My Hiatus Draws To A Close

 Checking on my Blogger status I was surprised to see that my last post was in December 2012. I will not attempt to bring you up-to-date as you will likely fall asleep. The years have been filled with sailing trips, both domestic and international bareboat chartering. The last two trips were Covid-19 "book ends" both before and after in the British Virgin Islands. I will likely post a blog about those experiences.

The latest development involves the Catalina 320 International Association. In the Spring 2022 issue of MAINSHEET, the Catalina Yachts quarterly magazine, Commodore David Allred wrote that he was waiting for his replacement to step forward. Because "fools rush in", I sent him an email volunteering. With the consent of the Governing Board, I am now the Commodore of an association of 322 member/owners of Catalina 320 monohull sailboats.

As I write this, we are one week into Daylight Savings Time and the weather is warming. While Canadian waters have been closed to boaters for two summers, things look good for a return to the northern waters of the Salish Sea.

You can expect to read more about our sailing adventures. SAIL ON...

A Clothes Washer Hose Leaks in Edmonds

 

This is the culprit!  The braided hose attached to this hot water bibb had its gasket fail such that water was dripping at a rate of two drops per second.  For how long, no one knows.  It finally became detectable when water pooled in the downstairs unit, soaking wallboard, carpet and delaminating Pergo flooring.

 

The Pergo flooring is delaminated.

 

The bedroom carpet is soaked & stained.

 

Water has pooled under the carpet & saturated the wallpapered wallboard.

 

The ceiling below the upstairs laundry unit is soaked.

 

I cut a hole in the ceiline to survey the extend of water travel & damage.

 

The MDF (fiberboard) molding in the adjacent bathroom is swollen (shot), to be replaced with wood.

 

I cut away the papered wall after removing the chair rail to allow the spaces to dry.

 

After drying, Killz was applied to trap & kill the mold.

 

Friend Jeff replaced the affected drywall & textured the ceiling.

 

 

After applying a coat of PVA sealant, I hung 20+ sq ft of replacement embossed/paintable wallpaper below the chair rail.  You can see that I have put down a moisture barrier pad for the new Pergo.

 

This is corner of the ceiling patch where the wallpaper had released.  I was able to repaste it without replacement, securing it with new crown molding.

 

The Pergo flooring goes down, while the painted molding waits in line.  It measured out at 118 sq ft and by being careful, I used only the 120 sq ft of Pergo that came in six boxes.  I was lucky to have the few scraps left that I did!

 

This was the ceiling hole.

 

"What damage?", you say?  Could that be the sign of a good repair?

 

Prior to being a sailboat liveaboard, I was a homeowner for over 30 years.  That time provided ample opportunity to learn a few things that help me now in assisting others.  What do you need?

A Drawer for the Nav Table

 

 While this may be what a nav table should look like, as you can tell from the top photo, it's not the case on S/V Whisper.  After 9 years, I decided to make a change.  Since I never sit at the nav table, it was time add an accessible drawer.

  

 

With the table out for modification, it became obvious that the unused knee hole would be more useful with the addition of a shelf.

 

In the shop, the plan is to cut out a slot in the bottom to use for the new drawer bottom.

 

For the shelf I ripped teak slats on my table saw & mounted cleats fore & aft in the unused footwell.  The closest it ever got to "feet" was as the catch-all storage for my shoes.

 

The box of the drawer & the surrounding frame are so robust because I had the unused teak of my crib boards available. Since I had installed doors 9 years ago, the boards have gathered dust in my storage unit.

 

 

I bought 22" drawer slides from Rockler Woodworking so that the drawer would fully extend.

 

 

While others may prefer the use of the nav table as designed, I prefer my option. Most often I sit at the salon table from where this photo is taken so the drawer is within easy reach. If the friction stops built into the drawer prove too weak for a heeling Whisper, I will add a cabinet latch that became surplus when I replaced a dry galley storage unit with a microwave. But that is another blog...

A New Deck Section in Timberline

 This deck was built to surround the hot tub.  Now, 25 years later, the cedar casing of the hot tub is falling apart and it is time for the hot tub to go!

 

 

With that decision made, it is going...

 

going...

 

going...

 

going...

 

 

GONE!

 

Because a concrete pad was poured to support the tub, it made it easier to build a pier structure for the new deck section, tying it to the surrounding deck.

 

 

Ready for the bench posts and decking.

 

The new section is primed to await a dryer Spring for final painting with the older sections.

 

Sometimes you just don't have the time, other times you lack the requisite skills, that's why I am here to help.  What would you like done?  DO IT YOURSELF?  NOT!

Follow this blog for other home & marine improvement posts.

DAY FIVE—Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

Not all days arrive bright & sunny in the San Juans. Turning out at 0630 this morning I discovered that the world had disappeared to be replaced by a fog shrouded horizon. What to do? How about giving thanks that it didn’t happen yesterday when I had to exit Deception Pass and cross Rosario Straits? I learned from others that the fog had indeed settled in yesterday, such that they took refuge at anchor before entering the small island network that guards the eastern flank of Lopez Island.

