Repairs are not Us.

Great breakfast spot in Muskegon

This morning we went to breakfast with our Atlanta friends, Steve and Ruth.  We had delicious omelets and blueberry pancakes at Toast 'n Jams.  Ruth is particularly talented at finding these hidden treasure restaurants.  This one was the only lively business in a dying shopping center.  We thoroughly enjoyed the meal.  Then we went to West Marine and Auto Zone to buy hydraulic fluid and gear oil.  We returned to Aunt Aggie.

We opened up the stern section to add hydraulic fluid to the reservoir there.  This took a while.  Then we put back together all the pieces of the stern hold.  George turned the wheel and determined that it was moving better than yesterday.  So he thought we were good to go.  We did our regular morning checks, started the engine, took off the electric and lines, and said good-bye to Ruth and Steve.  We were off, headed to Holland, 30 miles away. 

About five miles out in Lake Michigan, George noted that the steering was not working quite as well as he had expected.  He was turning the wheel around and around in order to move the rudder.  We heard moaning sounds from the rudder as though it was an animal in pain.  What was happening?  

Our steering problem was not fixed.  We did have some control but not as much as we would like.

I called Grand Haven, the next port, just 10 miles away.  North Shore Marina said they could give us a pump out, which we also needed, and someone could look at our steering problem.  Yes, we could spend the night in their marina.  So I cancelled the reservation at Holland and called Sue and Dan to tell them we were not coming there.  We motored on to Grand Haven.

The day was lovely, and the water was fine.  We were pretty much alone on the lake, so we were not worried about running into anyone.  However, when we got in the harbor with other boats, we were nervous about our steering issues.  George slowly moved into the harbor and into the marina.  

We got to the fuel dock for the pump out.   After the pump out, a mechanic named Jim came out to look at our steering issue.  He worked on the boat for over an hour and determined that we did need more hydraulic fluid, but we had put it in the wrong place.  So he added fluid correctly.  Then he helped us get into a slip.  

We had a snack lunch at 3:00 pm and went to the pool.  Steve and Ruth joined us for happy hour there. Tonight we had dinner at a brewpub, Old Boys.  We really enjoyed it.  We sat outside and shared terrific Mexican layered dip, chicken and feta pizza, and chocolate brownie sundae. 

We had hoped that we could get our bow thruster delivered here tomorrow, so Jim could get someone to reinstall it.  Then we would be all set for Chicago and the rivers below.  We are not sure if that can happen.  We may just move on to South Haven tomorrow.  

Lake Michigan Beach this morning.  

ps.  As we left for dinner with Steve and Ruth, Jim, our mechanic, drove by and said, "Have a good evening," from the window of his car.  I said, "Isn't that nice?" 

George replied, "Uh oh. He's driving a Mercedes."