Getting South by Going North, Post 26-11
- Jimmy Lee
- Mar 15
- 5 min read
Updated: 23 hours ago
What was supposed to be a blog about our passage and arrival to Belize ended up being a detour to Ft. Myers to hopefully address our engine issues and maybe even the fridge.
Dry Tortugas to Fort Myers Beach
Thursday, March 5 – Friday, March 6
142 Miles | 124 Nautical Miles | 25 hours
Around 8 a.m. Thursday morning we started up the engine to weigh anchor we were happy to see that the alternator belt had stayed put. However, once we were underway the belt had started riding off the pulley again. Since the alternator was not working, it was basically just acting as a pully. Luckily the bearings were not completely destroyed since that might have seized the pully and not allowed us to run the engine at all.
Passage from Dry Tortugas to Ft. Myers
With very good wind conditions we could just sail without worrying about the engine. For several hours we had 15 knots of wind from the beam, so it allowed us good speed. It was a bit bumpy for the first few hours, so we waited until after lunch before we went below to attempt to adjust the alternator belt underway. I had one more trick up my sleeve where I adjusted one of the bolts to pull the alternator and therefore the belt back as far as we could. Once the adjustment was made, we fired up the engine, and it appeared to be okay.
The timing was great because about an hour after the adjusment was finsihed the winds shifted then died. Since we were shooting for arriving at Matanzas Pass during the morning slack, we started up the engine. The belt stayed stable for the rest of our trip, but I knew it was still an issue we still had to address (in addition to a damaged alternator).
The rest of our trip was uneventful. We did our normal shift schedule at the helm and I got to see a beautiful sunrise with Ft. Myers Beach in the distance. We motored into Matanzas Inlet and where docked at Diversified Yacht Services by 9 am. Easy docking in an exceptionally large slip. Overall, a particularly good passage.
Fort Myers Beach
Friday, March 6 – Thursday, March 12
One of Diversified mechanics (Sid) arrived immediately after docking (no napping for us) and took a look at our situation. It quickly became apparent that our alternator was toast and we would need a new one. I discussed options with the mechanic, and we decided I would contact the company that installed our lithium battery/alternator system back in 2023 (The Yacht Rigger) to discuss viable options for a new alternator and have Diversified install the new item.
We quickly selected a new alternator and ordered it from The Yacht Rigger. Since it wouldn’t arrive until Monday (at the earliest) there wasn’t much the mechanic could do so we decided to reconvene on Monday, and we had the weekend to enjoy Ft. Myers.
Since we were still tired from our passage, we decided on a short walk and an early dinner at Dixie Fish Co. It was delicious and we were in bed early.
We had the fortune to have the Ft. Myers Shrimp Festival going on this weekend and that is what we did on Saturday. After some boat chores we walked across the Matanzas Pass Bridge to Ft. Myers Beach where we watched a parade, looked at the craft vendors, and ate some shrimp. After the festival we walked back over the bridge and went to Bonita Fish Co. for some more food and then back to the boat to watch the weekend reveler boats (floating tiki huts, pirate ships, and general party goers) pass by our home since we have front row tickets to the event.
Fun at the Ft. Myers Shrimp Festival
Sunday was met with a walk across the bridge to breakfast and then boat chores for the rest of the day. We installed a new air conditioner water pump, so now we have dockside air conditioning again and did a deeper cleaning of our funky refrigerator that has not been used since we got our backup fridge in Marathon. I also dove into re-understanding our alternator controller since we will need to reprogram it for our new alternator which should arrive on Monday. We ended the day (again) watching the various boat traffic parading by our boat.
Monday was a preparation day for the alternator work, focusing on programing the new controller before the Diversified mechanic returned, and hopefully reducing his hourly sum. I got with The Yacht Rigger and discussed the settings we should use with the new alternator. We came up with a setting, and I uploaded it to the controller. Other than that, we went on a couple of walks and stayed close to the boat in case the alternator showed up. It arrived late in the afternoon, but the mechanic said he would not be there to install until the morning. We will also have a fridge technician here on Tuesday so it should be fun in close quarters. Hopefully, they will play nice.
Tuesday morning we had the diesel mechanic, and the refrigeration tech from Felix Marine both arrive around 8 am.
The fridge tech knew his stuff and after I told him the saga of the two “bad” techs, he knew exactly what was needed. Within an hour he had evacuated and vacuumed down our system and recharged it properly. The "tech" from Marathon put too much refrigerant by a factor of four. Our Ft. Myers tech said he was surprised it didn’t blow up our compressor. Regardless, once he finished recharging the system, it now appears to be running perfectly. I might have to send the Marathon and the Daytona technicians an email suggesting they don’t advertise themselves as refrigeration experts.
Boatwork in Ft. Myers
The diesel mechanic worked on the alternator and the belt alignment issue for a several hours. After fabricating a couple of pieces and getting everything put back together, he indicated he was 95% complete. Unfortunately, that last 5% requires an item to be shipped to his shop and hopefully it will be there tomorrow (Wednesday).
Other than a walk and lunch, we stayed on the boat and on call for the mechanic all day. I tried to soak in all the work he was doing in case I need to tweak anything later on, underway.
Wednesday was spent walking to the grocery store in the morning and then in the afternoon the mechanic finished up the rest of his installation. After some tweaking with the regulator settings and adjusting the belt tension a bit, the belt and new alternator looked like they were running very well. It appears we might have this one licked and we can now look forward to moving on. We ended the day with me cooking dinner and watching a show.
Since we were done with the work and the weather is not conducive to heading south quite yet, we left the dock at Diversified Yacht Services and went about 1000’ to a mooring ball in the Matanzas Mooring Field. It looks like we will be here for several days until we have a good window to head south.
Post 26-11
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