Mid West Family Summer Visit Entry #1

If you get tired of proud parents/grandparents going on and on about their perfect children and grandchildren then you should probably skip this blog entry.

Our daughter Erin lives in Welland Ontario just north of Niagara Falls with her family, Paul our wonderful son-in-law, 11 year old Calm Big Brother C, 7 1/2 year old Curious and Precocious H, and turned 6 last week Princess Can-Take-Care-of-Herself V.  Also when Erin was in college she lived in my cousin's basement and babysat her children including Julia who is now on summer break from the University of Illinois and came to join us for a few days.

Clarice's knee scooter was an immediate attraction to the grandkids.

H went to work adding to the marina's chalk art collection by making sure Jarvis was immortalized (at least until the next time it rains).

Clarice has mastered the art of going up and down the ramp at all but the most extreme low tides.  She decided to show off by taking a passenger with her.

Grandma getting started on getting her H fix.

V modeled her new swimsuit

C experimented with Aqua Glide

The younger kids checked out the hammocks on the front deck.

Erin and the kids arrived first followed by Paul and Julia.  We had long planned for an outing to the San Juan Islands when everyone was here and with the broken footed Admiral directing the very green deck crew we headed north for 4 days.

Paul learns how to prep the boat for landing.

Beaches to explore.

Sea life to photograph from the dock.

A new anchorage a new adventure.

V goes swimming and PFD testing.

H explores the sea caves.

C learns to paddle the kayak.

Forts must be evaluated for their usefulness in case of a seagull attach.

Julia checks out the galley supplies.

Paul learns to operate an outboard motor.

Everyone likes to eat.

Finally the sun sets over the Sucia Island anchorage with Mt Baker in the distance.

The children sleep very very soundly and don't awaken until the sun is already up in the sky.

After a great 4 days we had to head home to get Julia back to the airport for her flight home. More to follow as the kids are here for some time yet and this evening 13 y/o grandson ET arrives from Portland by train.

Finally we need to re-provision ..... again (7 people seem to eat more than 2!!), and:

Now fully trained, Captain H, Makes sure that Grandpa empties the holding tank correctly.

Marina Life and a Broken Foot

Living in a boat in a marina has its ups and downs.  We have the daily things to watch living in a basically industrial setting like tugboats towing barges full of shavings down the river (I believe they end up at the paper mill in Port Townsend), rail cars taking a rest on their route from the coal mines of Colorado to the loading dock in Tsawwassen British Columbia (where I expect the coal is shipped to China), oil cars bringing raw crude from the middle of the country to the refinery in Anacortes, and more and more work as the Port of Everett works to change much of the shoreline into a people friendly place after decades of being the industrial hub of the city.  Early this month as part of their project the Port of Everett moved the historic Weyerhaeuser Headquarters Building from out on the main street to its (hopefully) final location (after 2 previous moves) in a park directly across from our slip.

We get gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

And we get the challenges of living in a non-standard living location. 

Clarice was going down one of the sets of steps on the boat and lost her concentration while calling the dog to bed.  She lost track of where she was and missed a step with the result being two fractured metatarsal bones in her foot.  She has been told NO ("and that means NO!") weight bearing on that foot for at least 6 weeks.  

To make it worse, this happened about 4 days before our daughter and her 3 children were scheduled to make their annual pilgrimage back to the Pacific Northwest from Ontario, Canada.  Whereas Clarice normally looks forward to having "Grandma Time" with the kids playing games, cooking, playing in boats, and playing on the beach but she instead is finding that she needs rest times when she has the children by herself as moving around the boat on knees and crutches is exhausting before adding the challenges of 3 energetic little ones.

On the positive side we have once again been reminded that floating friends are really really good friends.  A quick walk around the dock the evening before I had to go to a 12 hour shift the next day ended up with several promises (which were kept) from fellow boaters that they would entertain the kids while she rested.  I ran into a woman from our yacht club at the local marine hardware who offered to help with housework and / or shopping (Clarice took her up on the shopping offer when we were running out of fruit and milk with 3 hungry kids running around). Today a neighbor stopped in and asked if she needed anything while she was at the store and a loaf of sandwich bread appeared.  

More to come as we are expecting our son -in-law and a niece to arrive the day after tomorrow with a 4  day cruise to the San Juan Islands planned for next week.  One day at a time.

Petersburg Alaska

We are just returning home from spending a few days in Petersburg Alaska with the largest gathering of Nordhavn boats in the history of the brand. This has been a great get-together and we are sorry to see it end.

