Miss gg: Thunder Storms and other Malfunctions! & Weeds!

We left at 845a under an overcast sky with a prediction of 40% rain chance. It rained! And continued to rain on us for some time making visibility bad. Walter kept wiping the isinglass off. We were concerned about debris in the water. But had no trouble with that issue. And the wind blowing behind us made what should have been a 6 hour cruise to Port Henry, NY on Lake Champlain a shorter 4 hrs 45 min..

Vermont was on East side of the boat and New York on West side. The scenery was beautiful along the water but sadly the mountains, Adirondack on NY side and Green Mtns on VT side, were covered in haze.

Vermont

Ft. Ticonderoga was built in 1775 by the French, captured by in 1775 by the British, Taken in 1776 by Ethan Allen & the Green Mtn Boys, and then retaken by the British in 1777!

Fort Ticonderoga, NY

Around the corner from the Fort is the busy Ticonderoga cable ferry at Larabees Point. The ferry passed in front of us. The instructions say to slow down and make sure the “cable” has dropped before you motor on. We called the ferry but the captain didn't answer on the radio... we wanted to know how long it took the cable to “drop”. We did a few circles and then proceeded down the lake.

The Ticonderoga Cable Ferry

We began to pass beautiful Vermont farm country.

There was a distinct smell... could they be growing cows rather than veggies?

A Vermont Farm

We neared our anchorage at Port Henry as we approached the Lake Champlain Bridge connecting Crown Point, NY with Addison, VT. You can see in the photo that storm clouds were gathering.

The Lake Champlain Bridge

Port Henry & the Adirondack Mountains in the haze

I was so looking forward to swinging on the hook tonight as it seems a long time since we anchored out... free docks and all.

Approaching Anchorage

The Captain is closely watching the water depth on the Garmin screen as we get ready to lower the anchor.

Anchor down, then the Captain sets the Anchor Bridle which keeps the boat from swinging too much and puts the load on the bridle rather than the anchor windlass.

Bridle Set!

It was so hot and muggy when we stopped... you know, how it gets just before a BIG storm hits! We usually wait until dinner time to start up the generator for cooking, bathing and AC. But this afternoon even the Captain was just too hot to go without the generator. He started it but the AC would not come on! So down into the HOT (probably 140 degrees!) engine hole he went to see what might be wrong... long story short it turned out that the circuit breaker for the generator had gone bad. This is a part never stocked by anyone... and it is only made on special order! This means not only no AC but no hot water and no stove or microwave!

As we are wondering what to do next LOUD thunder cracks over the boat... A hard rain came almost instantly afterward. We ran for the doors and closed the isinglass but forgot about the hatch over the V-berth and the open ports in the master cabin. Fortunately the computer printer sitting under a window in the aft cabin didn't get wet but the V-berth was soaked! In the middle of all of this the Drag Queen went off!!!.. Yea, the anchor alarm! So Walter had to tend to this while I mopped up. WHEW!

Turned out the boat had moved 300 feet... and there is something under our keel about 3.3 feet down and we appear to be in a watery weed bed! So much for a calm night of being gently rocked to sleep by a light wind!

This would have all been harder to take in the heat but my AMAZING captain came up with a temporary fix for the generator! Magic Man! Part of the circuit breaker did work so Walter figured out how to wire AROUND it to make the whole thing work! Praise God!

We are going to Burlington, VT tomorrow to await our mail and a part we need for the Canadian charts. All should come by Tuesday however now we NEED this breaker..... Stay tune for more Adventures.... If we figure this one out! :-0

P.S. Entangled in Weeds... the weeds almost won!

We decided to pull up the anchor and move to a less weedy spot tonight.....