15 Jun 19

We were up at 06:30 to start our run for La Conner. It was cool and overcast, but not much wind when we departed and we motored all day. About half way along, we realized that the current in the Swinomish Channel would be good this afternoon for carrying on the last 9 miles to Anacortes, so we decided to push on all the way. This will leave us a free day to tackle the fiberglass repair to the forward water tank. We were tied up at Cap Sante Marina by 16:00. After we settled in and enjoyed happy hour on the boat, we had dinner at our old favorite - Anthony’s, which is about 50 yds away from our boat. Early to bed again, in anticipation of tomorrow’s labors.

48-30.743’N, 122-36.528’W, Log = 63.3, Sum (2019) = 219.7 N-m

16 Jun 19

Reveille sounded at 07:00 and we were up and at ‘em within minutes. First, we stripped the bedding and mattress out of the forepeak berth and emptied all of our spare parts, etc. out of the middle, under-bunk storage locker (which is where the forward water tank leak was finally located. With the trusty Dremel tool, I gouged out a trench in the top of the water tank lid (this is also the floor of the storage compartment), about 4” long, 1/2” wide and 1/4” deep, until I had got to the root of the leak, I think. Then, feathered the edges to a slope of approximately 1:2, cleaned up the gouge, and applied 5 layers of 9 oz fiberglass, saturated with West System 105 epoxy mixed with 205 fast hardener. After this had cured for about 3 hours, I mixed up another batch of epoxy with 410 fairing filler and slathered this over the top of the glass/epoxy repair to fill in the low spots. After the fairing batch cures, we could sand it down smooth and fair it in, but I’m not going to bother as it is completely out of sight and no-one will ever see it but us. While waiting for the first patch to cure, we pumped out the holding tanks using the marina’s portable pump-out trollies (more trouble than moving the boat over to the pump out berth) and I tackled the aft head joker and flapper valves; the aft toilet has been backing up after use for the last few days. I just removed the two valves and cleaned them of a couple of years of accumulated calcium and other muck and returned them to service. They appeared to be in good shape otherwise. Then, we applied a coat of Le Tonkinois on the port-side toe rails; the inside of the boat may be a wreck, but, by golly, the outside looks ship-shape and Bristol fashion. After happy hour we cleaned up and went to A-Town Bistro for dinner. When we got back, we put the forepeak bunk back together and collapsed into bed. AIS replacement and repair to the charging system for the house batteries tomorrow, which means tearing up the aft state-room. Man, we are having so much fun, I don’t know if I can stand much more. 

Oh, and Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there. In particular, I am so happy and grateful that my son has turned out to be such a GREAT dad to his son, my grandson. My biggest regret in life is that my Dad did not hang around long enough for me to share this part of his life with him. On the other hand, my greatest joy is that I am still around to enjoy this time of life with my son and grandson; “grandson” is not a term that my father and grandfather got to use in my direct line, so I am happy to break that chain. Sigh!!!

17 Jun 18

We were up again at the crack of dawn, to be ready for the onslaught of techs from our buddies at North Island Boat. J.R. showed up about 09:30 to discuss the issue with the house batteries not charging when the main engine was running; turns out all I need is an ACR (automatic charging relay), which allows current to go from the start battery to the house batteries after the start battery is fully charged. I agreed to this plan and he came back later on and installed it; battery charging now works as it should. Mike showed up about 11:00 and he and I spent the next 6 hours pulling antenna cable and installing and programming the replacement AIS unit and splitter. That all seems to be working fine, except when we started up the electronics, the chart plotter started acting really weird - as in, turning itself off frequently for no apparent reason. Josh thinks it is because I have a new chart data card but have not updated the chart plotter operating system for a while (like 6 years) and they are not playing nice together. He will bring me a software update tomorrow and we will see. In the meantime, we filled up the forward fresh water tank to pressure test yesterday’s repair; the repair worked fine, but another pin-hole leak presented itself, so I spent another 3 hours reaming this out and patching it. I have a bad feeling that the top of this tank is about to turn into dust; a big job for the winter. We will see. Happy hour was delayed while I was working on this latest patch job. We finally got the boat back together about 19:00 and went for a late meal back at Anthony’s. I am mentally and physically exhausted from the constant string of breakdowns and repairs, not to mention constantly moving stuff from one room or space or locker to another to get to one problem, only to have to move it again two or three times to get to the tool or spare part needed to address some other problem that crops up unexpectedly along the way.  It is a good thing that boating is so much fun, or else I might lose heart. Anyone want to buy a boat? Cheap?