What's in her name?

What's in her name (Salish Aire)?

Salish
from her new home the Salish Sea

Aire as in a melody of song.

Salish + Aire = The melody of the Salish Sea.

Salish Sea:
In the late 1700's Captain George Vancouver wandered around the waters of what are now known as British Columbia, Canada and Washington State, USA. He did the usual 1700's explorer thing and put names he chose on everything he saw. The names stuck and are recognized and used to this day.

New lines were added to Captain Vancouver's charts in 1872 (after a near war with Great Britain over a pig) which made waters on one side of the line Canadian and those on the other side of the line American.

It wasn't until 1988 (officiated in 2009) that someone finally realized that fish and various critters, (to say nothing of the water itself) were never involved in the boundary treaties and really ignored them completely. (This is best illustrated by the problems that Homeland Security has with Canadian Canada Geese and American Canadian Geese - it seems they refuse to carry passports and have been known to poop on the head of any border patrol person who tries to challenge their right to cross the border when and where they choose!) In reality the waters from Olympia to the well up the East side of Vancouver Island are pretty much one ecosystem.

The Coast Salish are the indigenous peoples who live in southwest British Columbia and northwest Washington state along the Salish Sea and share a common linguistic and cultural origin. The Salish Sea is named in honor of the earliest recorded peoples who plied her waters and learned to live in harmony with her.


Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Ground Transportation

When we moved to Salish Aire we kept two means of ground transportation, our Volkswagen TDI diesel Sportwagen (up to 45 mpg!) and my 400 cc scooter.  The scooter spent the winter in our storage locker and I knew it needed a going through which would likely require about $1500 in parts and a garage to work in.  It seemed like maybe it was time to let it go after 7 years and about 25000 miles.

That left us with one vehicle.  This system works well about 95% of the time as Clarice works from home most days.  On the days she is off work and wants to do errands or needs to make a run in to her real office it can be a bit of a hassle.

We have had nice full size bicycles on the boat but our marina doesn't let us store them on the dock next to the boat and I didn't feel comfortable leaving them in the bike racks near the very busy parking lot which meant that they had to be lifted with the crane up to/from the top deck every time we wanted to use them.  Seeing how I a) work up at the top of a very steep hill from the marina, and b) don't include much time in the morning for things like getting a bike off of the roof, I just wasn't riding.

We finally broke down and bought electric assist folding bicycles.  They are the first ones we have found that are sturdy enough that my large size is stable on them.  So far we are finding them a lot of fun and I can get to work in the same door to door time as with the car (I can park the bike in my office rather than a block away as I had to with the car).  The electric assist makes it fun to ride and I don't smell like I came from the gym when I get to work and yet requires enough effort from me that I am getting significant exercise.

The only problem so far occurred a couple of days ago when I had Jarvis in a basket on the front of the bike.  He does really well there IF he is tired.  In this case I hadn't run him enough and he decided to exit the basket while we were in motion going down a hill.  Long story short is that I had my first experience going directly over the handlebars and my chin ended up with road rash.  Outcome: Bike - bell handle broken and minor scratches, dog - "gee that was fun Dad, can we do it again!", me - very sore hand and bloody chin. 

Happy Anniversary!!

I just checked; We moved aboard Salish Aire on June 21, 2014 and today is June 23, 2015.  Happy First Anniversary as Live-Aboards!!!

As we get ready to take Salish Aire on our first long trip (well 3 weeks!) it might be a good time to look back to all we have done to bring her up to her current stage of readiness.   (When we bought the boat she was truly seaworthy but at 18 she was ready to have a good makeover.)

  • new LED lighting throughout the boat 
  • new stove/oven
  • new bilge pump
  • new carpet
  • new forward battery bank
  • aft battery bank moved to make more room in lazarette
  • main, wing, and generator engines oil and filters changed
  • all diesel filters changed
  • engine room floors changed out and painted
  • sea water screens cleaned, changed and new hoses as needed
  • black water tanks cleaned (yuck!)
  • engine room exhaust fans replaced and re-ducted
  • engine room blower fan rebuilt
  • main engine harmonic balancer replaced
  • main and wing engine coolant replaced
  • bottom painted
  • keel cooler cleaned and re-o ringed
  • seals replaced in hydraulic stabilizers
  • diesel furnace rebuild/repaired
  • hull polished and waxed
  • solar cells rewired where corroded
  • navigation systems reworked
  • pilot house roof painted
  • dingy motor replaced
  • dingy oar blades replaced
  • dock lines made from 3 strand nylon that came with the boat
  • air conditioning system controls replaced
  • washer/dryer replaced
  • head sink sump pump replaced (probably over powered but I was tired of cleaning the little original style pump every couple of weeks)
  • AIS installed
  • anchor chain cleaned, remarked and swapped end for end
  • Name added on stern and sides
  • hot water circulation for heating systems coolant replaced
  • leaking heater replaced (old unit repaired and put in stand by inventory)
  • gang plank added
  • plastic windows added around cockpit
  • mast winch / boom system reworked in preparation for using paravanes
  • adjusted valves on main engine
 And finally the systems we still have not touched:
  • Wing engine needs a good going over
  • need to go through generator engine
  • haven't even tried to start up water make yet (maybe on our upcoming trip)
  • haven't tried to deploy paravanes yet (again, maybe on our upcoming trip)
  • refinish brightwork that needs it

All I can say is that the year has gone quickly and brought us one year closer to retirement and the dream of weighing anchor for good.