Day 1 (Thursday)
September 8, 2016
We left our home port of Everett early as we had been warned
by the Port of Port Townsend that boats would start arriving today for the
annual Wooden Boat Festival. When we
pulled into a slip at 12 noon we could see that it was a good thing we had left
early as there was a steady stream of boats all heading to the same
destination.
We have already checked in with the yard office and filled
out the paperwork needed to get the boat lifted from the water and blocked while
we work on it. We have also checked out
the yard and area for bathroom, grocery, marine store, and bus route
locations. We are second in line for
tomorrow with a planned 9 AM lift time.
At this point we have our fingers crossed that all will go as planned.
Day 2 (Friday)
September 9, 2016
Salish Aire lifted out this morning slightly ahead of our 9
AM scheduled time. The lift went
smoothly and then the boat was moved to the pressure wash pad (where the port
provides 2 industrial grade pressure washers and the water is all filtered
before going into the sewer system). The
lift price comes with the 2 wash guns for 30 minutes and the owner provides the
labor. John Gray showed up as planned
just as the boat was lifted and he and I operated the guns as quickly and
completely as we could since we knew that any gunk we could get off with the
pressure washers would save lots of labor later. We ended up having to purchase an additional
15 minutes of wash time but the boat looked good when we were done. Next the Travel Lift carried the boat to the
front of Haven Boat Works who is helping us with the project (they were chosen
for 1) knowledge of Naiad systems and 2) a willingness to allow us to do as
much of our own work as we are able.
Salish Aire currently sits on blocks on a mat of blue tarps
designed to catch any gunk we get onto the ground since the area we are in is a
gravel lot. We are getting 30 amp power
from Haven. We are required to use a sander with a vacuum cleaner attached to
it for any sanding work. It’s a short
walk to either a Port owned public restroom or Haven has provided us a key so
we can access there shop toilet 24 hours a day if needed. We are doing
everything we can to protect our 50 gallon capacity black (aka: sewage) water
tanks from needing to be emptied. The bathroom sinks drain into a very small
sump so we are using them for teeth brushing type activities only as we have
turned off the sump drain pump. The kitchen sink drains by gravity and we have
duct taped a hose from it to a five gallon bucket. Clarice planned ahead with hand sanitizer and
paper plates to minimize the need to wash hands or dishes. We have 240 gallons of fresh water on board
and can refill from Haven’s hose if needed.
The port has a shower and laundry facility about a block away that we
are using. We have to climb about a 10
ft ladder to get up to the boat deck and are lowering and raising tools and
supplies with a rope for light stuff or the crane for heavy stuff. Jarvis gets carried up and down the ladder. Clarice uses her knee and her good foot to
climb the ladder.
It’s always a bit nerve racking when taking the boat out
wondering what we will find as boat work tends to always be expensive work. We were pleased to find that even though we
have not dove under the boat for a number of months that the bottom was in
pretty good shape. The paint that was
applied in 2014 was still thick enough it likely could have gone another
year. We had a fair number of barnacles
on the keel cooler, rudder skeg, the folding propeller and its shaft, and the
aft edge of the main propeller. We also
had a lot of scum but no serious kelp or grass growth. Our zincs were all still
serviceable except for on the bow thruster and the main propeller shaft. We knew we had a ding on the bottom of the
keel from a minor hitting the bottom event and it looked smaller out of the
water than it did when I dove under it.
All in all the overall bottom condition was pretty good.
My brother in law, Darrel joined John and Clarice in doing
bottom prep work the rest of the day.
Further prep work included sanding off the scum line from our marina in
Everett, washing off the areas we couldn’t reach with the pressure washers
because they were under the Travel Lift Straps, and sanding out the bottom ding
and applying epoxy putty to it. At this
point we will do a once over in the morning and then a fresh water wipe down to
get any dust and then we should be ready to paint. Hopefully the weather will be like today
which was perfect for this kind of work.
I also met with the guy who is going to work with me on the
Naiad rehab project and talked about the plan of action. I indicated that I
wanted to try to remove the fins with the manual screw-in tool I had purchased
from Naiad to see how well it worked. I
was very pleasantly surprised that despite everything I had read and heard that
the really really preferred way to remove the fins was with a hydraulic tool
that the manual tool worked very well. I
have removed the port side seals and bearing cover and found that the cast case
of the fin has rusted a bit. Clearly it
has not leaked and I don’t think there is much to be done at this point but it
was not what I wanted to find.
