After viewing the picture above you may be able to guess how we spent today. Our plan was to travel to Atlantic City today, just 40 miles of open ocean water, a mere 5 hour trip.
I pushed the starters on the engines at 9:30 and heard a familiar sound, RRR, RRR, RRR (very slowly), then click, click, click. The batteries were dead. I had noticed over the past two weeks that the engines were getting a little hard to turn over. I turned to Mo and said; "If we are going to have engine problems, being tied up at a dock is the right place for it to happen".
I hired Scott (pictured above), a local marine mechanic, to drive me down to the marine supply store. We purchased 4 new batteries and a new battery charger (the old charger was acting up in the Florida Key's last spring). Four hours later Scott had the new batteries and charger installed and the engines roared to life.
"Whatever It Takes" is powered by twin 350 HP, 8-71 Detroit Diesel engines. One of the nicknames for these engines is "Driptroit Diesels" referring to the powerplants' propensity for leaking oil on everything in or near the engine compartment.
The 2-Cycle engine powered most of the twentieth century's diesel-driven industrial history. By land or sea, in peace and at war, the Detroit 71 series diesel engines are considered the most reliable (and nearly indestructible) engines ever built.
Mo and I spent the evening driving around Cape May in a rental Kia. Cape May is a very pretty place with lots of vintage homes and many specialty shops. I wouldn't mind spending 3 or 4 days here.
Tomorrow morning we leave for Atlantic City in a boat powered by "Driptroit Diesels" with brand new batteries!
 |
| New batteries and charger. |
 |
| This poor bird was disappointed. |
 |
| Cape May lighthouse. |
 |
 |
| For the girls |
No comments:
Post a Comment