An Eventful Saturday

After a nearly perfect day Driving Miss Daisy to Hull, we planned to visit Gloucester for the first time on Saturday.

While Mrs. Horne and Daisy slept in, I began planning the voyage. I had booked Cape Ann because it was the homeport for Wicked Tuna.

I later realized it was a mile from downtown, but it was too late to change. On Saturday morning, I discovered another little wrinkle – something called the Bascule Bridge.

Hmm, 38’ wide meant about 10’ on either side for Amazing Grace. I messaged the marina and asked for more information.

They replied:

No problem! The bridge operates 24/7 on demand via VHF 13. The river side traffic has the right of way to enter the harbor before harbor side vessels can enter the river. The bridge itself is 38 wide and at mean low tide has about 6 of water. Between tides there can be around 3-4 knots if current so we recommend boats go through at a safe headway speed.

Double hmm, a narrow, shallow channel with a 3-4 knot current – what could possibly go wrong?

Then, I did a little more research on the bridge and found an excellent aerial photo.

I flashed back on my similar apprehensions before we ventured under the Alford Street Bridge in Boston, which turned out fine. I said to myself, “Suck it up, Buttercup,” and waited for Mrs. Horne to wake up.

No Stern Thruster!

We shoved off around 9:30. With little space between the face dock and the breakwater; I attempted to pull straight off the dock to port with an eye toward exiting on the east side.

I immediately noticed that the stern was not moving. I concluded that we had no stern thruster and started manipulating the throttles and the bow thruster to move us away from the dock.

Within thirty seconds, I was far enough off the dock to inch my way out of the narrow channel.

I kept attempting to fire off the stern thruster as I crawled out of Hull Bay, but no luck.

The display panel had an odd error warning:

Mrs. Horne joined me in the flybridge, and I told her, “I’m not comfortable going to Cape Ann Marina without a stern thruster. I think it’s a tricky approach.”

“Do you want to go back to the dock?” She asked.

“Too tight,” I said. “I’ve never docked this boat without a stern thruster; I need more space to maneuver. How about Marina Bay; can you call Mitchell and see if he has a straight dock?”

Meanwhile, I texted everyone I knew who might have an idea about how to fix this. Captain Tom at Maritimo came back with the most concrete advice.

Mrs. Horne wanted to try and replace the fuse, but I convinced her it was a bad idea.

Mitchell came to the rescue and offered us a two-hundred-foot straight dock.

It’s about nine miles from Hull to Marina Bay. I had no problem docking. I had to overshoot the entrance and back in. Reversing the port engine caused us to pull to starboard, and jogging the bow thruster allowed me to control the stern.

Mitchell was in his workboat – just in case we needed a nudge.

The only minor drama came when the dockhand near the stern failed to cleat off the line despite my request. Yes, I raised my voice on the second request and didn’t say “please,” but I had a lot going on.

As soon as he cleared, I nudged the engines forward and cleared the stern line, pulling the boat tight to the dock.

Once things settled down, I shut down the engines, went down to the dock, apologized to the dock hand, and explained to everyone how Old School docking works and why the stern line must be cleated immediately.

Troubleshooting the Stern Thruster

NOTE: This section is mostly about boat tech. If that’s not your thing, jump to the ReelHouse Saturday section.

I raised the hatch to the lazarette and started hunting for fuses. Here’s a quick pictorial of what I found.

I sent Captain Tom these photos. We agreed that it was likely the small fuse since it was a communication error. This was good, since I stock a variety of small fuses onboard.

We then turned to the big fuse, which was mounted on the stern side of the box and impossible to see. I used my iPhone camera to check this fuse.

Captain Tom said it looked good. This, too, was good news because I know how hard it is to locate a 500 Amp fuse.

I replaced the small fuse with a new one, returned to the helm, and tested the stern thruster, but still no communication.

Marina Bay to the Rescue

By now, it was 11:30. I reached out to Mitchell to see if they had a tech in the Marina. He said he’d seen one earlier and he’d ask if he could stop by.

A few minutes later, he said the tech and his GM were coming over to look at the stern thruster.

Tyler and the tech climbed into the lazarette and started testing couplings for power.

After about an hour, the tech found a bad T-Coupling in the communication network. He thought he might have a replacement in his shop. Unfortunately, he did not.

One of the big advantages of boating in Buzzards Bay is the proximity to New Bedford – the #1 fishing port in America. New Bedford offers service for all major marine products, and it’s the home of IMTRA, the supplier of our thrusters.

We were not going to get the stern thruster repaired in Quincy, but Tyler knew Dave at Safe Harbor Plymouth, and the plan was to get the faulty part in New Bedford and complete the repair during the week when we’re back in Plymouth.

With the stern thruster case closed for the weekend, I canceled Cape Ann, booked Marina Bay for the night, and headed off to the boardwalk in search of food and beverage.

ReelHouse Saturday

I don’t have a favorite restaurant in Marina Bay yet, but the ReelHouse is on the shortlist. Everything was in a full summer vibe by the time we got there.

We grabbed a seat at the bar.

Mrs. Horne immediately bonded with a woman sitting near us.

Her name was Karen, and she was with Tony, who was celebrating a big birthday.

Karen is a career counselor, and Tony is in private equity. We had a wonderful conversation for a half hour or more. I know it’s unlikely, but I hope our paths cross again one day.

The ReelHouse was packed, and with all the spirited conversation, we didn’t eat until 3:00. On the way back to the boat, we ran into Jason and Denise.

They own a very nice Meridian 58 and have a couple of very friendly dogs.

Back on the Skydeck, I caught up on the book I’ve been reading since the family vacation in Maui.

After we met Charles Thayer in Boothbay, I read a bunch of his murder mysteries – all set in Maine, New York, Florida, and The Bahamas.

I really like the genre and discovered another series set on Nantucket,

I’m thinking about writing a murder mystery series set on the South Coast one day, so I’m researching different styles. Thayer and I have a similar style. Mathews is far more complex.

Since we ate lunch so late, we passed on dinner but got hungry around 7:00. I asked Mitchell if any of the restaurants in the Marina delivered to boats. He said, “No, but we are working on a pilot with two.”

I wanted to try out Boardwalk Pizza, so I phoned in an order and picked it up while Mrs. Horne took Daisy for a walk.

It’s a good pizza – kind of a New York Style.

We took off around 9:30 on Sunday morning. I wanted to be tied up in Plymouth before any winds popped up that might make docking without a stern thruster tricky.

It was a nice, smooth 42-mile run back to Plymouth. The sun was bothering Daisy, so Mrs. Horne got out an umbrella.

We ended up hanging out in Plymouth, cleaning the boat, and grabbing lunch at the Surfside Smokehouse.

Daisy kind of enjoyed her weekend, but she’ll be staying at “camp” until Labor Day (maybe).