The
last time I was in Key
Weird was 1989 when it nearly froze and they kept having brown outs. We
turned
on the 12 KW Onan and the electric heaters and may have been the only
warm
people in town.
The time before that I was delivering a brand new piece of crap 95 ft.
twin
engine scallop dragger built in
The rudders broke because the entire steering gear was built wrong when
I was
backing down with the rudders over. That was while I was fixing the
autopilot
compass which was installed with the arrow pointing forward actually
pointing
aft. Well we took it back to the ship yard steering on the engines
(through
three bridges) after the yard crew came out and locked the rudders
amidships
with come-alongs. The welders worked all night in the lazarette (small
farthest
aft compartment) rebuilding the rudder system the same wrong way. They
had no
breathing system and not even any blowers.
Well, we put to sea the next day and got about 200 miles south in the
Gulf
headed for the
Well we had to take the steering chain off of the sprocket to get the
shaft
back in the bearing. With the rudders bucking we couldn't pull the
chain back
together to get the master link back in. Big problem. Well we got
ingenious and
took some 1/4 inch light line and put a knot in it and laced it through
the two
ends of the chain, but a few links back and used the chain itself like
a block
and tackle to pull the ends together and got the master link back in. Whew!
Both the mate and I got seasick working under the steering stand for 2
hours
getting that done.
Went to the galley to wash up and there was no water. Oh crap. So I
went down
to the engine room. Holy Shiite, there was three feet of water in the
engine
room. I ran to the wheelhouse and turned on the tube single side band,
so we
could call for help in needed. Back to the engine room. Tasted the
water. It
was fresh, Whew!. Looked up and saw steam coming from the running 4-71
generator. Then I saw the 40 gallon, electric hot water heater rolling
around
between the two generators. The water
heater had broken the cooling system on the steaming engine on the way
down. Pulled the breaker for that and
switched generators. Shut down the one that was about to burn up.
Secured the destroyed water heater and noticed it was held in place by
a 2 inch
lip around the base and nothing else held it except for the 1/2 inch
soldered
copper tubing at the top. Damn idiots.
Pinched off the water line and we had a little bit of water left.
Turned on one of the two electric pumps to pump the bilge and they
wouldn't
work, though the would work on sea suction. Hmmmmm. Looked at the
plumbing and
discovered that the pumps were in parallel without adequate valving and
unless
BOTH were running one would airlock the other. Ran them both and pumped
the
boat out.
Back to the galley and had to rescue the refrigerator which was not
fastened in
place.
Fell into the bunk, done in.
Next morning we woke to find 2 or 3 3/4 inch wire ropes with 2.5 foot
long
turnbuckles swinging through the air on the aft deck. They took out
most of the
deck lights and we were in danger of losing the outriggers into the sea.
Well, while my mate watched, I caught the turnbuckles at the upper end
of their
arc and we secured them. We then used our dock lines and the winches to
back up
the now useless rigging wires.
The idiots had put bolt type clevis pins in without safetying them and
putting
the bolts in upward. When the nuts came off the bolts fell out. Serious
business.
Well we now had to go to Key Weird for parts, tools, water and repairs.
We had
no harbor charts and were approaching from the Florida Straits. I had
the chart
of the Florida Straits and it showed the route of the channel, but no
buoys. I
called Coast Guard Key West and asked them if they would tell me the
buoy
colors and numbers at the channel bends and intersections. They said
that they
weren't allowed to do that. O.K.
We entered anyway and took it to a dock. We had to go to another dock
in the
Truman annex (old submarine base) to take on water. While maneuvering
at that
dock, one of the 4 inch diameter shafts uncoupled in the ice hold
because the
nuts were not spot welded. Well we bought tools, and hired a mechanic
to make
tools and fix the shaft couplings.
That evening we went to town. After about 30 minutes in Sloppy Joes my
mate and
I were just too tired and much to Betsy's consternation we went back to
the
boat to sleep.
We did make it to
Moral of the story.
1. Don't have a high school dropout who is the owner's son run a
shipyard
building 200 ton vessels.
2. Don't treat the black welders like N.......
3. Don't buy a $800,000 boat for $500,000 and think you are getting a
deal.
4. Don't go to Key Weird when you are
too tired to enjoy it.