We headed out Friday afternoon to Beau Rivage, one of our favourite Parks Canada islands just off Gananoque. We weren't really sure that we had everything we needed but headed out anyway, knowing that the trusty dinghy could run home in 5 minutes for anything we'd forgotten. What we didn't know was that we wouldn't even make it to Beau Rivage. As we passed the lighthouse just west of Gan, one engine sputtered and quit - as I worked to restart it, the other one died. I could get the engines to run with lots of throttle but as soon as I backed off the throttle and shifted into gear they died again. We were quite close to Beau Rivage and could see boats of friends docked there. A few calls on the VHF raised no response so we considered dropping anchor since we were beginning to drift into the channel.
Just then friends from Beau, G & B, out for a 'toot' in their tender, came along and offered to tow us to the park dock. Once situated there we began to troubleshoot the problem. It was evident that there was a gas supply problem, since neither engines nor the generator would run, but we weren't sure whether it was a clogged filter or maybe water in the gas. Secured at the dock and among friends it seemed time to relax (the fridge was still working!!) and leave the solution 'til morning when it would be cooler in the engine compartment (it was about 30 degrees here on Friday). The portable Honda geni was fired up to refresh the batteries.
We were right about not being totally prepared for this first trip. Among those things lacking were a complete tool kit and adequate spare parts. However (aside from some good-natured ribbing) the comraderie among boaters is such that a quick trip to town with DP enabled us to get what we needed. All fuel filters were replaced and, it would appear, problem solved. Both engines run like tops and the geni fired up and ran smooth as could be. Time to relax again and enjoy the gorgeous weekend.
Saturday afternoon I scooted over to the Golf Club to pick up m-in-law for the afternoon and supper. When it was time to take her back, guess what - - - the outboard on the dinghy wouldn't start. Again DP was pressed into service to ferry her home. A change of the spark plug solved that problem so I was OK to ferry in to town and back for church Sunday morning (even when the weather is nice, the church seems to want their organist there for services).
Sunday all things mechanical seemed to perform as expected so we enjoyed the afternoon (the thunderstorms never developed) and headed home at suppertime. It's a pig docking at our dock if there's any wind but with some adaptations of the dock and more experience in handling the new boat we'll be fine. We're already looking forward to getting out again next weekend. This time I'll have enough tools and spare parts to rebuild the engines.
btw - this was our first opportunity to use the new smart-phone (HTC Touch) to check email and access the internet (keeping up with TheSinger and PetDoc's blogs and other news). Can't say enough good things about the HTC Touch - we love it.
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