September 7-11, 2018 Lake Erie & Detroit, Michigan.
September 7, 2018:
Departed Toledo, Ohio at 7:15 am with a destination of Detroit, Michigan. It was to be a nine hour run for fifty nautical miles. The wind was from the Northeast with three foot short period waves directly on the bow. No chance to sail as I motored along. About an hour later, the engine rpms slowed to half speed as the boat took a pounding from the waves. Weather reports were predicting bad weather for the weekend in to next Monday with seven foot seas possible on Lake Erie. It was my last day on this lake and I was not turning back to Toledo. I finally made it to the Detroit River. It was nice to be off Lake Erie. The river was calm but I was motoring upstream against a one mph current. I reached Kean’s Marina in Detroit at 7:30 pm. By then, Katrina’s engine speed had slowed to three mph. I’m hoping it’s just a fuel problem.
September 8, 2018:
Took an Uber to Dearborn Village in the morning. Destination was The Henry Ford Museum. The museum was set up with different themes. It’s well done and has something for everyone. It took most of the day to tour the museum. The highlight of the museum for me was to sit in Rosa Parks seat she refused to give up on the bus that made her famous. The museum had the restored bus on display. I had planned to go back on Sunday to tour Dearborn Village, next to the museum, as well as tour the Ford factory where they assemble F-150 trucks but engine trouble on Katrina took up most of the day and I will have to have a mechanic fix the engine on Monday. Remnants of Tropical storm Gorda is blowing through the region. I discovered I have to type facing the bow of the the boat to avoid the nausea when the boat is rocking. Kind of like getting car sick when reading in a moving vehicle.
September 9, 2018, Sunday:
Lots of wind and rain. Spent the day working on the diesel engine and was not successful in getting it running. Also the fresh water pump for the kitchen and bathroom sinks quit working and could not be fixed. Just one of the days!
September 10, 2018 Monday: I took refuge in the laundry room this morning at the marina because it was warm, had a table, and electrical outlets to charge my electronics. I was being careful not to run the batteries down on the boat until the engine was fixed. It being Monday morning, I started calling around to all the marinas looking for a diesel mechanic that could help me. Not a single marina had a mechanic available for at least two weeks. An older gentleman, “Nick” came in to the laundry room to sweep the floor. He overheard my conversation and ask me if I was stuck here. I explained the situation and he immediately called a friend that works on diesel engines. The mechanic told me what to do over the phone and if that didn’t work, he would come down the next day to fix the engine. It took most of the day, but I finally got the engine running again thanks to the wonderful advice I got from the diesel mechanic. I will cross Lake St. Clair on September 11 and spend the night in Algonac, MI.
September 11, 2018 Tuesday:
Installed a new fresh water pump, topped off the fuel tank, and headed across Lake St. Clair. My destination was six hours away to Algonac, Michigan. The Harbor Club Marina is next to the former Chris-Craft boat factory. The lake was calm with light winds. I stayed in the channel with all the freighter traffic and enjoyed the warm, sunny day. The water on the lake is almost a turquoise blue. I arrived at the Harbor club on the St Clair River and settled in for the night after visiting Kroger’s Supermarket for supplies.
Roblgreatloop 