Sunday, April 24, 2016

Charleston at Tolers Cove Marina - at a dock

Passing through Charleston Harbor is always an adventure, dodging racing sailboats
The night at Steamboat Creek was perfectly calm, what a great anchorage. We didn't have far to go so we were the last one out of the anchorage although there was only two boats counting us there. There's room for at least a hundred boats and yet it's very well protected.

We could have a flower garden like this too if that's all I did all summer
We couldn't get into the Charleston Maritime Center so we went on to Tolers Cove Marina. It's just before the Ben Sawyer bridge, just off the ICW. The marina serves the associated condos but they do rent out a few slips to transients for the best price in the area, $1.27/ft and that includes electric too. They also offer free rides to the nearby supermarkets. Ann likes Harris Teeter so it was off for provisions in the afternoon.

I've been putting off looking at the impeller. It lives inside the raw water pump and if that stops working either the boat stops or the engine overheats with disastrous results. It had not been replaced for a couple of years so I was a little concerned but not concerned enough to look before now. When I took it out, it actually didn't look that bad, just a tear on one vane but no vanes missing so no hunting down the cooling path to fine any missing parts, a relief. Now I'm good for another two years but I think I'll look at it more often, probably.

The view off the back of our boat tonight
The Ben Sawyer bridge closes from 7:00 am to 9:00 am during the week so we have to get out of the marina by 6:30 to make the bridge opening or else wait for two hours, we'll make an early start instead. We aiming for Georgetown, 52 Nm north and will have good tide for all the shallows, yeah!

2 comments:

Janice Roehr said...

We found out this year that the Raw Water Pump should be checked periodically too. That's what failed last fall with subsequent salt water mixing with the oil and all through the engine. Insurance didn't pay either - because they said (even after metallurgic testing) that it wasn't caused by electrolysis, but by something called MIC (Micrological induced corrosion) .Even the Marina, a Yanmar Dealer and specialist said he'd never heard of such a thing. Bottom line, it failed, causing considerable damage to the engine which resulted in a complete rebuild costing big $$$. We are telling everyone we can about this, as sometimes the Raw Water Pump isn't in a place that's easily accessible.
Anyway, enjoying following your trip north. Those flowers are such a welcoming sight. We are just starting to see some blooms here in RI/MA.
Janice

Bob423 said...

Janice, I left my boat for two months in Florida while we came home for the holidays a couple of years go. Upon returning and starting south thr water pump started to leak through the bearings. At the time I had a spare raw water pump on board and replaced it. I was lucky that I had no engine damage, no evidence of water intrusion in the oil). I never heard of the type of corrosion you described. You would win if you escalated to the president of the company. In these days of social media, companies do not want that type of publicity. However, they seldom cave in at the first ruling, in my experience.you have to be persistent.

Luckily, my raw water pump is right on the front of the engine, easily accessible, as is the impeller.