Gopher Broke is Headin' Home

[Capn Craig]

Looks like you'll be clear of the Tennessee river and Ohio by tomorrow and be into the Missiissippi on Friday. I checked today and the Miss should be below flood stage. As for fuel, as I recall, there wont be any opportunities to meet up with a fuel truck, for lack of a dock anywhere including Cape Girardeau. If Kidds is open and they will take pleasure boats your in luck. If not, a dock to meet up with a fuel truck doesnt exist or didn't when I passed in June 2012.
Cape G is only about 60 miles up river from the Ohio so isn't much help going upstream. If you lock thru at the Kaskaskia river about Mile 118 on the Miss and go upriver about 10 miles to Evansville Il. There is a riverfront bar and resturant and sort of a marina. There that can call in a fuel truck with prior arrangements. If Hoppies is closed, your first fuel is Alton Il. I carried a 55 gallon plastic drum in the cockpit in the cockpit for this stretch. And took on 225 gallons at Evansville Il. That was pushing a current that at times approached 10 mph. Then the river was several feet over flood stage.
A good news item is the river stage is falling for several days, That should mean not much floating debris.

 

[BandB]

Looks like you'll be clear of the Tennessee river and Ohio by tomorrow and be into the Missiissippi on Friday. I checked today and the Miss should be below flood stage. As for fuel, as I recall, there wont be any opportunities to meet up with a fuel truck, for lack of a dock anywhere including Cape Girardeau. If Kidds is open and they will take pleasure boats your in luck. If not, a dock to meet up with a fuel truck doesnt exist or didn't when I passed in June 2012.
Cape G is only about 60 miles up river from the Ohio so isn't much help going upstream. If you lock thru at the Kaskaskia river about Mile 118 on the Miss and go upriver about 10 miles to Evansville Il. There is a riverfront bar and resturant and sort of a marina. There that can call in a fuel truck with prior arrangements. If Hoppies is closed, your first fuel is Alton Il. I carried a 55 gallon plastic drum in the cockpit in the cockpit for this stretch. And took on 225 gallons at Evansville Il. That was pushing a current that at times approached 10 mph. Then the river was several feet over flood stage.
A good news item is the river stage is falling for several days, That should mean not much floating debris.

I'd be very careful about depending on Evansville. I was told about three years ago that the facility there was no longer in service and available. Definitely call ahead to verify.

 

[BDofMSP]

We made Green Turtle today no problem. Well except for the light rain, which became fairly heavy rain. The enclosure definitely needs to be replaced, so we suffered with the front open vs sacrifice visibility. We fueled at Paris Landing since green turtle wouldn't stay open 15 extra minutes for our arrival. 193 gallons to cover about 140 nautical miles or 160 river (statute) miles.

Many people have stated here that we can't get fuel from Kidd. Well we talked to them today and we're meeting us at 9:00 a.m. Friday. I guess we'll see. Kidds is more important than the 60 miles from the confluence because Paducah isn't open. Green turtle is the last choice, so that's quite a bit more distance.

Goal for tomorrow is the diversion channel just below Cape G. Extremely aggressive with 2 locks but we've hit all our other goals. All depends on our possible speed against the current once we hit the Mississippi. I am scheduled to leave the boat Sunday and I've told the crew to take a day off, since St Charles is their home port.

Fingers crossed. Everything hinges on the next two days.
BD

 

[BDofMSP]

Made the Mississippi River! It's taking about 4 knots from us so we're still making 15.5. Moved our appointment with Kidds to 2:00 today.

BD

 

[High Wire]

I'll be posting updates for sure. When we get moving you can also follow us on the inreach site.
https://share.garmin.com/gopherbroke

Just bumping this forward. Looks like you made the fuel dock.

 

[BandB]

Just bumping this forward.

Well, I assume by their inreach that they are fueling now.

 

[BDofMSP]

Just cleared Kidd dock. Took 255 gallons. We we're running 2300 rpm the last half hour to make our dock time. Going to the up at Kaskaskia lock tonight.

 

[BDofMSP]

Well we made it to our destination of Port Charles Harbor, right outside Grafton and the Illinois River. This is where I get off - at least for now. Even though we were delayed an hour for storms this morning, we had a good day of running. There was definitely more debris today but not bad. Except for Mel Price lock; holy cow! We were in the auxilliary chamber and it was FULL of wood. We're talking full tree trunks, logs, sticks, and everything in between. Fortunately we were able to shift in the small breaks and glide until the next one. No harm done.

Since we finally arrived someplace early enough (around 2 PM) to get a haul, I took advantage of it. I needed to change over my anodes to magnesium and I wanted to inspect our damage from running aground. Vibration in the starboard had started to become noticeable, but only when you just had that engine in gear (compared to port). I have spare wheels so I figured I should put them on, and get the other ones tuned.

