A moment of rest

Its Friday evening and I'm enjoying a quiet moment on the back deck.  Last weekend we had 8 people on the boat (4 grandchildren + 4 adults) and 2 dogs.  We slept in the main berth with Jarvis in his usual place at the foot of the bed on the floor wound into a circle in his bed, the two older boys slept in a tent on the boat deck, Et's mother slept on the pilothouse berth (with Becca her dog on the floor), our daughter and her two younger children slept in the guest berth bunk beds. We had a wonderful time but a bit of quiet is nice as well.  Clarice is currently driving Et back up to spend another week with us (while his dad and new step-mother are honeymooning in Figi). 

We are starting to realize / accept that we aren't going to get everything done in the first couple of months.  We had looked at the photos of the boat so many times and  thought about what needed to be done and we wanted to do that we were sure we had everything planned for the first two weeks.  In reality most of what we had planned has not happened yet because Salish Aire has her own set of priorities that keep taking time (e.g. we had to work on holding tank vents again this week - maybe they are both fixed this time!) In the long run we are coming to recognize that it doesn't need to all be done either.  The boat functions just fine as a home and is eager and ready whenever we have taken her out of the slip.  We intellectually gave ourselves a couple of years to get everything done - now we just need to emotionally accept that its OK to slow down.

One of the items called out by our surveyor was that our running / navigation light lenses were pretty fogged from age.  We have decided to try to replace items with "good stuff" that will last.  So we ordered a starboard LED light, a port LED light and a new LED anchor light to the tune of $600 (yes, things for big boats carry big prices).  Clarice hauled me to the top of the mast in our bosons chair and I replaced the anchor light while suspended by the halyard (rope to pull things up a mast - usually a sail).  After a major fall from a ladder while replacing light bulbs in a church and falling off a roof, I'm not real comfortable with heights but I can talk myself into "dealing with it".  While at the top of the mast my inner fear kept my thighs so tightly gripped on the mast that I came down and my wobbly legs would barely hold me.  Also while up the mast I dropped a drill from the bosons chair pocket; bit down onto our no-longer inflatable dingy (since repaired). So once again small project becomes medium project that becomes large project.

I seem to be writing in reverse time today.  Going back to two weekends ago we all gathered in Portland for our son's wedding.  It was a lovely affair held outdoors in very sunny weather.  I don't thing the bride ever knew that about 1/3 of the flowers that had been carefully prepared into bouquets had frozen in the storage refrigerator as everyone pitched in to make the bouquets arise from the ashes.  The best person's dress was redesigned by Clarice the night before so it fit her rapidly changing figure (something about bearing a child 2 weeks prior) better. And finally the bustle on the wedding dress was emergently  sewn up between the ceremony and the reception with some sewing floss our daughter had along. When all of this happens and everyone keeps focus on the important stuff, it bodes well for the future of the marriage.

We also got to meet the Goldbergs who owned Salish Aire when she was Duet.  We had a lovely time with them on the new Duet (a Nordhavn 50) and learned a bit more about the boat's history.  (They also told us to look for THE BOOK (since found) with all of the wiring diagrams, plumbing diagrams, etc that Ron had put together)

Boat Warming and Blessing and "Secret Passages"

 Our daughter and her 3 children came for an extended visit from their home in Ontario.  Seems she figured she would use her brother's wedding as an excuse to visit us, her Washington friends, and escape the humidity and bugs. (Western Washington is incredibly comfortable this time of year and humidity with heat is pretty much unheard of.)  Her husband will show up later this week.

The Grandkids have provided endless entertainment as they have discovered the boat. 5 year old Grandson H noticed the "trap door" (AKA engine room hatch) in the floor almost immediately and spent the next three hours searching everywhere for "secret passages" and "secret compartments" with his headlamp on.  Once he found the engine room door and opened it he could hardly contain his excitement! (He really is MY grandson!)  He had to wait for the next morning before we allowed him to explore the engine room and he was up at the crack of dawn with his headlamp ready for his adventure to begin. 4 year old Granddaughter V immediately renewed her long standing mutual love affair with Jarvis.  And finally 9 year old Grandson C declared the pilot house berth to be his "turf" and started moving in to his space where he could rest from younger siblings.

