let us off too because we were “cooperative”. I’ll never know.