JamesEwing.us http://jamesewing.us/ Saving the world from tyranny, one soul at a time Sat, 15 Jan 2022 16:45:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 Welcome to 2022! http://jamesewing.us/welcome-to-2022/ Sat, 15 Jan 2022 15:28:25 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=603 Happy new year y’all! It’s 2022 and I, for one, am soooo glad 2020 and 2021 are over. It’s been quite a ride for me these last few years. Covid […]

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Happy new year y’all! It’s 2022 and I, for one, am soooo glad 2020 and 2021 are over. It’s been quite a ride for me these last few years.

Covid + my 3 year-old doggy has kept me land-locked this year in Texas. Rather than my normal ‘escape the winter in Texas’ 3 month hiatus to the Caribbean I’m staying here for the most part. My dog is a little codependant.

In any case, at the beginning of the year I like to set my goals (1 month, 1 year, 5 year goals). Normally this is a private thing, but for whatever reason this year I’m posting it publicly. Perhaps it’s to inspire you to do the same exercise?

Goals:

1 month:

  • no drinking alcohol – at all!
  • cut down / quit smoking cigarettes
  • begin working out again
  • begin to simplify life (get rid of extra stuff I don’t need)
  • complete my overdue taxes for 2019 and 2020
  • clean my office

1 year:

  • find a Christian girlfriend
  • no sex until I’m with someone who’s extremely likely to be my lifelong partner
  • grow closer to God
  • organize the house and finances
  • up my investments in Crypto by at least 200%
  • buy a home / investment property

5 year:

  • get married to my best friend
  • have a kid or two
  • buy the home I currently rent

Progress report as of 1/15/2022:

  • no drinking alcohol – at all
  • Doing great! My last drink was on 12/27/2021.

    1/15/22

  • cut down / quit smoking cigarettes
  • Meh – doing ok, I’ve cut my smoking down by about %33 so far this month

    1/15/22

  • begin working out again
  • Meh – doing ok, my knee still bothers me from that failed backroll behind Josh’s Malibu last summer, but it’s getting better

    1/15/22

  • begin to simplify life (get rid of extra stuff I don’t need)
  • Doing great! Sold the stand-up jetski, traded my 4×4 golf cart for a simpler (and newer) 2wd EzGo. I have the parts for my bass boat project, just waiting for a few warm days to install them and then I can sell it.

    1/15/22

  • complete my overdue taxes for 2019 and 2020
  • Doing great! Taxes are done (and I reduced my IRS debt by $13,000.00!). I’ll even get a refund from the IRS for 2021 for the first time in over 15 years.

    1/15/22

  • clean my office
  • This is about 50% done.

    1/15/22

    Welp – there you have it. If you found this exercise helpful, feel free to send me yours!

    Much love, James

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    COVID Symposium 2021 – A Medical Perspective http://jamesewing.us/covid-symposium-2021-a-medical-perspective/ Sun, 24 Oct 2021 03:57:01 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=563 On October 9th, 2021, God, (along with the help of the people of GodSaveOurChildren.com created a miracle. They hosted a live conference (also live-streamed worldwide) about an alternative view from […]

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    On October 9th, 2021, God, (along with the help of the people of GodSaveOurChildren.com created a miracle. They hosted a live conference (also live-streamed worldwide) about an alternative view from the mainstream media as it pertains to COVID.

    Blanca asked me to be the master of ceremonies (MmCee, as she put it). I was honored by this request and happily obliged. It’s a pleasure to be able to share the talents of these brave doctors and souls who are standing against the mainstream narrative, against the governmental mandates, and against the tyranny on both the US shores and internationally.