 

What springs to mind for this morning is “boat chores”. The fog gives me the opportunity to swap out my new sink drain for the scarred plastic that I have lived with for eight years.

Five crab pot sets over twelve hours yesterday have provided crab that can be cleaned & cooked and if I get really ambitious, even cracked.  Three of them are over 7” and the other two are 6-1/2”—that’s a lot of crab.  Crabbing days this year are Thursdays through Mondays until Labor Day, September 3^rd.  My Summer Catch Record from the WDFW (Wa State Dept of Fish & Wildlife) has 20 lines.  My is full with 20 days of crabbing producing 91 crab.  While I don’t know what is legal until I can get to King’s sporting goods department in Friday Harbor (I don’t feel motivated enough to bother going to the WDFW website and poking around for the info.), I have created a replica spreadsheet that now records yesterday’s 5. 

Late morning John & Vickie leave for Skyline Marina in Anacortes to overnight, provision and pick-up crew before going to Sucia.  Dave and crew leave for Rosario about 1400 as I am half way through my galley sink repair.  I decide that I can finish my work and reinstall the cabinetry at my next anchorage. 

The tough question is, where am I going?  I lay out my Washburne’s Tables and mark the corresponding charts in the Current Atlas for the afternoon.  While I want to follow Gail & Mike along with Kari, Connie & Mona to Fisherman’s Bay, I will not buck the afternoon flood in Upright Channel.  That trip should have been made in the foggy morning.  I guess I’ll follow Severance to Rosario.  Instead, the westerly current of Harney Channel beckons me to Deer Harbor.

At 1420 I start the engine and slip the mooring line. I unfurl the genoa to sail north around Lopez Head. I will perform a battery charge for one hour with the engine turning over at 1500 RPM, but the gearshift in neutral. Just as I am leaving Gail from Defiant hails me on the VHF. Defiantand Quack! Quack! have altered float plans. They are heading to Friday Harborto rent mopeds to go look for whales on the SW side of San Juan Islandnear Lime Kiln. I may see them at Deer Harbor, but I suspect they will end up in ParksBay on Shaw Island.

As I am making my spinnaker ready, I see Defiant in the cut by FrostIsland. When they pull along side we exchange our intentions. They motor on toward Upright Channel as I prepare to hoist my spinnaker.

In a perfect world one should be able to sail from mooring ball to new anchorage.Wait a moment, that is exactly what I did!Making 3.8 to 4.3 kts west in Harney Channel I sail into Deer Harbor, through the anchorage to the west side and drop anchor in 35’ of water.You could make a movie of my anchoring.The only problem would be that you would have to resurrect Groucho Marx to play the lead—and it would be a farce.It was not pretty.Blasting through the harbor at 3.1 kts on a beam reach, I come up to wind to stall Whisper and run to the foredeck to drop Whisper’s Delta anchor and 30’ of 3/8”chain.I snub it up at 90’ as Whisper wants to tack over to starboard.I take a deep breath and begin to clean up the mess on deck.

It is 1658 and it took 2.6 hours to cover 5 miles. Around Crane Island we were only making 1.0 knot and while Washburne’s shows westerly current in Pole Passthat turned out to be a 1 knot westerly slowing Whisper to .4 of a knot.As the zephyr of wind quickly rotated to a southwesterly briefly at 6.7 kts, I did fire the engine for a nanosecond to stop my backwards drift, settled on the new port tack and ghosted into Deer Harbor.

Off to port I see Sweet Surrender, Bill Rowlands’ Catalina 30 riding at double anchors. It turns out that Bill & Marilyn are on Whidbey while a friend tends the boat.

I dinghy ashore for blackberries and an ice cream cone. I pick enough berries for tomorrow’s French toast, but no cone. At 1755 the guy behind the counter who won’t make eye contact says that they are short staff so I have to wait until tomorrow. I respond: “I won’t be here tomorrow!”

I dinghy back to Whisper while muttering about the lack of ice cream to phone Roger at Reid Harbor. I tell him to dust off a rail as I will see him just after 2000. With the aid of Washburne’s I plot my course north of JonesIsland, along the south side of Speiden Islandbefore crossing with the current to the mouth of Reid Harbor. Roger says there is room on the inside of the dock, starboard tie and that Lee is anchored out in the eastern portion.     

Sure enough, there is Christina Lee, Lee Stenson’s Mainship 34. Returning the favor, I maintain Whisper’s 2500 RPMs as I circle Christina Lee. Unfortunately my donut only makes ripples not real waves, but I think the message was received since it got Lee out of the galley into the cockpit. We exchange greetings and I continue west to the dock.

