We Love the Tennessee River - Day 27 - Grand Rivers, KY to New Johnsonville, TN

Friday, we awoke to clear skies and 34 degrees, which is cold enough to make the docks rather slippery.  We installed the bikes, walked Kodi and at 8:34 AM departed Green Turtle Bay for a 70 mile run to Pebble Isle in New Johnsonville, TN.

Departing Green Turtle Bay

Pulling out of Green Turtle Bay we turned right onto the one mile long Barkley Canal, which connects the Cumberland River to Kentucky Lake, and then left onto the Tennessee.  For the first 44 miles we ran south along the Land Between the Lakes and passed by pristine wilderness on our port side.  When you run south on the Tennessee you are actually upbound, which means against the current.  Hence, we had to run at 1250 RPMs to maintain 10.0 MPH.  The efficiency at this speed is slightly better than 1 mile per gallon. 

The Tennessee is a beautiful wide river with no debris, no weirdams and no wing dams, all of which means less chance of damaging the props.  During the course of this leg we had a first.  A pleasure boat actually passed us while we were underway as did two other later in the day.  Heretofore, we have been running south all by ourselves.

The first pleasure vessel to pass us

Further south we passed Sarah Palin's bridge to nowhere.  Well, OK it's just an old abandoned railroad bridge where they removed part of the span.

Immediately to its south we passed this strange structure.  I'm sure there's a story here but it was not in the cruising guide. 

The scenery while beautiful did not lend itself to taking photos.  After we passed the Land Between the Lakes wilderness we saw a few homes along the water.

Homes along the Tennessee

We pulled into Pebble Isle gas dock at 4:10 PM, topped of the tanks with 68 gallons of fuel and pumpout the holding tank.  Diesel was $2.99 per gallon (best price yet),  dockage was $45.60 and a lovely dinner at their restaurant was $28. Note: They assigned us to a covered slip; a first for us and as it turned out the source of a puzzle.

Up to then it had been a perfect day.  Then stuff happened.  The first "stuff" was the sound of what sounded like a pump cycling approximately every 30 seconds.  This as you can imagine is not a good situation as the pump will eventually burn itself out.  Tracing the cycling noise was not easy.  I eventually started turning switches on and off in the electrical panel to see if I could isolate the problem.  This strategy succeeded to a point.  I narrowed the source to the 110 volt Starboard Systems switch and then identified the KVH satellite dome as the source of the cycling noise.  However, once identified, I could not shut it down despite actually trying to read Sea Ray's wiring diagrams in the Owner's Handbook.  So, we spent the evening with the 110 volt Starboard Systems switch off.  The only inconvenience was loosing the lights over the computer and having to move all the electrical devices that charge on the starboard side to the port side outlets (i.e., computer, Verizon MIFI, My phone and the ipad).

The other "stuff" involved Kodi, who ingested something extremely foul that caused her to vomit the contents of her stomach onto the outdoor carpet on the bridge.  I spent considerable time, in the dark, trying to get out the stain, which appeared black and oily.  Several products were tried; Dawn, Fantastic and Woolite OxiDeep and Soph's favorite, Wesley's Bleach White.  Only the Wesley's worked but, unfortunately, not perfectly. 

Note: The greater concern was that Kodi could have poisoned herself.  We watched her clsely to detect any change in her behavior that would indicate that she was at risk.  Fortunately, vomiting solved the problem and she continued to be her lovable self thoughout the evening.

Solving the problem of the cycling motor and stain consumed most of my evening.  Oh well, the joys of boating and dog ownership.

Post Script: Saturday, I called Tom Tobin, my salesperson and friend at Skipper Buds, to see if he could shed light on the KVH problem.  He did.  Turns out the covered slip was the culprit.  The metal roof blocked the satellite signal causing the KVH to search, which was the source of the cycling sound.  Sure enough, when we docked Saturday afternoon in Clifton in a normal (uncovered) slip the KVH receiver worked just fine.  Note: Sea Ray does not make life easier.  The wiring diagram does not show the optional KVH receiver (dome) switch, which is somewhat non-descript and hidden in a cabinet under the entertainment center.



Relevant cliches: All well that ends well.  Live and learn.

Written by Les