Some New Upgrades

M/V Rhapsody has some new features, and we're celebrating the changes. Capt.Ron has long been a master of gentle docking, using cross-control maneuvering that makes our approaches and departures appear effortless to shoreside observers. My role has been line tender, securing the short lines on stern and midship when we first touch the dock, then placing longer stern, spring, and bow lines while Ron used engines and bow thruster to keep the boat positioned. Crutches have slowed me down lately, but now he can do it all, singlehanding the ship with the assistance of the new stern thruster and a walk-around wifi controller. 

I've always been comfortable running the boat while we cruise, but not so much when maneuvering in tight spaces close to other vessels. Will the new equipment tempt me to captain the boat while docking? maybe... maybe not.
    
Most boat projects begin with a stack of sketches and notes, rough ideas at first leading to more detailed drawings. No doubt it's due to the Capt's engineering gene. 

Below is the shiny new thruster minus its blades; deceptively simple in appearance, it required some creative bottom redesign, fiberglass work, and some new hydraulic and electrical wiring runs. 

Here's Rhapsody in the Travelift, just after haulout and waiting for a powerwash to clean the bottom. The bottom paint still looked good. 

Blue tape marks off the work area for the new thruster installation. A wedge or 'shingle' will be added to the bottom to position the stern thruster at an appropriate underwater depth for optimal effect. (Without a wedge it would just blow a lot of bubbles.)

This green tube, fiberglassed in place, will house the new thruster.

Project completed, the new stern thruster is ready for action.

Shown below, Rhapsody is ready for relaunch and in-the-water testing. 

Success! We should have done this years ago. 

A Whale of a Visit at Meyers Chuck

32.3nm          Meyers Chuck

The fog cleared midway through Tongass Narrows as we departed Ketchikan and we enjoyed a sunny albeit somewhat lumpy run up Clarence Strait to Meyers Chuck. There was plenty of room to moor on the inside of the dock, a welcome surprise at the beginning of a three-day holiday weekend. We love The Chuck and make it a point to stop and visit at least once each year. (Check the archives for previous posts and photos in and around Meyers Chuck.) A salmon barbecue potluck with two other boats, a community crab feed on the dock, a big community potluck in The Back Chuck and a final three-boat hamburger dinner meant we ate a lot, laughed a lot and swapped a ton of stories during our stay. Just the memory of those meals makes me hungry all over again. One example: that amazing community potluck included grilled scallops, venison tidbits, oyster stew, just-caught Dungeness crab, BIG local prawns prepared two ways, barbecued pork ribs, grilled marinated beef strips, baked beans, a corn casserole, salads galore and several tempting, ooey-gooey desserts.

We did more than eat, really. All of those dining events encouraged multiple walks ashore and along the dock. Not power walks I’ll admit, but we kept moving. Native plants added color to the path along the water’s edge, and towering old lilacs perfumed the air at a nearby homestead. Aromatic cedar sawdust gathered from the small sawmill now sits in a plastic bag waiting to be transformed into sachets. The local gallery held some tempting artwork, craft items and jewelry. I couldn’t resist buying a stunning, multi-toned, turned wooden bowl. It’s an eye-catching decorative item as well as a functional serving piece.

Just outside The Chuck a lone humpback whale surfaced and slapped the water with its enormous flukes to drive its feed tight up against the steep, rocky shore of nearby Misery Island. The whale opened its huge mouth and scooped up the small, silvery fish by the hundreds. As its mouth closed the baleen retained most of the fish while letting the water stream out. Then he did it again, and again. What a sight!

The Last Few Projects

It seems there's always "just one more thing", some essential machine part or unfinished project that adjusts our departure schedule. This year outfitting and provisioning was nearly stress-free. An unexpected generator issue caused some concern when a replacement part was hard to source in town. Then Altech Diesel came to the rescue - not only did they have the essential part in stock, the only one on Vancouver Island it seems, but Parts Manager Ken jumped in his truck and delivered it within minutes. Wow, that's great service! Thank you Ken and Altech.

One important non-mechanical tradition has been to plant a container of herbs, a smallish pot sufficient to last through our many months afloat. Lately the cheerful staff at Campbell River Garden Center has done the planting honors. 

Photo: Pat (l) and Barb (r) with the 2015 herb pot

This year Barb planted three pots and Pat helped with the selection of basil, chives, rosemary, mint, oregano, sage, Italian parsley, and one lone heliotrope. Why the purple flowering heliotrope? for the hummingbirds, of course. The biggest fully-packed herb planter is positioned on Rhapsody's upper deck, and two smaller pots of tender basil and aggressive spearmint now rest on a galley countertop. These little gardens will definitely keep this cook happy.  

