Grafton Day 3

Grafton Day 3

We slowly fought the Mississippi River 4.5 miles upstream to Uncharted Marine Service at Polestar Marina. Kurt put his hand on each cowling while running in gear up to 2000 RPM while tied to the dock with three lines. He said it was most likely fuel starvation and advised changing out the fuel filters. He made a point of reading the filter label “Change every 50 hours or 1 year, whichever occurs first.” We’re at 100 hours. Then he went out with us to test…we popped right up on plane and ran up to 5,200 RPM in Heavy Cruise mode easy peasy! Sometimes I think God dishes me some servings just to keep me humble.

Chorus: “You haven’t had a humble day in your entire sorry life!”

Me: You ladies are not being helpful today.

So the remainder of this Loop segment is saved by having two spare Yamaha filters, a big filter wrench, some tools, some olive oil (as we don’t carry motor oil for the filter gaskets). Eileen sacrificed her collapsible sink basin for the messy changeout (we have a spare that was shipped to the Sturgeon Bay Harbor Host). Total cost was a very fair $150. A single prop hub is over $150. We gave Kurt a $60 cash tip for the sweaty work in a 96 degree Heat Advisory. We’re the only overnight transient boat at Grafton while the Looper Clot is on the NY canals. The Heat Advisory is going to continue in our travel areas for another week and we’d like to have shorepower for the rooftop AC, but it seems impossible.Read more