4 Jun 19

We are both suffering from boat polio this morning and were pretty slow getting moving. Another couple of hours were consumed working on tidying up the boat - will it never end? And then, we were off south for Seattle. On the way out of Port of Edmonds Marina, we saw an adolescent Osprey sitting on a light pole, with a large heron fishing in the water immediately below it, but could not get a photo of either. The wind was calm again, so we motored all the way to Bell Harbor Marina, right next to Pier 55, where we tied up at our slip at 13:40. As we turned the corner at West Point into Elliot Bay, Mount Rainier popped up on the horizon to the SSE; man, that is a big mountain. Houston definitely needs one of those on our horizon; I’ll have to speak to the city fathers about that when I get home. The previously ordered replacement water heater element was waiting for us, so I immediately set to work to get it installed. But first, I had to get a 1-1/2” socket wrench. So, we hiked half a mile up to Ace Hardware to buy a complete set of 1/2” drive sockets (including the required 1-1/2” socket) along with a 1/2”x3/8” converter to fit with the 3/8” ratchet I have on board. Back to the boat, and I could not shift the old water heater element. Back to Ace Hardware to get a 1/2” drive wrench (which is 4” longer; i.e., more torque) and a can of SP Blaster penetrating oil. SP Blaster was liberally applied, then the bigger wrench was applied, along with liberal amounts of blood (the heater element is, of course, virtually inaccessible deep in a locker under the settee in the salon. After an hour of swearing and bleeding, I sprayed on a bunch more SP Blaster and determined to wait until morning. To compensate for this minor set-back, we decided to go see the Astros play the Mariners at Safeco or T-Mobile Field. The Astros won 11-5, so the evening was not a complete failure.

47-36.576’N, 122-20.813’W; Log = 14.8, Sum (2019) = 73.7 N-m

5 Jun 19

Up early and straight at the recalcitrant water heater element, but try as I would, I could not shift it at all. It is beginning to look like a complete water heater replacement is in the works, although I am going to try one more time tomorrow, with the assistance of my brother-in-law; maybe, just maybe, the two of us together can apply enough torque to get the job done. After tidying up the boat and making the beds in the stern cabin for our guests, we did a major grocery shop at IGA; we walked up but had so much stuff, we had to Uber back. After stowing away all the groceries, we turned around and marched back up the hill for a light lunch and one last bit of shopping. Back at the boat, the Admiral had to lie down for a bit and try to get her back to stop spasming. I took the opportunity to install the stainless steel tube and hardware on the port-forward rail to replace the aging lee rail (no more varnishing on this item, plus it looks quite sleek. Of course, after marking the tube to cut it to fit, I realized that Stainless Steel is very hard to cut with a hacksaw, so I had to run up to Ace Hardware once again to buy a tube cutter. But, that did the trick. We tidied up the boat and had an omelet, while waiting for Luke and Tessie to arrive for their visit. They finally made it in after 20:00 and we had a grand time updating ourselves on what had been going on during the last 3 weeks. It was late for them, so we all crashed early.

6 Jun 19

D-Day: the 75th anniversary of the Normandy Landings - lest we forget. We hit the tourist trail early and marched up to Pike Place Market to ogle the fresh produce, and especially the unbelievable flowers. After a quick lunch, we Ubered over to T-Mobile Park to watch the Astros play the Mariners again; the Astros finally prevailed 8-7 after 14 innings. We had hors d’ouevres at at Irish pub whose name escapes me, then back to the boat to watch the sunset.