Props did look a bit rough in a couple places but only under close inspection. Unfortunately the starboard strut was slightly, yet visibly, bent. He ran a dial indicator on the starboard shaft and it read 5 thousandths out of true. He wasn't sure what the spec was for my specific shaft size and length but he thought it was moderate. His opinion was that the shaft bearings were going to be toast anyway, so that we could definitely continue home and do the repairs once I got there.

I had to leave to pick up my rental car for the drive home, so I was unable to run the boat with the new wheels. BTW the replacements were a different size than the current ones (25x29 new vs 26x28 old) and I have no idea why. I'm very anxious to hear what the impact of the new size is on performance, however all they will really be able to test is whether she achieves rated RPM at WOT since there will always be current until they reach Lake Michigan.

For the next week I'll be tracking them on the inreach just like many of you here (although I will get daily reports too). Then she sits in Racine WI for a week getting a small bit of maintenance (hopefully replacing the fresh water tank sender and seal, and removing the old boat name from the hull). My wife and I plan pick up the reins on May 30th, weather permitting. Honestly I'm ready for a little time on shore right now, but 2 weeks should be just about right.

BD

 

[sunchaser]

BD
Great work and congrats to you and delivery skipper. It is nice to see someone just do it and persevere. Avoiding the debris and carcasses when going upstream in the Spring is an art form which you guys obviously mastered.

BTW, ask your Captain if he remembers Tim Cantwell who owned Lake Center Marina for years in St Charles. Tim's a friend from back in the day.

 

[BandB]

Well we made it to our destination of Port Charles Harbor, right outside Grafton and the Illinois River. This is where I get off - at least for now. Even though we were delayed an hour for storms this morning, we had a good day of running. There was definitely more debris today but not bad. Except for Mel Price lock; holy cow! We were in the auxilliary chamber and it was FULL of wood. We're talking full tree trunks, logs, sticks, and everything in between. Fortunately we were able to shift in the small breaks and glide until the next one. No harm done.

Since we finally arrived someplace early enough (around 2 PM) to get a haul, I took advantage of it. I needed to change over my anodes to magnesium and I wanted to inspect our damage from running aground. Vibration in the starboard had started to become noticeable, but only when you just had that engine in gear (compared to port). I have spare wheels so I figured I should put them on, and get the other ones tuned.

Props did look a bit rough in a couple places but only under close inspection. Unfortunately the starboard strut was slightly, yet visibly, bent. He ran a dial indicator on the starboard shaft and it read 5 thousandths out of true. He wasn't sure what the spec was for my specific shaft size and length but he thought it was moderate. His opinion was that the shaft bearings were going to be toast anyway, so that we could definitely continue home and do the repairs once I got there.

I had to leave to pick up my rental car for the drive home, so I was unable to run the boat with the new wheels. BTW the replacements were a different size than the current ones (25x29 new vs 26x28 old) and I have no idea why. I'm very anxious to hear what the impact of the new size is on performance, however all they will really be able to test is whether she achieves rated RPM at WOT since there will always be current until they reach Lake Michigan.

For the next week I'll be tracking them on the inreach just like many of you here (although I will get daily reports too). Then she sits in Racine WI for a week getting a small bit of maintenance (hopefully replacing the fresh water tank sender and seal, and removing the old boat name from the hull). My wife and I plan pick up the reins on May 30th, weather permitting. Honestly I'm ready for a little time on shore right now, but 2 weeks should be just about right.

BD

Does Port Charles have fuel? Asking as I've heard neither Alton nor Grafton does at the moment.

 

[BDofMSP]

Yes. We took on 280 gallons when we arrived.
BD

 

[ljk]

Nice job, thanks for posting. Spent many a pleasant summer weekend on the 34 Chris Craft in Racine, sometimes at Pugh's marina, other times at the municipal.

 

[BDofMSP]

So here's an update.

They made good progress yesterday considering there's a ton of debris on the Illinois River. They spent the night at the Peoria Municipal dock and made arrangements to get fuel at Hamm's Holiday Harbor this morning. This was very lucky because everything else is closed for fuel (and everything else) due to flooding.

It turns out "everything else" includes the locks, or so we learned this morning. The river just went into major flood, so all locks upstream are closed. The anticipate closure for the next 4-5 days. Fortunately they're at Hamm's so they can get a slip, and they'll leave it there and get a car home. Either we or they will head back and advance it forward once we have a green light on the locks.

This isn't the end of the world. The boat was going to be sitting in WI anyway until the yard was ready and parts arrived to repair the running gear. The only wrinkle is the ambiguity - I need to lock in a date for haulout with that yard as they are extremely busy right now. I'll have to push it back to be safe.

So for now, I guess we're on hold!
BD

 

[Rufus]

If you need propeller work during your haul out in Racine (or ever), I highly recommend sending them to these folks...fairly short drive up Interstate 43. https://www.kahlenbergpropellers.com/

 

[BDofMSP]

Thanks Rufus. That's where CenterPointe Sturgeon Bay (who will likely do the work) will be sending the shaft for truing.

 

[BDofMSP]

Just learned that their transformers will be under water so all dock power is being shut off. Good thing they took all the food off just in case! Unfortunately the freezer isn't defrosted so there will be some water that leaks out, but it's clean - no big deal.

