Flashback to Titusville...

It was early February 2010, and Penelope and I had just awakened in our anchorage by the railroad bridge just above the Titusville, Florida municipal marina.  We discovered that the alternator was not charging the batteries.  I thought it was a problem that rested in the batteries, for we'd had this problem intermittently in the Chesapeake a few months before.  Now, after a full day motoring the ICW from Daytona Beach to Titusville and awakening to little battery power, we realized the problem had to be the alternator.  We got a slip at the Titusville Marina and located Phil Scanlan of Mim’s Mobile Marine Service, who, on Super Bowl Sunday, no less, agreed to come out and check out our problem.  It was a bad alternator, so the next morning Phil ordered a replacement and over the next couple of days the problem was resolved and we went on our way.

It is now the end of January 2013, and David Royall, a sailing acquaintance from Palm Beach, Florida, is headed south to the Keys.  They arrived in Titusville yesterday, and David posted on Facebook that they seem to have an electrical problem.  Today he posted the news that Phil Scanlan of Mim's had come out and pulled the alternator to take it back to his shop and test it.  They are pretty sure it's gone bad.

       Left: Shibumi at the Titusville Marina
         
         Below, left: Phil Scanlon on Alizee, 2010

         Below, right: Phil on Shibumi, 2013 

It's a really small sailing world, but I'm wondering as I flash back on our five days or so in Titusville, if there isn't some sort of alternator gremlin residing in this pleasant little ICW town.  Ooouuuuu, could be very eerie!

Or not!  Turns out Phil remembered Alizee, Penelope and me.  Moreover, David's alternator, in his own words, "checked out fine. The culprit was the regulator; which are very difficult to find on the east coast of Florida, anywhere north of Ft. Lauderdale. After a lot of checking, we did find a local fellow who makes marine generators. He had what I needed in stock. We are buttoned up and set to move on in the morning."  

David also said that "another boat, S/V Gauneka , has had electrical issues in the area within the last few years. I'm not much for superstition but there maybe some serious electromagnetic vibes coming from the nearby space center. Two years in row I've had unusual GPS errors when I come through Titusville. I'm jus sayin'."  

Seems like the final word on this one.