AquaFennatic Great Loop Blog: Bar Island IL to Grafton Harbor IL

Sep 16^th – It was a warm humid day with intermittent rain and distant thunder storms. We left Bar Island anchorage this morning to move to the Willow Island anchorage on the Illinois River which was 56 miles away plus we went past (not through) 1 lock since the wickets were open due to the high water levels. The anchorages that we’ve been at during the last 2 days have currents of about 2 knots which is a weird feeling. It’s almost like the boat is moving forward. If you fell off you boat you would quickly be swept away and I doubt that you’d be able to swim back. You also have to be careful not to let go of your dingy since it would be very difficult to get it back. With the current you don’t have to worry about swinging on the hook since the current holds you straight, however debris floats by you constantly and everyone hopes that they don’t wake up to a large log stuck in the anchor line. We had docktails on our boat at 4pm with 3 other Canadian Looper sail boaters. The rain continued during docktails and into the night thus the boat was extremely warm since the windows are closed and the diesel engines have been running all day. I guess I get to sleep on top of the covers again tonight, however I’m going to do a better job hunting mosquitoes before bed since my ankles were bitten a number of times last night so my ankles are extremely itchy. Maria isn’t bothered by the heat and she continues to sleep under the covers ... she must be a West Indian (she was born and raised in Guyana).

Sept 17^th – It started out as a cloudy warm day and transitioned to a hot sunny and humid day. We travelled from our Willow Island anchorage to Grafton Harbor Marina IL which was about a 30 mile run. I picked up the packages that West Marine delivered (the inverter/charger and remote panel) and read all of the installation instructions and designed my implementation which is planned for tomorrow when the engine room isn’t so hot. We borrowed the courtesy van (an 18 passenger van) from the marina and went to get the parts I needed for the installation, however I couldn’t find battery cable ends that were big enough to fit the AWG 2/0 cables that need to be connected to the 12V system. We also went to Walmart to get needed provisions. Unfortunately we missed the video call from the Lake Simcoe Yacht Club (LSYC), however they left us a video with well wishes for the remainder of our trip. But we did manage to talk to the LSYC bunch later that evening.

... It was nice to talk to folks from home. There are many loopers here at Grafton, however we haven’t been that social today since we’ve been both trying to catch up on our must do jobs. Hopefully I can complete the Inverter/Charger installation tomorrow.

Sept 18^th – It was a hot and sunny day today. We stayed in Grafton Harbor Marina so I could replace my inverter charger. I started the job at 9am and 5 hours later I was finished. It took longer than I expected mostly because the old unit was in a very difficult spot to access and remove. I installed the new unit in a better location, however I had to deal with some rewiring issues and had to drill some holes using a hole saw to reroute the wires. I walked through all of the tests recommended by the new manufacturer and the new inverter passed with flying colors. I also decided to top up my batteries with distilled water and top up the oil in the engines. I’m sure I didn’t smell so good after all this work thus I went for a long shower and then had to have a couple cold ones to celebrate. It does feel good having the job done, however I’ll probably need to take an Aleve later due to all the weird positions I was in throughout the day. We went for Docktails on “Tiger” with Bill and Carole and met new boaters Stacey and Anna from “The Next Adventure” while we watched a live band from their flybridge. After Docktails we went to dinner with the other 2 couples to the on-site restaurant which has great food.