Devil Dog's (and My) First Voyage

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Leatherneck

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2019
Messages
213
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Devil Dog
Vessel Make
1987 Jefferson 42 Sundeck
I thought I would recount my voyage from Daytona Beach to Southern Maryland on my new to me Jefferson 42 Sundeck. Had a few lessons learned along the way that might prove useful to others. David M from this forum went with me to show me the ropes and help me get familiar with Devil Dog. I can't say enough about his gracious help on this journey.

DAY 1. Departed Daytona Beach 5/15 with the intention of traveling to Fernandina Beach, then going offshore to Southport NC. Well TS Arthur nixed that plan so anchored overnight at Fernandina Beach after a long 14.5 hour day. No issues.

DAY 2. Continued up the ICW in the morning. Had some excitement crossing the Sapelo River. Seas about 2-2/2 feet. A wave struck us rather hard and my Yeti coffee cup fell spilling coffee. Oh No! Autopilot stopped working correctly about the same time seeming to be about 90 degrees off course. Course over ground on chart plotter was correct. Thought maybe the autopilot compass had gotten knocked loose. Search all over Devil Dog for it. Finally found it on the flybridge under the forward fiberglass panel. It looked fine. Then noticed I had wedged my metal thermos coffee cup between the cushion and that same panel. Moved the cup and all was well in the world once again! The second night we anchored just north of Hell's Gate after another long 13 hour day. Once again, no issues, Devil Dog ran well.

DAY 3. No issues. Decided to stop at Safe Harbor Marina in Beaufort SC the third night to refuel and take a break. Took on 200 gal at $2.25/gal. Found a nice Italian restaurant with outside tables spaced about 10 ft apart and had a good dinner. Marina staff were great.

DAY 4. Things got interesting (in a bad way). Left Safe Harbor around 0700 heading north. Got about a 1/4 mile past the bridge and heard a loud thunk under the boat. Thought I hit a crab pot although I hadn't seen one. Rudder was very stiff. Turned around and pulled up to the fuel dock at Safe Harbor marina. On approach realized there was no propulsion from the port side propeller although engine was running. Docked OK on one engine. Went down below and found that the port driveshaft coupler that connects the driveshaft to the transmission had sheared bolts and the drive shaft had slid aft until the propeller rested against the rudder. Dockmaster recommended a really good local mechanic and repair only took three hours. He used a come-along to pull the driveshaft back in and then six new bolts, all done from inside the engine compartment. I did plenty of pre-voyage checks but never thought to check the coupler bolts. He also found that the starboard coupler bolts were loose and tightened them. While we were waiting for the mechanic a woman was spotted a couple of hundred yards out from the dock being pulled along by a pretty stiff current. She was floundering. A boat went out and she refused their help although in obvious distress. Local police showed up and managed to get her into a boat with her fighting the whole way. They handcuffed her and brought her to the dock right in front of Devil Dog. She tried to jump back into the water but they were able to get her on the dock and took her away. The captain of a ship near the bridge said she was homeless and must have jumped off the bridge by the way she was drifting. Decided to spend another night in Beaufort.

DAY 5. Next morning the voyage was fine. No vibration detected from the port drive train. Anchored just off of the South Santee river a little south of Georgetown after a 13 hour cruise.

DAY 6. Traveled to just south of Southport and anchored in Dutchman Creek just off the ICW. Nice anchorage. Had a couple of strong thunder storms come through. Generator decided it wanted to overheat so no generator. My fault, I checked the engine impellers but skipped the generator before starting the voyage, Not a show stopper but at least as we traveled north the weather was getting cooler. No need for air conditioning.

DAY 7. Traveled 9 hours to Mile Hammock Bay, Camp LeJeune NC to anchor overnight. Devil Dog felt at home there since I served 25 years in the Corps.
Storms were coming and there were about 12 other vessels there. Anchor wouldn't set at first so moved to a different spot and it held fine there.

