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The wrong kind of exciting, N. Lake Worth to Jensen



Beautiful clear skies today as we took off at 8am to run the gauntlet of bridges. We made most of the openings with smooth timing, only had to tread water for a half hour in front of one bridge. Passed by the Crossroads at the Port St. Lucie inlet and found 5' MLW just south of the crossroads in the middle of the channel. Fortunately the tide hadn't quite gone out all the way, so we still had a half a foot under our keel.


We got to pass through tony Jupiter, home to the Mega-rich and probably famous too, with some of the more incredible waterfront homes that Florida has to offer.


After passing the St. Lucie Inlet and having the outgoing tide switch the current to about 1.5 knots against us, the fun really got started! I noticed that the temperature had started to creep up on the engine temp gauge. Still in the green zone, but ominously creeping up. Backed off the throttle a little, which left us barely moving over the ground at about 2 knots against the current. We were in a really bad spot to be having problems (doesn't it always work out that way?!) Narrow, shallow channel, current sweeping us back towards the inlet, and every kind of runabout, jetski, and powerboats imaginable buzzing back and forth around us. Scanning the charts, we saw that about a mile ahead was a deep(8') area out of the channel where we could drop the anchor. Of course, that's a half hour away at our current speed and the temperature gauge is still moving upward, dangerously close to the red line. Within just a few moments we quickly realize that there's no way we'll make it. As the Aussies say, 'we were stuffed'. Nothing to do but drop the hook right in the middle of the channel, rest of the world be damned!


With blood in the water, it took the tow boats about 30 seconds to notice us having problems and come in to help. Not having tow insurance (might need to rethink that one) we politely waved them off and I went down to check the engine. As expected, the coolant reservoir was empty, so we cranked it back up and I added coolant with the engine running to hopefully not crack the block with cold water. With the engine temp dropping back down, we hurried and raised the anchor heading for the better spot. Made it under a fixed 65' bridge and up to the open spot. Temperature is ok at this point, but when I go back down to make a visual inspection of the engine, I see a steady stream of coolant running down the far side of the engine. Quickly, again, we slide out of the channel and drop the hook. N27 12.854 W80 11.687 After removing all of the access doors to the engine, I see what looks like the source of my leak, a bad coolant line connection. Rather than reliable traditional fittings and hose clamps, this marvel of Volvo engineering has solid steel lines that just get jammed in to the female fittings with just a rubber bushing and a prayer to seal it. Nothing I can do now until the engine cools, so tonight if possible, or tomorrow morning I start working on it. Really, really, feeling good about our decision not to cross the Gulf Stream until we get the engine better sorted. We motored 5 hours today, just long enough to have put us right smack in the middle of the Stream with an overheated engine......

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