The aptly named ‘Double Trouble’ is a 32′ Carver aft cabin cruiser that we brought up to Hastings, Minnesota from Key West, Florida last spring.  Since that time, the owner has done some adhoc web development for me, and other than pushing me off the top of his boat while re-installing the flybridge we have become friends.  ‘ Double Trouble’  has held true to her name, with more than a few mechanical maladies to overcome - but it sounds as if my friend is starting to master the beast…

>>>>

Last Saturday, September 26th, Ben and I went to the marina to fix the shower pump switch in the forward head.  We accomplished that in short order and, with a beautiful afternoon looming, decided to have ourselves a little adventure.  We took the big Carver down the Mississippi to about mile marker 802.0 and just had ourselves a wonderful time together then turned and went back.  The weather was wonderful the boat behaved admirably it was a really nice time.

Then on Sunday Amy, after hearing how fine Saturday had been, thought it’d be a nice idea to anchor out by Prescott for the afternoon.  I checked WCCO.com weather and it promised sunny and warmer than Saturday.  Off we all go, Andrew, Ben and I in the boat and Amy drove so we dinghy’d her in (she had an appointment and had to leave at 2:15 and would be leaving early).  The weather was cloudy until 2:15 when Amy had to leave.  Typical.  So, the boys and I, determined to soak up the newly arrived sun, went fishing.  We didn’t catch anything and went back for a snack and noticed it was getting kinda windy.  About 5:00 we weighed anchor and went back up to the marina only to discover 40mph winds.  I tried to dock into my slip with no luck.  Feeling this wind was beyond my skill level I decided the wisest course of action would be to wait it out.  I figured it’d settle down around dark and I’d rather wait than risk damaging the boat.

So we went back to Prescott and anchored and played board games.  Still windy.  Played some more.  Still windy.  Decided to wait until 9:30, for sure it’d calm down by then.  At 9:00 we still had incredible winds and it was no better at 9:30.  I called Amy and told her we’d probably have to stay the night.  We might be a little hungry but there were some snacks aboard and we’d be fine.  About 10:00 I hatched a new idea, I thought I could dock her at the marina but  just not in my slip.  I figured I could just move her parallel to the outermost dock and simply ride the wind in, I’ve done that a lot and knew it’d work.  And then I could go home and later, when the wind died down, move the boat to my proper slip.

I prepared by starting the engines and turning on the lights.  Ben manned the anchor but it was too windy and the windlass clutch just slipped and wouldn’t bring in the anchor so we gave up.

Then, after thinking about it for a while, we tried again.  I got everything going on the bridge then put Ben in the captains chair and I went out to get the anchor up.  It took some manual persuasion and forward motion of the boat but I managed to get it up.  Now all I had to do was drive the short three miles to Hubs and drift into the dock.  I knew this would be a piece of cake, the hard part was now behind me.

It was really blowing but I found I could control us just fine.  We found the buoys for the Prescott no-wake-zone and proceeded in under the first bridge and when we got just in front of the second bridge, the train bridge, the engine alarm sounded. A loud annoying buzz.  This is a somewhat unusual occurrence but not unheard of.  Sometimes at low idle an engine will kill.  So I scanned the tachometers first, odd, both tachs showed the engines running.  This is where my age is became significant detriment.  You see the gauges are nice black-faced Teleflex’s with white needles that are really easy to read.  But that’s during the day, at night they’re a real neat looking red glow that turns those easy to read white needles a red that, to my 48 year-old eyes, blends right in and I can’t see anything.  I don’t want to ruin an engine and, so, decide to err on the side of, what I believe at that moment, caution and shut down both engines.

This is the part where the stark terror begins.  I take quick stock of my redicament.  It’s 10:30 at night.  Very dark.  I’m on a really big boat in 40+mph inds.  Under a bridge.  I just shut off both my engines and am now being blown into he bridge trestle and towards dangerously shallow water.  I need to do something — really fast too.  I’m not sure if I have one good engine or no good engines.  I can’t read the gauges so I pick one, the port engine, (because I’m left-handed and t’s easier).  I turn the key, nothing happens, oh yeah I’m still in gear, put her in neutral and turn the key.  She fires up but the engine alarm sounds so I turn it off.  Now I’m closing to about 20 feet of that trestle.  Reach for the starboard key (this engine always starts right away) and it does so now and without an engine alarm!  I goose the throttle a bit and get us out of there and into deeper water.

Ben asked “Can we get to Hubs on one engine dad?”.  “Sure”, I confidently replied, eeling ever so full of myself for having extracted us from the bridge calamity.  So, very slowly, on one engine, we creep up the Mississippi through the Prescott no-wake-zone.  Man did it start to really howl once we turned off the St. Croix and headed directly into the wind.  We got to about 50 ft of the no-wake-buoy at the end of the no-wake-zone and the wind caught the bow and turned us sideways.  With only the starboard engine the boat pushes naturally to port and I countered by moving the rudder to starboard.  This limited my maneuverability significantly.  I tried to steer back up river but couldn’t so I shifted to reverse and eventually got us moving forward again.  Then, when we got close to the buoy again, the same thing happened only we were blown sideways in the other direction.  Arghh.  I tried again and again, same thing.  Hmmm, this isn’t going to work.

I had to turn back, no trouble doing that with the wind blowing that way.  I was going to go back and anchor at Prescott when Ben said “Can we just go to the Prescott dock?”.  That was a flash of absolute brilliance!  The dock is at least 100 feet long with no boat there now and the wind blowing perfectly to get us there easily.  All I had to do was get a few feet off the dock and keep the boat parallel anywhere in that 100 feet of glorious space and the wind would push us gently right into the dock.  So I maneuvered us up close and it worked exactly like that, Ben stepped off and tied us off.  Finally safe.  We called Amy who angrily hopped in the family minivan and rescued her three cold wet boys.

Before Amy arrived I peeked into the engine bay and quickly saw the problem, the raw water intake hose broke and needed to be replaced.  Next day I took a little time off work and fixed the hose, found the output hose got a hole too and replaced it, plus the impeller was mush but I had a spare and installed it.  Only $45 in total damage and boy could that have been worse!  That engine alarm saved me thousands.

I’m proud to say that even though I was terrified I never quit, I never came unglued, never tried anything beyond my limits.  Saved the vessel and saved the crew.  My captaining ability is improving.  The trouble in “Double Trouble” is losing it’s power.