We couldn't get the time off to attend by boat so we flew up via the Alaska Airlines "Milk Run".  We flew from Seattle to Ketchican  (1 1/2 hr) then on to Wrangle (20 minutes) and finally on to Petersburg (14 minutes) before the plane continued on to Juneau and Anchorage.  The run from Wrangle to Petersburg is so short that the 737 had to fly between the mountains as he followed Wrangle Narrows.  I swear we could have seen a squirrel on the mountain tops at the peak of our flight and were looking up at them as we came in for our landing.

Looking north across the marina towards the Sons of Norway Hall where we met

The North 2 AK rendezvous started as a "gee let's see if a couple of boats want to meet up in Alaska idea" a couple of years ago with the belief that "maybe 4 - 6 boats will show up" according to the organizers.  Once the word got out the interest grew until 30 boats showed up and a number of fly-ins like us bringing the total head count to about 100.  The town of Petersburg reported that this was the biggest thing to hit their tiny borough for some time.  With luck the fishing season opened up in time for the fishing fleet to exit so there was plenty of dock space left for Nordhavns and the sun came out and it was great!

The opening presentation was by Dan Streech, one of the founding fathers of Pacific Asian Enterprises (PAE) that designs and builds Nordhavns.  It was clear from Dan's presentation that he really loves boats and especially Nordhavns.  He talked about how ground breaking it was when hull #001 of the N46 line of boats was launched as the idea of ocean crossing recreational trawlers was still very much in its infancy (and he was very excited to hear that hull #001 was in the marina).

UUB V (Pronounced WB 5, his previous boats were named Water Boy 1-4) - Nordhavn 46 hull #001 that started the line of now 500 boats

 

I did an impromptu presentation on repairing Hurricane Heaters which I will try to spruce up and post on-line. There was a presentation on radar which gave us some great pointers and suggested a way that I could tie my electronic displays together to make them more useful. I also found the presentation on AC current leakage to be very helpful.  Clarice visited the women only session and a presentation on docking that helped her better visualize what happens during this critical time of most boat outings. We spent a lot of time visiting other model N46s to get ideas for our boat (we are hull #50 of 81 that were built before the mold was retired making this by far the most successful of the Nordhavn models).  I enjoyed just yaking with Bob Senter of Lugger / Northern Lights company and other gear heads. I think Clarice (AKA the keeper of the boat's appearance) has decided that our Teak will go nude before the summer is out as the boats with no coatings looked good and cut costs and maintenance a bunch.

We were fed and entertained by the local folk in the true Norwegian traditions of smorgasbord (with Clarice's favorite - pickled herring) and folk dancing.

Clarice trying to learn a folk dance from the local kids.

We walked the trails around town and saw eagles and more eagles, deer, a whale, seals, and ravens (who have a vocabulary of sounds which far outdoes anything I've heard from their cousins the crows).  The terrain ranged from muskeg bogs to temperate rain forest and always the scent of local money (AKA fishing industry boats and canneries).

Muskeg bogs cover much of the island. This was across the street from the airport.

North end of Wrangle Narrows just past town.

An eagle on an old shed along Wrangle Narrows (notice the bouy - one of many that must be watched carefully when navigating this very crooked channel.

Salmon Berries

Can anyone identify this flower for us?

Devils Club with very pretty berries (wild blueberries in the background).

Finally the boats were all asked to leave together to provide a photo-op and room for the returning commercial fishing fleet.  Those who could joined together for one last night in a local cove / anchorage while we flew back to Seattle.

Father's Day Weekend Outing

Clarice was pretty adamant that we were going to get away from our home marina for Father's Day Weekend.  In the end, she was right and we had a wonderful time.

Goal number 1 was to install and try out our new solar array. Salish Aire originally came to us with solar panels installed which were a really BIG selling point especially to Clarice as her dream has always been quiet anchorages with NO GENERATOR NOISE.  We knew when we bought the boat that the panels were likely at or near the end of their life but recognized that at least we had a solar infrastructure in place (controller, wiring, etc.).  With some repairs we have managed to get the old panels to limp along but when we met John (AKA "Solar Guru") at http://www.rainshadowsolar.com/ while visiting Orcas Island a couple of months ago he supported our belief that it was time to change out the panels.  He also indicated that whomever had installed the panels had put in an excellent ("way ahead of its time") solar controller that was well worth keeping. He recommended very high-end panels by Sunpower company ( https://us.sunpower.com/solar-panels-technology/x-series-solar-panels/ ) because of their higher watt density, tolerance for heat variation as we plan to travel from upper latitudes to lower latitudes in the future, ability to continue power production while partially shaded, and general durability.

New Sunpower Solar Panels (we mounted then 18" above deck  to allow for storage under them)

We were able to meet up with John and install the panels between Thursday and Friday so our plan was to find a nice anchorage and see what happened.

