Friday, September 7 – Lake Union

Last night a lady came walking down the dock and knocked on our door.  She told us her husband was bringing a boat into the marina but it had broken down.  I thought she was going to ask us to go out and tow him in, but that had already been taken care of with Vessel Assist.  She had a bag with some cruising books and other papers for him, and asked if we’d hold them for him to pick up when he showed up.  If so she would telephone him and tell him, Norm, where to retrieve the bag.  About an hour later I saw a Vessel Assist boat cruising in with a flashing orange light and towing a sailboat.  They ended up being tied to the pier just behind us, and after they got settled in I saw someone coming to the boat.  Sure enough, it was Norm, and we did our good deed for the day.

 

Another beautiful day was brewing first thing this morning.  Ray fixed everyone a heap of hash browns, and scrambled eggs using the last of the liquid egg carton we had.  We pulled away from the dock about 10:15, all charged up and ready to go.

 

It was going to be a warm day, and by the time we got past the Mukilteo Lighthouse, we had the windows removed from around the bridge.  For much of the trip we cruised south at the same speed as the breeze – in other words we had none.  Cruising past the Picnic Point area we encountered probably a hundred or so small boats out fishing, scattered clear across the sound.  There was either some sort of derby going on, or it was just a great day to be fishing.

 

Eventually our clear view of Mt. Baker to the stern was replaced with a view of Mt. Rainier ahead.  We got to Shilshole around 12:30, and were surprised that there was quite a bit of boat traffic already queued up inbound for the locks.  The small lock opened in short order, but we were about two boats too far back for that locking.  Some commercial traffic was approaching from behind us, and about then the large lock opened with quite a few boats heading out.  We were eventually directed to the large lock behind a dive platform boat and what looked like a brand new river pilot boat.  It was a huge inflatable that, from its markings, would be headed for duty on the Mississippi River.  For only the second time in our 14 years of locking through the large lock with the Potentate, we were not directed to the wall but tied up to a cruise for an easy ride up.  The tide was fairly high so we didn’t have an extraordinarily long wait.

 

We pulled into our moorage slip around 2 o’clock and, as we anticipated, the lake was quite a bit lower – enough that we didn’t need our steps, which we had put in our car when we left.  By now it was pretty warm out, and as we discovered later the temperature reached 90 degrees in Seattle – first time in September since 1990.  We packed up just a few essentials for us, including the cat, of course, and delivered Ray and Mary to their house before heading on home.

 

It was great to be out on the salt for an extended time – we’re still rocking here at home.  In spite of a couple of issues with our charging system and engine cooling that came to light, we had a great cruise, and the weather couldn’t have been better.  We never once got any salt spray on the windows so it was definitely smooth cruising all the way.  I think we had a few raindrops one day, although I can’t remember exactly where.  It wasn’t enough to be measurable. 

 

I’ll be posting some additional photos throughout the blog in the next day or two.

Thursday, September 06 – Everett

We awoke to an awesome day in La Conner.  The sun was shining early in the morning, although there were some traces of fog to the north.  After breakfast we were still undecided where to go next on our two-step cruise back home.  I was thinking initially it might be fun to go to Mats Mats, but it was just as far as going all the way to Shilshole, plus we’d arrive at low tide – not a good time to enter that particular bay.  We decided we’d check out Langley – they don’t have many docks that would accommodate us, but the plan was to poke our nose in, and if there was no room we’d head over to Everett.

 

Leaving La Conner

We pulled away from the dock at La Conner just a little after 10 o’clock, using the current at our stern to push us away from the dock.  We got turned around and headed into the current as we passed under the Rainbow Bridge.  I like the southern entrance/exit to the La Conner area where we go through what they call “Hole in the Wall” – very scenic.  It’s not the same Hole in the Wall up north of Desolation Sound.  Due to a lack of recent dredging, the channel from here towards Whidbey Island has been getting shallower in some spots, but we were close to high tide.  Even so we passed over a few areas that registered just 11 feet, which would be a bit dicey at a tide 7 or 8 feet lower.

 

Heading south along the Whidbey Shore towards Strawberry Point we had a great view of Mt. Baker.  It seems as if it followed us most of the way south.