Today we had an open house boat warming and blessing of the boat and her new name.  We had a proverbial as well as actual boatload of visitors.  Grandson C made sure everyone got through the gate to the dock, Grandson H made sure everyone got to see the engine room and "secret passages", and Granddaughter V kept everyone entertained.  Jarvis was generally well behaved but was very happy to discover that when his people "accidentally" lock him on the bow deck area that he can get back into the boat by diving through the hatch screen onto our bed.

The blessing of the boat and her new name was officiated by our Episcopal Priest, Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton.  Frankly, we expected a few kind words when we asked her to come, instead she put together a lovely service.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Poem by Lucille Clifton
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back
may you open your eyes to
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that

I bless thee, Salish Aire, in the name of the Father who created the waters above and below the heavens, in the name of the Son who sailed in life upon the Sea of Galilee and whom even storms obey, and in the name of the Holy Spirit who is born to us as a changing wind to carry us to new places and new life.  AMEN

Vistors are Starting to Come

I think all of our tales of "working our tails off" every day to organize the boat has kept folks away even though we have always said that folks stopping by causes us to take some very welcome breaks - they just have to understand that things are not to "Clarice" condition ("Bristol" has nothing on Clarice - keep reading).

Clarice's parents stopped by last week for lunch. ET our grandson from Portland spent last week on the boat with us. Then last Saturday my sister and brother-in-law brought my parents up.  This was a bit of a big deal as Dad is pretty disabled with a stroke and Parkinson's and Mom is convinced that anything within 50 ft of ocean water is sure to get hit by a tsunami or sink or be eaten by sharks...... Worse yet Mom has been convinced that the day we stepped on the boat would be the last we would spend in Washington.  I think she now understands that we don't live on a wooden raft held together with rusty nails and duct tape that makes you sea sick every time the wind blows more than 2 knots.

Today one of Clarice's (many) sisters came by with her husband and two kids.  After dinner we took the dingy over to Jetty Island.  I figured the water would be not-as-cold since the tide had come in over about 1/2 mile of warm sand with today's mega tide change but didn't expect it to be really warm!  We turned our backs expecting the kids to wade a bit and turned around and they were flopping in the surf like a couple of mackerels.  The really nice thing is they gave me an excuse to not take on a project when I got home as my back has been protesting mightily.

Oh, about "Clarice Clean", anyone who knows Clarice knows that our homes have always had a "comfortable messiness" about them but you could eat off the floor.  The past couple of days Clarice has responded to her inner passion and attacked the decks with soft scrub, a hand brush (yes, on her knees) and finally, the coup-d-grace her (no longer in mouth duty) toothbrush.  After nearly 40 years I have learned to just stay out of the way when she is in a cleaning and/or organizing mood (I also try to keep Jarvis at a safe distance so he doesn't get the toothbrush and cleanser treatment.)  I will say that the deck looks really nice!

A note about Jarvis our Jackhuahua:  He really loves having kids around (our granddaughter has been able to poke him in the eye since she was 9 months old and he still adored her).  We took off in the dingy with the niece and nephew and he stood on the front deck watching us and let out the saddest, loudest, wail we have ever heard from the little guy.  Clarice had to come back and put him inside the closed boat where he settled down.  I think if he knew that our granddaughter and her brothers were coming next week he wouldn't sleep for next 5 days waiting.

Birthday stove, first SCUBA, and first night at anchor

We continue to work on the boat's systems and learn about them. 