    Video 1 – Introduction and prayer

    Video 2 – Communism vs Freedom

    Communism vs freedom panel discussion

    Alternate version of session 1 and 2: Rumble

    Video 3 – Dr. Richard Bartlett

    Dr. Richard Bartlett – CDC and NIH misguidance on treating SARS-Cov2, and an introduction to budesonide

    Video 4 – Dr. Ardis

    Dr. Bryan Ardis – his extensive research started after his father-in-law died after receiving the standard NIH and CDC protocol in hospital

    Video 5
    Senator Bob Hall (Covid Symposium 2021 Medical – Session 5) “What is the real purpose of government, and what is the purpose behind using fear as a tool of control? What are we going to do about the vaccine mandates?”

    Senator Bob Hall (Covid Symposium 2021 Medical – Session 5) “What is the real purpose of government, and what is the purpose behind using fear as a tool of control? What are we going to do about the vaccine mandates?”

    Session 6 – Attorney Warren V Norred and North Texas business owner Shelley Luther: what can we do when tyranny knocks on our door?

    Session 7 – God Save Our Children – Covid Symposium 2021 – Dr Richard Fleming’s deep dive into SARS-Cov-2, source, weaponization, and treatments. One of his best ever deep dive presentations – and a standing ovation from over 1000 people.

    Session 8 – God Save Our Children – Covid Symposium 2021 – Dr Cindy Marsden introducing Dr. Peter McCullough – a deep dive into SARS-Cov-2, misinformation, and vaccines.

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    Spiritual Chaos http://jamesewing.us/spiritual-chaos-podcast-series/ Tue, 24 Aug 2021 22:00:12 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=553 This series is what started me down the path of realizing there was a war going on. Thanks to my good friend and colleague Joseph Stedler, I was introduced to […]

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    This series is what started me down the path of realizing there was a war going on.

    Thanks to my good friend and colleague Joseph Stedler, I was introduced to an entire world that I was previously unaware of.

    Stedler is a qAnon, by the way, and his research and depth of knowledge was helpful in breaking down my previous belief system and exposing me to a system of control which I previously had no idea existed. (I thought it was all a conspiracy theory).

    What followed was many months of depression, as my mind realed from the information and my brain had to find a new way to navigate the world. I became a skeptic of almost all commercial media (and still am) and it has changed my life and my relationships (including my relationship to God).

    Episode 1: The first time I’d ever heard of Q

    Episode 2: The unraveling of the cabal

    Episode 3: What can we do?

    Episode 4: What about Trump?

    This episode includes special guest Mike Zaal, organizer of the grass roots movement in North Texas called “Restore The Republic” (upon which my youtube channel is now named).

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    Medical Freedom http://jamesewing.us/medical-freedom-vs-vaccine-coercion/ Tue, 24 Aug 2021 21:46:36 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=551 10/29/2021 I meet with Joseph Stedler to discuss the news this week of the FDA authorization to jab kids between ages 5 and 11 years old. Stedler had just received […]

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    10/29/2021

    I meet with Joseph Stedler to discuss the news this week of the FDA authorization to jab kids between ages 5 and 11 years old. Stedler had just received notice today from his work that they are mandating the jab under threat of losing your job. Myself, I had just finished uploading the Dr. McCullough video from the symposium. Suffice it to say we were both pretty darn fired up. To read the details of the Renz-law 45K lawsuit – click here: https://renz-law.com/wp-content/uploads/Jane-Doe-Declaration.pdf Dr. McCullough full lecture: https://youtu.be/RduF9SmuuR8

    ————————————

    In the video below I make the case for freedom of personal choice to take the jab for COVID-19 (or not). My premise is simple, that those forwarding the idea that vaccine’s should be mandated (via employers, government entities, or media) isn’t logical, it’s their religion. It’s the same as religious zealotry similar to the Taliban.

    Source video on Rumble: https://rumble.com/vogy0r-theyre-coming-for-your-kids.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=4

    The examples used in the video are from my own experience running into people (both online and in person) who are blind to any information that violates their own personally held (brainwashed) beliefs.