 

Mt. Baker from southern terminus of Swinomish Channel

The engines were running great and the temperatures were holding steady – until we got even with the Camano Island Yacht Club a couple hours later.  At that point the port engine decided that it would run up to 200 degrees again and set off the alarm!  I backed off on its throttle and put it in neutral and the temperature returned pretty close to normal – but when I engaged the gear again it began to climb.  So, I shut it off and we cruised along on the starboard engine for 15 or 20 minutes.  After that I restarted it and it seemed to be behaving normally.  I put it back in gear, bumped our speed up a knot and the temperature held steady.  We decided to skip Langley and head for Everett.  With the new thermostat in that engine, this is more likely an airlock issue – but it seems strange that the airlock can occur after 7 hours of proper cooling.  Oh well, something more to figure out.  That’s why we’re calling this a shake down cruise!

 

We had another issue with the house batteries at the time we shut down the port engine, caused by a faux pas or two by me.  We’ve been docking rather than anchoring this trip because our house batteries are not charging properly.  So, what did I do last night but forget to turn on the battery charger after we plugged in to shore power.  I noticed it in the morning and turned it on, but only for an hour or two before we left the dock.  I further exacerbated the situation by leaving the refrigerator in AC mode instead of switching to propane when we disconnected from shore power this morning.  So we were cruising along running the refrigerator on the already low house batteries via the inverter.  When I shut off the port engine the house battery voltage dropped and stuff started to beep just like it did when we anchored in Blind Bay at the beginning of the trip.  Even with the port engine back online a few minutes later, the amp draw through the inverter was too much so we shut the inverter off.  The GPS and depth sounder continued to function, although the GPS would whine about it from time to time until the inverter was turned off.  I didn’t know at this time that the refrigerator was the culprit drawing the amps.

 

So we continued on towards Everett, and now the laptop was running on its own battery.  I have a small backup inverter just large enough to run the computer up here on the bridge, so I plugged the computer into that and turned it on.  That was okay for about 5 or 10 minutes, then that was too much as well.  So we cruised along without any 110 voltage at all, and I surmised the laptop would die sometime before we arrived at Everett.  It did, just as we were approaching Hat Island.  Of course, we knew where we were going, and we’d already opened up the paper chart book.  We came in the last couple miles old school style, using compass, paper chart and visual observation of the buoys.  We should probably do that more often.

 

The wind blows off the water here in Everett in the evenings, as evidenced by all the kite surfers that use Jetty Island.  We noticed some kite surfers as we passed by, but still decided to tie up on the inside of the guest dock.  When the wind is blowing us away from the dock the procedure is to snare a cleat with the mid line, tie it down then use engine power to pull the boat over to the dock.  After a couple of tries Erin snared a cleat and as I stopped the forward motion of the boat so she could tie off, the wind caught us and had us far enough from the dock that she only had a couple feet of line left to tie to our cleat.  She managed to get that line secure and I pulled forward, letting that line pull us to the dock to where Erin could get off and grab the bowline while Ray lassoed a cleat at the stern.  To make it more interesting, the place where we came to a stop had a gap where we wanted a cleat for the stern, so we ended up backing the boat up about 10 feet by hand, with both Erin and myself on the dock hurrying from one cleat to the other before the boat blew away.  We are very snug to the dock now, and anticipate the wind to be blowing in the opposite direction in the morning, making it difficult to get away.  But that will be easier than the landing.

 

We’re all plugged in now, and everything that should be turned on is turned on – and of course the computer is alive again as well.  I also think I know what the problem may be with the charging system.  Although the port engine’s alternator is connected to our house batteries, I think that it is getting a signal through its harness giving the voltage of the starting batteries, which would tell the alternator that more charging is not needed.  Something more to sort out.

 

We’re about to have a beautiful sunset here in Everett and expect another sunny day tomorrow for our cruise back to Lake Union.

 

 

Wednesday, September 05 – La Conner

Erin examines one of the dragon flies at the Sculpture Park

This morning after breakfast, Erin and I went for a walk to see what was new at the sculpture park, a field with several outdoor sculptures on display.  It had been a few years since we were there, so some of the pieces we could remember were gone, and others had taken their place.  Most were very good and easy to appreciate – but there were a few that didn’t inspire us at all.  I suppose that’s the case with most art – can’t please everybody.

