Staying in Charleston again tonight

We are still plagued with generator issues. It ran for about 45 min and then started heating up again. James will be back tomorrow to remove the heat exchanger. Depending how long that takes, we could be stuck here another night.

Check out the debris in our fuel filter spinners. Don’t let your boat (or even your truck for that matter) sit too long with diesel in the tank. Algae will start to grow.

I made a trip to the Cummins dealer today so we can manage the contaminated fuel issue by swapping out the filters as often as needed (we bought a case). We really do not want to crawl down there and change one in the ocean swell, so we also added these pressure gauges to monitor for decreased fuel flow. 

For now, the bowls beneath the fuel filters are clean!

My Uber to North Charleston was simply outstanding- a local guy who grew up here and knew extensive history about the area. No building can be taller than the countless church steeples that dot the horizon. He used to live in one of the infamous old homes just South of Broad St where residents watched both the Revolutionary War as well as the Civil War out their living room windows! He said all of the homes were built by slaves and are more than 200 years old. Today, all of these homes sell for $1 million +. He also told me that prior to the Civil War, Charleston was one of (or perhaps THE) wealthiest city in the United States. Post-war, the endless supply of free slave labor dried up making South Carolina the poorest state in the union. He told me if I get bored to take an Uber to 5 East Battery St and begin by just roaming around. He also recommended the Lagere St (pronounced la-gree) area for touring about and I managed to find a nice home there on Zillow for a cool $12M. He recommended Pearl’s Restaraunt for oysters on the half shell. Ralphs don’t love oysters, and I knew the Captain would moan and groan about how we weren’t in Apalachicola. Who knew the man who eats everything dried out and burnt to a crisp had such exquisite taste when it came to salty, slimy, rubbery shellfish. 

This Uber was a retired gentleman in his 70’s and guess what? He was a boater! I immediately realized why he no longer lived South of Broad St and drove a Honda Civic for Uber at his age! I can’t even post anymore receipts for fear Beth will cut off the Captain’s Amex, and the generator still isn’t working. Note to self- keep scissors on hand to slash every card I own to pieces the moment Captain Ralph’s gets declined (“oh man I wish I could help Dad, but I somehow forgot all of my credit cards”). 

This Uber lived on a house boat locally for many years and cruised around the bay on a jet ski prior to retiring. Now he lives in a condo and uses his Uber cash to fund his monthly vacations. He still has a boat- a 22’ runabout. He confirmed what the mechanic told me: stick to a boat with an outboard! I will add that you should stick to a boat that can be hauled out by a regular guy with a pickup truck on a triple axle trailer. One of we Ralphs is cheap ;). And THIS is why I mention boat hauling:



See that little pinhole peeing into the bilge next to our generator at the stern? James noticed and pointed it out. He called Steve from Zimmerman marine to come take a look and see what would be needed for repair (actually not a big deal apparently, but of course the boat has to be hauled out which is never cheap). Miraculously, the peeing had stopped by the time Steve arrived to take a look! Ralph and James were dumbfounded. What they didn’t know... was that in their absence, I pee’d back at it and scared it into submission! #ThePowerOfRalphs.