The boat work in the yard went well. The engine mounts did not seem to need work; it was the screws holding in the cutless bearing that were the problem. I bought a tap and reamed out the holes, and the screws went all the way in. They did not the last time I worked on this.
The boat itself needed normal things. I rebuilt the water maker which works much better now.
Jennifer is with me on this trip from the beginning. She came mostly to watch me. I do enjoy having her here but realize I got a lot less done. Although, the list is still a good list. There are still some things that escape me: the fresh water pump leak is not the leak I expected. It is somewhere on the high pressure side of the pump, but I can’t quite find the place. I also replaced the water pump. Over the course of the winter the original water pump froze up. The new pump does not require an accumulator tank which I did take out.
I also touched up the bottom paint where it had flaked, about everything looks quite good. The engine works very well. It starts right up and runs excellently. This time I tightened all of the connections in the fuel line, something I never quite get around to doing and it has made a very big difference.
Aaron, the man who handles putting sailboats into the water, did not do it this time and we had trouble getting the raw water cooling to work correctly. The problem turned out to be that we weren’t all the way in the water and the inlet wasn’t able to suck water well. Aaron came by and dropped us the next eight inches into the water and everything was fine.
We’ve been working our way down towards Kodiak where we will spend the bulk of our time. Everything’s going fine, we’re not moving that fast, but yesterday I just discovered that the outboard has a stuck valve and will not run. Like everything else this is fine, except if I really need it. I’m hoping I won’t.
Our friends in Homer had typical Homer things.Tim on Wolverine, was trying to get his boat ready. He had refrigeration issues, so we didn’t spend that much time with him. I wanted to come hang out, but I also wanted him to get out. Where he fishes has a very late opening. The opening was announced a couple days before we got there and he decided he’d go. He normally acts as a tender on the Baring side, but this year he decided not to do it. I’m not quite sure what’s going on. He was supposed to be in and gone a week before we left. He would keep giving me a day when he would leave and the next day he would still be there. I’m unable to tell whether it was really something, or he just didn’t want to go.
Don, who is like me, retired together with Brenda, is getting a boat in the water for the first time. The boat is coming along well. He put new standing rigging on, a bow thruster, and other things. The boat went into the water and made it all the way to Homer Harbor before the engine started smoking quite badly. He determined that the fuel had gone bad: lots of water from an O-ring on the filler. He had to pump out 70 gallons of fuel and then start again. As we were leaving everything was fine.
It’s very quiet here in Big Bay. We have a ventilation fan in the head closet, which does not have an on/off switch: meaning it runs all the time, except when there isn’t enough sun. Today, there isn’t enough sun and it is completely quiet in the boat.
On the way down, it was sunny with a light breeze, we were sailing. As we moved towards the center of the body of water, the wind tumbled off a snow-covered mountain and the temperature dropped. We put on our foulie jackets and continued on, until the wind stopped and we powered up.
As we were approached the entrance to the bay, yesterday, we saw a sailboat by eye and on AIS called Sea Tilt. She looked big from a distance, and when her AIS info finally showed up, she turned out to be 21 meters long and 9 meters wide: she was a cat, which explained why she was anchoring in one fathom of water. We passed her by on the way into the main part of the water and four fathoms of water. We saw her leave on AIS today meaning that we are once again all alone.
I’ve been thinking about that a lot: being all alone*. We are very self-reliant. But with the outboard not running, we’re not so self-reliant as I want us to be. When we get to Kodiak we’ll see if someone can fix the outboard quickly, otherwise we’ll just do without. Then, when we get to Homer I will figure out what parts we need and bring them up next year.
I’m not sure what I’m dreaming about. I don’t remember my dreams except for the night before last where my dad visited me. I could feel his hand, but as I was waking up, I think I was actually holding Jennifer’s hand. We wandered around various places, but mostly New Orleans. I wonder if this is because of the problems Eno is having.
Eno has become a son, and he’s having difficulties. I look to my dad for advice on this, I’ve never asked it of him and didn’t ask it of him that night, but it is the common feature of New Orleans, my dad and Eno. We’ll see whether the advice, which Eno takes, will work for him and get him out of this hole he is in.
On this trip I’m not as eager to be going places as I normally am. I can’t tell if it’s because I’m healing, or because the injury has changed me, or because we’ve been down here three times already.
I’ll continue to sail and get us back home to Homer and then port Townsend next fall. This fall, winter and into the spring are pretty much booked up, and we’ll do all of these things and figure out what we do next. I’m pretty sure we’ll bring Caro Babbo south, but we’ll try to decide before we leave for Homer whether we’re staying in Puget Sound and we’ll need a slip for the winter or we’ll head down to Mexico. Or something else.
Thank you for reading and I will try and write more often.
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*Being all alone, here, is perhaps a misnomer. We certainly feel it, but hidden in folds of the land we find hidden lodges with power boats and commercial fishing boats tucked in with deployed nets. We’re not actually far enough down the chain to really be alone, and how far we need to go keeps getting further.
Love the Title. Louis Armstrong est. Take care my friend and listen to Jennifer ✔️
Great to hear from you – many thanks for the update!