August 08-09, 2000 -- Generator Woes to Dinner and a Movie

August 8-9, 2000 -- Generator Woes to Dinner and a Movie We left bright and early to head back to Annapolis from Baltimore. It was a good, fast and windless trip. On the way, I made several phone calls to try and find a replacement belt. We thought we hit pay dirt at Viking Boat Supply. They said that carried an appropriately sized belt in stock! After we dropped anchor, I went into town to get a new belt for our generator. Viking boat supply, who claimed they had them, didn't. They recommended going to Bay Shore Marine. On my way there, I called Fisher Panda and ordered 3 belts. I had them overnighted just in case I couldn't get one from Bay Shore. While Bay Shore Marine did not have any belts, they were kind enough to have NAPA deliver a belt. While I waited, I called Mike on the radio. He told me that the generator had not blown a belt as he had thought, but had a blocked sea water intake as I had thought. The generator was working, and cooling the boat (thank god!) The moral of this story is simple: Verify your problem before assuming. We both said that we should test fire the generator in the morning after it cooled down. A quick test fire would tell us if water was flowing out the exhust, without removing the sound shield. In fact, we repeated that several times. Unfortunately, I was in such a rush to get the replacement belt that I rushed off the boat without testing it. I headed back to the boat and we relaxed for the rest of the day. In the evening, in preparation for tomorrow, we dropped the dinghy since it was somewhat cooler out and the probability of thunderstorms was minimal. On August 9, we dropped the dinghy off to get it serviced since the bilge pump float switch had been installed improperly and was not serviceable. While we could have corrected this, the dinghy is less than 6 months old and we felt strongly that the bilge pump and float switch should be installed to be serviceable. Inflatable Experts agreed, and also agreed to fix the problem under warranty. After we dropped the dinghy off, we returned to the boat and spent a quiet day waiting for thunderstorms that never materialized. In the evening, we had Bob and Mona from Mutual Fun over for dinner. They brought along a movie. It was an enjoyable evening and the movie "Something about Mary" had us in stiches