Helm Chair Installed

Our new helm chair is installed (and the old Captain's Plank removed).  This link will take you to the full story (Helm Chair ).

Batteries and The Boat Dog

Jarvis our dog apparently got tired of waiting for me to get his story written.  Please go to the learnings  section and you can read his version of life on the boat.

While the NorthEast is having record snowfall, here we are enjoying an early spring after one of the warmest winters on record.  We may get up to see the daffodil and tulip fields this weekend long before they are due to bloom for the annual tulip festival.  We did go back and visit our Daughter, Son in Law and Grandkids in Ontario and were delighted (well Et our grandson we took from Portland and I anyway, Clarice was a bit less enthusiastic) to experience a Midwest winter for a few days complete with a tour of a maple syrup forest/farm on a horse drawn sleigh through the falling snow.

To take advantage of the lovely weather we took Salish Aire on a 3 day run over the weekend and circumnavigated Whidbey Island.  Our moorage costs were zero as we were able to use yacht club reciprocal privileges (there isn't a lot of competition for the slips this time of year) and our diesel furnace for heat so we didn't need shore power. 

Having conquered the furnace gremlins, I have decided to take on getting an understanding of our DC systems.  Salish Aire came to us with solar panels, 2 heavy duty charger/inverters, and 2 heavy battery banks along with a plethora of instrumentation.  Being a true "I want to understand it so I can fix it person", it has been hard to ignore the system but I wanted to be able to focus without excessive distractions when I took on this task.  Since the system seems to function to the level of our present needs, we agreed to just accept that the black boxes are working up to now.

The first step has involved reading manuals then running down and looking at the equipment and then back to the manuals to make sure I have understood what I have read and know what it applies to.  Currently I'm trying to isolate the forward inverter and battery bank until I can understand them fully and make sure that the batteries are not beyond their natural life.  The front bank consists of a pair of 12 V Rolls brand batteries.  They are huge, industrial, and highly rated but don't seem to be accepting a full charge.  The first step in wet-cell batteryology in confirming the status in this case is to desulfate the batteries by charging them to a much higher voltage than normal - the goal of this is to drive the hardened sulfates from the surface of the lead plates and back into solution so that the lead under the surface is able to participate in the electricity making reactions.  We hope to run this process over the weekend.

Our other excitement is that our helm chair is finished and our son is bringing it up from Portland tonight - more on that later.

Friends on the Dock

As we are moving towards the 8 month mark of living aboard Salish Aire we both agreed that we really aren't ready to move.  Since the whole idea of a moveable residence is the ability to pick up and leave with a minimum of fuss this came as a bit of a revelation.

I was considering if it was time to change positions with my employer and one option was to move to our corporate office about 40 miles south.  The problem is that 40 miles south means traveling through Metropolitan Seattle on either Interstate 5 or 405 - now listed as 2 of the most congested roadways in the USA.  (We joke that I-5 is a speed limit sign rather than a road marker.)  This led to the thought of moving across Puget Sound to Bremerton where the marina is offering 2 years or moorage for the price of 1 year (and a much lower base rate than we currently pay).  The commute is still time consuming but much of it is via the state ferry system and bus rides.

When Clarice and I discussed this idea we both commented that we like our current neighborhood.  We lived in our last home for about 10 years and really only knew a couple of families on the block well.  We have lived in the marina for less than a year and frequently stop and talk with other live-aboard families.  In other words, we have more friends here than we did after a decade in our terrestrial home.  Its amazing how quickly you get to know people when everyone HAS to walk a block up the dock to get to their car.  We can't just put the dog in the back yard to do his doodle (he will happily pee on his designated fake grass pad if it is raining but that doesn't provide much exercise and he doesn't poop there unless it is the last option) so we walk him about 3 times a day - along with every other live aboard owner who has a dog.  When its below freezing and the Port shuts down the black water pump system we all strive to conserve precious tank space by plodding up to the marina bathroom - jammies are considered acceptable attire so all sense of decorum goes out the window.  When there is a storm we all run up and down the dock making sure everyone's lines are secure and boats and people are safe.  In a way this is our own little version of a village were people can't hide in there house and car and never interact with their neighbors.  Add that to a common love of boats and everything water borne and you have a place to call home.