Our initial plan was to go to Ft. Flagler State Park ( http://parks.state.wa.us/508/Fort-Flagler ) but while we were underway Clarice did some research and asked if we should instead travel down Hood Canal (not really a canal but rather a natural fjord in the Puget Sound section of the Salish Sea) to Pleasant Harbor where the guidebook indicated we could anchor out and pay a fee to the marina ( http://pleasantharbormarina.com/ ) to use their pool and hot tub.  The guidebook turned out to be outdated in its information as the marina has not been able to address legal concerns related to making their hot tub and pool public.  They did offer that for a minimum $35 moorage fee (normal fee $1.50/ft = $69 for Salish Aire or the $35 minimum for our dingy) we could use the facilities.  One of the few things I have really missed after moving aboard is having a hot tub.  I have some minor neural damage in my spine that irritates my legs frequently and heat seems to be the best medicine.  With this in mind we decided our "Father's Day Splurge" would be to pay $35 for the dingy.  Clarice got to talking with the proprietor who asked if we were yacht club members.  In the end we were able to use our reciprocal moorage for $5/day and enjoyed their very nice facilities (including a live concert Saturday evening).

Hood Canal looking South with Bangor Naval Submarine Base on the west shore

 We had clouds for most of the weekend with some rain and thundershowers but despite the less than ideal solar conditions we were able to "make" 1.2 kw yesterday and to replace losses from our overnight power use!!  Woohoo, this gives us hope that we should be able to sit an anchor without using our generator for purposes other than watermaking and using the washer/dryer.

Solar Controller showing panels are actually making power

Our maintenance frustrations for the weekend were the Hurricane Furnace (which I thought had agreed to a truce of sorts) decided to have a flame-out issue that I haven't figured out yet and the wing engine still doesn't start perfectly each and every time I ask it to.  I think that both of these devices conspire together keep me humble about my mechanical troubleshooting ability.  It seems that every time I dare brag about my prowess in having conquered their idiosyncrasies they put me back in my place.  Oh well - it's a boat.

Clarice did make a lovely breakfast for Father's Day while we were underway. She discovered a waffle bar maker that makes waffles in a form where they can be dipped if one chooses to eat them that way.  She then added homemade strawberry jam and dark amber maple syrup that our daughter buys us direct from a farm near her home in Ontario.

Father's Day Breakfast (the string from the lantern keeps in from swinging under way, a chrome screw hides the hole in the table when the eye screw is removed)

We are now on our way home which took us back under the Hood Canal Floating Bridge (trivia:  Washington State is famous for having some of the world's longest and oldest floating bridges AND for having 2 of them sink in storms (which is a cleaver way to get Federal funding for replacing them!)).

Hood Canal Floating Bridge looking from the south (it had just closed after opening for a sailboat but we fit under the Eastern High-rise section so we don't require it to open much to the appreciation of the folks in cars)

Weekend at Hat Island

This past weekend our yacht club did a cruise to Hat Island off of Everett Washington (Gedney Island on the official charts).  I was excited to go since we have a long history with the island and hadn't been out for some time as we no longer own property and getting access as a visiting boat is a challenge.

Back in about 1991 we bought a lot on Hat Island.  In 1993 we build a cabin from the foundation up and then eventually sold it to help pay for our daughter's college education.

 The cabin was used a LOT by its new owner for a number of years and then tragedy struck his family and he walked away from the building for about 10 years.  We watched the bushes grow up around it and the moss cover the roof to a thickness of about 4 inches (literally with ferns growing in the moss).  It was hard to watch the first house that Clarice and I had build on our own fall into such disrepair and we kept wondering if it would survive until it was sold.  A couple of months ago we learned it had a new owner who is is planning to live in it full time. While we were on the island I went up and introduced myself and asked if the structure had held up.  He pointed to some minor sheet rock damage from a water leak around the skylight but other than that indicated the only issue was that the insulation under the floor had been torn up by critters. I was pretty pleased that we had built the place well.  As I was leaving he ran over and pulled out an old piece of driftwood he had found during his cleanup and presented it to me since it had our name carved into it as it was the original sign we had posted to mark our property back in the beginning.

One of our projects prior to going to the island was to check our forward battery bank and clean the vent from our washer/dryer.  Both of these projects require that I remove a wall panel from inside of the guest berth / tool-work room.  Its not hard to get the panel off, I just get tired of removing about 20 screws that hold it up and then working in the rather cramped space between the bed and the wall that is opened up.   The batteries checked out fine. The vent clearly needed to be cleaned as it is quite a long run and the lint was fairly built up in the pipe.  The first challenge was retrieving the brush I use which had come unscrewed from the 12' long fiberglass shaft someplace inside of the ducting.  It was eventually recovered and the whole thing put together including driving the 20 screws back into the panel.