We pulled away from the dock at about noon, and with the cap loose on the port engine’s expansion tank we circled around the harbor once with just port in gear.  That got it up to temperature pretty quickly, and Ray went down in the engine room and tightened the cap.  This procedure was to aid in eliminating any remaining air that might be in the system.

As we cruised out of Roche Harbor we had a close eye on the port temperature gauge, and as it climbed from 180 up to 190 we began to wonder – but there it stopped and remained for our 5 hour cruise to La Conner, matching the starboard engine within a degree or two.  So, hopefully that problem is behind us!!

Mt. Baker, as we head towards Obstruction Pass

We took the northern route once again, passing Jones Island and Deer Harbor before going through Pole Pass and on past Shaw Island.  Rather than head down to Thatcher Pass and crossing over to Anacortes there, we continued on to Obstruction Pass and cruised across Rosario Strait to the northern tip of Cypress Island, then down the backside of Guemes Island until we came to the Swinomish Channel to La Conner. 

We are at the south basin marina, and an hour or so after we arrived we all walked into town to go out to dinner at the La Conner Tavern.  It’s déjà vu all over again – that’s what we did on the way north as well.

We plan on doing a two day cruise down to Seattle, but haven’t decided on our stopping point yet.  Coupeville is a possibility, as is Mats Mats Bay or Kingston.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

 

 

Tuesday, September 04 – Roche Harbor

After breakfast Erin and Mary went for a walk around the grounds, including a stroll up to the Mausoleum – Mary hadn’t been there before and wanted to see it. 

Ray and I, after some procrastination, got busy with removing and replacing the thermostat.  The thermostat housing also supports a bracket for the alternator, so the serpentine belt had to be removed and the alternator unbolted from the top bracket.  Another design feature is that the engine lifting bracket is bolted between the thermostat housing and the block, with a rubber seal passing through it between thermostat and block.  To complicate matters a little further, the thermostat is mounted vertically so that you can’t really depend on gravity to hold things in place while they’re being positioned.  But, in spite of that we had the thermostat removed and replaced by noon or so.  Only problem was, it leaked.  After taking a break from the engine room for an hour or so, we went at it again and discovered that the new thermostat is a tiny fraction larger in diameter than the old one, and didn’t seat properly into the recess of the thermostat housing.  We fixed that with a hammer.

Our second attempt was much more successful, and this time we refilled the coolant with no leaking around the housing.  I would have preferred to bring the engine up to temperature here at the dock to get the thermostat open and coolant circulating with the cap off to rid any more air, but it doesn’t warm up fast when not under load, and it wouldn’t be very neighborly to share our exhaust with the other boats moored next to us for that long.  We did give them a 15 minute sample, though.

Our plan for that heat cycle will be to idle about in the harbor in gear with the lid off to purge excess air, then tighten the cap and see if our problem is solved.

The weather was perfect today – blue sky and sunshine, with more predicted for the next few days.  We’re very fortunate in that regard and we’re enjoying every minute of it.

Needless to say we didn’t leave today, and I’m feeling a little short changed on enjoying the various amenities offered here being trapped in the engine room most of the day.  But, we’ll probably head elsewhere tomorrow anyway, with maybe an early afternoon start.

 

 

Monday, September 03 - Roche Harbor

I had hoped our three days of occasional rocking and rolling on the breakwater dock in Ganges would have a curative effect on our possible airlock in the port engine’s cooling system.  Apparently the opposite was true.  Today we left Ganges around 8:15 in the morning, headed back to the USA via the customs dock at Roche Harbor.  The temperature problem on the port engine had been occurring only when we exceeded 1400 rpm at first, then 1300 rpm coming into Ganges.  Today after the first hour it just wasn’t going to behave if there was any load on the engine at all.  For the last hour of our three hour cruise I put the port engine in neutral and bumped up the rpm a little to better circulate both coolant and raw water.  That kept the temperature down to about 195, while the starboard engine pushed us along the rest of the way to Roche Harbor at its usual 182 degrees or so.