    —————————-

    Bill Guyther on COVID 19. Excellent and emotional. Link: https://rumble.com/vkwteq-maybe-the-most-important-video-of-your-life.html?mref=6zof&mrefc=5

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    Captain’s log – 1/11/2017 – Pensacola, FL to Niceville, FL http://jamesewing.us/captains-log-1112017-pensacola-fl-to-niceville-fl/ Wed, 11 Jan 2017 12:17:12 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=539 Bad little blogger…bad, BAD! Dear faithful blog readers, I’m sorry that I’ve neglected you.  I was drinking, partying, thinking about Christmas and New years, dancing, and women. PS: yes indeed, […]

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    Bad little blogger…bad, BAD!

    Dear faithful blog readers, I’m sorry that I’ve neglected you.  I was drinking, partying, thinking about Christmas and New years, dancing, and women.

    PS: yes indeed, my friends, that ^ was an Oxford comma.

    Life for me lately has been kind of like an old top 100 radio show: “Stay tuned, the hits keep coming!”

    I’ve been ‘hit’ lots of times in the past 18 months.  The latest of which happened last week when my landlord said, “oh hell no” to the fact that I was sub-renting my place out on airbnb.  I had told her I was subletting, which she was ok with, but I chose to ask for forgiveness rather than permission on the exact method of subletting (airbnb to vacation / weekend rentals).

    I’m not really mad at myself for this, after all when this was going down my baby-dog Katie was dying.  Slack – yeah – and a reminder that I’m only human.  The end result is that I’m choosing to give up my lake house.  This was a very tough decision.  I’ve put in countless hours and probably around $20K to make this house the perfect place for friends to meet, enjoy God’s creation, and become a family.  So many people have found our family as a result of that house. My buddy Chad’s kid Gavin was even conceived on the deck out back (so he says, I’m not the father so I don’t know).

    I chose to give the house to my neighbor Matt, an awesome part of our family who I know will let me stay there anytime, and will probably even enjoy hosting our annual Chad’s B-day and 4th of july parties there.  The decision resulted in a strange sort of pressure relief for me.  I haven’t even calculated how much money that will save me per month, but I know the energy drain of having two places / living two lives has shifted now that I’ve chosen to keep only my water-based home.

    I’m heading to Panama City tomorrow (well, actually, today, it’s 6am) to pick up my friend Brooke who’s flying in from Austin.  She and I will overnight on the hook near the airport and then cruise to a marina.  I’m flying back to Dallas to attend my buddy John’s wedding and then wrap up selling all my stuff in Dallas.  I then head to New York for a week for a sales conference.  So Brooke will be solo on the boat until I get back on the 24th of January.

    Some major updates:

    I felt intuitively led to change the intended name of the boat from “Katie Ray” to “Presence”.  This came during a particularly introspective time for me last week.  I realized that Presence exemplifies why I’m here, what I’m doing for others and for myself, and what it is that I’ve been longing for.  I love you Katie Ray, and I know you think the new name is perfectly fitting.  Thank you.

    I spent Christmas and New Years Eve on the boat with Kacey (my friend from Canada).  Kacey is a very attractive woman who has a boyfriend back home.  Alas…the boat is still a virgin (of course if it wasn’t I wouldn’t blog about it here).  The holidays were a blur due to being in or near New Orleans, having Kacey there, and visiting my great friends Tiffany and Johnny (Christmas eve with them was epic).

    I’m quite sure I consumed more wine in those two weeks than should be possible by a single human.  Thank god I have pictures to remember some of those moments, they were unbelievably amazing.

    Yesterday was exciting – when I untied the boat and motored forward in the Palofax Pier and Yacht Club marina in Pensacola I discovered I had no steering from the flybridge!  YIPPEEE!!!!  PANIC!  AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

    Yup – that moment was adrenaline producing fo-sho!  I had million-dollar yachts all around me when I discovered that the steering was out.  I had 50 miles to go and was leaving an hour late already.  DAMNIT!  “Bunch of funky characters!” @#$%@#$%@#$%@!