Day 3 (Saturday)
September 10, 2016
Darrel stayed in the pilot house berth for the night and was
a great help in getting a LOT done today.
We hadn’t planned to sand the hull at all but a review of the
instructions on the paint can indicated it should be sanded with 80 grit (we
had 60 grit on hand and used it instead) to provide for better adhesion of the
new paint. We all took turns with the sander and washing the sanding dust off
and were able to get the whole boat done in a fairly quick amount of time. Then we applied the first coat of green
Micron CSC bottom paint with rollers. We
had this huge task done by about 1 PM and ate lunch at the Blue Moose Café
where we quickly became aware of how much blue sanding dust was in Darrel and
my hair (we both have very white hair naturally so it really was obviously
blue) when everyone commented on the blue haired guys. We tried using the excuse that we were just
being loyal Sea Hawk fans but folks didn’t seem to fall for it.
This is also the weekend on one of the biggest (if not THE
biggest) wooden boat festivals in the world here in Pt Townsend. Darrell and I took a break for the afternoon
and rode a shuttle bus from the marina where Salish Aire is located (and where
they are parking festival overflow cars) down to the main event location. There were lots of amazing wooden boats and
displays to check out so this provided a great diversion and break. The wind came up while we were at the
festival and we were able to watch a local “tall ship” schooner really show her
stuff rather than just raising her sails for the tourists.
We did have the pleasant surprise of being serenaded by a bag piper this morning.
Darrel left for his very long drive home when we got back to
the boat. Clarice tried to find a way to
spray paint all but the main propeller with Barnacle Buster paint but it was a
real challenge as the wind had really kicked up by then. In the mean time I finished disassembling the
port stabilizer fin and am now confident that I know how to approach the
starboard fin (which is a bit harder to access on the upper (in-boat)
end).
This evening we both walked pretty slowly to and from the
showers and expect to crash when we get to bed as we are exhausted but very
pleased with the progress we have made so far.
Day 4 (Sunday)
September 11, 2016
Many people (including us) will always remember September 11th
as the day the Twin Towers were attacked by terrorist. Sadly that event turned a very happy event in
our lives into a time of joining the local community in mourning at the
cathedral in Seattle. September 11, 2001
was our 25th wedding anniversary.
Today is our 40th!!.
To celebrate the event we joined in worship at the Episcopal church here
in Port Townsend and Clarice got a matching necklace and earrings with rubies
in them for our ruby anniversary (and it is also her birthstone).
After our ride from church brought us back to the boat we
were quickly hard at work putting on the second coat of bottom paint. Before I purchased the paint I checked with
the company who had painted it in 2014 and was assured that they had used 4 gallons
of the same paint we are using this time around. At $225 / gallon it is expensive enough that
we didn’t want to buy more than we needed.
We also chose a less common color of green to cover the previous blue
(as the paint wears away it is easier to tell how much is left if it is painted
a different color each time). We now
believe that that previous painter didn’t add the extra gallon he needed to buy
to his records as we have run short of what we need. West Marine was open today and carries the
right paint but only in black. We almost
made this work by designating the lowest section of the keel as an area to be a
different color but even with that plan we only ended up with 1 cup of green
which is not enough to paint the spots where the boat support stands hit the
boat. This evening I tried looking
through the window of the chandlery here in the marina with first binoculars
and then our longer lens camera. I can
see they have the right paint but I can’t read the colors and believe that the
samples on the label are NOT green. We
are hoping that we can call a place in Seattle that sells retail to us and
wholesale to many of the chandleries in the area and see if they can send a
gallon this way on their usual delivery run.
We also finished disassembling the second stabilizer and
doing some of the prep work to get ready to reassemble them. It is now clear that when we were told that
they might have water intrusion that the technician didn’t know what he was looking
at. Clearly the fluid that drained out
(and also drained a bit today) is thin oil that normally separates from grease
over time. The bearing show their age of
20 years but they could easily have provided a number of more years of service. It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all to know
they have been fully serviced at this time but I do mind paying very high labor
rates only to be given very poor advice.
The main shafts are showing wear in the seal areas so likely they will
be replaced with the next set of seals.
The good news is that now I am very comfortable that I can do the work
myself.
Now we are both exhausted and it is time for bed.
