30 Jul 21

Our Oak Harbor anchorage was snug and calm throughout the night and we awoke to another warm, clear day. The anchor was aweigh and we were under way by 09:30. Out of Oak Harbor we turned east and then north to Hope Island, where we picked up the last empty mooring ball at 11:30. Today, we decided to try a new procedure for picking up the mooring ball (instead of picking it up at the bow, we hooked onto it adjacent to the starboard boarding gate; it was our first time to try this approach, so it took us 3 tries to get it right. After lunch, we lazed around for awhile, until I decided to rig up Swallow for a sail around the bay. My new jamming cleat block worked very well and made it much less work to control the main sheet. Unfortunately, there was hardly any breeze, so I did not have much of a sail. I was back aboard in time for Captain’s Hour and dinner aboard. By 18:00 there were 10 other boats anchored adjacent to the mooring field. When we took our evening shower, we discovered that the forward head shower drain pump is not working; it balked a couple of days ago, but I thought it had just lost it’s prime after we cleaned the filter, but this time it could not be convinced to start working. We pumped out the shower pan manually and now will have to either replace or rebuild the drain pump.

48-24.135’N, 122-34.079’W; Log = 13.8, Sum (2021) = 180.1 N-m; Eng. hrs. = 2.3, Sum = 2771.5

31 Jul 21

It was cool and overcast, with occasional, light rain-showers when we woke up. We decided to tackle the forward head shower drain pump. We have a spare pump and a rebuild kit on board. I decided to try the rebuild kit first and was able to get to the old inlet/outlet diaphragms and the main diaphragm, all of which I replaced with parts from the rebuild kit, with only minor disassembly. When it was all back together, we flipped the switch and it all works fine. I spent the rest of the morning updating my maintenance and new equipment logs.  

1 Aug 21

Gawd, I love cruising. The forecast 25 knot winds for last night never materialized; I don’t think we ever had as much as 5 knots, for which I am very thankful and happy. We woke up to overcast skies and a very cold boat, so I fired up the generator (and the heater) almost immediately. After a breakfast in the salon (that’s how cold it was), we decided we could no longer put off cleaning the bilge, which is an excellent petrie dish for growing whatever microbes like to eat diesel (remember that 3-cup diesel spill we suffered back in 2013; it is still haunting us); I wish they would go ahead and finish eating it all, but that does not ever seem to be the case. Anyway, the bilges were in a sad state, so we pulled up all the floorboards and cleaned them (most of them had a nice coating of some nasty, black stuff), then scrubbed the every square inch of the bilges, stem to stern, that I could reach with a sponge, scrub brush and boat soap, sprayed it all down with some lavender-based cleaner, then poured yet more bilge cleaner in. It took from 09:00 to 15:00, with only a short break for lunch. But, the bilges are at least clean now; so clean that one could eat off of them, although I would not recommend that. The clouds lightened up throughout the day and by Captain’s Hour, we actually had a bit of sunshine through very high, light overcast. The marine forecast is again calling for NW 15 - 25, with gusts to 30 overnight, although the Anacortes Airport forecast is for NW 16, max. We will see. Leftovers for dinner; we are trying to clear out all our food, in anticipation for heading to Canada in 8 days. Tomorrow, we are going into Anacortes to get the long-awaited solar panel installed. Woody has all the parts in his hands and is ready to go to work as soon as we tie up at the marina, although I have booked a 2nd night, just in case (knowing full well that any project on a boat takes at least twice as long as you think, even if you have already doubled your initial estimate).