    One of the neighbors says, just use the throttles, you have two engines, right!??  Of course I do – and I’d already thought of that – I just hadn’t acted on it yet because I was too busy panicking.

    So I used both throttles and made it safely to the fuel dock.  I discovered that the upper steering had leaked out because this girl I picked up on Tinder had been leaning on the wheel on the flybridge all night that night while we were partying.  Oops.

    Oh – and yes the boat’s still a virgin even though I had a tinder date over – just wasn’t a connection there.

    I put in some more power steering fluid (the last of it on board), re-pressurized the system, and turned the lower helm all the way right and then left once, then repeated all the way right, then left on the upper helm.  Voila – problem solved (at least temporarily).  I purchased more power steering fluid at Winn Dixie when I went shopping last night in case it happens again prior to me getting a replacement steering unit (which could be a year or more).

    The ride over from P-cola to here was a bee-atch.  Cold and windy right in my face the whole way, with waves cresting up to 5 feet straight off the bow.  Took me 6.5 hours to do that 50 miles solo, and my face is sunburned and windburned today.

    I have tons of pictures and videos from the last 4 weeks, but at this rate of change I may never compile them into a pretty blog post, so I might decide to just put it together in one collage and post it for posterity.

    Today – another 45 miles – this time most of it is intra-coastal in a canal (the ditch).  Thank God!

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    Captain’s log – 12/13/2016 – Berwick, LA to New Orleans, LA http://jamesewing.us/captains-log-12132016-berwick-la-to-new-orleans-la/ Tue, 20 Dec 2016 12:01:49 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=533 We made it to New Orleans!  Yippeeeeee! After almost a year of planning, thinking, selling, saving, fixing, scrimping, panicking, worrying, and all sorts of other human emotions, I did it. […]

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    We made it to New Orleans!  Yippeeeeee!

    After almost a year of planning, thinking, selling, saving, fixing, scrimping, panicking, worrying, and all sorts of other human emotions, I did it.

    I now live on a beautiful boat and have made it from Texas to New Orleans.

    I feel like the rubber band on a slingshot that was pulled tight for a year and finally got released.

    Now what do I do?!!!

    Anyhow – here’s the way the trip went:

    LeAnne and her two girls (7 and 9) met me in Berwick, LA where I was tied up to the Berwick public dock.  The dock was sketchy with vertical pilings bundled together and not always straight.  I docked there after dark the night before single-handedly and luckily the current was almost non-existent.  I was a basket case by the time I got Marie Louise tied up to the pilings and finally stepped off onto land.

    I’ve known a lot of fear in my lifetime, and conquered more than my share, but for some reason piloting a 42′ boat with no real salt water or river experience is the scariest thing I’ve run up against thus far (at least that I can remember).

    The feeling of having LeAnne and the girls come aboard was amazing, however, and my fears subsided as my conscious mind automatically went into ‘provide and protect’ mode.  Mercifully shutting down the ‘what could go wrong’ circuit in favor of ‘you’re responsible for these girls now’.

    We had no power at the Berwick dock that night, but the weather was perfect so we just hung out and had a few glasses of wine while talking about this new adventure.

    We left the Berwick dock at 7:00am, and I headed south on the lower atchafalaya river and then headed south-east, incorrectly.  This rivelet (called Bayou Beoff) heads east and the map shows it continuing and connecting to the intra-coastal waterway.  I noticed that the little dotted magenta line didn’t go this way, but wasn’t too worried about that.

    As we cruised down this waterway we saw many barges tied up to the shoreline (as many as 60 or 70) and that made me feel like this was a safe alternate route to the GIWW.  There was no traffic on this run, and it was calm and beautiful.  After an hour I began to get worried because we still hadn’t seen traffic and had nearly run aground right in the center of the channel.

    As I zoomed in on my mobile map I looked for depth of at least 5′ as we entered back into the atchafalaya river.  There was no section on the map that showed anywhere deeper than 1′.  Hmmm, this isn’t good.  I put the transmissions in idle and looked closer.  We were currently floating in 5′ of water.

