Mer Sea

While we were in Punta Gorda last winter, we met a couple who were looking to make the transition from sail to powerboat cruising. They came by our dock and we had a nice chat about the American Tug and the “trawler lifestyle”, (we were able to share with them the little jingle we’ve learned: sailboat, motorboat, motor home, nursing home) and we gave them our “Mer Sea” boat card. We received an email from them this summer saying that they’d bought a used American Tug that was docked on the Sassafras River off the Chesapeake. We exchanged emails and vowed to try to get together when we got back to Baltimore.

 

Well, the time came, and Al and Barbara were going to be on their boat in the Sassafras while we were in Baltimore! This would be our first decent cruise since having the work done on Mer Sea, and we were eager to see how all the various systems were working (including the First Mate!). The trip would be about 4 hours, and we planned to meet Al and Barbara, perhaps raft up and visit, and then to anchor out for the night somewhere on the Sassafras together.

 

I’ve never met up with other boaters in open water before, and was somewhat unsure of how we would find each other - there’s lots of water out there, and it seems that it would be easy to miss one lone boat. However, as we approached the mouth of the Sassafras we hailed them on the radio, and they heard us and quickly got us in sight! Since they knew the river better than we, we asked them to lead to a decent anchorage to raft up.

 

This was another new experience for me: I’ve never rafted to another boat before. The main thing is to have PLENTY of fenders between the boats so that there’s no banging, and just one of the boats puts out an anchor. We let them go ahead and set their anchor, and then we slowly motored alongside and tied up to them. It worked out just fine.

 

It was great fun to go aboard Explorer and check out the differences and similarities to Mer Sea. Explorer is a 2001, I think Al said hull #9, and Mer Sea is a 2003, hull #39, so there are quite a few small differences between the boats’ interiors. Basically, of course, they’re the same boat, but it was fun to see where American Tug had made changes. Barbara and Al invited us to stay for lunch, which was a delicious spread! What a treat!!

 

After lunch we all boarded Mer Sea, and Barbara and Al had the fun we’d had earlier of seeing the differences between the boats. We chatted for a while, and then decided to separate our boats, as the considerable boat traffic (this was a Saturday) on the river was creating a lot of roughness on the water and the boats weren’t riding well tied together. We said our goodbyes and Roy and I untied and anchored close by. We maintained radio contact and of course cell phone contact with them.

 

The weather was hot and somewhat buggy, so we turned on the generator and closed up the boat to run the air conditioner. We were each relaxing with a book about an hour later when the generator just shut down. No error message, nothing…just stopped. I thought that perhaps the air conditioner and battery charger together had put too much of a load on it, so we shut off all our AC powered items and tried to crank the generator again. No dice. After a certain amount of cranking without engaging, it shut itself off, and delivered an “excessive cranking” error message. I read the “Troubleshooting” section of the manual, and it was basically no help. The short version of the story is that we were not able to get it running again. OK, OK, so we ran around and opened windows, and the batteries looked to be in pretty good shape after the 4 hour run to the river, but all of our appliances are electric, with the exception of the LP grill we’ve got mounted topside. So, we adjust our menus and learn to be adaptable. The anticipated lack of morning coffee is probably the biggest hurdle…

 

We see Al out on the deck of Explorer, and it turns out that his batteries aren’t holding a charge! They should have a minimum of 12 volts, and when he turns off the generator they drop immediately to 8 volts! We told him about our generator, and decided that we have one good, complete power plant between us! We offered flashlights and whatever else they might need, and they assured us that they’d give us a call if we could be of assistance.

 

The next morning I made hot water for my tea on the grill, and was getting ready to make a cup for Roy when we got a call from Al inviting us to breakfast! What a nice invitation!! Since their generator was working, their appliances could be fired up! We lowered the dinghy and motored over, and WHAT a spread they had for us! Fresh fruit salads, juice, coffee, toast and jam, scrambled eggs with ham, onions, cheese – more like omelets than scrambled eggs, really - it was a real feast!!!! AND what could have been a grumpy, miserable morning was instead delightful and delicious!

 

This is a wonderful couple whom we truly enjoyed spending time and talking with. They are intelligent and interesting, and have a great attitude. (not to mention the fact that they rescued us from a pretty lousy morning, and really helped turn the day around for us) We are very happy to know that they are going to be spending the winter in Burnt Store Marina in Punta Gorda, a few slips over from us!!! We look forward to spending more time with them.

 

We had a nice ride back to Anchorage Marina, and Roy displayed his ever-improving docking skills. Slow is definitely the key! We’d left lines on the dock, so all I had to do was to pick them up with the boat hook and slip them on the cleats. No “derring do” or leaps of any sort! The better to protect the body parts, my dear!!

 

This was a perfect “shakedown” cruise for us and Mer Sea. With the exception of the generator, a continuing problem, everything worked great, and we had a really nice time with Al and Barbara. We look forward to more cruising with them!!