Our dockside neighborhood is changing daily as the annual migration of vessels picks up speed. Several boats that moored here during the winter months have moved on and scattered up and down the coast. Their slips don't stay empty for long. 

Photo: M/V Scorpius departs for Alaska

Scores of small boats, big boats, working boats, charter boats, fishing boats and the occasional mega yacht arrive to fill up the docks. Some vessels stop briefly for overnight moorage, others stay longer for repairs, for major provisioning, or to pick up guests or crew. Then they too depart, most heading north. We'll join this waterborne flock very soon, after one more project... or maybe two.

The arrival of a barge and crane with vibratory pile driver meant the neighborhood really is changing. I've suffered before through the annoying repetitive din of pile drivers pounding away for hours while installing dock pilings, but this week my noise concerns disappeared as soon as work began. Vibratory drivers are nearly silent compared with those older impact drivers. Hooray! Discovery Harbor is extending F Dock, adding additional 45-foot slips along the north side and providing more room for side-ties on the south. 

And now it's time to head north. Tomorrow's 5:50 a.m. scheduled departure is set by a desire for slack-current passages in several spots along the 78 nm (nautical mile) route. Why do we care about slack currents? Here's one example: tomorrow the current at Seymour Narrows ranges from near zero to 10.4 knots, all within 3 1/2 hours. We travel at 9 knots, so for safety and stress-free cruising, careful planning matters. Next post from Ketchikan following 7 to 10 days of cruising beautiful northern British Columbia. 
    

Fishing Action at the Dock

The fish cleaning station on neighboring F-dock has hosted occasional activity during the past week. While not as busy as it will be during the peak salmon run season, we have seen some nice sized fish arrive, one or two per day. Seals and sea gulls instantly appear at the same time, ready to snap up the discarded bits. Do they have scouts that keep watch and sound an alarm?!

Unexpectedly a large loon showed off his fishing skills as he cruised along our fairway, disappearing for long minutes before surfacing with a big-for-him little fish. Loons typically keep their distance from the boat, almost as if they know the reach of my camera lens. This bird was all about fishing, disregarding proximity to people and vessels alike. He dove and surfaced repeatedly, following wherever the small fish traveled, occasionally popping into camera range just long enough for me to grab a shot.  

This afternoon a local boat returned with seven fishermen, an empty case or two of beer and two very heavy fish coolers. How heavy? it took two men to carry each one. The biggest cooler was lifted into a dock cart and rolled ashore. I wonder what it held. The second cooler, carted over to the cleaning station, produced 13 large Dungeness crab. It took mere minutes after the first crab was cleaned for a seal and a swirl of seagulls to arrive. Who set off the first alert? 

  

Early Morning Wake Up Call

Was it a bird... a drone... a floatplane... an early-morning crew boat? Nothing was visible through the hatch overhead, but something close by was sending noisy vibrations through the air. What did cause the noise that sent us racing up to the pilothouse early this morning? Oh! My! Goodness! It was a small helicopter, landing on the large boat across the dock. Now that was a sight worthy of leaping out of bed just after dawn.

The tide was up, the sun was up (barely) and the wind was down; a perfect time to land I suppose, if there ever is a good time to land on such a small platform! M/V Scorpius is a large vessel, but she carries a tall tower, a crane and tons of antennae on her upper deck. That leaves just enough room for an experienced pilot to keep the rotors away from all of those obstacles when setting down. Larry is a good pilot; he's landed on Scorpius hundreds of times before, but I'm still wide-eyed at this feat. Now just imagine doing this in unsettled weather.

This morning's event reminded me of the small copter we had seen in 2013, perched atop a rock along the channel at the upper end of Smith Inlet. I still wonder "Why?"  

I wonder what new surprises tomorrow will bring. 

Spring and Shipyard Geometry

Photo: the view west from the pilothouse window

The blog has been quiet for a long while, so long that you might have thought we were hibernating like the bears. Nope, February and March we have kept busy with boat projects, all part of the annual Spring Outfitting preparation for our 2015 cruise north. Inside the galley has a new, functioning cooktop; outside the hull sports a new coat of bottom paint; the all-important engine room has accounted for hours of routine preventive maintenance and a snazzy new LED lighting installation...  If you've read my spring prep posts from previous years, you know the routine.

Photo: A sudden microburst hailstorm turned the docks white... briefly. 

