Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Cortes bay

Finally at Cortes bay. Saturday dashed across the strait of Georgia hitting 8 knots at times. Very unruly sea state. Some seasickness experienced by crew. Monday motored up to Cortes bay and met with my buddy Scott and his crew.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Hard to believe that this is the same body of water that thrashed the hell out of us during Swiftsure! Like a mill pond.


Keep on truckin

Making great time. Ben just woke up. Max and Sammy still sleep. 11 knots over the ground.


First day

We are off. Left at 0400 to catch the tide out and are currently at the southern tip of whidbey island. Doing 7 through the water and 8 knots over ground. 
Knocking on wood here but Appa is running great. You'd never know we have about 2000 pounds of food and gear aboard. Not to mention 140 gallons of water, 60 gallons of fuel and we are towing the dingy. 
Pretty benign weather forecasted today. Hot though. 80s in the San Juan's. Sun screen today!!


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Final Prep


You'd think we we're going across an ocean.  Well this is the first time we have ever packed for 18 days out.  Sure there will be some stores up in Desolation Sound but we really don't want to be tied down like that.  Anyway, it is good practice.  
Let's see:  7 dock carts full of food.  Next comes clothes and stuff for the 2 year old.  Boat is going to be pretty full.

So the old throughhull.  What a pain in the ass that could have been.  I was thinking that the valve would be some odd French or British thread.   As it turns out, it screwed right into the valve.  The old owner didn't enlarge the hole that the hose runs into; instead he made the hose do a tortured route that probably contributed to the cracking of the old nipple.  I reamed that hole out and softened the ends a bit.  Much cleaner install and I replaced that old beat up looking intake hose. 
The old

Still the old

I also replaced the water strainer with a new Vetus.  The old one was leaking.  Had no O-ring.  It seems like I should have checked for all these things before taking the boat from Canada to Seattle when I bought it.  I assumed it was OK.  Dumb.  I should add that the hose the previous owner used was oversized and clamped down so hard that I had to cut the hose clamps with the DremelDremel 114-200-1/15 200 Series 2 Speed Rotary W-Atch & 15 Asst Accs (Google Affiliate Ad).  Again I ask, why?  If you don't have time to do it right the first time, when are you going to find time to do it over?  Jeesh!
I always thought that the water that appeared in the engine pan looked kinda yellow.  Hard to tell with that Wauquiez brown everywhere.  Even soaking the water up with a white towel was kinda inconclusive.  The engine had no expansion tank.  The outlet just below the radiator cap was open.  So theoretically when the engine heated up the extra coolant would go out that hole.  The engine was low on coolant so maybe this was the problem.  Expansion tank is in now.  We'll see.
I have more hoses to replace but hopefully this will get us through.  I bought that cool tape that binds to itself if we develop a leak.   

Tuesday, August 14, 2012


Yeah, baby!  2 days before vacation and I decide to inspect the cooling system thoroughly.  The intake hose from the seacock to the strainer looked old and original.  I also had a suspicious feeling the previous owner used oversized hose and just clamped the hell out of it to make it fit.  I was right.  The hose clamps were falling apart and I had to take the Dremel to them to get them off.  The strainer intake is about the same size as the through-hull.  So of course he clamped the hell out of the strainer intake also.  It is deformed.  It was also missing the O ring so it was leaking.  Off to Fisheries this morning and hopefully the intake nipple threads are something common.
Honda generator started right up.  The only issue with it, doesn't want to run at open choke.  Clogged jet no doubt.  Have to run it awhile and see what happens.  Not that big of a deal.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Changed oil last night.  Since we are leaving on a 19 day trip, I decided to go over everything in the engine room.  I usually try to do this anyhow.  The transmission was way low on fluid.  Filled that.  Have to look for a leak.  I imagine just plain old neglect on the old owner and myself is the cause.  Changed oil filter and tightened some hose clamps.  I really want to change the engine intake hose also.  This damn thing looks original.
The Aquamarine watermaker guys came out to Appa and looked things over.  We figured out the mounting system and it looks OK.  Bunch of money to get it up to par though.  Have to move the intake to the engine intake.  The current one just is too small.  That was causing the low pressure alarms that the old owner was having.
My man Jugurtha

