While they are painting....

I debated whether to paint the topsides of our trawler myself or to hire it out. Obviously, based on our trip down river the other weekend, we opted to hire it out. Because of that, we were able to spend the last week down in sunny Florida on Treasure Island relaxing in the 78-80 degree temperatures! After the cold and snowy winter (yes, snowy even in GA!), it felt great to get away from everything and relax. The only thing missing was our trawler! We all agreed it would be great to bring her down there for a season at some point in time. For now though we enjoyed time on the beach and relaxing as a family!

Our typical daytime view:

Gorgeous sunsets!

And yes, dinner and a nice cold drink at Sloppy Joe's right on the beach at sunset:

WITH my wonderful bride and our wonderful daughter (and our son too!):

Great time with the family on the beach. We are looking forward to getting our newly painted trawler back hopefully by the end of this week but really, what better way to pass the time than to relax on the beach.

End of the trip....

Well, our third day (yesterday) was a short run! We only had about 21 miles to do from Goose Pond to Alred Marina where we were dropping the boat off for the new topsides painting. Honestly- none of us wanted the trip to end! Caleb and I agreed that we should keep driving the boat until "we can see dolphins." I have to agree with that! It was truly a great trip with my dad and Caleb. As this was the biggest run our old boat has done in a long time I was curious to see how she would run. We put just under 20 hours on the engines on this little run. I just could not be happier with how the boat performed. Once her topsides are painted, she should prove to be a very solid and good looking classic for us to explore the water from. Coming from previously owning gas powered boats, it was remarkable how much the little diesel in our trawler just seemed happier the more she ran. It made all the work from this winter worth it to be able to go on this trip and not have any issues to speak of!

The big question will be, once we get her back in just about 2 weeks, do we take her back up river or just keep going down the river to the coast!! :)

Here are a few pictures from our day #3 on the water:

Beautiful morning at Goose Pond:

Goose Pond transient slip in the morning:

Saying goodbye to Goose Pond as he begin to make our way down the river:

Before this trip, Goose Pond was the furthest down river we had ever been. I can't tell you how impressed we were with Lake Guntersville as we continued south! Talk about a gorgeous lake!! Very wide, nice houses, pretty views...really a nice place to boat it seemed.

I liked this guy's style...finished his boat house before his land house! :)

We passed our first and only barge today on the river as well:

And yes....dad and Caleb still found time to take a nap! A 3 day long monopoly game can wear you out I guess!!

It definitely was a lot less windy so driving from the flybridge helm for a while was fun:

The phrase "Sitting like a bump on a log" came to mind when I saw these guys hanging out:

And alas, we reached Alred Marina:

I kid you not when I say that I wish we could have kept cruising longer!!!!!!!! This was our first taste of having our trawler on the river, her longest run in many years, and our first chance to try out all the work we have done to her. She ran like a champ and proved to be a comfortable cruiser for us in every regard. Stay tuned for future adventures and travels!

Just for fun, here is another little short video of our time underway:

Day #2= More fun!!

I am happy to report that I am nestled quietly in my bed after another good run on the river today. We did a few less than 50 miles yesterday and few more than 50 today, for a grand total of right at almost exactly 100 miles traveled so far in the last 2 days.

We got off to yet again a slow/late start but were able to make it to our destination just as the sun was going down. We woke up early but I got delayed downloading the second set of the Navionics charts necessary for the Alabama section of the TN River. So, we weren't about to leave the dock until around 10:15 a.m.- not exactly leaving at the break of dawn! :)

The day started off with a gentle and short run down to Nickajack lock. The water was smooth as glass and still as could until just before getting to the lock (of course!). It started blowing pretty good and it really kept that up the entire rest of the day basically nonstop. Happily, locking through Nickajack lock proved to be even easier than going through Chickamauga lock. We were able to radio ahead and the lockmaster had the lock open and waiting for us when we arrived. Thus, we just pulled right in and tied off- easy as pie. The winds actually worked just fine- it was a cross wind and I just put the boat in the lock opposite the bollard I wanted and let the wind just move us on over.

Again today, we barely saw but a few bass fisherman here and there but by and large, we had the river all to ourselves for the entire day. Very peaceful. We were having to deal with a very strong wind hitting us directly on the nose all day long. It slowed our progress down by at least a knot which is a good bit when you are only already going 7-8 knots to begin with. Combining that with our late departure resulted in us not getting here until right at sunset. It felt like a long day today due to fighting the wind and squinting into the very bright sun late in the afternoon until just tying off at the dock. Oh to have some sunglasses!!! :)

The boat ran great again today. No issues at all and just really handles great. I have been extremely impressed with the single screw handling in close quarters. Thus far I see no reason as to why I would go to the expense of adding a bow thruster. It would be nice I am sure but definitely not necessary, at least not at this point.

