Day 2 of river

Today did not go as well as yesterday. We started with a temp of 27. Before  we got started we wrapped the end of the mast with some foam to protect it if we bumped the side of the locks as we go in and out.  About 7:45 a.m. we headed down river. When we got to lock 8, we had to idle for about a hour as a barge came through, going up river. After we got through, the engine's over-temp buzzer went off. We found some river grass in the raw water strainer. The engine uses river water to cool the engine. We started up again and a little farther down the buzzer went off a second time. We checked a few things out but could not find out why it was over heating. The 3rd time after pulling more apart we found out we had no water coming in from the river. Fixed that, problem solved, we thought.

Off to the next lock, the huge cruiser that passed us yesterday passed us again, but we caught up with him at lock 9. We pulled up and chatted with them as we waited about 45 minues for another barge to get though the lock going down river. After we got out of the lock Dave hit the throttle, and we barely got going. The buzzer went off again. Grrrrr we had only idled a short time. So Dave tore everything back open to get to the engine and turns out it was plugged at the valve coming into the boat. At this point we had lost a lot of time digging weeds out of the engine, so we fired up the outboard motor and I headed down river, as Dave got the port unplugged again. Somebody needs to clean up the weeds in the river.

I got the 10 horse outboard motor to push the boat to 7.7 MPH. The main motor is 19 horse. After dave got done we started the motor back up, let it cool down for few minutes, and ran both motors. I think we got the boat to 9.5 or 9.7 MPH running both full out.  It was getting late and we were not sure if we would get to our stop before dark. I got the flood light and spot light wired up to use. After that the cabin looked like a bomb had gone off. So I spent some time repacking everything. At one point we caught up with the barge we waited for in lock 9. So Dave passed him inside on a corner. Dave said when you race, that is how you pass. Finally at about 6:00 as it was getting dark we got to Marquette, IA and met our friends Chuck and Deeanna at the dock. They took us out for dinner at the casino in Marquette.  Another dinner we did not have to cook, yay. 

Another long but good day.