Heat
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Heat |
Just like everything else in life, it is not until right before the due date before we really get busy. In our case, the date is May 31st, when we are giving up our slip at Shilshole Marina and begin our life on the hook for the next few years. Of course, we've been busy all winter, and even more so the past few months doing what seems like hundreds of small and big projects. We are quite amazed at what we have accomplished in the short 8 months we have had Pelican in getting her ready to cruise, plus some major refit items. These past few weeks, now that we are both "retired", have been a mad rush of tying up a million loose ends -- buying spares, provisioning, and finding places for all this stuff in what now feels like a very, very small boat.
We only have 4 days to go until we untie the docklines for real and miraculously, all the big projects are done, the boat is put back together and we have nearly found a place for everything. All that is left is a few more small items to find, and big trips to Costco and Trader Joes. Our plan is to head north to British Columbia and explore the hundreds of miles of coastline that exists between Vancouver Island and the mainland and the many islands in between. We are really looking forward to getting lost in nature for a while once again. Then we'll return in late July to spend a little more time with family and in August it's down the Pacific we go to San Francisco, then San Diego.
We did find time to go sailing in early March, an overnight trip to Blake Island which is only an hour or so outside of Seattle. At the marina dock we use an electric oil radiant heater; with no AC we just about froze our tushies off. The very day we returned, we headed out to the marine store and bought the supplies for a project that had been on our list for a while -- a small diesel furnace (the Sigmar 100). We installed it that day along with a small electric pump to supply the diesel. There had already been a furnace installed at one time, so we reused the same cabintop hole and had heat that evening. We can even see the flame from the forward bunk...very nice!
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Michael the rigger |
Since Sara's dad works for a steel fabrication company, we were able to get new chainplates made for nothing, so we decided to replace the existing ones which had been painted over and were of unknown condition. Of course, this also included fixing rot in the deck around each chainplate where water had leaked in. A bit of West Systems, and the area is solid as a rock now. We also replaced the two upper shrouds that had chafed a bit on the lifelines, and had insulators installed on a new backstay for the HAM radio which Michael worked many hours installing (an ICOM 706MKIIG with AT130 tuner) along with 50 feet of 4" copper foil in the bilge for the ground plane. We're still saving up for the SCS modem to send email and receive weather faxes over the radio, since we still want to keep in touch with our families and the weather fax is invaluable in passage planning.
We decided to add a manual windlass, a SeaTiger 555 (we got a great deal on a used one which had never actually been used) and were ecstatic to find a 35 lb. CQR at a local swap meet for only $50. We added a bow roller for the CQR to go alongside the existing claw anchor. The boat came with 1/4" chain which we sold and upgraded to larger 5/16" high test chain. We did not go light on the ground tackle as this is the only insurance we'll have on our trip. We'll also have a 25 lb. Danforth anchor for the stern.
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Pelican's ground tackle |
To ensure our 270AH battery bank always stays charged, we purchased from some friends who are selling their boat two 45 watt solar panels, which we mounted on the stern stanchions (adding to the 75 watt panel already mounted on top of the dodger). To steer the boat when motoring or sailing inland we installed a Simrad TP30 Tillerpilot (we'll use the Monitor windvane at sea).
After some thought, we decided to replace the 20 year old Adler Barbour refrigerator that was no longer charged with a new one. The main reason was the need to keep Sara's insulin cold -- we realized we couldn't count on always being able to find ice to keep the icebox cool. The installation was a breeze as the new evaporator and compressor fit right where the old ones were, although the new compressor was a lot more compact. The fridge is currently using only 2 amp hours, and we've got ice-cream in the freezer right now, so we are happy with it's efficiency.
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Solar Panels |
To get ourselves ready, we got updated on all our travel shots for Mexico and Central America and filled our first aid kit with all sorts of antibiotics, allergy medications and a variety of emergency equipment and prescriptions for offshore. Of course, the kitties got their shots updated too. For them we purchased two airline approved under-seat carriers so the cats can be toted along with us if we decide to leave the boat somewhere and visit family for a few weeks.
So now we and Pelican are ready to go, or at least as ready as we need to be. There are still quite a few items on the to-do list, but they are narrowed down to things that can be done along the way. We've been working nonstop since October to get her (and us) ready for cruising again and have enjoyed just about every moment, but are more than ready to finally take her out for a nice long sail.