On Day 1, the rally point was the Wall Mart parking lot in Douglas, AZ, all to meet there at 0700 hours and roll by 0800 hours for the first leg. The Tortuga was the first one there and the panic set in. Wrong place? Did I miss them? Did I miss an instruction that changed the entire plan? The angst disappeared as the first vehicle arrived, and then another.

It was not long and the convoy rolled out, leaving the asphalt for a gravel road for the next 240 miles. The Tortuga is accustomed to the flat coastal plain and the soft Texas Beach, so this day would prove to be a shakedown of all the systems. The temperature would reach well over 100 degrees and the gravel road felt like a wash board. The vibration through the truck did not build confidence that everything was secured. The Tortuga was experiencing something that she had not felt before.

 

Well, 20 miles into the drive, Chris, the convoy lead, pulled us to the side for a chance to discard the morning coffee we had enjoyed earlier. During this short leg, the vibrations caused a couple of issues. The side hatch where the shore power cable is stowed had inadvertently opened and this very expensive piece of equipment was left in a plume of dust behind the Tortuga. If not for the eagle eyes of Kathleen and Bill, who were running up the rear of the convoy, it would have been a sad day.

Then, after the recovery, a once-around of the Tortuga revealed another problem.  The pin that held the pivot point for the Hydraulic tire lift was working its way out. It was only moments away from being lost. There was a flange on the outside of the pin which had been welded to the pivot arm, and that weld broke.  Well, the entire team gathered around the rear of the Tortuga and field fixes start to fly. The bottom line was to place a pop rivet through the flange into an existing hole in the pivot arm. To provide some extra security, a C-clamp was put in place.

It’s good to have so many smart and experienced people on this adventure. But, wait, I need to go to the hard ware store and buy some nuts and bolts, tap and a rivet gun for the recovery kit now.

Also, this is the second time the hydraulic lift has failed in a high-vibration situation, and it’s already on it’s second redesign.  It needs a third redesign now, or perhaps a more radical solution – remove it altogether in favor of a simpler option for the spare.  This was the topic of the rest of the afternoon’s deep contemplation while driving.

With the fix in place, it was off for the rest of the first travel day, without further incident.