DAY 8. Next morning headed for Oriental NC with a fuel stop enroute at Morehead Gulf Docks, Morehead City. Took on 195 gal at $1.66/gal plus tax (nice!). Arrived at Oriental NC after 8 hours and stayed overnight at the Oriental Marina. I really liked Oriental, friendly people. Ate a very tender and delicious prime rib dinner at M&Ms restaurant, sitting outside at socially distanced tables. They took your temperature when you went in.

DAY 9. We started out planning to get to the north end of the Alligator River Pungo Canal and anchor there but looking at the weather it appeared that the next day would be pretty windy and the Albermarle Sound crossing might be a bit rough. We decided to push on and cross the Albermarle in the afternoon while the winds were more favorable and stay at the Elizabeth City City dock and take the Dismal Swamp route the next day. Good move as the crossing was fairly smooth. Arrived at Elizabeth city dock just before dark. Lots of mosquitoes so buttoned up tight.

DAY 10. Traveled to Salt Ponds Marina, Hampton VA. Trip through the Dismal Swamp was fine. Hit seven submerged logs but they were gentle hits just on the bow. A very nice lady came over to us while tied up waiting for the northern lock to open and gave us some strawberries she had just picked. That was a nice surprise. Stopped at Top Rack to fuel up at their wonderful price of $1.38/gal! Took on 128 gal. Plans went south when we left the fuel dock and approached the Norfolk and Southern railway bridge. It was down and red light flashing. I burned ovals for 45 minutes until the train showed up and took at least another 15-20 minutes to pass. I can walk faster than it was going. Now it looked like we would arrive at Salt Ponds just before dark. Here comes Murphy again. We could only make about 8.5 mph due to sea and weather conditions rather than the 9.5 - 10 we had planned. Arrived at the entrance to the marina using a spotlight to locate the markers. Found our slip and docked OK. The marina was closed but some nice boaters helped us with lines.

DAY 11. Final day! Made a nice run up the Chesapeake and into the Potomac River. Arrived at Tall Timbers marina at 1645. Devil Dog arrived at her new home port!
 
Congrats on your new boat. Sounds like a fun trip.
 
Congrats on getting her home, but man those were long days!
 
They were long days that's for sure, but it was a great experience. Helped having DavidM along to share in the driving.
 
Sounds like a great trip to break yourself in to a nice, new lifestyle.
 
Sounds like a nice trip. These TFers are good people aren’t they!

Cheers Shipmate!
 
Let me expand a bit on a couple of the issues on this trip. I was the first mate on board.

The prop shaft coupler failure came out of no where. We checked the engine room each morning and if any coupler bolts were gone we might have noticed them but maybe not. When it failed, it did so with no vibration or noise first, it just suddenly parted. We found sheared bolts in the bilge.

I have to shout out to Dennis, the independent mechanic who fixed the coupler. We couldn't do it ourselves even with an extensive tool bag on board. Dennis needed his chain fall to pull up the prop shaft that had slid back and a big pipe wrench to turn the shaft to line up the coupler holes. He also knew where to find the Grade 8 bolts required. Hurray for Dennis.

The generator was also sudden. We had been running it for the last few nights at anchor for A/C and it ran fine. When we started it up the third night, George immediately said it sounded funny and I recognized the no water flow sound so we checked and saw no raw water exiting with the exhaust.

We checked the strainer, pulled off the raw water hose from the thruhull and opened the valve and got good flow. The raw water hose leading to the pump was warm, about 20 degrees higher than sea water temp which must have been caused by stagnant water heating up at the pump. The lift muffler read 225 when we shot it with an IR gun which was also an indication of no flow.

So all indications were a blown impeller. But it was impossible for our 70+ year old bodies to reach around the engine inside the bulkhead to change it, so that was that. Leave it for a younger and more flexible dude.

The autopilot glitch was sudden also. The symptoms pointed to the heading sensor being off. At first we were fooled by an old fluxgate compass that was left hooked up in the bilge from a previous autopilot installation. But after we talked to ???, the guy who calibrated the autopilot for George in Daytona Beach and he sent us a pic of the new style sensor, we were able to find it and remove the Yeti cup that was causing the bad heading value.