Back once again to the infamous Hurricane furnace - we believe we have won the battle, click on the link for chapter 5 in the index and you can get the full story.

Our first holiday season

I can't believe I haven't written since October!  Since I really enjoy writing that says something about how busy we have kept ourselves.  I always took it with a proverbial grain of salt when I read books and blogs from other live aboards about how busy the boat keeps you with ongoing maintenance projects.  It is very very true.  We are finally feeling caught up with projects for a while.

Some updates:

•  Our Christmas Tree 2014
• the Hurricane furnace has gained a new gremlin and after 6 months and a fair amount of money we are planning to take a serious look at a replacement unit at the Seattle Boat Show next week.  It starts quickly but will not maintain a flame.  My suspicion is that there may be an internal water leak when the system is pressurized. I took the boiler out of the system last weekend, and believe it should now have all air bled.  If we pressurize the system without the boiler (using heat from the main engine) and the water level doesn't go down then I will be pretty sure I am right.
• Bob Senter (AKA "Lugger Bob") is the factory service trainer for Lugger/Northern Lights company in Seattle.  (Our main engine is a Lugger (Lugger Company marinized a John Deere tractor engine) and our generator is a Norther Lights brand.)  He is reputed far and wide among the trawler community to teach excellent classes at many of the boat shows.  His classes are fairly expensive and fill up fast but are considered to be worth the cost.  We learned through the grapevine that if he is in town he will come to your boat for a reasonable cost and do a customized class for you.  Clarice and I took him up on this and consider it money well spent.  He was able to go over common maintenance issues, provide us with some valuable history lessons about the equipment we have and, being very familiar with our boat model, point out some common problem areas that we need to fix while they are small.
• We purchased a ultrasonic device that is reputed to dramatically decrease the marine growth on the outside of the hull.  It is either the smartest $2300 we've ever spent or the dumbest.  Only time will tell but we could not find much information on the devices.  In any case we did the final installation steps this week and will see how it goes.  
• We had up to 8 people staying on the boat over the holidays. See the sidebar story for further details.
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• We are looking forward to next weekend when we will make our annual pilgrimage to the Seattle Boat Show.  We have a number of things we want to check out and will be holding down the Port of Everett booth with our Yacht Club for a few hours.
• Speaking of "our yacht club".  We joined the Mukilteo Yacht club.  Serendipitously for us they recently lost access to their old facility in Mukilteo and moved their meetings into the local sailing club building here in the Everett Marina.  The cost is very low.  The people are laid back (no polyester in this group) and friendly.  The cool thing is that we tend to go out on the boat in the slow winter season when there is little competition for reciprocal moorage so we are getting lots of free dockage during a time of year when anchoring out and using the dingy looses some of its charm. (For the non-boaters: guest moorage in Puget Sound runs from $.75 to $1.50 / ft / night.  With a 46 ft boat, it adds us quickly if we aren't careful.)

New Live Aboards

A Yahoo group we subscribe to recently had a discussion about blogs and what interest people.  That got me to thinking about who would be likely to read our blog and why we go to the trouble.  Since we are working through the challenges of being new to living aboard, and get periodic questions about how / why we made the choices we did, it seems reasonable to focus on us as new live aboard owners.

So backing up a bit:

• Salish Aire is a 1996 Nordhavn 46 ft boat purchased in Florida to be moved to the Pacific North West (PNW) (Washington State, USA). 
• We chose to move her in a freighter to get her to her new home.
• Since getting her in her home berth we have focused on getting her ready for a PNW winter and making sure we understand her electronic systems and that they function the way we like

With those thoughts in mind, I will try to add some sidebar articles on what we have learned along the way.