Also, boat is in a covered slip but we're hoping for no rain! Forecast is good between now and Friday but then not very encouraging.

 

[BandB]

Just learned that their transformers will be under water so all dock power is being shut off. Good thing they took all the food off just in case! Unfortunately the freezer isn't defrosted so there will be some water that leaks out, but it's clean - no big deal.

Also, boat is in a covered slip but we're hoping for no rain! Forecast is good between now and Friday but then not very encouraging.

Bet they wish they'd stayed put in St. Louis now.

 

[BDofMSP]

It's less than a 3 hour drive for them. They just rented a car and took off. They're almost home already. We may have a very tight window to get out of there. I'm glad for every lock we clear right now and I'm very thankful we left. I only regret that we took the weekend off - we could be clear of the river by now if we hadn't.
BD

 

[High Wire]

Just learned that their transformers will be under water so all dock power is being shut off. Good thing they took all the food off just in case! Unfortunately the freezer isn't defrosted so there will be some water that leaks out, but it's clean - no big deal.

Also, boat is in a covered slip but we're hoping for no rain! Forecast is good between now and Friday but then not very encouraging.

Hope you don't hit the roof.

 

[Rufus]

Thanks Rufus. That's where CenterPointe Sturgeon Bay (who will likely do the work) will be sending the shaft for truing.

Again, you might want to get a quote from Bay Marine for the general repair work just for comparison....same for slip prices. Nothing against Center Point, I just know they are probably the most upscale marina in the town. Don't know a thing about their repair operation. I'd avoid Skipper Buds for serious repairs.

By the way, Kahlenberg trued and balanced our props many years ago...straight shooters..very pleased. Several levels of tuning available...priced accordingly. If you want your spare/original props worked over, it would be best to take them down there yourself to avoid a mark up and the likely ridiculous delivery charges from the general contractor. Same for the shaft if they'll let you do the "go fer" leg work.

 

[BDofMSP]

Hope you don't hit the roof.

Great - something else to worry about!
BD

 

[BDofMSP]

Again, you might want to get a quote from Bay Marine for the general repair work just for comparison....same for slip prices. Nothing against Center Point, I just know they are probably the most upscale marina in the town. Don't know a thing about their repair operation. I'd avoid Skipper Buds for serious repairs, by the way.

CenterPointe Sturgeon Bay used to be Palmer Johnson yachts, so their yard is well outfitted and is well staffed with many former employees. Their Milwaukee facility used to be a Silverton dealer so they are also extremely familiar with these boats and most of their staff has that experience. I'd be more prone to price shop but this will be an insurance claim, so I'm glad to have two great choices like this available.

It also seems like a very difficult thing to comparison shop. Doing an estimate requires a haul ($$) and right now none of the yards can even think about hauling me until late next week due to the onslaught of boats trying to get in by Memorial Day. It could add at least a week to the process by losing my spot after a haul just to get a second quote on a bill I'm not even going to pay myself.

I'm hoping I can get this wrapped up and home by July at this point.
BD

 

[High Wire]

Great - something else to worry about!
BD

Just call the marina and ask them to check.

 

[Sidney]

Looks like the Illinois is on it's way down at Henry which is just up the "Road" from your boat.

Good luck,

Sidney

 

[BandB]

Looks like the Illinois is on it's way down at Henry which is just up the "Road" from your boat.

Good luck,

Sidney

Yes, might look it, but on up the Illinois, not expected to crest until Monday and Tuesday. Here is current information.

https://www.mvs-wc.usace.army.mil/dresriv.html

 

[BDofMSP]

Starved Rock is the only lock that remains closed, and the water level is below the closure level right now. Per a conversation between the captain and the lockmaster, they have started to do clean up of some of the machine areas and expect to be able to open Monday, but of course all depends on weather conditions. Forecast is for rain basically all week next week.

So it's possible that we could squeeze through a very narrow window, but it's at least as likely that the window will close before we get a shot.

 

[BDofMSP]

Update...

Captain Matt has confirmed with the Starved Rock lockmaster that they will reopen today. He and a new crew member are enroute to the boat as I type. Lou, the previous crew, has commitments this week.

They will board and prepare today but likely not leave until AM, to allow some of the backed up commercial traffic to clear through.

Speeds will be slow, and we've still got a long way to go. Matt has to be off the boat Saturday at the latest too, as he needs to be in KC to teach a Coast Guard class on Monday. They'll get as far as they can - my wife and I will take it from there.

Fingers crossed.
BD

 

[BDofMSP]

Since they're significantly restricted on speed, they left this afternoon and will anchor out tonight. Progress!

 

[BDofMSP]

Made Hennepin IL. Slow going. Target is Joliet tomorrow, which would mean Lake on Wednesday but we'll see how that all works out. Strong probability of rain but amounts don't look that horrible.

 

[IRENE]

Lake? As in Lake Michigan?

Enjoying your reports, thank you for the effort.