Shakedown cruise to(wards) Beaufort!

At dawn this past Friday, Cait's brother Hunter and a good friend of ours, Adam (and his Jack Russell "Ringo"), set sail for Beaufort to feel out the boat and have a good time. We had some excellent sailing weather! Warmer than usual temperatures and steady 15-22kt winds combined for fantastic offshore sailing.

The plan was to sail offshore to Beaufort, anchor up off of the waterfront park, and spend the weekend on the anchor and in the pubs. Unfortunately, the steady winds and seas directly opposed us, so we spent all day tacking towards our destination. We covered lots of miles, but by the time the sun set, we were still only about halfway there. We had been running the engine intermittently on alternating tacks in an effort to make more headway. As we neared St. Helena Sound, the engine began sputtering and dying. The pressure indicator for the Racor fuel filter was giving readings that were entirely out of spec. Although the filter appeared to be clean, it was obvious that the engine was starving for fuel. Hunter, who has tons of experience on fishing charter boats, went down below and changed out the filter. The problems continued. At that point, we decided it wasn't prudent to attempt entering Port Royal Sound at night with a balky engine, so we aborted and turned back for Charleston. We arrived back at our marina about 24 hours after we had departed. Despite the fact that our trip was cut short by a day and that we didn't reach our destination, everyone on board had a great time. I think all of us spent Saturday and Sunday recouperating.
Today I went back down to the boat to further investigate the fuel delivery problem. I first checked the inline fuel filter, which was perfectly clean. I then removed the Racor filter, and drained all the fuel from the bowl. There was a ton of sediment in there! After the bowl was cleaned and refilled, I started the engine. I ran it at 2800rpm for 30 minutes, and it didn't falter once. While the engine was running, I paid close attention to the pressure gauge, which remained constant at the proper level. I feel fairly confident that the problem has been resolved, and will pay much closer attention to the Racor and the fuel pressure from now on.
All in all, I think that our trip was a success. It was intended to further feel out what is still a pretty new boat to me, and it was good to discover, diagnose, and fix a problem that could possibly occur on our Bahamas trip. I now feel even more secure about the boat and our ability to maintain it. Special thanks to Adam, Hunter and Ringo for an enjoyable day and night spent offshore sailing!