    At this time a little jon boat comes zooming by me with one of those super-shallow mud motors and he goes to the east side of this little cut.  I looked at the depth on my map of the east side, it only showed 2′ of water.  Ugh.

    Next, I looked up the tide.  We were at low tide so there was no way that 2′ of water was deep enough for our 3’8″ draft.  Darnit!

    So, tail between my legs, I turned around.  I’d wasted the first hour of the day travelling down a waterway that was a dead-end and it would be another hour to backtrack.

    After another hour we were back where we started and I headed downriver toward the GIWW determined to plan my routes better in the future.

    When we got to the entrance of the GIWW from the lower atchafalaya I pulled the boat onto a shoal so we could take a break and cook breakfast.  It was beautiful and my fear was subsiding, the boat was running great.

    After breakfast we headed East again and in just a few short hours made it to Houma, LA.  We pulled into the Houma dock and were pleasantly surprised to find that this dock was AWESOME!  I’d called the dockmaster that morning and he said he was away because his wife was in the hospital.  She’d suffered a stroke and I told him we’d pray for her.  His daughter met us at the dock when we arrived and was as sweet as can be.

    The dock fee was $25.00 and included 50 amp service plus a wonderful playground for the girls.  It was an amazingly successful ending to a pleasant day run.  I loved getting to a dock before it got dark!

    We walked from the Houma dock down the streets through town (about 1.5 miles) to Christiano’s restaurant.  I can’t recommend this place enough.  The food and service was fantastic, and we met Christiano himself after a wonderful dinner.

    Christiano insisted that he give us a ride back to the dock (which we gladly accepted) and he stayed with LeAnne and I for 20 minutes or so hanging out by the propane fire on the back deck of the boat.  We exchanged phone numbers and said we’d be back again.

    Note: LeAnne and I did go back to Christiano’s and had dinner again 3 days later on the way back from picking up LeAnne’s car (which we’d left under the bridge in Berwick).  I’m also playing a solo gig there on Thursday.

    The next day we got up early and headed for New Orleans.  The trip was uneventful but awesome.  I was gaining confidence in my own abilities as skipper, and in the boat itself.  On the way we discovered (from one of the tug captains) that the Industrial Lock was still closed, which meant a 30 hour trip around the lock into lake Ponchartrain, or staying on the south side of the Mississippi until the lock opened.

    I elected to stay on the South side, tying up to another casino (Boomtown) on the bulkhead.  The tie up here is sketchy but the steel bulkhead is solid.  No electric and a short walk to the casino.  I ended up staying here for a week due to weather and timing.

    Next trip – up through New Orleans on the Mississippi through both the Harvey and Industrial Locks.  Wahoo!!!

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    Captain’s Log – 12/9/2016 – Intracoastal City, LA to Berwick, LA http://jamesewing.us/captains-log-1292016-intracoastal-city-la-to-berwick-la/ Sat, 10 Dec 2016 04:48:05 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=531 Wow – what a wonderful day of boating! Nothing went wrong…no, seriously NOTHING WENT WRONG! I’m so stoked you can’t imagine it.  I woke up this morning at 6:15am, it […]

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    Wow – what a wonderful day of boating!

    Nothing went wrong…no, seriously NOTHING WENT WRONG!

    I’m so stoked you can’t imagine it.  I woke up this morning at 6:15am, it was 36 degrees fahrenheit outside but the boat was toasty warm.  I spent the night at Shell Morgan marina plugged into wonderful 50amp service and the new heater purchased at walmart even kept my aft cabin perfectly warm.

    The night before I’d had a video chat (facetime) with mom and dad and we spoke about the challenges and wonders of my new adventure.  When describing the problems with the starboard engine I left off with the fact that I’d had good water flow for the first 5 minutes of running it the day before, after fixing the seal on the sea strainer, and that the water flow then stopped.

