Day 20-23: Sackets Harbor to Henderson Harbor

Day 20-21: August 7-8: Not much has happened in the way of solving our problem since my last post, which is very frustrating. We seem to be being ignored by the boatyard. Our assumption is that they never had any intention of working on our problem. Weird!  

Here is a recap of what has happened since August 2nd when we traveled from Oswego to Sackets Harbor. We anchored in the harbor upon arrival. John took the dinghy in and spoke to the marina.  A work order was filled out, "Peter" (who we found out is the owner) told us to bring the boat to the travel lift in the morning (which we did). He boarded the boat for about 10 minutes and took pictures of the pump. A couple of hours later he reported that particular pump has been discontinued. He then asked for specs on it (which John had) so he could find an alternative. 

We hung around the boat all day Thursday, expecting some kind of feedback. Nothing. We watched Peter and two other workers do a few things like move a sailboat and walk back and forth into a shed. On Friday John approached Peter and asked if he needed anything else from us that might be of assistance as we were going to take a walk to the battlefield and we certainly did not want to be absent and miss any updates. Peter told us he didn't need us and he was waiting for an email! 😟 We assumed that meant he had contacted folks regarding a replacement pump. We also reasoned he was waiting for the electronics guy to return from vacation. So, being a Friday we knew nothing would happen over the weekend and held out hope things would change by Monday.

In the meantime we walked everywhere, visited the sites and as posted previously, enjoyed a concert in the grove. The weather has been all over the place, going from bright sunshine to thunder and lightening and pouring rain and back to clear skies within minutes. 

With great anticipation we waited patiently for good news on Monday, assuming the electronic guy would come knocking on our door. Unfortunately no news came our way and we were beginning to sense that we were being ignored. We also learned Mr. Electronics was not returning until Wednesday. Trying to get information from these people was like pulling teeth. GRRRR 😠😠😠 Communication is not one of their strong suits. 

We did find out the prop for the dinghy was at the post office which was a 5 minute walk so John grabbed the bike to pick it up, planning to replace the old one tomorrow. 

On Tuesday morning we received a call from our new friend George  (remember the folks who live directly across the bay and were dreaming of doing the loop one day?). He told John he had reached out to his friend Dave who is a certified Garmin installer and told him about our problem; he expected Dave would probably be able to help. John called Dave, discussed the problem and sent him pictures of the pump etc. Dave noted he is a fishing charter captain and mostly does installations in the winter but would probably be able to supply a new or barely used Garmin pump and get "his guys" to do the installation. He said he would come to the marina the next morning. 

Since we have had no luck with Sackets Marina, John asked Peter if he allowed outside contractors to do work in the yard as we had someone who was willing to come by and take a look at the issue. Peter said he doesn't usually allow outside workers but would approve it but he would have his electronics guy review the situation with Dave. We got our hopes up again. To this day we have never seen the Mr. Electronics. Geez!

In the meantime we received a message on NEBO (an app most members of the AGLCA are using to log their voyages, track weather, speed, photos etc. It allows users to locate others' positions and communicate with them) from loopers James and Wendye on Liberty, who are also in the marina, suggesting we all meet for a drink at the yard gazebo if the rain let up later in the day.  Loopers refer to these get togethers as "docktails" and are part of the fun for AGLCA members (who you can spot by the AGLCA burgee).  

As it turns out Tuesday was the worst, windy, rainy day yet so docktails were postponed until Wednesday! Speaking of rainy days I can't help but post these shots of John "playing" in the rain. He got caught in a storm on his way back from a market, grilled our dinner in the rain and battled the wind as he tried to pull our boat in closer to the piling during Tuesday's particularly nasty storm.

Day 22: August 9: Another disappointment. Garmin guy Dave texted John and said he "couldn't do it". We were not sure if he meant he was heading out on a fishing charter (as it was a nice day) or just couldn't do the job at all. From previous conversations with him John thinks he doesn't want to get involved with ripping out some rusty bolts etc. and squeezing into the engine room. So we gave up on all of these people and began making phone calls to every marina we could find. As could be expected some of the bigger ones were about 3 weeks out regarding service. We finally called Henchen Marine which is in Henderson Harbor, about 7 NM from our present position. John, the owner, said he could do the installation and he had a spot for us to tie up. As it turns out Garmin guy Dave's boatyard is also in Henderson and John and Dave know each other. We figured we have nothing to lose at this point and we really wanted to get out of Sackets Harbor so we decided we would head over to Henderson in the morning. 

As if that wasn't enough, John replaced an oil pressure sender only to have an alarm go off when he turned on the port engine. He made a few adjustments and tried to turn on the port engine. You guessed it! Starting the engine became an issue; slow to start, barely start and kapoot (click, click, click). I believe the feint of heart would have given up and gone home by this time.

Having had a similar experience a few years back while we were in Shelter Island, John cleaned the ground connections as this had worked once before. Unfortunately, it did not solve the problem so he called his brother Craig for the 100th time asking for advice. Craig suggested he clean the positive connections which he did. Still no success so onto Plan B which was to change out the starter. Fortunately we did have one onboard. 

On a positive note, loopers James and Wendye contacted us again. Not only to meet for docktails at 5:30 but also asking if we and loopers Doug and Dana on Tumbleweed wanted a ride to a grocery store as they had rented a car. Of course we said yes please!  Being able to grab some items and enjoy a nice evening with other loopers was a needed distraction from the frustration. 

We got back to the boat about 8:00 p.m. and John climbed into the engine room and changed the starter. He climbed out with high hopes but nothing happened. So I fed him a PBJ and we went to bed. In short order he got up, saying he forgot to turn on "the switch".  That was the trick. The engine started so we will be able to leave in the morning as planned and head to Henderson Harbor. At least the engine hadn't seized or something like that. Blessings do happen. 

Day 23: August 10: We settled up with the marina and prepared to get UW for the 7 NM trip to Henderson Harbor. Of course storm clouds started to roll so we waited until they passed. Once UW it was a pretty nice 1 hour trip to Henchen's. 

Henchen's is not a typical marina as the area has suffered a ton of damage due to rising water level on Lake Ontario. But the owner, John Killius, got us tied up at his travel lift. Once secure, he and John discussed the issue, took a look in the engine room. John K. said he was a certified Ray marine installer at one time but stopped getting re-certified as he wasn't getting enough work to balance out with the time required for yearly training. He also said he wasn't afraid to rip stuff apart (something Garmin Dave didn't want to get involved with) and squeeze into the engine room. John told him he is willing to do the squeezing and really needed the tools and directions. John K. sped away to Garmin Dave's shop to see about getting the part(s) needed as Dave originally told us he had a used pump or could overnight ship a brand new one.  John K. came back and discussed pump options with our John, noting he thought he might be able to get one from the Garmin representative he deals with in NJ. So John and John are ready to tackle the problem as soon as we acquire the pump! So far John K. has been more helpful in a few hours than anyone at Sackets Harbor was in a week. We will see what tomorrow brings.