Assistance in Ft Lauderdale

They are building a new draw bridge beside the swing bridge, so I’d say days are numbered for the swing bridge.

Made it to Oriental,NC and it looks like we will hang here tomorrow and let this hurricane pass. Wind and seas were nasty in the Neuse River today and supposed to be worse tomorrow. Saturday looks good. There were short interval 5-6 footers today with 30kt winds. We took a couple over the vow and into the fly bridge.

We are at Whittaker Point Marina. Real nice place with a wine and cheese sailing yacht vibe. Staff is awesome. They have a courtesy car, real nice bathrooms and a nice lounge. The Piggly Wiggly nearby had a shuttle that runs to all of the marinas. See pic.

Also found a GFCI in the master head tripped when we got back from dinner. Did some continuity testing on the circuit downstream from the GFCI and didn’t find anything wrong, so I took the GFCI out of the loop and everything is functioning normally. I suspect a bad GFCI so will pick up a new one tomorrow.

Made it to Bellhaven. New day new problem. I usually fuel in the morning on the way out. Today I fueled coming in, left the boat for an hour or so and came back to diesel smell in the boat. I look down below and see diesel in the bilge. It appear to be leaking from the vent or fill at the tank. Never noticed it because we took off right away and burned the fuel out of the fill and vent hose. Short term so.union is to not top off. Local mechanic coming by tomorrow to see it he can fix it fairly easily. Access is the problem.

GFCI turned out to be the outlet, so that was an easy fix.

Yep, I figure I can have the crew (wife) watch the smart craft while fueling. It displays 162 gallons per side full. If we fill to 150 we should be good. Stbd side isn’t a problem, so I would like to figure out where the port side is leaking from.

We are at River Forest Marina. They have golf carts go get around town. Went to Spoon River restaurant for dinner an got a little sideways on Sangrias. Marina staff is great. An 80’ Horizon pulled in beside us. Turns out the owner/captain is a cofounder of Costco. He overheard my fueling mishap and said he keeps a crew member in the engine room watching the sight glass while they fuel and leaves a few inches at the top.

A sight gauge would be helpful in my case.

Thanks guys. About all I have is total fuel used and the digital gauges from the Smartcraft. If those 2 are accurate should be able to leave a few inches at the top. No way to stick them and no sight glass. The digital gauges show 162 full so 150 should leave some room, if they are accurate. Going to watch them as we burn fuel and see how they react.

This sounds like a good plan.

Bellhaven to Coinjock today. Prime rib was the best I’ve ever had. Met up with some friends we met in Fort Pierce taking their trawler to VA. Tomorrows plan os a short run to Norfolk. One more night in a marina then we are home.

It’s been an adventure, but we’re ready for a few days on land. Hoping the Chesapeake Bay doesn’t beat is up too bad tomorrow. We stopped here in Norfolk so we could hit the bay early. We came across the Albemarle Sound yesterday in 30kt winds and it beat us us pretty bad. 4-5 footers. This a good near coastal (pick your days), bay, ICW boat.

I have a pretty good list of things to fix over the winter. Engines have run great and no other mechanical issues, just issues due to aging systems. I don’t think I would buy a boat so far from home again. I guess the plus side is that I’ve found just about everything wrong with the boat.

The advice from the guys on the forum here has really helped and made trip much less stressful. I can’t thank you guys enough.

That’s why I never noticed it. I would fuel just before heading out and burned it down before it had a chance to create a noticeable leak. I can still fill up, just not to the point that fuel is backing up into the fill hose.

Home sweet home….Nice calm run up the Chesapeake today.