    I said I wasn’t giving up on the engine yet, and that I didn’t think I had a blown head gasket or warped head because it hadn’t gotten that hot (214 degrees on the exhaust elbow was the max).

    Mom says, did you pray for it yet?  HA!!!  Actually I had thought about praying for the engine but for whatever reason my ego took me to task for it.

    I said, “No, but I’ve thought about it.”  Mom says, “OK, well do you want to start or you want dad to start?”

    So matter-of-fact, it was awesome.  I love my mom.

    “I’ll start.” I said.  The prayer was simple, short, and right to the point.  Something along the lines of: ‘God, if there’s something I really need to learn from this engine smoking or overheating then no problem, I’m in your hands.  If, however, I’ve learned enough about it and you can just fix it for me, that’d be awesome ’cause I could sure use a break.’

    That was it.

    Amens were said, and I said, hey – let’s try it out!??

    I started up the engine last night and had perfect waterflow – I let it run at both an idle and at 1300 rpm for 15 to 20 minutes and she ran perfectly, no white smoke or steam, and water flow was awesome.

    Today, same thing.  I got into a ritual of checking the exhaust water every 15 minutes until I trusted it, but she ran perfectly!

    Thank you God / Universe / everyone!

     

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    Captain’s log – 12/6/16 – Lake Charles to Intracoastal City http://jamesewing.us/captains-log-12716-lake-charles-to-intracoastal-city/ Thu, 08 Dec 2016 02:36:36 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=527 Port and Stb engines at 1594 hours.  Fuel at 79%.  Oil and coolant good on both engines.  6:34am when I started checks. I left Lauberge Casino dock yesterday morning at […]

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    Port and Stb engines at 1594 hours.  Fuel at 79%.  Oil and coolant good on both engines.  6:34am when I started checks.

    I left Lauberge Casino dock yesterday morning at 8am and headed East.  Leaving the dock by myself with a slight wind was the first challenge.  I untied the stern line first, and had made the bow line easy to release from the lower helm.  The plan was to hit reverse and let the bow line trail in the water (I had a 6knot wind to my starboard side with a dock immediately to my port only 6 feet away.)

    When I released the stern line it amazed me how fast the boat moved.  By the time I got to the lower helm to even think about putting her in gear she was 5 feet away from the dock at the stern and the bow was approaching the dock!  DAMNIT!

    I released the bow line and hit reverse on the port engine and ramped up to 1300 rpm.  It WORKED!!!

    OMG…now, however, I was coming back toward the starboard side and was in danger of hitting the dock on the starboard aft…I added the starboard engine in reverse and moved the port to neutral, she straightened right out.

    If you were watching from the smoking patio at laeberge you’d have thought I’d done that 100 times.  The hamster in my head, however, was going apeshit from the onslaught of adrenaline.

    Anyway – all’s well and I cruise on away from Lake Charles East-bound on the Gulf Intracoastal Water Way (GIWW).  The engines were running perfectly and at 1600 RPM I was doing 8 MPH against the current at around 195 degrees (at the exhaust elbows where my bbq thermometers are) each.

    The first problem of the trip showed up when I tried to pull over (intentionally ground) so I could do a couple of conference calls (I had 3 to accomplish from 10am until 1pm).  As I looked at the chart I saw a fairly direct ascent from 19′ to 2 feet on the shore to my East.  When I got closer, however, the depth finder alarm went nutts.  Beep beep beep beep beep!  The chart said I should be in 18′ of water, the depth finder read 2.5 feet.  DAMNIT!

    I was aground – again…spinning and slightly listing to starboard on what seemed like a shoal.  I found out later it was a shoal created by the tugs as they negotiate that turn.  Their massive engines and prop wash over the years digs up the muddy bottom and the louisiana clay creates a shoal where you would think there’s just gonna be a gradual slope toward land.