• Pumping the blackwater tanks was still being an ordeal.  The Port of Everett includes every-other-week pump our service as part of our moorage contract but when the expert pooper pumper girl showed up she let Clarice know that "it just isn't working right" and suggested we check our tank vents.  We disconnected the vent line from the tank we knew how to access and the poo pumping went much better!  A water flush through the line and we think we have it fixed.  That left the second tank which we have never actually found.  After tracing the hoses we finally found the access under my clothing drawers in the main berth.  Some testing suggested that the problem was a clogged vent with tank #2 as well.  Some sucking of the vent hose with a vacuum cleaner seems to have cleared that one.
• We still haven't been able to get our diesel furnace to light.  This is more a "we would like to know if there is a problem" issue than a we need it right now as we are having record setting hot weather.  I think I know enough about the system now to be able to troubleshoot it but the next steps really would be easier with 2 people so I've put it off until Clarice and I get some time to work together.
• We do have 3 air conditioning units that did test OK when the boat was surveyed.  The can also be run in "reverse" and used as heaters.  When we tested them the one in the main salon didn't get any sea water to carry away or add heat (boat systems often use sea water rather than air as water is a much better heat transfer mechanism and is generally a better temperature for cooling an air conditioner).  On further inspection we found a clogged sea strainer in the back lazarette (an hold filled with equipment and used for storage under the back cockpit deck).  I managed to fold myself into the lazarette and clean the strainer followed by disassembling the sea water pump to make it happy so it would pump water to the air conditioner.  Now that the system works, it turns the main salon into a refrigerator very quickly when its hot outside.
• Our first big (and planned before purchase) modification was to install a "professional" size stove/oven in the galley.  The boat originally had a standard marine stove but a previous owner decided they would rather have a dishwasher and cooktop and use the microwave/convection oven for the oven.  The advantage in hot climates is that the convection oven creates a lot less heat in the galley.  In any case I bought Clarice the new large size stove for her birthday.  After the cooktop, cabinetry and dishwasher were removed we decided we should go ahead and replace the 20 year old propane hose.  Step one: trace the hose requiring climbing in little cabinet doors and pulling the ceiling down in the guest berth. Step two: another trip to Sure Marine in Seattle as they were the only place we could find that could make up a new marine grade propane hose. Step three: have Clarice put her shoulders into some very small cabinet doors (I have wide shoulders and physically can't fit) and pull out the old hose while feeding the new hose. In the end the stove did fit in the space of the old stove without having to modify either the cabinetry or the stove and it looks great.
  
• We were concerned when we chose this particular boat that it didn't have a swim platform as we are both advanced divers and are eager to dive off of the boat.  We did find the boarding ladder and decided it was a long and strong one so before we went to a lot of expense we should try diving once.  Today we anchored out a few miles from home and dove (for the first time in a long time - boy were we out of practice) off the boat.  Our first impression is that we may be able to forgo the swim step as we have certainly gotten out of and into boats with much less comfortable arrangements. (It is also nice to have the electric boom crane lift our gear out of the water and onto the boat rather than dragging it over the side when we are really tired after a dive like we had to do on our last two boats.
• Tonight we are training on Salish Aire's anchoring gear and flopper stopper system.  We chose an unprotected cove near our home marina that we knew would be open to wind and ferry wakes so we could see how she lays at anchor with her flopper stopper motion calming system.  So far it has been very comfortable with 2 ft wind waves and 3+ foot ship wakes.  We do need to work on how we connect the anchor bridle to the anchor chain.  We have always had boats with nylon rope anchor lines ("rodes").  The nylon acts as a shock absorber between the anchor and the boat.  With an all-chain rode a nylon rope bridle is recommended to absorb some of the shock.  So far we have not felt we have a good system for attaching the bridle - more to learn!

Now its time for me to get to bed for our first night at anchor.

First Week

After bringing the boat home last Saturday we have been in constant motion as we tried to turn her into a home and learn about her as a boat. 