Marius driving
Thursday we raced in the Elliot Bay Downtown Series.  Had pretty good wind out of the north and had a lot of fun.  The kids attempted to throw bio degradable water balloons at a Catalina 36 and the dude yelled at my kids about throwing water balloons into the Sound.  Harshed our mellow.  Then he yelled about the Coast Guard not liking that.  We yelled back "Does the CG have a water balloon policy?".  The Sound gets all the run off from the roads directly into it.  I'm sure 5 water balloons are going to kill everything within miles.
On a better note, we won one of the raffle prizes.  $50 GC to Palisades and a shirt with a hat.  Not nearly as good as some of the other prizes given out over the last couple months but Ben was happy as all hell.
Motored back to Shileshole and called it a night.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Renaming ceremony was yesterday.  I know, I know, you are not suppose to name the boat and THEN 4 months later do the ceremony but it couldn't be helped.
Jen and I feel much better about the boat now.  Maybe Appa will have a bit more luck also.  We had my whole family there and then Jen's parents showed along with her brother. My dad and mom were there.  Pete and Rachelle along with friend Lisa showed up.  Jugurtha was also there.  Let's not forget the French friends and our friend from Germany, Anna.  Great weather.  Perfect sail.  We had deli style sandwiches with chips and potato salad and three bean salad.  Good times.
Jugurtha

Annie

Peter

Jen and her dad

Jen's mom and brother.  Marcia and Randy

The food!

Marius!

Max and Samey



Perfect form

Smash!


I hope that bottle was good luck!

My mother and I


To Appa

Barnaby


Drove the whole time


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Finally lost that damn tooth!  Matthew giving Ben rabbit ears also.
After about three weeks of a loose wiggling tooth, it came out while sailing on Appa.  Got knocked out actually.
Laughing Samey!
We have some of Jen's friends in from France.  Annie and her two boys, Marius and Barnaby.  We went out  for the Elliot Bay Downtown Series on Thursday.  They basically landed at Sea-Tac and Jen picked them up and took them to the boat.  Jet lag and all.
The wind finally filled in on the last leg and I yet again forgot to close the galley drain and we had a minor flood.  What a great sail though.
Saturday was another beautiful day and we took the boat out for dinner.  Used the new stove and oven and made pizza.  The Dickinson definitely has a hot spot at the back of the oven.  By the third pizza I got it figured out.
Marius (11 year old) took the helm and did a masterful job.  Some kids just oversteer and have no attention span.  Not Marius.  He took the wheel and made smooth minor adjustments as necessary and simple was a wonderful driver.  I was impressed.
Marius driving.  Not the best picture.  More coming later
Here is the new dodger and bimini.  I'll post more pictures later.  The bimini has solar panel mounts.  We also sprung for a connector panel between the dodger and bimini.
Annie and Jenny


Thursday, August 2, 2012

New dodger

Still haven't got good photos of the dodger. This is the view looking forward while driving. I'll post more photos tomorrow. 


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Appa on the left and our first sailboat on the right.  Manatee an O'day 25.
My uncle died and left my brother and myself the house we grew up in.  The Manatee was our family's first sailboat.  1979 O'Day 25.  Great boat to learn on.  I took the half hull back to my place in Seattle.  Sits next to Appa's half hull.
Iverson's put the dodger on Monday.  You would think that I'd have some photos of that.  Nooo.  I had to work.  Then we took the boat under the bridges and through the locks to get her back to her home at Shileshole.  Totally got screwed by the Argosy Cruise Tour boat.   They get priority in the locks.  Almost did make back to Sammy's daycare to pick her up in time.  Grrr.  Hate the Argosy.
Saba!
This is Saba.  My buddy's dog.  Great dog.  I used to watch her when Scott went out of town.  Loves to chase tennis balls.  13 years old now.  Where in the hell does time go?