    This freaked me out (at 10 minutes until 10am when I had to meet with a client!)

    I powered off the shoal and decided to just drift on the other side of the channel for the duration of the call.  This worked ok, but soon the current was taking me into a shallow area so I ended up having to start the motors and drive slowly during the call (luckily the client didn’t even notice).

    Ugh…

    My next challenge was the cut before the calcaseui lock.  I had another two conference calls and didn’t want to be underway.  I ended up finding an easy to pull up shore with soft sand and beached there for a couple of hours.  Ahhh…the relief.

    Calcaseui lock was easy – the rain from the three days where I was stuck at Laeberge meant that the lock was letting out water and easy to traverse.  I just cruised through (although the current was CRAZY) without having to tie up.

    The next thing I have to deal with is the pontoon bridge right after the lock.  Turns out that the county sherriff had asked the bridge master to close the bridge (raise the ramps and put down the gates) because they were in hot pursuit of a runaway pickup truck.

    Amazingly – I was on VHF 14 when the bridgemaster hails the lock master to say something along the lines of: “You’re not gonna believe this…sherriff calls to say close the bridge, I close the gates and bridge and this suspect comes up and decides to jump it!  He lands half-way on the pontoon and then get’s out of the truck and runs!  Just my luck – what a fricken day!  You got anybody coming?  Cause they gonna have to wait until this sorted out by the po-lice.”

    Damn I wish I had that VHF convo on recording.  I did get this one though:

    Here’s the news story: http://www.wlox.com/story/33942969/traffic-black-bayou-bridge-closed

    This is my conversation with the bridgemaster:

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    Captain’s log – 12/3/2016 – drilled a hole in my boat today http://jamesewing.us/captains-log-1232016-drilled-a-hole-in-my-boat-today/ Sat, 03 Dec 2016 17:53:29 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=522 Yup – seriously, I drilled a 1/16″ hole right through the keel today (from the inside).  I was trying to mount a float switch for the center bilge pump (the […]

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    Yup – seriously, I drilled a 1/16″ hole right through the keel today (from the inside).  I was trying to mount a float switch for the center bilge pump (the one I replaced a week ago) and thought it’d be a good idea to drill a pilot hole for the mount.

    Seriously, that fiberglass is only 1/2″ thick on the bottom of the keel (at least where I drilled).  Turned out I was right next to a through-hull fitting that had been removed, so the glass is thinner there (at least that’s my current theory, sans breakfast).

    I wrapped another stainless screw with teflon and filled it in.

    I ended up finding a big piece of stainless to mount the switch too so I don’t have to drill in the bottom of the boat (never again, at least not in that spot).

    I’m curious to see what I’ll end up with when we do the next haul-out and bottom job.  I keep finding stuff that’s been dropped / left in the bottom of the bilges / engine room that tells me some semi-pros were hired to work on the boat.  (If I was doing the job I wouldn’t leave shit down there if it was my own boat – and I’m truly NOT a neat freak).

    Anyhow – it’s rainy and cold today in Lake Charles, I’m not planning on moving from Laeburge casino today (or tomorrow).  I’m going to go get breakfast, gamble, and enjoy a Saturday watching football.  Then tomorrow I’ll watch church on FB (renaissance church with Danny Mack in case you’re curious…it’s not like a bennie hinn thing) and clean on the boat.

    My shower was interesting today, by the way, not just because I’m extra filthy, but because we have wind advisaries with gusts up to 40mph so the boat is a rockin’ like you wouldn’t believe.  It’s a trip taking a shower in a rocking boat.

    Peace love and elephants,  James.

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    Captain’s log – 12/3/2016 – fixed the starboard engine http://jamesewing.us/captains-log-1232016-fixed-the-starboard-engine/ Sat, 03 Dec 2016 17:46:29 +0000 http://jamesewing.us/?p=516 I fixed it!  Yippeeeeeee! After running aground on Monday I had cleaned out both the stb and port sea strainers.  I still didn’t have good water flow in the exhaust […]

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    I fixed it!  Yippeeeeeee!

