Lock Nest Monster

Standing wave at Lock 53

Wahl ah shore wooud laak to, but ah cain't

Dave gets a ride

Yep, shore was a baad flare joint.

sheer dredgery

Tips for flaring copper tubing:  1- The nut must be put on the line before making the flare!  If possible use a long-nosed fitting.  2:  The end of the tube must be cut square and cleaned of all burrs inside and out.  3:  Warming the tube before screwing down the spinner will help prevent cracking (ideally the tube should be annealed).  4:  The tube may need to protrude above the face of the clamp by 1/3 or ½ the depth of the bevel to permit an adequate flare.  When made, the flare should just fit into- but not hang up on- the sides of the flare nut.  5:  The spinner should be oiled when making the flare.  6:  The spinner should not be screwed down too tightly- it will weaken the flare.  When the joint is done up, the flare nut will pull the flare snugly onto the flared fitting.  7:  If the flare looks uneven or in any other way unsatisfactory, it must be cut off and remade.  Doing so right away will be a lot easier than doing so later.   Page 530.  “Boat Owner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual”, Nigel Calder  2005

We got an early start the next morning and were excited to get off the Mississippi and head upstream on the Ohio at the confluence at Cairo.  As we made the left turn to the East, we soon realized that the Ohio is no punk%%% river itself.  We were working upstream against a 2 to 3 mph current and there was plenty of barge traffic to deal with.  The banks were gentler though, with some grassy  areas, and the bird life seemed more plentiful.  We found a nice anchorage on the Kentucky side about halfway up the 60 miles we had to go before meeting the Cumberland R. turn off.  We anchored along side the bank with an anchor fore and aft to keep us aligned with the current, and we were just around a corner which protected us from a stiff westerly breeze which kicked up a 2’ chop against the current.  The next day, as I was steering upstream, a tow headed out from the left bank to our port and angled out into the river on a converging vector with our course.  I couldn’t move too far to the right because of a giant dredge working there.  I had been trying to minimize our radio traffic so as not to interfere with the pros and I thought our speed would take us in front of the barges, but we heard          earzztvbmd,kriuutuhjjfkjfkspiniriut69ifkjaroundmmdkk4k5k.  Suddenly, the bow of the tow turned directly at us and we were just able to take evasive action.  Another close call.  I think the Captain must have had a black cat bone and put the juju on us because listen to this:

Just as we were relaxing again into our routine we came up on Lock and Dam 53.  Because of the high water from the recent rains, the pickets of the dam were down which allows boats to pass over the dam without locking through.  We contacted the dam on CHNL 13 and received permission to pass through.  We noticed some standing waves and quite a bit of current as we were passing over the dam, but were busy checking out and waving to another boat which was passing us.  When we looked abeam at the lock wall it soon became apparent that, although our speedo said 6.5, we were actually standing still and then were inching backward.  I signaled the engine room for full speed ahead but Scotty said “I’m givin’ ‘er all she’s got Captain Kirk!”  The speedo soon read above seven but it felt as if a giant hand had taken ahold of us from below (perhaps it was the Lock Nest monster). My next impulse was that we had fouled a large line or were hung up on the pickets.  Thump, thump, went our hearts.  After working the boat back and forth across the current (which resulted in some alarming forward ferries (canoe lingo)  we finally broke free of Satan’s grasp and inched our way up river.  Phfeeewww.  Soon, Jan said, “Do you smell paint thinner?”   I replied in the affirmative and scrambled below to check the paint locker.  No dice.  On deck again we kept sniffing and I wondered, “Maybe it’s diesel fuel.  I’ll bet Cindy has stowed away in the aft cabin.”  When I opened the engine room I was met with a fountain of diesel fuel squirting from a fuel line.  I was about to tighten it with my trusty left-handed crescent wrench when I decided that I might break it off and really cook our goose.  So I wrapped a rag around it and we limped upriver a few miles to Paducah, KY where by a stroke of serendipity there was a tie up open at the floating town dock.  Bad luck couldn’t have transpired in a better place.

I have never been in a friendlier place.  The “dock committee” , comprised of several ancient fishermen , assorted layabouts , retired rivermen, tourists, loopers, and even Tom and Huck (see Picture) greeted us, supervised our landing and tie up, assessed the situation, offered cogent advice as to methods of repair offered us rides into town, and, believe it or not, during the two days we were there, three people offered us their cars.  Incredible.  Jan, of course, offered to take Huck and Tom with us to which Tom replied, “Ahh shore weeesh ah cooud, but ah cain’t”.  We cleaned about 2 gal. of fuel out of the bilge and gave it to a guy who needed it to burn his brush pile.  Half a bottle of Dawn and a couple rolls of paper towels, and we had a semi-livable boat again.  The next day, two different guys gave me repeated rides to NAPA and a radiator shop where we had a new flexible fuel line custom soldered and crimped and we had the old girl purring again.  I had replaced an old fuel line with copper flare fittings, neglected the finer points of flaring, so the fuel line cracked when we reved the engine up. 

If you’re ever in the area, check out Paducah.  It’s got a cool mural on the flood walls, a beautiful, peaceful, cool little tree-lined avenue where you can find a 100-year old bakery and a hip new coffee shop, and make sure you stop at Coop’s BBQ for some of the best pulled pork around.  And, if you like Museums there is the railroad museum and quilting museum. This is a quilting mecca.  Most places have some local food market goods and we were able to stock up on some fresh vegetables as well.