We are quickly being reminded that nothing is simple with a boat.  Our first lesson had to do with the fuel system.  In the Duet Blog (see lower right of this blog) I learned that her previous owners had done some pretty fancy modifications to the fuel system.  The blog even includes a diagram which I spent a fair amount of time reviewing to make sure I understood it.  I didn't bring a copy with us to Victoria and that was our downfall.  We spent Friday evening reviewing the system after the engine shut down with our first test run and had to be bled to get it going again. We also noticed that we had managed to move about 100 gallons of fuel from one side of the boat to the other without intending to. After some study of the system and finding a vital fuel manifold under a floorboard we managed to get the engine bled and running smoothly.  We finally got to bed at about 10 PM. I woke up about 4 AM after our first night in our new home and started running fuel flow diagrams in my head.  By 4:30 I was up and had figured out how to move the fuel back from the port fuel tank to the starboard fuel tank where it had started from.  Don showed up at about 7 AM, the day was beautiful, the engine purred and we headed out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  It took a few miles for the last drops of fuel from the tank I had emptied to get sucked out and the  main engine to stop cold - oops.  Don and Clarice when to the engine room to troubleshoot while I fired up our wing (emergency) engine and felt secure in the idea that we had a backup.  Problem is that unlike newer Nordhavns, ours doesn't have a dedicated fuel supply for the wing engine and it soon sucked its line dry - oops.  About then Don found that the fuel was being pulled from the tank I had emptied and not from the one I had filled.  He quickly reset the valves and Clarice got another lesson in how to bleed a diesel engine. ( For those who don't know Clarice, this really was something she wanted to learn as we fully expect either crew member to be able to do all functions on the boat in an emergency. .... For those not familiar with diesel engines, traditional diesels have an Achilles heal of sorts in that they won't start or run if their is any air in the fuel line.  A basic skill requirement of any ocean going diesel owner is knowing how to bleed the fuel lines.)

Sunday we decided to make short work of removing any doo doo that was in the blackwater (AKA - sewer) tank.  To make a long story short: It took us about 3 hours for a job that should take 20 minutes.  In the process we leaned where our overboard valves were and that we had two rather than one doo tanks.

That seems to be how everything has gone and is likely to go.  We bring stuff on the boat from the storage shed and then try to find places to put the stuff only to find spare parts and other unidentified stuff (probably useful but we aren't sure yet) in the places where we planned to put our stuff that has to be moved to someplace, etc, etc, etc...We spent most of the week trying to make the boat a home and put off her move on water function until later( but I can't resist trying to figure out what makes her tick so poor Clarice puts up with me tearing up the pilot house while she tries to clean and organize).  In the midst of it all we both have jobs that must be attended to (and hers required making some hurried modifications to the pilot house that serves as her office).

So are we having fun yet???? YES!!!! Every evening to be on the water is a dream come true for us (let's hope we feel the same a year from now).  This week our grandson ET came up from Portland and is our first overnight visitor (he is having to sleep on the pilot house berth as the guest berth is covered with stuff).  This evening we decided that since I took tomorrow off from work and Clarice can work on a moving boat we would remind ourselves that this home is also a boat.  We took a quick trip to Langley and are snug in that marina for the night.  The main engine purred, the generator generated, and I was able to get the wing engine back up and running after running it dry last weekend.    I'm also proud to say that after having worked with an excellent teacher last weekend, that our first solo landing went without a hitch (it is really nice that Don taught us right off how to land the boat without depending on her bow and stern thrusters so they become a nicety rather than necessity).

Our big excitement yesterday was finding time to put our new logo on the stern so we look official (for those worried about not having done a renaming ceremony, we plan to ask to have the boat (with her new name) blessed at our upcoming open house).

A final word: I think I finally have the photo thing figured out for the blog so we should have more photos as we go along.

HOME AT LAST!!!!

Yesterday after about 4 hours of sleep after arriving in Portland Oregon from Belize we drove to our temporary home in Everett.  Then we quickly grabbed our "go get the boat" packs and were driven to Vancouver BC by Clarice's parents where we hopped a ferry for Victoria and finally slept on OUR boat for the first time. 

Today with the help of Don Kohlmann of Nordhavn NorthWest we headed south across the Strait of Juan de Fuca (with one unexpected stop about a third of the way across to bleed the fuel system after a valve was mis-set).  US Customs were very pleasant and welcomed us back into the country in Port Angelas (where Clarice and I are proud to say our very first landing of a boat larger than 25 feet was an 8 out of 10 under Don's patient tutorage) and then we headed South for our home port of Everett, Washington.  We had a gorgeous run south with both Mt Baker and Mt Rainer out in their full glory along with the Olympic Mountains. 

Finally about 19:30 we pulled into our slip with several friends on hand to help tie us in (and to bring Jarvis aboard for the first time.  We should sleep well tonight.

Arrival in Victoria

We just watched as the freighter passed the Victoria Harbour breakwater.  This morning we received the unloading schedule and we will be in Belize Thursday when Salish Aire finally gets wet in the Salish Sea.  The current plan is to have the shipping company tie her up in Victoria until we return.