    After running aground on Monday I had cleaned out both the stb and port sea strainers.  I still didn’t have good water flow in the exhaust of the stb engine.  I decided to check the impeller, which was good, but unfortunately while pulling it out I damaged it.  I thought I’d have a spare on board, but I did not.  Whoopsi.

    For those of you who don’t like to read – go to the bottom and watch the video summary.

    I ordered one and had it overnighted to the west marine that I can reach on my bicycle.  $130.00 later I had my new impeller.

    I installed it, and still did not have good water flow.  🙁  After talking to a friend of mine who’s an experienced captain he said it sounded like I wasn’t getting a good prime to the water pump.  I looked at the lid to the heat exchanger and decided to seal it super-good using some permatex.  Still no good water flow.

    I’m learning that a closed cooling system on a boat has a heat exchanger instead of a radiator like a car.  It uses raw sea water to cool the antifreeze in the engine.  This sea water passes through a tube bundle in the day tank (also known as a heat exchanger).  I must have mucked those tubes up pretty badly.

    I pulled the plugs to the front of the day tank (turns out they are supposed to have zincs on them, mine were completely gone).  Another good lesson learned (http://realitycheck.me/checking-and-changing-heat-exchanger-zinc.htm)

    The corrosion inside there looks pretty bad so I pulled the side of the day tank off (the one closest to the center of the boat is easy to reach.  Sure enough, it looked like they were completely clogged.  🙁

    So, now I had to pull the other side off, I made a board to lie on and crammed myself in front of the starboard engine to finally reach the other side.  It was a total pain in the ass to get that thing off.  Anyway, after doing that I could shine a light on one side and see if I had clear tubes.  Only about 10% of the tubes could I see light through.

    I used a coat hanger to clear the tubes, but it left a ton of that gunk in there.  I decided the best way to clear those was to use water pressure.  Unfortunately the weather was cold that day (38 degrees) and so was the water.  I ended up clearing almost all the tubes, and as the water came out it was hitting me in the chest.  I looked like a drowned rat after that was done.  The shirt I had on will never be the same.

    That silt material from the bottom of this channel is really gross.  I think it’s like radiator stop-leak combined with crude oil.  Ick.

    Finally, after putting the whole thing back together I was completely dismayed to find that I STILL did not have water flow.  Damn.

    This morning I decided to try one more time to find the problem.  It must be a priming issue, because everything else has been eliminated.  I decided to try and find an air leak by disconnecting a hose on the upstream side of the water pump and blowing into is (yeah – I put it to my mouth).  I could hear the leak going but couldn’t see it.  I tried spraying windex all over the place (every pipe and fitting) and looking for bubbles, no help.

    I took the hose off my shop vac and used it as an extension (and it tasted even worse) I now could hear the air coming out of the top of the sea strainer (the VERY FIRST thing I looked at / fixed).  I had put permatex on that thing but I still had a leak somewhere.  A quick google search revealed that they’re supposed to have a seal (older ones had a cork gasket).

    So I made a gasket out of cork and tried it again.  This time it worked, so I decided to prime the system using the shop vac.  It wouldn’t prime!  UGH!  If my shop vac couldn’t prime it that little impeller sure couldn’t either.  I pulled the lid to the strainer off one more time and used vaseline on both sides of the cork gasket this time.  Now – finally – I could get it to prime with my shop vac!  YIPPEE.

    I put the whole thing back together and finally have water flow.  Thank God!
    Here’s the tube bundle – all clogged up.
    img_1431

    Here’s those infamous missing (used up) zincs.
    img_3252
    This is what my shirt (and my whole body) looked like after flushing the tube bundle
    img_5184

    And here’s the final piece to the puzzle – the cork I made for that sea strainer preventing the water pump from priming.

    img_7296

    Finally – here’s that vid I promised.

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