At 2000 Whisper is secured to the State Park dock with Roger’s help.  Whisper has run 113.2 NM since fueling up in Tacoma and the fuel gauge still shows slightly over a half tank left.  The currents tomorrow morning look good for Roche Harbor. 

With wine glass in hand I join Roger & Bobbi who are dining alfresco on the dock beside Clewless, a Pacific Trawler 36.  As the day wanes we are joined by Lee.  We three skippers swap sea stories until darkness falls and the wine is gone.  It is 2300 and I still have a sink drain to finish.  Within 30 minutes the galley is back together and I am in the sack.

DAY FOUR—Monday, August 13th, 2012

Last night before bed at 2300, I set my phone alarm for 0500. When I awoke I found my phone battery dead—there had been no alarm! With sleep crusted eyes I thought my clock read 0520. In a sort of PANIC, I hustled to cast off from Severance in the still dark morning. Don’t forget, I still have a crab pot to first locate and then retrieve. With the motor still off I slide Whisper away from Severance. After starting the engine I boot up my Raymarine chart plotter and discover that it is only 0420! Oh well, I am committed now and will have plenty of time to make my deadline of 0700 for Deception Pass. By some small miracle (boaters can get too used to that) I am able to locate the black shadow in the predawn reflections on Skagit Bay that is my crab pot floats. Employing my “pot puller” I get the pot on deck, where I leave it and its occupants until there is light enough to deal with it.

I set my nav instruments for minimal illumination in order to preserve my night vision and turn on Whisper’s running and steaming lights. The bow lights are too bright but there is no rheostat so I just block them out with my arm. I ghost slow around the east end of Hope Islandand am still making 3.5 kts in the strong ebb. Constantly shifting my gaze I am able to avoid anchored boats and floating debris. Gloriously, the eastern sky is beginning to lighten. Cornet Baycomes up too soon so I drift for a half hour to enjoy the red eastern sky around Mt. Baker.

As I enter the pass Whisper’s engine is turning 1500 RPMs and I am making 5.5 kts. I increase the RPMs to 2500 because the current is throwing the boat around too much—speed increases to 8.5 kts. At 0550 I look up at the underside of the Deception Pass bridge that connects Whidbey and Fidalgo islands, giving short notice of the lights of the cars overhead. 

 

Because I made the trip two years ago from Spencer Spit to Deception Pass, I am able to recall the route from the chart plotter and using the soft key, select “Reverse and Follow”. But wait, there is a surprise in store--another lesson to be learned. While 0700 might be slack water in Deception Pass, such is not the case with RosarioStraits. Once clear of the Deception waning ebb I encounter the height of the Rosarioebb. Whisper needs to cross this 2 knot stream in order to enter the San Juans around the south end of Decatur Island. Unlike the autopilot, the chart plotter track function will compensate for current set and drift.

My next waypoint destination lies about 300 degrees. In order to make that target, the software sets me up at 335 to 348 degrees heading into the teeth of the current making from 1.6 to 2 kts. This will take a while. I continue to crab across the strait making barely perceptible progress. Taking time to wave at passing tugs, barges and other pleasure craft whizzing past on the southbound current, we complete our crossing to the Lopez Island eastern shore.

Once inside the speed over ground (SOG) increases as we catch a current running north to Spencer Spit. Nearing Frost IslandI prepare the crab pot for deployment near Fawn Islandand then slide through the cut between spit and island with ten feet under Whisper’s keel. I am surprised to discover only three state buoys on the north side of the spit this year. There is one open, thank you, and it remains so as I drop the crab pot in “Gail’s spot” and shut down the engine and instruments at 0845 after a run on 17.3 nm.

During the morning while updating my log in the cabin I hear voices. I climb to the cockpit to discover John and Vickie Barr and their new boat by the same name: Sloop John B, a 1994 Dehler 41. It is spectacular. After a brief chat I invite them to raft up and they do.

After we both spend time house cleaning for company, they invite me aboard for a tour. As a house-warming gift I bring along two Dungeness crab. When the tour is over and we are enjoying coconut rum with lime juice, I view another boat approaching from port—it’s Lee Hall & Vicky on Atlantean, a Bill Garden Fast Passage 41. While John has been cruising for five weeks, Lee has just arrived in the San Juans. We chat about where others are and then say our goodbyes.

 Over the course of twelve hours I check and relocate my crab pot around Fawn Islandfive times. The result is that I am tired. I have hand hauled the pot and wrestled with no less than 75 crab to finally have my daily limit of 5: 3 over 7” & 2 @ 6-1/2”.

In the late afternoon/early evening Severance takes Whisper’s port rail and we have a three boat raft.  

Dave invites me aboard for dinner with Rita, Amy and Paul, but I have already accepted John’s invitation for pasta with crab alfredo.  After much conversation and an empty dessert bowl that used to contain chocolate ice cream with a drizzle of Kalua, it is 2300 and time for bed.  What a great day.