Category: Repairs and Upgrading

Status: More air-freighted engine parts, more new friends.

Friday June 3rd – It’s 46°F in Ketchikan; Hilary wakes up and comments occasionally; Jennifer arrived in Providence five hours ago; 18 hours ago I ordered more engine parts, this time from Seattle. Caro Babbo strains on her dock lines against the 25kn winds that blast through the harbor. Continue reading “Status: More air-freighted engine parts, more new friends.”

Conversation with a prawn fisherman or, can the world get any smaller; and the bleed screw shears, I make friends with the Canadian Coast Guard

I apologize in advance… this is not edited and does not have graphics, but I only have a few minutes here in Klemtu before the float plane arrives, and then I will race back to Caro Babbo in Quigley Cover ahead of weather.

Cruising is defined as breaking down in exotic places. It is also meeting the most wonderful people and in my case seeing a thread through my life that I would never have thought would show up.

Nordic Spirit came into view as I rounded a dogleg in the channel between islands.

She was at anchor in the channel in a marked anchorage with no lights, sitting dormant, not answering any radio calls from the Coast Guard. I wondered if the crew had left the vessel. I turned down the outboard when I saw a man’s silhouette in the wheelhouse. Continue reading “Conversation with a prawn fisherman or, can the world get any smaller; and the bleed screw shears, I make friends with the Canadian Coast Guard”

Trincomali Channel to Vancouver

On Wednesday night, we anchored behind Secret Island in a very well protected small cove. Secret Island was said to have been a secret gift from one of Marilyn Monroe’s lovers to her right before she moved onto Joe Dimaggio. The island is full of small homes with long stairs that lead to private docks. Continue reading “Trincomali Channel to Vancouver”

Statistics Predict for the Group, Not the Individual

Any that can go wrong, will go wrong — Murphy’s law

If two things can go wrong, the thing that will cost the most will go wrong — First Corollary to Murphy’s (paraphrase)

Continue reading “Statistics Predict for the Group, Not the Individual”

A penny for your fuse box, and much ado about nothing, with a very large downside

Very busy, full productive days, and yet at the end of each, there is always the question, ‘‘what got done today?’’

Electrical has been the main item of effort.

I’ve had the fuse box open while I sorted out an intermittent connection. As these things often go, the main feed touched a ground: a sparking sound, a burst of light and then a blown fuse. Continue reading “A penny for your fuse box, and much ado about nothing, with a very large downside”

Traps 1, Rats 0, Varnishing is complete, Cushions moving ahead

Thursday when I arrived at the boat to start work, a bag of lentils had been torn open: the rat(s) had returned. Before leaving at the end of the day I set a trap covered in lentils.

Friday the trap was missing; Continue reading “Traps 1, Rats 0, Varnishing is complete, Cushions moving ahead”

Status: Of Rats and solar panels, VHF and AIS, Impellers and Torque specs

It’s been a very busy few days. Formal posts are stacked up waiting to be finished. This is just a quick status: Continue reading “Status: Of Rats and solar panels, VHF and AIS, Impellers and Torque specs”