It has been more than a strange couple of days for us but somehow we are growing through them. Of course at our age, growing was not on our radar. We sat in Oriental a couple of days to slow ourselves down and enjoy the time to do some chores and walk a little of the town.
Greg worked tirelessly each day on changing impellers on both of the John Deer engines and on the Westerbeke generator. I would work updating inventory items, usual cleaning and maintenance and of course getting the boys some exercise.
The young couple two slips over had just purchased a 41 foot Hunter sailboat. This is their first boat ever and they were getting to experience what we all love about boats……there is always something that will break, stop working or on occasion just baffle you. Our hearts go out to these young adventurous ones as they were afraid to leave the dock, not sure which line to let go of first and how they would get a line off their stern that was out of their grasp. Greg offered his advice and helped to get them on their way. I am sure we will see them again down the ICW as they head to Fort Lauderdale to visit their family.
The morning following their departure, Greg and I would make our own exit and head for the anchorage near Camp Lejeune, Mile Hammock. As smoothly as the day was going, including our departure, something had to go wrong. Yes, we lost the generator. Okay not physically, but electrically it would not start. No sound of even an attempt to start. That meant no egg sandwich for breakfast, no toast, no reheating our coffee that we made while at the dock before departure.
Within moments Greg is below working on the generator trying to figure out the cause of something that just yesterday was turning on and humming like a champ. I would stay at the helm and maneuver our way down the ICW with a couple of sailboats and large shrimp boats coming in from Cape Lookout. Greg busily worked and worked but nothing was happening. We were approaching Moorehead City when we decided the best thing we could do would be to get a slip there and call a Westerbeke technician as there was literally nothing else Greg knew to do.
There was a storm approaching and the docking was done in a full downpour as the radar would show the band of storms right over us. When we were all tied up Greg realized there was no electrical hook up at our dock. The dock hand came out with a cart full of cords and attempted to get us power but the rain was so bad we decided to wait until that slowed. Once the storm had subsided we were able to get 30 amp power and that was enough to at least keep the batteries charged and allow us to use our single induction cooktop burner to heat some soup and make grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.
Along the way during the day Greg had talked with the prior owner of Paradigm Shift (Sauvy B) and Robert, while not at home, was offering from his memory what he could and promised to call when he returned home later in the evening. When that call came we were all exhausted from a stressful day, but Robert was ready for Greg to try a few things and off he went back into the engine room. He came back upstairs deflated. Nothing. Not even the sound of a click or anything. Then Robert would have him try something else. Greg and I were losing our hope as when we called a local generator company about getting a technician they said sometime late December they could get to us. Robert was our only hope and honestly we could not be more grateful that our prior owner still takes our calls. He knows this boat like no other and when he got home and looked at drawings and schematics, he was able to have Greg bypass a certain relay that would prove to be our issue. The next thing I heard from below was the always wonderful sound of a generator turning over. Greg called Robert and shared the results and with that they agreed on next steps to get us back underway. This morning as I write, we will be attempting that last bit of work and hopefully be back in full operation mode. I am not sure what we would have done if not for the relationship with our prior owners. Robert and Carolyn if you happen to read this…..Thank You!