After we cleared customs (the engine behaved well enough at maneuvering speed around the docks) we got a dock assignment here in Roche Harbor.  Using our infrared remote thermometer I tested various spots on the port engine and found that the housing for the thermostat was 12 degrees warmer on the port engine than it was on the starboard engine – and nearby things like the thermostat side of the expansion tank were hotter as well.  The rest of the engine was fine – within a degree or two of starboard.  So, this definitely points to the thermostat or an airlock at the thermostat.  Either way it’ll be coming out in the morning.  Tonight we drained off 4 gallons of coolant into some containers – tomorrow we’ll do some wrench work.

But, it was a beautiful day for cruising once again – we had blue sky and calm waters for our ride back to the USA.

We were through customs and tied up to a dock by 12:30 or so, so have had the day for roaming about Roche Harbor.  We are on the old, original docks up near the head of the dock for those familiar with the layout, and we were right across the way from the flag staffs and the ceremonial lowering of the flags at sunset.  The Roche Harbor, Washington State, Canadian, British and US flags are lowered individually to their own music, with taps as the US flag comes down.  There is a cannon salute and then a round of applause for the performers, which consists of a cacophony of boat horns.  I must say that our air horns were the best in the harbor tonight.

 

 

Sunday, September 02 - Ganges

We had a lazy day in Ganges today, lolling about, reading, and taking a few walks.  Ray and I went into town in the morning to the coffee shop, where I checked our email and posted some updates to our blog.  It was another beautiful day in the neighborhood, and not quite as windy as yesterday.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the same.  We’re going to head back to the San Juans and, if our port engine temperature problem doesn’t get any worse we’ll spend the next two or three days cruising home, where we can address the problem more properly.  We did some research on the thermostat as well as the cooling system in the early model B Cummins engines in general, and there are some modifications I’ll be making when we get home – upgrading to some larger hoses and different fittings in a few places.

 

Saturday, September 01 - Ganges

Ray is getting into the breakfast groove – he once again prepared a pan full of potatoes, onions and ham, which accompanied our scrambled eggs for breakfast.  The harbor was calm overnight, but in the morning the seaplane and boat movement activities begin and we get bounced around a bit here on the breakwater. 

A bit later after breakfast we all strolled into town – well, except for Tribble, who stayed to guard the boat – and meandered through the Saturday Market.  The combination of great weather and a holiday weekend made for a large turnout.  Erin picked up some glass baubles for her crew at work, but mostly we just enjoyed viewing all the handicrafts – and some pretty nice looking vegetables too.

 

We have an airsock for the seaplanes just off our port bow.  It was pretty limp first thing this morning, but later in the day quite a blow developed from the east, adding quite a bit of chop to the water and some sealeg practice for us on the Potentate.  The wind blew through most of the day, subsiding about 6 o’clock in the evening.  The owner of the sailboat behind us told me he had planned on leaving earlier today, but didn’t think he would be able to get away from the dock.  He’ll be staying another night, and so will we – but in our case that was our plan all along.

Erin and I walked through town and over to the Ganges Marina in the afternoon.  There was a sign on the chain link gate announcing that the gate was secure at all times and only for tenants – but the wind was blowing hard enough that the sign acted as a sail keeping the gate from latching.  We strolled in to walk the docks as is our custom in about every port we visit.  On the pier just beyond the gate was a row of dumpster garbage cans, with signs noting that only green garbage bags purchased at the office for $3 each could be used here.  (We stayed here once a few years ago – the bags are pretty small too!)  We walked out to their breakwater dock, which was taken up by 3 megayachts: the Daedalus, the After Eight, and the Casino Royale.  They were each in the 100 foot or more range and made a very effective windbreak for the rest of the marina.  The boats on the other side of the breakwater, the ones that would look big next to the Potentate, looked pretty small in comparison.

After our marina stroll we headed into town and found a coffee shop that was a wifi site as well.  I’ll pack up the laptop and walk into town tomorrow to update the blog.  Maybe the connection will be good enough to post a few pictures.

