2 Jul 19
It started raining in the morning before we got up, which sort of ruined our initiative. We finally got up before 08:00 and pulled out into the rain at 09:00. It rained all the way to Princess Cove at Portland Island. On the way, the Admiral discovered a leak in the ceiling somewhere; we pessimistically assumed it was the skylights leaking - big trouble. We anchored at Princess Cove at 11:00 and immediately went looking for the source of the leak, which meant pulling out the ceiling panels. Fortunately, we found the source almost immediately; the dorade stand-pipe caulking has developed a flaw. The rain stopped just after noon and after an early lunch, we spent the early afternoon scraping off the old caulk, sanding the surface of the stand-pipe and surrounding deck and applying new caulk. This all took about 2 hours, during which time, we found that we were not very comfortable at Princess Cove; lots of wakes from passing boats and ferries kept working their way in and rolling us uncomfortably - does not portend well for a good night’s sleep. As the ceiling panels were still wet from the dorade leak and we had no good way to dry them at anchor and we were uncomfortable at the anchorage, we decided to move to Van Isle Marina in Sidney, BC. We were going to come here tomorrow anyway to leave the boat for a few days while we run over to Vancouver to see Bard on the Beach and meet Jim and Robin. On the way into the marina, we stopped to fill up the fuel tank and check in. In the fuel dock office, they had a really cool folding shrimp trap, so I bought that as well. As soon as we got into our slip and we got plugged into shore power, the Admiral got the hair dryer out and dried off the ceiling panels, while I did a proof test on my caulk repair on the dorade stand-pipe: all good. We got the ceiling back together and the Admiral tackled preparing the aft cabin for Jim and Robin, while I disassembled the aft toilet tank pump (again) to track down another annoying leak. All of this labour was completed shortly after 17:00 and we sat down to enjoy happy hour and prepare the last of our leftovers.
48-40.209’N, 123-24.365’W; Log = 15.7, Sum (2019) = 259.0 N-m
3 Jul 19
Final day of preparations for Jim and Robin’s arrival, so we were up early to start the laundry and final boat cleanup. As I had filled up the forward water tank yesterday upon our arrival, I checked under our bunk and, son of a gun, there was more water leaking out. After a bit of hunting, I narrowed it down to 1) a new pin-hole leak, 2) my latest pin-hole repair (using Flex-Tape, which is apparently not quite as good as advertised), 3) the alternate fill point (the cap was not sealing well) and 4) the fitting that houses the manual fill gauge. After pumping down the water level, I applied 1) Flex-tape to the new pin-hole, 2) a different kind of patch (for repairing leaking inflatable dinghys) to the old pin-hole repair, 3) cleaned up the fill cap and greased the O-ring, and 4) tightened 6 screws on the gauge fitting. Man, I hope this works, because I am getting sick of this shit. I suspect that the entire tank top is going to have to be replaced at the end of this season - oh, joy. After that good fun, I holy-stoned the deck and cockpit and finished up with a trial fit of some of our new safety netting along the rails (i.e., thinking ahead to future visits from our young grandson, if we can only convince his parents). The final fit-out of this stuff is going to take the combined efforts of myself and the Admiral the better part of a day; so, it will have to wait until later. Happy hour and dinner (the last of the shrimp from our dock-mates at Cap Sante; very good stuff - I hope I can catch some like this) aboard.
4 Jul 19
We have tickets for Bard on the Beach tonight, so we were up early enough to catch the 10:00 ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen. We were green all the way: walked to the #72 bus, bus to Swartz Bay, ferry to Tsawwassen, bus and bus to the stop closest to John and Laurie’s house in Vancouver, arriving about 13:00. When John got home from work about 17:00, we drove back into town for dinner at Rocky Mountain Flatbread, followed by a presentation of “All’s Well that Ends Well”, at Bard on the Beach. Back home in bed by 23:30.
5 Jul 19
John and Laurie both had work to do, so they were off before 09:00. The Admiral read and knitted and I worked on a boat project in John’s workshop; a replacement finger hold for the propane locker. John and Laurie both got home about 15:00 and we had happy hour and dinner at their place. Matt and Julia joined us all for dinner.
6 Jul 19
Jim and Robin’s flight ETA was 11:30, so we just lazed around John and Laurie’s house chatting and planning until it was time to go. Laurie insisted on driving us to the airport to meet Jim and Robin and then driving all of us to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal. We easily made the 14:00 ferry and were at the boat by 16:30. We were all hungry, having missed lunch, so we went up to the Sea Glass Restaurant at 17:00; excellent meal. Then, we walked into Sidney and did a quick grocery shop. Back at the boat before 22:00, but everyone was tired, so it was early to bed.