Chesapeake Bay Sailing Charter - The Fire

On Tuesday morning we started the engines only to discover that the starboard engine wouldn't turnover. We called the charter company and they sent over Mr. Mechanic to see what was up with the engine. He determined that the starter's relay was bad. To get us moving on our charter due got us going by shorting the starter relay with a wrench. We would get the starter replaced in Rock Hall.

Pull up anchor and off we go. Next stop, Rock Hall! Um, no...

Towing our broke ass boat. 

We motored out the Severn River and we almost made it to the bay bridge when the port engine cut out. The engine compartment was opened only to discover a burning smell and a very small fire. Fire extinguishers to the rescue! First a call to the charter company and then a call to a water towing service (think AAA but on water).

Let's take an inventory - the starboard engine won't restart if stopped and the port engine was dead.

We aimed for our port of origin and the towing service met us and helped to get us back into our slip.

It turned out wires shorted out to - guess what? The port starter. Two engines, two bad starters. The charter company could not locate two starters so they offered us a different boat.

We took it.