At dusk, as we were relaxing on the boat, I could hear drums in the distance and it sounded not unlike a marching band doing some maneuvers at halftime on the field.  Eventually a cadre of drummers, a couple trombones, costumed people and dancing ladies marched into the square next to Mouat’s store at the had of the dock.  There they stopped and performed for awhile, and Erin and I went up to see what it was all about.  As we arrived the leader blew a whistle and the troupe marched on along the boardwalk in front of the harbor, trailed by probably a couple hundred townsfolk.  We joined in the procession past the restaurants to the park at the other side of town, where they once again stopped for some more drumming, accompanying a dancing lady.  Eventually a spokesperson told the crowd they did this every as thanks for the good harvest.  He then went on to have the children gather around in front and told the story of the stone soup.  We knew the story, and headed back to the boat.  It was a nice community event in sort of a Bohemian style.

 

Friday, August 31 - Ganges

It was a bit chilly this morning in Friday Harbor.  One of the projects we have yet to do is to connect our new furnace, so I turned on the electric heater in the main salon for a few minutes to take the chill off.  We stuck to our plan, pulling away from the dock at about 9 o’clock to head on up into the Gulf Islands.  As we cruised towards Spieden Island, Erin brought up some eggs over easy with cinnamon rolls for everyone – a perfect way to have breakfast, cruising through calm waters.

The animal life on Spieden was active this morning.  We saw several groups of deer and/or some sort of antelope along the hillsides, some grazing, others cavorting about.  Spieden has a history of being a game hunters’ private reserve back in the 20’s, with exotic animals brought in from Africa and other points.  It’s no longer a hunting ground, and some of the original imports have survived and propagated. 

We then turned and headed through Johns Pass, which takes us between Stuart and Johns Islands.  From there it was a straight shot over to Bedwell Harbour, where we tied up to the customs dock.  There was a customs runabout there at the dock, so I expected to see someone in the office, unusual here, but it was empty so I picked up one of the phones outside and declared our arrival to the person on the other end.  After going through our inventory of vegetables, I was told that our bag of potatoes was okay if they were grown in Washington, but to dump them in the bin of they were grown in Idaho.  Our blueberries were prohibited, but she told us to just eat them and not take any off the boat.  With that, I was given a clearance number, which we are to display in our dockside window.  As I was leaving a customs officer appeared from somewhere, went inside briefly and came out, asking if I’d received my clearance number.  I said yes, and he said you’re good to go.  I returned to the boat and we checked our bag of potatoes.  They were grown in Washington, so they went along with us.  I like clearing Canadian customs much better than U.S. customs on the way home.

It was low tide, so we skipped going through the Shark Cove passage between North and South Pender Islands and headed towards Ganges.

We thought we’d at least partially solved our overheating problem on the port engine, but after a couple hours of running in the normal range, it decided to go up to about 195 degrees.  We may just bite the maintenance bullet and swap out that thermostat.  If that’s the problem it’s a relatively easy fix, and if it’s not the problem, at least we will have eliminated that possibility.

We were hoping to get on the Government Dock in front of town, but it was pretty well jammed.  We wanted to dock for a couple of reasons: first, we’re still not sure what our battery endurance is, and second, we wanted to have easy access for Ray and Mary to go into town whenever they wanted without having the dinghy run.  Unfortunately, the docks were full, and both the Ganges and Salt Spring Marinas were booked up as well.  We decided to anchor in front of town for the afternoon or night, and see what might become available either later in the day or the next day.  I was pretty sure we’d be okay with the house batteries for the night as long as I turned off the ice maker.

About 15 or 20 minutes after we’d anchored, we saw some activity on a big cruiser that was on the Government breakwater dock where the seaplane terminal is.  Once we were relatively sure they were leaving we quickly hoisted anchor and headed over there.  Well, there was a sailboat at the pumpout station immediately in front of that boat, and they just backed right up into the spot vacated.  We circled around and headed back to our anchorage spot, where we once again set anchor.  This is good practice.

Erin and I decided to go ashore in the dinghy to pick up a few essentials at the grocery, liquor and drug stores while Ray and Mary stayed on the boat.  We made the rounds, and as we left the dock in the dinghy we looked over at the breakwater dock and it was all clear.  We zoomed back to the boat, hoisted the anchor once again and headed for the dock while Erin and Ray hastily put out lines and fenders.  It all came together just as we pulled up to the dock – fenders and lines were in place and this time it looked like we knew what we were doing.

