2021: Sea Bright Bridge Backwards

 July / August 2021

Boating near Sandy Hook NJ

For the past week, Clark and I have had both of our sons and their families visiting at our home in New Jersey. That made 6 adults and 5 children ranging in ages from 7 years old down to 17 months. During that time some portion of the adults had to work remotely, which often left the children outnumbering the adults!

Prior to the family arriving, Clark worked hard preparing the boat. He had several items he addressed. The most major issue he found was a crack in the fiberglass exhaust elbow on the port engine. He quickly shipped it off to a person in Florida who rushed to get the elbow back to us before everyone arrived. While we waited for the part to return, the boat was out of commission, so we were anxious to get the boat back into operation. Clark and I installed the repaired part and took it for a test drive. Everything looked A-Okay and ready for family fun.

Once everyone was here, we planned a boat outing for the first available day that the working folks could arrange to skip work due to no urgent meetings, etc. Everything was in place and set to leave - the beach gear, food, people, etc. were all on board. At my urging Clark agreed to add fresh water to the water tanks. 

Unfortunately, in his haste, he added a rather large quantity of water to the port-side fuel tank. Once that was discovered, the boat outing was canceled - not only for the day but until Clark figured out how to address this issue without damaging the port engine. Since all the food was already on the boat, it turned into a boat picnic instead of a boat ride. 

Clark made numerous phone calls and did Google searches to find a professional that could help with the water-in-the-fuel issue. One person he called was the owner of the marina where we used to keep "Sea Moss" for winter storage. He advised that, after sitting for a while undisturbed, the water would settle to the bottom and the diesel would rise to the top, and Clark could drain off the water. It worked! He removed the majority of the water this way. 

Our boat has a fuel polishing system designed to remove water particles from fuel. Clark ran that over and over again and filled up numerous containers with the drainage. Eventually he had no more containers left to use. Although the fuel was looking better and better, any amount of water in the fuel line could seriously damage the engine. He refused to start the engine until he was confident he had removed it all.

Via his Google searches, he finally discovered USA Fuels. They are based in Fort Lauderdale with service reps stationed in multiple locations. The rep from Connecticut drove to our boat to work his magic of removing any remaining water and then adding chemical to the fuel to turn any moisture into a substance that could pass through the engine with damaging it. Even though the workers came from Connecticut, they arrived close to 9:00 a.m. and were done by early afternoon. 

Besides the water-in-the-fuel problem, Clark had another issue related to the water refill. Because the water had been sitting in our tanks all summer, he drained all the old water out. Unfortunately, the tanks being completely empty set up an alarm situation. Even later, when the tank was full of water, Clark could not figure out how to get rid of this alarm. He eventually spoke to someone who helped him clear the alarm. That day will go down in history as a nothing-went-right day of boating!

The day after the fuel repair team left, we loaded everyone, except for one person who had meetings, on board for a test run. We drove the boat around the local area for about an hour and a half which Clark thought would give sufficient time to test that the boat was back to fully operational. The test passed. Yay! 

While waiting for the "big" boat to be operational, we used our dinghy to take the kids out for rides on what they call the "fast boat".  We also used our row boat and our kayaks to keep them entertained. the 7-year old was old enough and strong enough to take a kayak out on her own. The rest went out with a daddy.

Son Chris with our granddaughter Violet

Son Jeff with our grandchildren
Sierra,  Lillian, and Jack

Searching for a day with good weather and a minimum of meetings for the office workers, we decided on taking the boat out the day before everyone departed. We had it all timed so that we would arrive at what used to be an island and is now a sandbar at low tide so the kids could play at the beach. (It only appears at low tide.) 

This trip everyone was on board. I was down below playing with the kids when I heard the boat slow down. I figured we had arrived at the Sea Bright bridge and were awaiting an opening, so I brought the kids up to see the bridge open. Not so fast! 

Although our timing was good for the island, it was not good for the bridge. A crew with a bucket truck had assembled on the bridge. The bridge tender advised Clark that she could not open the bridge for another half hour. Clark does not like to wait for bridges! He decided to mosey on up to the bridge to see if he could slide under by lowering everything, i.e. mast and antennas. 

The bridge tender told him the clearance board read 15 1/2 feet, and when asked, told Clark that was at the center of the bridge. From past experience, we did not believe this to be correct. The bridge is arched, and we always added to the board number when calculating clearance for "Sea Moss". I believed we had plenty more clearance than she advised. If we had just 2 more feet, we could make it under. 

My son, who is 6'5" tall, and I stood towards the stern of the boat where we could get the best view for checking clearance. As we approached the bridge, Clark turned the boat around. He said he was going through the bridge in reverse! With the rapid current pushing him towards the bridge, he felt this was the prudent way to approach. If we had to bail out, he could throw the boat into forward and get the speed / momentum he needed to avoid crashing into the bridge. In reverse, he would be less likely to be able to fight the current to get away.

Well, they say there is a first time for everything. I have never been on a boat driven backwards through a bridge before. It was a novel experience to say the least. 

As we approached the bridge, I could see 5 men standing on the bridge and 1 man in the bucket of the truck over the side of the bridge actually doing work. The old joke "How many xyz does it take to change a lightbulb?" came to mind.  

Sea Bright Bridge repair underway

As we neared the bridge, my son, using binoculars, confirmed the board reading of  about 15' of clearance that we had been told. We each did a visual check of boat height to bridge clearance and agreed that it "looked good". The closer we came to the bridge, the more confident we became. 

As we passed under the workmen, I looked up, smiled, and said, "Hi guys!" They in return were speechless. The poor man in the bucket looked terrified. He looked at us. He looked at the bridge. He looked at us. He was not smiling. Bad enough we went through the bridge ... going through backwards, well ... that's Clark for you!

After the bridge adventure, we had a fun, but chilly, day at the "island". All the kids had chattering teeth and lips turning blue by the time they returned to the boat to get dry and warm. This week has been great for going to the park and not so great for the beach. The kids did not care! 

When we arrived home later that afternoon, the kids were dumbfounded to see that workmen were stripping the roof off our house. Oh yes. In addition to boat work, we have been hit with numerous, unanticipated expensive house repairs this summer including needing a new roof. We would have liked to have the roof work done after the kids left, but the opportunity arrived to get it done quickly and Clark jumped on it. 

Due to the shingle debris around the house and falling from the sky, the only safe way into our house was through the basement door. Thankfully, that way was clear and offered minimal chance of shingles dropping on our heads. To 3, 4, and 5-year olds, all of this insanity is part of a great adventure. 

The next morning our 9 visitors departed. We still have workers pounding on the roof as they take off / replace shingles. One job leads to another. Besides the shingles, we needed chimney masonry repair, and today it was decided that we need to replace the gutters on the house. This summer so far has been "ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching" -- the sound of money as it flows out the door!