My take aways:

Check and torque your coupler bolts.
Replace your R/W impellers frequently, particularly inaccessible ones.
Know where your heading sensor is and keep metal away.

David
 
Know where your heading sensor is and keep metal away.

That got me once. In my case it was a milk crate full of canned goods TDC (Too Damn Close) to the sensor.

Glad the trip went well.
 
Congratulations on your new boat and on the successful trip! (We love our Jefferson)
 
Congrats on the trip, and agree those were some seriously long days. Anything over 10 hours and I start getting tired and thinking even more incorrectly than usual.

I just put “check propellor shaft bolts” on my to do list when I get back to the boat. Thanks for that!
 
Definitely some long days, but it sounds like a good trip for the most part. I determined last year that at least for hand steering with me at the helm probably 80% of the time, I can do a 12 - 14 hour day, but I wouldn't do multiple of those back to back. A few back to back 10 - 11 hour days is do-able, but after about 3 long days it's time to back off to avoid fatigue.
 
The long days weren't too bad with two of us and autopilot. If the admiral were aboard the days would have been a lot shorter :)
 
Yes, the days were long, but heck this was a delivery. We had two short days: The first in Beaufort, NC where we tied up at the marina about 4:00 and had a nice dinner onshore at an outside, well spaced table. Unfortunately that early stop turned into another lay day to fix the prop shaft coupler.

The second short day was stopping in Oriental, NC in mid afternoon. I hooked up at the Tiki Bar with some friends I knew from living there years ago. As George said above, Oriental has a nice vibe to it.

We did have two very long days: Oriental to Elizabeth City where we docked after 8:00 PM and Elizabeth City to Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton where we cleared the jetties at 8:30 PM. That was a hairy arrival, approaching a narrow inlet that we hadn't been in before in almost dark conditions. We couldn't have done it without a hand held spot light to show unlit markers. Should have looked at the marina's approach chartlet which gave much more detail than official charts did.

David
 
Last edited:
Ha. We saw you come in

I thought I would recount my voyage from Daytona Beach to Southern Maryland on my new to me Jefferson 42 Sundeck. Had a few lessons learned along the way that might prove useful to others. David M from this forum went with me to show me the ropes and help me get familiar with Devil Dog. I can't say enough about his gracious help on this journey.

DAY 1. Departed Daytona Beach 5/15 with the intention of traveling to Fernandina Beach, then going offshore to Southport NC. Well TS Arthur nixed that plan so anchored overnight at Fernandina Beach after a long 14.5 hour day. No issues.

DAY 2. Continued up the ICW in the morning. Had some excitement crossing the Sapelo River. Seas about 2-2/2 feet. A wave struck us rather hard and my Yeti coffee cup fell spilling coffee. Oh No! Autopilot stopped working correctly about the same time seeming to be about 90 degrees off course. Course over ground on chart plotter was correct. Thought maybe the autopilot compass had gotten knocked loose. Search all over Devil Dog for it. Finally found it on the flybridge under the forward fiberglass panel. It looked fine. Then noticed I had wedged my metal thermos coffee cup between the cushion and that same panel. Moved the cup and all was well in the world once again! The second night we anchored just north of Hell's Gate after another long 13 hour day. Once again, no issues, Devil Dog ran well.

DAY 3. No issues. Decided to stop at Safe Harbor Marina in Beaufort SC the third night to refuel and take a break. Took on 200 gal at $2.25/gal. Found a nice Italian restaurant with outside tables spaced about 10 ft apart and had a good dinner. Marina staff were great.