Even before we had our lines secured we had a couple of admirers who were just oohing and aahing over the boat, taking pictures and pronouncing it the best looking boat they’d ever seen.  Of course we receive compliments well, and gave them a quick tour while we finished securing our lines.  This dock is a breakwater for the government docks behind it, so it can get some rollers coming down the long harbor into Ganges.  We put out some extra spring lines and left the stern and bow lines a little looser so we wouldn’t be jerking on the cleats when the boat rocks.  We are next to the seaplane terminal, and our bow is right up close to the painted area reserved for airplane wings to pass over the dock so we definitely get a close up view of the air traffic.  It’s a busy seaplane port right up until dusk.

Shortly after we had secured our lines a big cement hulled sailboat took the spot behind us, leaving just the painted bullrail of the pumpout station empty.

Ray and I took a stroll over to the wharfinger’s office – at least that’s what they used to call them in the old days.  We paid for two nights moorage.  Tomorrow is Saturday, and they have a nice Saturday Market here.  We’ll enjoy being in town for a couple of days.  Since we’ve decided to be dock rats with our questionable battery situation this is a great place to be.

This evening after dusk we were treated to a blue moon rising – the second full moon this month.  It shimmered beautifully over the harbor.

Thursday, August 30 - Friday Harbor

Yesterday in La Conner, Erin picked up a bottle of marionberry syrup, and this morning we were plugged into shore power.  That’s a recipe for waffles!  Erin dug out the waffle iron while I walked up to town to get some blueberries.  I was elected for that chore after mentioning blueberry waffles would be nice.  Upon my return, Ray mixed up some batter and made the first waffle, which, as is often the case, was a trial run.  But, the second and subsequent waffles were great.  The waffles take a little time, so Ray fixed himself a couple of pancakes garnished with peanut butter and eggs while minding the waffle iron.

After breakfast we went up to the office to see about staying another night.  They had put us on the breakwater dock in a reserved spot last night, and that space had other takers for tonight.  There were no slips available for our size, but they put us on the waiting list, and our check-out time wasn’t until 1:00 pm.  I had monkeyed around testing the batteries as best I could and decided that the two banks were at least equally powered – good or bad.  By shutting off the shore power and putting a load on the batteries one bank at a time through the inverter I could see that they held their voltage while using 50 amps or so, so at least they weren’t totally out of kilter.  Of course, I didn’t run this test for long, as I would then need to recharge them again.

We developed a plan that if our checkout time arrived before a slip became available, we would just cruise on up to Ganges in the Gulf Islands.  That would be about 4 hours away.  There are two marinas plus a government dock there, and if we had to anchor I think we’d be okay with that as well as long as we turned off our ice maker completely for the night.  We usually just put the bar up that prevents it from making new cubes – in that mode it draws lots of power as it’s working to put out another batch of cubes every 20 minutes or so.  With the bar up it just cycles enough to keep the existing ice cold.  But, having other things working the next morning definitely trumps having a bin full of ice!

I also fiddled with the GPS last night.  The Furuno needed a new 1 amp fuse in the line.  The gum wrapper that was wrapped around the old fuse was worn out! J  (Nope, I didn’t put it there, it apparently came that way.)  The Garmin also eventually came back to life after removing and replacing the batteries two or three times.  I think I’ll pick up one of those hockey puck GPS units that plug into the computer’s usb port – no separate power supply issues there!

We had an otherwise leisurely day in port, and around 12:30 one of the marina staff came around and gave us a slip assignment on the F dock, so we had a grand cruise from one side of the marina to the other – didn’t even have to move the fenders or lines.

Erin and I walked the dock in the afternoon, and came across the sailboat Desert Sky.  We had met them on our trip to Alaska 9 years ago and toured their boat.  There was no one on board at the time so we don’t even know if it has the same owners now.

Dinner tonight was the marinated flank steak that I prepared last weekend before we left home.  I set up the barbecue on the walkway outside the starboard side door, as with most of the windows in the top it wouldn’t be a good idea to barbecue in the usual spot on the bridge.  The flank steak was delicious – we all ate too much.  Tonight we’ll watch a movie on DVD – maybe Cowboys & Aliens.

Our plan is to leave in the morning and head to Ganges.  It’s just a couple hours of leisurely cruising to Bedwell for customs, then another couple hours to Ganges.