Day 5 (Monday)
September 12, 2016
All efforts at getting more green paint delivered to Port
Townsend by commercial means failed so once again my brother in law, Darrel
(with my sister, Margie) hot footed it clear up from Yelm to Port Townsend via
Fisheries Supply in Seattle.
Once we had the paint plan in place I conferred with the
master mechanic I’m working with. I
asked if he had the special grease we need in large quantity and the answer was
no. I figured with Darrel coming vie
Seattle I could find a supply house there with some and have him pick it up to
no avail. Finally out of sheer
frustration I walked over to the local chandlery who keeps a small stock for
one brand of outdrive that calls for it.
I phoned Naiad who indicated a single 10 oz tube for each side should
fill the mechanisms up so I bought 2 tubes for each side just to be safe. In the end I needed 3 tubes for each side
which took the entire supply of the lubricant in Port Townsend.
At this point we have the port stabilizer completely
installed (woo hoo) and the starboard unit sealed from the sea with only
actually mounting the fin left for underwater work to do before we can launch. Clarice finished the painting while I
concentrated on the stabilizers. Since we only have about an hour of
“mandatory” work yet to do, we have asked the Port to put us on the standby
list for launching tomorrow.
An unexpected problem also got addressed while we were
here. Our anchor rollers are pretty
non-standard and were deteriorating rather quickly (summary: they looked very
tacky to Clarice’s eye). Another
Nordhavn 46 is anchored in the bay and the owner of Ocean has stopped by a
couple of times. He mentioned while he
was looking at the boat that there is a person in the area who has made a
cottage industry of making odd size anchor rollers and other hart to find parts
for boats. Looking at his web site we
realized that while is work is very pricey, the quality is far beyond anything
on the general market. He came down and
measured the boat yesterday and his wife brought by the new rollers today. They are completely custom with even port and
starboard being slightly different.
Day 6 Tuesday SPLASH!!
September 13, 2016
This morning we mounted the final fin and did some touch-up
on the paint as well as installed several zincs then we had a call from the
port office asking us to come down and settle up our bill. While I was there the very helpful office
person checked on our chance of being lifted in despite the long standby list –
answer: we could be launched next if we fit their smaller Travel Lift.
Clarice and I buckled up the final items such as shore
power, final garbage, etc. and our chariot arrived. The lift operators here in Port Townsend work
as a great team and keep three huge machines running carrying millions of
dollars worth of boats on a very tight schedule. They lifted the boat and then gave us a
chance to sand and paint where the blocks had been under the keel (one operator
even grabbed a paint roller when he noticed a couple of spots that weren’t to
his satisfaction). We were splashed, we
did a quick leak check (all was well) and we were off as the historic replica
Lady Washington was lifted in the large lift dock.
We are now in a guest berth in Port Townsend where we
finished connecting up and filling the oil reservoir of the Naiad stabilizers –
so far everything seems to be working as I would expect prior to all of the air
purging itself. We have lots of laundry
to do, provisions to add, and holding tanks to empty before we leave for the
San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands tomorrow.
Summary:
We planned to be in the water on September 15th
at best and the 19th at worse.
We beat our best estimate by 2 days with the motivation of cost on the
hard, Clarice having to scale the 10 ft boarding ladder multiple times a day
with her handless crutch, and a desire to get out and enjoy our vacation
time. The cost of moving so quickly was
Clarice’s complete exhaustion and upper leg pain and my sciatic pain. We could not have done this without help from
friends and family – again we want to express our deepest appreciation to
Darrell Pelley and John Gray!
We estimated our haul-out and yard costs at $1000 -
$2000. The bill came to about $750. He first night we stayed as a reciprocal
yacht club member thanks to Port Townsend Yacht Club so we paid $5. The Port of
Port Townsend doesn’t charge yard storage for the first and last night so we
were only charged for 3 nights of yard time.
The bill that really caught us by surprise was from Haven
Boatworks. Their crew was always willing
to help if we needed a hand lifting a heavy part, they provided us with a 30
amp electric hookup, they provided us with a key to their facility so Clarice
didn’t have to walk nearly as far to get to a restroom and they provided a
mechanic who provided the guidance I needed (in addition to pressing bearings
for me) and they only charged us for 1 hour of mechanics time. Our bill from them was less than $100! Thank you and kudos to everyone we have
worked with here in Port Townsend!
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