DAY 4. Things got interesting (in a bad way). Left Safe Harbor around 0700 heading north. Got about a 1/4 mile past the bridge and heard a loud thunk under the boat. Thought I hit a crab pot although I hadn't seen one. Rudder was very stiff. Turned around and pulled up to the fuel dock at Safe Harbor marina. On approach realized there was no propulsion from the port side propeller although engine was running. Docked OK on one engine. Went down below and found that the port driveshaft coupler that connects the driveshaft to the transmission had sheared bolts and the drive shaft had slid aft until the propeller rested against the rudder. Dockmaster recommended a really good local mechanic and repair only took three hours. He used a come-along to pull the driveshaft back in and then six new bolts, all done from inside the engine compartment. I did plenty of pre-voyage checks but never thought to check the coupler bolts. He also found that the starboard coupler bolts were loose and tightened them. While we were waiting for the mechanic a woman was spotted a couple of hundred yards out from the dock being pulled along by a pretty stiff current. She was floundering. A boat went out and she refused their help although in obvious distress. Local police showed up and managed to get her into a boat with her fighting the whole way. They handcuffed her and brought her to the dock right in front of Devil Dog. She tried to jump back into the water but they were able to get her on the dock and took her away. The captain of a ship near the bridge said she was homeless and must have jumped off the bridge by the way she was drifting. Decided to spend another night in Beaufort.

DAY 5. Next morning the voyage was fine. No vibration detected from the port drive train. Anchored just off of the South Santee river a little south of Georgetown after a 13 hour cruise.

DAY 6. Traveled to just south of Southport and anchored in Dutchman Creek just off the ICW. Nice anchorage. Had a couple of strong thunder storms come through. Generator decided it wanted to overheat so no generator. My fault, I checked the engine impellers but skipped the generator before starting the voyage, Not a show stopper but at least as we traveled north the weather was getting cooler. No need for air conditioning.

DAY 7. Traveled 9 hours to Mile Hammock Bay, Camp LeJeune NC to anchor overnight. Devil Dog felt at home there since I served 25 years in the Corps.
Storms were coming and there were about 12 other vessels there. Anchor wouldn't set at first so moved to a different spot and it held fine there.

DAY 8. Next morning headed for Oriental NC with a fuel stop enroute at Morehead Gulf Docks, Morehead City. Took on 195 gal at $1.66/gal plus tax (nice!). Arrived at Oriental NC after 8 hours and stayed overnight at the Oriental Marina. I really liked Oriental, friendly people. Ate a very tender and delicious prime rib dinner at M&Ms restaurant, sitting outside at socially distanced tables. They took your temperature when you went in.

DAY 9. We started out planning to get to the north end of the Alligator River Pungo Canal and anchor there but looking at the weather it appeared that the next day would be pretty windy and the Albermarle Sound crossing might be a bit rough. We decided to push on and cross the Albermarle in the afternoon while the winds were more favorable and stay at the Elizabeth City City dock and take the Dismal Swamp route the next day. Good move as the crossing was fairly smooth. Arrived at Elizabeth city dock just before dark. Lots of mosquitoes so buttoned up tight.

DAY 10. Traveled to Salt Ponds Marina, Hampton VA. Trip through the Dismal Swamp was fine. Hit seven submerged logs but they were gentle hits just on the bow. A very nice lady came over to us while tied up waiting for the northern lock to open and gave us some strawberries she had just picked. That was a nice surprise. Stopped at Top Rack to fuel up at their wonderful price of $1.38/gal! Took on 128 gal. Plans went south when we left the fuel dock and approached the Norfolk and Southern railway bridge. It was down and red light flashing. I burned ovals for 45 minutes until the train showed up and took at least another 15-20 minutes to pass. I can walk faster than it was going. Now it looked like we would arrive at Salt Ponds just before dark. Here comes Murphy again. We could only make about 8.5 mph due to sea and weather conditions rather than the 9.5 - 10 we had planned. Arrived at the entrance to the marina using a spotlight to locate the markers. Found our slip and docked OK. The marina was closed but some nice boaters helped us with lines.

DAY 11. Final day! Made a nice run up the Chesapeake and into the Potomac River. Arrived at Tall Timbers marina at 1645. Devil Dog arrived at her new home port!

I live on the salt ponds. We were ogling you with out binocs. Told my wife you must be a new boat as I didn’t recognize you. Congrats.
 
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