While we are in our slip at the marina we connect directly to the shore spigot and pressurize our water system from the city system.  Once we reached Hat Island we needed to turn on our fresh water pump and draw from our on-board tanks.  The pump ran fine but it sounded like we were inside of a big bass drum every time the diaphragm pump caused a pulse in the piping (about 120 pulses a minute).  Thinking back I realized that I had moved the water supply lines to the washer / dryer about 1/2 inch to make it easier to clamp the dryer vent onto the machine. After removing the hated 20 screws again we were able to demonstrate that the noise was caused by the supply hose banging against the back of the washer / dryer machine and it was making a great drum head.  Some foam pipe insulation fixed the problem and then we once again screwed in the 20 (well really 16 but it seems like a lot more) evil screws.

I see that back in April I wrote about our frustration with getting a reverse view camera to work correctly.  I decided that part of my problem was likely that I was being too cheap in my choice of cameras so we bought a new one that specifically calls out being for marine use. We mounted it on the mast spreader and re-ran the wires down the mast and over the ceiling of the pilot house and plugged it in.  Initially it worked much better then our interference gremlin showed up again.  We finally traced at least the primary gremlin to his home in the forward (we have 2) power inverter  / charger and the found a way to manage the problem. Coming back from the trip was the first time I have been able to direct myself backing into our slip (usually Clarice drives by directing me on how to maneuver through a headset).  It is nice to have another option to see what is going on behind us rather than using radar or sticking our head out the door and to have another option for docking.

Another fine weekend outing

Perhaps its the improving weather, or a new position that gives me more open days to play - for whatever reason we are finding ourselves out on the water more.

This weekend we took a short run to Blake Island State Park off of Seattle.

Activities included riding around the perimeter of the island on our electric-assist bicycles with Jarvis running along side and kayaking across the north end of the island where we were able to approach within about 20 ft of an Eagle perched on a rock in the shallows.

Weekend with the yacht club

While our daughter is still getting snow several times a week (she really doesn't like snow by the way) in Welland Ontario we have been enjoying near record high temperatures here in the Seattle area.  The spring flowers are going strong including the tulips in the Skagit Valley.

This weekend we went on a "cruise" with our yacht club ( http://www.mukilteoyachtclub.com/ ) to Bell Street Marina along the Seattle water front. 

Our initial reason for joining a yacht club was to save money on moorage especially during the winter months when we prefer to stay at a dock rather than use the dingy to get to shore in the rain. We pay about $175/year for the yacht club dues and save an average of $50 every time we tie up at a reciprocal club's dock.  In the long run we have found the group to be the type folks we enjoy hanging around with and so we have gotten into the social functions as well.

While talking to another couple in the group we learned that they have been in our private "fan club" for a number of years.  It seems that back in 2000 when we took our MacGregor 26X sailboat up the inside passage they also owned a MacGregor 26X and followed us the whole time on the blog we wrote as we headed north. They told us that there was quite a discussion going with the naysayers back home letting everyone know that there was no way we would make it to Skagway (we did - you can read the old blog if you click the link on the port side of this blog included in the Our Boating History section).  Later they attended a session where we spoke about the trip and were pleased to see us in "real life".

My other excitement of the past month has been getting my technician followed shortly by my general amateur radio (AKA: ham) license (KI7CKD).  There is not a lot of chatter up in this part of the world on the marine SSB frequencies and I wanted to get comfortable with the high frequency (HF) radio that I had installed and make sure it was functioning correctly, by getting the ham license I can legally talk to other amateur operators.  So far my most distant contact has been in southern California.

On the flip side my electronic frustration has been with backup cameras.  I installed a camera on the mast and the boat came with one in the cockpit.  My hope is that we can monitor traffic behind us visually as well as on radar without walking outside or to the back of the boat. So far my pictures range from good to flickery to frequently cutting out. Hmmmmmmmm, back connections? Too cheap of cameras for the environment???  I'll keep working on it but it is so typical of boat projects where nothing works the first time and if it does it makes me highly suspicious.

On a similar note, I think I have finally gotten the final gremlin out of the wing (auxiliary) engine.  After doing a fair amount of work on it a few months back we have gotten it to run smoothly once it gets past periodic hard starting and surging at startup.  I have been convinced for some time that the issue was air in the fuel line just before it entered the engine but haven't been able to find the source.  In my experience with gasoline engines when a diaphragm type fuel pump fails it is pretty much an all or none scenario. I think in this case that a tiny leak through the diaphragm was allowing air to enter the line (and diesel to drain into the oil sump) while the engine sat.  In any case, after going to a new diesel lift pump the engine started yesterday on the first turn over and "purred like a kitten".  Yay!! (I hope)