Today, as I sat at the lower helm watching the ridges and woods go by, the seagulls flying around, geese, ducks, etc., I could not help but be reminded of my time in my younger years doing my two complete thru-hikes on the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. All those many, many months afoot gave such a serenity to me and I feel much the same way it seems while cruising on our "new" trawler. While we have no immediate plans of taking off to distant horizons, there is something great about knowing we have a boat that can cruise pretty much anywhere time and money would allow and that this boat is meant for such traveling. I wanted to call my wife today and tell her to meet us tomorrow with our daughter and dog "Daisy" and we'll just keep going down to FL. It really has been just wonderful to make this little trip in our trawler and I really look forward to hopefully doing lots of cruising for a long time to come aboard this little happy vessel. The feeling I get underway on the water like this reminds me so very much of thru hiking it is uncanny. I think it is the (admittedly mild in this weekend's case) sense of "voyaging" that a trip like this seems to give. The rich teak interior, the old fashioned wheel at the helm, the gentle rocking of the boat, new waters and new territory, etc...well, it all combines to create a special sense of "adventure." I put that in quotes because, well, a little 125-130 mile run down the Tennessee River certainly does not compare to circumnavigating the world or something but I think you know what I mean. I guess I just love traveling and I love boats and you put the two together and it's hard to beat. Only thing that could make it better was if my wife and daughter were here with us!!!

Anyway- enough rambling- here are a bunch of pictures from today for you to enjoy.

Smooth as silk for the first few minutes this morning!

Keeping with the belief that a busy crew is a happy crew, I put my dad to work cleaning windows:

Coming to Nichajack Lock:

A note about tying off inside a lock! A fellow boating enthusiast (and knowledgeable trawler/great looper) emailed me after my picture of us tied off in the lock yesterday. I had stepped away from the line @ the bollard to go get the second boat hook and tied off the line while I did that. What you could not see in the picture was that the water had not begun lowering and the gates to the lock were not even closed yet. For safety's sake though, you should not fully tie off to the lock bollard! Occasionally the bollard can get hung up on something and if you are tied tight it can create a big problem to say the least. Here is how I do it (looped around the clean for leverage with end of the line in my hand for quick release).

More lock:

Very pretty all day and remote:

Traveling makes even the mightiest of pirates sleepy after a while:

Some interesting waterside "houses" today:

My wonderful and trusty lower helm wheel:

Do NOT venture out of the channel in some locations!

We've all seen the stereotypical picture of the 1 palm tree deserted island in the tropics, right? I think this is the TN River version!

Quiet horizons of cruising bliss:

Are we THERE yet?! Actually, Caleb has been nothing short of great on this trip! Extremely well behaved, hasn't gotten bored, always helping, always with a smile...just perfect. We both miss Tarne and Sarah Grace but we know they are having fun at home doing girl things!

I took this as a sunset picture but all I see in it is how much I need to clean the windows!!

After a long day....

And just in case you have NOT gotten enough pictures for today, how about a brief video?! :)

Just a quick sample of our day running the river together:

Absolutely INCREDIBLE day!

Wow!! What a great day! We started late from Island Cove and then got hung up for close to an hour at the Chickamauga lock waiting for a barge to go through. I had been slightly apprehensive about locking thru with our trawler as it was my first time going through with a single screw! I had mapped out multiple scenarios in my mind on how to do it, etc. In the end though, it was a non-event. Super easy and painless. Only thing that "happened" was slightly bending the fender holder on starboard side up @ the pulpit. The fender holders are mounted to the rail outboard of the boat and as we were bringing the boat along side the bollard, the starboard fender holder rubbed a bit but no big deal- she bent right back into place. All my slight "apprehension" was unnecessary though- it was as easy as docking! Speaking of docking, you should have seen me dock tonight at our transient slip at Hales Bar. I had to do a 180 degree turn right up against their gas dock with hardly enough room for the boat. When I came in I thought for sure there was no way I'd get the boat in there. Happily though, given no other option, I glided her in with barely a tap of the rubrail to the dock. I am getting more and more comfortable with handling a single screw boat to where, at least thus far, I don't see any need for a bow thruster. The single diesel with her big prop bites into the water so well it is more responsive than our 38 Silverton Sport Bridge was with twin gas engines.

So...here are a bunch of pictures....scroll down.......

At Chickmauga Lock:

Caleb reading in his berth:

Dad and his Wall Street Journal:

Tied off inside the lock:

Yours truly:

Dad helping out with the lock maneuvers:

The bent fender holder:

Look how deep the lock is!

Dad checking out the lower helm:

A new friend of ours and fellow trawler enthusiast lives in downtown Chattanooga and was kind enough to walk over to the water front to take a few pictures of us underway:

Cruisin':

This GB owner has a nice set up!!

And home for the night (complete with close quarters maneuvering):

End the day with some putt putt:

The old power plant at Hales Bar:

And the end of the day....

All in all, an excellent, excellent day with my dad and son! The boat ran great and we all had a great time. We are looking forward to another day of fun on the river tomorrow....stay tuned!

P.S. I would be remiss if I did not give a BIG thank you to Terry and all of the great service department folks over at Island Cove. They have truly been instrumental in getting the mechanicals and electrical systems working properly. The fact that we made this little run today without issue is a testimony to their hard work, professionalism, and care. Thanks guys!!