Holy Crap!!

An hour or so after Lady KK pulled out we cast off the lines and headed to St. Charles, about 20 miles north of us. Immediately after passing Alton Marina it is quite evident where the original Lock & Dam 26 was located. I remember my Dad telling of waiting for hours in his houseboat that he had just purchased in Arkansas and then getting lucky by locking through with a towboat. Delays at 26 could stretch into days at that time because of only one 600' chamber and all the tow traffic. The new Mel Price lock has a 1500' chamber as well as a 600' chamber which helps eliminate most of the wait.

Part of the old lock 26 wall.

Across the river a little part of the dam that was left in place.

Above Alton the bluffs rise up on the Illinois side of the river and run up to Grafton where the Illinois joins the Mississippi.

Scenic bluffs above Alton.

The channel takes you past Our Lady of the Rivers monument.

Beyond the sandbar lies the Illinois River and Grafton Marina. (mm 218 umr)

A couple of miles up the Mississippi we turned into Dardenne Slough and into Port Charles Harbor Marina where Tourist had a date with the local Cummins mechanic for a valve adjustment. Little did I know that this would become the crappiest stop of our journey.

The side by side entrances of Polestar (right) and Port Charles Harbor (left).

Back in Green Turtle Bay I had purchased new duckbill valves to rectify a problem with the master head. The pump was running intermittently on it's own without being triggered by flushing and the bowl was still holding water. Since the pump and valves are located just in front of the starboard engine my plan was to let the motor cool and wait until after the Cummins guy had completed his job. Certainly didn't want him gagging in the engine room!

Well once the engine work was done and the mechanic had gone it was my turn to go to work.  I flushed fresh water though the lines and pump and put on my rubber gloves before I dove into the bilge. There are 4 of these valves per head that need replacing. 2 are easy and 2 not so easy due to location.

What a new duckbill valve looks like. I'll spare you a picture of a used valve!

Well as I was saying I went into the bilge to replace the valves. Once I wrapped myself around the front of the engine I saw that I had another problem. The top of the pump bellows was wet. Crap! That means that there is a hole in it and that it was probably the problem. Why didn't I see this earlier? GTB had 2 of the bellows on the shelves in the ships store but did I buy one??? NO!

Out of the bilge I come and up to the parts department at Port Charles Harbor. Of course they didn't have one in stock. Next I called the local West Marine. Nope! So back to the boat and the internet where I found as many as I needed and ordered one to be delivered in 2 days. The forecast was for storms anyway for the next couple of days so sitting idle wasn't an issue.

New bellows which I ordered from Seacoast Services.

Since I was mentally prepared to tackle this crappy job I decided to remove the whole pump assembly and bring it out on the dock where I could take it apart. Clean it. Install the new duckbill valves and be ready to install the bellows when it arrived. I plugged the hoses and climbed out of the engine room.
Everything was proceeding very well until I failed to notice an o-ring on the top half of the pump assembly. I saw it fly off when I hit it with the pressure from the water hose and of course it landed right in the river! (insert cuss words!) After a short break I finished the cleaning, Installed the new valves and went to the internet.

The disassembled pump with the new bellows just waiting for an o-ring!

Of course by this time it was too late to get it in the same shipment as the bellows so we added another day to our stay at PCH.

The saving grace to the whole day was after I got cleaned up Pam and I walked next door to the Duck Club Yacht Club for dinner. We sat at the bar and following a few libations I had one of the best steaks I've ever had outside of Gene & Georgetti's in Chicago.

Friendly Place next to PCH.

Our view of Tourist as we walked back.

Since we had some time to kill we decided the next day to use the courtesy van and drive into St. Charles for lunch and supplies. Downtown St. Charles along the Missouri River has been restored in grand fashion with shops and restaurants galore.

Part of the restored downtown St. Charles including the brick streets.

Finally all the parts arrived and the pump went back together. Now to get back in the bilge and connect the hoses. When I opened the hatch I knew we had trouble. Pew! I took a deep breath and went in. I wasn't prepared for what I found. The bilge under the prop shaft was full of brown, crappy water and more. So was the trough that runs along the outboard side of the engine as was the center sump area in the front of the compartment. Oh shit! All the while that I'm in the thick of it Pam's in the cockpit making gagging sounds but being a trooper and not leaving me to suffocate!

Apparently even though the master head was out of service the guest head was not and must have created enough pressure when it was used to force the crap out of the hose for the master. Now what?

Fortunately we carry a small shop vac on Tourist and it was soon put in service. After the vac filled I would dump it into a larger bucket and when that was filled it was Pam's job to dispose of it! Quite funny actually. Slowly we got the crap sucked up and the area rinsed with fresh water and bleach.
The pump went back in place and worked just like it was supposed to. The only casualty was my nose. I still have faint whiffs of crap!

 Time to get out of Dodge. The view from Tourist as we finally left Port Charles Harbor.