Saturday, June 6, 2015

Great Bridge

So, how to you make a bascule bridge with NO hinges.  Easy right?


We had just crossed the walk way on the bridge when the whistle sounded for traffic to pass.  I quick got my phone in time lapse mode to capture the moment.

The bridge swings on a geared arch with the concrete counter weight hanging above the traffic.  The weight swings down to within just a foot or two of the roadway surface.  The next morning we opened the bridge to get to the Great Bridge locks.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Portsmouth Layover

So, we made it north of Cape Hatteras for the Atlantic hurricane season and it is time to get some maintenance done.  We stopped at a marina in Portsmouth to get caught up.  My maintenance list was a bit overwhelming but we have made some progress.

1) Diesel.  We were getting a black mustache on the stern which means the motor was lugging.  After eliminating the obvious stuff, we were left with getting the injectors testing.  Just today the guy called back saying all 4 of the nozzles were out of spec and one injector was even for the wrong motor entirely.  Looking forward to better diesel days.

2) Refrigeration.  Only partly working.  Turns out the DC motor needed some cleaning and commutator cleaning.  Fortunately I discovered how to do that one myself and save the repair bill.

3) Most the of the Home Depot LEDs I bought to save money have failed.  Looks like back to superbrightleds.com to replace most of the elements.  Christine is looking forward to brighten up our increasing dark 'cave'.

4) Broken passive radar reflector.  The plastic only lasts so long in a salt environment.  20 years seems to be the limit.  Waiting for that one via the mail, then it is up the mast with the rivet gun to replace both the bracket and the reflector.

5) Wind instrument wiring.  After a new masthead wind sensor ($$) in Oriental NC, I damaged the wiring connectors and hand to re terminate all the wires.  Now we have working wind instrument.  YEA.

Just goes to show you that cruising = boat maintenance in exotic places!