TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

This morning we left just after 7am to get an early start headed up the ICW, heading north to Brunswick. All went well until about 11am, when the engine alarm suddenly sounded. We immediately dropped the anchor and switched off the engine. Knowing it was an overheating problem, which we suspected since the engine was hot to the touch, we checked the incoming seawater filter, which was clear, and when we took off the water pump to check the impeller we found the inlet hose to be clogged up almost 80% with salt/calcium. We cleared that, checked the impeller which was fine, and then the thermostat, which looked OK. Suspecting the overheating problem had been caused by the partial blockage of the cooling water hose, we started the engine, and ran it for a few mintes, – all seemed fine, so we raised anchor and set off again on our jolly way. 5 minutes later the alarm again sounded, and we repeated the anchoring exercise.

At a loss what to do next, we called Towboat US (As a member of Boat US I took out the unlimited towing insurance – costs next to nothing and all towing is free). We waited until about 2:30 for them to arrive, and the two really friendly guys gave a us a tow all the way to Golden Isles Marina near Brunswick ( I had called earlier to make a reservation). Along the way we spotted aqn alligator walkinhg on the mudbanks, We went through quite a few tropical storms – lots of pelting rain, with me on the helm, being the only one wwith decent rain gear – big mistake! We arrived there after 6pm, but we had made good progress for the day in spite of everything. The tow would normally cost almost $1000, and it cost me zilch, zero – happy days!

As luck would have it the local mechanic was on call and nearby, so he pitched up at around 7 – a gem of a guy called Wayne – real Southern Hick (his own words). We gave him the whole story, and he started disconnecting some more of the water hoses leading from the pump to the block – one of them was totally blocked off. He cleared that and fetched an Infr-red thermometer from his toolbox. We started the engine and ran it under load for a while so he could take readings on the engine block. This time everything seemed to be running as expected – the overheating problem had been solved!

We each took a nice warm shower at the Marina facilities and had a great dinner at the restaurant and went to bed.