Interesting Discovery

I made an interesting discovery today (to me anyway). Our auto pilot mysteriously quit working awhile back. I checked the fuses and gave the system a quick look over and did not find anything obvious. I went and talked to a marine electronics tech and he said he would look at it. I was just about to call him back and set up the appointment and then thought maybe I better look it over one more time myself as everyone down here is $100 an hour. I looked at the owner's manual again and the error message indicated the rudder was not turning when the control unit told it to. I again checked the fuse. It was good. I went down in the engine room where the hydraulic pump for the auto pilot is located. I ran my hand over the wiring and much to my surprise one of the connections fell apart in my hand. I redid the connections and now it works perfectly. That saved a couple of hundred dollars over something simple.

That was not the interesting discovery though. While I was looking for the owner's manual in the box of papers and manuals that came with the boat I found an article that had been printed in Motorboat magazine in October 1979. The article was about chartering a Marine Trader trawler in St. Thomas USVI named Island Queen. I have thought for a long time that she was an ex-charter boat. Her log books start in 1983 when she was 5 years old. Most charter boats are sold after 5 years of service. I knew from other documents that she had been in the USVI before. So I think with certainty that that is where she began her life. It is funny to me that that is where we were headed when we left Indiana almost four years ago on Morgan (our sailboat). We got a little sidetracked and bought a trawler. It has taken almost three years to pay for and refit Island Queen, and we are not done yet. We have come along way though and are almost to the point of being able to take off again.

We are going to Key West the end of this month to haul her out and do some much needed hull maintenance along with installing a bow thruster. We will then return to Marathon for Christmas with the kids. Then in February we will start up the east coast and continue on the Great Loop. Once we complete the Loop we will then work our way down the islands to the USVI, or at least that is the plan.