12 Sep 19

Haul-out day. I slept poorly last night, most likely worrying about whether we were really ready for haul-out. Or, maybe it was the huge Mexican meal last night. Quien sabe? Anyway, we were up early and met Woody, of IceBoat Marine, at the boat at 08:00 to discuss the planned replacement of the old fridge/freezer. Actually, we will “only” replace the compressor/condenser and cold-plate, both of which are showing signs of age, along with the fan between the freezer and fridge, which is not working at all. We will also add a digital thermostat. Should be really good at making ice and will, hopefully, use significantly less power. After that, we winterized the aft water tank and the water system, along with all the drains and the bilge pump system. Then it was time to head over to Skyline Marina. The Admiral cast me off from the dock at 10:45, then collected lunch and drove over to Skyline to wait for me. After an uneventful trip around the north end of Fidalgo Island, we were tied up at the fuel dock at 12:00. I purchased 11.4 gallons of diesel to top up the tank, then had to wait around for awhile for the haul-out team to catch up to their schedule after an early morning issue with another boat. I was hoping to get the oil and filter changed while waiting for our turn at the Travellift, but we were on hot stand-by at the fuel dock and could not get involved in any engine room tasks with 30-40 minutes duration. So, that chore has been handed over to North Island Boat. We were tied up at the haul-out dock at 13:18 and out of the water by 13:40. The bottom paint looks pretty good, so I’m only going to need to do the water line and leading edges along with a few rough spots on the keel and rudder in the spring. The boat was blocked up at North Island Boat by 15:45 and I went up to hook-up the de-humidifier and DampRid buckets, stow the cockpit cushions, loosen up the bilge pump pre-filters and collect all of the fender covers (for cleaning at home during the winter). After a long, sad, last look around, I quit the boat and we returned to the hotel. We will stop in Seattle tomorrow to send in the life raft, and then hit the road in a southeasterly direction toward Houston.  

This has been quite a year: lowest mileage and shortest duration on the boat since we started cruising, but the most guests and the most repairs. All in all, the balance is still good. We had a good time, saw some beautiful sights, enjoyed some beautiful weather and some wonderful company; what more could one wish for. Now our biggest challenge is to get our grandson onto the boat for a while next summer, so we can justify a longer cruising season in the PacNW. We are tentatively hoping to go around Vancouver Island next summer, pending on guest visits, status of winter-time repairs, etc., etc.  

After happy hour and a couple of long, hot showers, we went back to Anthony’s for dinner. Then, early to bed.

48-29.559’N, 122-40.995’W; Log = 7.6, Sum (2019) = 1049.4 N-m

2013 - 2289.2 N-m

2014 - 2863.0 N-m

2015 - 2720.8 N-m

2016 - 1293.6 N-m

2017 - 3403.2 N-m

2018 - 1247.5 N-m

2019 - 1049.4 N-m

Total - 14866.7 N-m