May 15, 2010

It is a beautiful morning to make the annual trip down the Connecticut River to our summer port at Pier 65 in Westerly, Rhode Island. We departed at 0700 from Yankee Boat Yard with our friend Phil who also joined us last year.

Our trip was non eventful until we got to Long Island Sound, set sail and could not shut the engine down. We lost power to the engine panel. We kept the engine running at idle and sailed to Rhode Island. We had a clear day with winds 5 - 10 knots and seas 1 - 2 feet. We arrived at Pier 65 at 15:30 and once back at the dock, we investigated what was causing the problem. The problem seemed to be with the parallel system and the house batteries which was fixed by cleaning up a couple of connections.

In the process of fixing the engine panel, we noticed some loose engine mounts. And after tightening them, we now have a much smoother running engine and happier cutless.

The problem was fixed without too much effort.

We had to sit back and enjoy a reward after everything was done -- and, we were quite pleased with the result. For now, all is well.

We are now officially ready to start the 2010 Sailing Season!