Finally a "mini vacation" on Salish Aire

One advantage of living in the Pacific NW (PNW) is that you don't have to travel far to reach some of the world's premium cruising grounds.  Clarice and I managed to get 5 days off to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary on September 11th. We broke loose of our  home moorings on Tuesday when we both were done with work and headed north spending our first night anchored in (appropriately) Honeymoon Bay on Whidbey Island under a gorgeous full moon.  The next day we reached the San Juan Islands and put in for the night in Friday Harbor.  The initial location they suggested we tie up turned out to be too much for my current skills as the boat kept sailing towards other boats in the strong wind.  The Harbor Master offered us a different choice where the wind was on-dock and we had much more maneuvering room.  We were both concentrating so hard on landing safely that it wasn't until we were tied up that we realized our boat (hull #50) was directly across from hull #56.  This gave us a chance to ask lots of questions about how to deploy our paravanes (see below).  Clarice needed to get some work done for her company the next day and we had a good internet connection in Friday Harbor so she worked from the pilot house while I had uninterrupted time to work on a number of boat projects including (maybe) figuring out the last problem with the diesel furnace, checking one of the battery banks, securing a vent tube that had come loose, etc..  When Clarice finished her day we headed up to Stuart Island and decided to try our second main anchor (a Fortress brand Danforth style), we quickly learned it doesn't like kelp covered bottoms (although it worked great the next day in a mud bottom). Our primary anchor did set perfectly and we had another beautiful night with clear skies.   Last night we spent in Echo Bay on Sucia Island and then came down the Swinomish Channel today (with a 2 knot following current!)  Tonight we plan to put into Oak Harbor.

BTW: We now have AIS (see below) transmit capability so folks can watch our position on internet programs such as marinetraffic.com .  We can be found under the boat's name (currently the only Salish Aire documented in the USA) or our MMSI number 367631790 .

Some questions that come up from our landlubber friends:

• Doesn't the boat rock a lot?
• The boat is equipped with two stabilizing systems (most boats have one but a previous owner wanted the security of a back-up system).  Our primary system uses hydraulic fins under the water that are controlled by a gyro computer. It is simple to use with just the flick of a switch to turn it on.  Our secondary system uses tall poles that hang out both sides of the boat which support underwater paravanes ("fish") that resist roll buy pulling down as they "fly" through the water.  The best way I've heard to describe it is that when we deploy the fish we go from being a 15 ft wide boat to a 45 ft wide boat and from a 5 ft draft (depth under water) to a 15 ft draft. This system takes some practice and coordination to use (we haven't tried it yet) and we still have lots of learning to do.  On the other hand, folks who use paravanes report that they are pretty amazing.
• What is AIS?
• Automatic Identification System is the marine version of the "see and be seen" radio identification system used on aircraft for years.  Commercial boats are required to transmit AIS data, recreational boats may choose to ignore AIS, have receive only capability (Salish Aire came with this functionality), or transmit data at lower power than commercial vessels.  The utility of the system is that we can look on our electronic chart and see who is coming, how fast they are coming, the direction they are going, and know their name if we need to contact them on the radio.  Our chart plotter computer also automatically predicts our closest point with nearby vessels and flashes a warning if they get too close.  Cool huh!!
• Isn't it hard to dock?
• Yes and no.  It does require a new set of skills but the biggest challenge to docking a boat is crew communication.  Since Clarice and I have been practicing docking boats for a couple of decades we have what needs to be communicated down.  On the other hand I am moderately hard of hearing and this is a big boat so prior to her delivery we ordered some high end Bluetooth headsets so we can talk in normal tones (no yelling to add anxiety) to each other.  Step 2 was learning to work with a single engine / rudder boat which is very different than steering with outboards as we've done in the past.  We had great a great tutor in Don Kohlmann who brokered the purchase of the boat.  Finally we cheat - the boat came with bow and stern thrusters which are mini electrically driven propellers that help push the bow or stern sideways.  Otherwise we've had to learn how much power makes the boat move or stop or turn, where it pivots, and Clarice had to learn to tell me to move the bow to port or starboard rather than steering the stern like we did with outboard driven boats.
• Doesn't it feel small for a home?
• At times but usually no.  When we took our 26 ft sailboat to Alaska we were very concerned about getting claustrophobic cabin fever but instead we realized that with a view of hundreds of miles from the deck we instead almost felt lost in the spaciousness of it all.  That feeling remains with us most of the time.
• What do you miss most from living in a house?
• I have a lot of back and shoulder issues - I miss my hot tub, our bigger bed, and my recliner. I also wish I had a decent workshop.  Clarice misses her time for sewing and crafts as the boat itself has taken all of our spare time getting it into the shape we want it to be in.  She also complains about having to go to the top deck to use the barbeque rather than just having it off the kitchen like it was in our house. (Really, these are the two things she complained about!)

I see our anchorage approaching so I will sign off for now.

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)