Some days weather makes it more comfortable to work on inside projects, but there's always time to take a break and head outside for a visit on the dock or a stroll along the waterfront. That said, I still think heavy rain squalls and hailstorms are best viewed from the dry side of a window - I am such a weather wimp! During our brief stay "on the hard" for the annual haulout, I wandered the shipyard with my camera intending to record an anchor and propeller photoshoot, until shapes edged into my shooting consciousness. Everywhere I turned there were interesting geometric shapes to draw my eye: circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, arcs, ovals, lines parallel or converging... everywhere. These were all standard shipyard items, things like tools and supplies, but they carried such interesting patterns that I had to capture a few. Here's a brief sample: 

Anchors and propellors will have to wait for their closeups, I'm having too much fun with geometry. 

A Sudden Summer Storm

Mother Nature must have a strange sense of humor. Why else, after we spent a spring and summer of cool, wet weather in SE Alaska, would she greet our return to sunshine and warmth with this dramatic show?

Photo: Storm front approaches from the west

Photo: The view to the north as the storm front approaches.

Photo: The view to the east as the storm front approaches.

You know what followed, right? an end to the weeks of hot, dry weather on Vancouver Island. Central Coast B.C. welcomed a much needed downpour, the boats in the harbor were well-rinsed, and we just shook our heads and laughed.

Petersburg Harbor and the Fleet

Petersburg, reported to be one of SE Alaska’s most productive fishing ports, is very active and D Dock in Petersburg’s South Harbor vividly illustrates this fact. D dock is packed with seine boats and fish tenders - when they are in port on the days in between openings.

This same dock looks deserted when the commercial fishing boats are away, busy fishing or traveling on days when there is a scheduled opening..

Other docks in Petersburg's South, Middle and North Harbors hold more of the fishing fleet, and their routine comings and goings vary. Seiners, Longliners, Gill-netters, Trollers, Crabbers and Dive fisheries (sea urchin harvesters, etc.) fish different openings - for different species - on different schedules - or according to IQRs (individually regulated quotas). It sounds complicated.

Charter boats, cruise boats and larger visiting yachts often fill some of the empty D Dock slots for a night or two on a temporary basis, but it’s evident that Petersburg's working harbors are homeport to a large, successful and varied fishing fleet. 

The local visitor’s guide notes the following fish-related factoids for Petersburg Borough's population of 3,273:

• Petersburg is home port to 591 commercial fishing vessels.
• Petersburg fishermen hold over 1000 fishing permits for a variety of fisheries conducted statewide.
• Fishing is the economic force that drove the creation of Petersburg and continues to be a driving force in today’s economy.
• According to a 2012 survey, Petersburg generated $50,000,000 in fish landings, the 20^th most in the nation.
• The community is ranked 24^th in millions of pounds landed with 52 million pounds landed.
• The town’s seafood processors employ a total of about 1,100 people during a busy summer season.

Lots of interesting Petersburg facts, but we enjoy the town for the setting and the wonderful welcoming people.

Tenakee Springs

Day 65 

Photo: The Capt lays out 250 feet of connected hoses to reach the fresh water outlet             

Water and power management are everyday matters when you’re cruising remote. You quickly learn to monitor consumption and plan ahead. Our Northern Lights 12kw generator provides more power than we need at anchor, power for charging the batteries, heating the water tank, supporting the draw for electric appliances and lights, etc. Today’s price for marine diesel is $4.10 per gallon and the generator burns roughly .75 gallons of fuel for every hour it runs. Doing the math with those numbers has encouraged me to multi-task when the genny is running, for example run a load of laundry while the oven is on. When we’re at a marina or city dock, paying a flat fee for shore power is usually a bargain in comparison.

Rhapsody carries 525 gallons of fresh water in three separate tanks, a huge capacity compared to the single 10-gallon tank installed in our first boat so many years ago. Do you pay attention to your daily water consumption? Cruising boaters do, even though we live in a watery environment, floating in salt water and enjoying the rainfall that keeps SE Alaska so green.  It’s a shame have to run to a town for water when you’d much rather stay out longer, photographing bear or watching whales, or fishing, kayaking, exploring, etc.  The Capt uses freshwater to wash down the anchor chain each time we hoist the anchor. This helps to hold down mud and marine growth in the chain locker, but as I watch gallon after gallon pour out of the water tank I mentally calculate how much that might shorten our time out.

RL called the Tenakee Springs harbormaster ahead of time to inquire about moorage and water availability. Assured of fresh water access and plenty of space on the transient dock, we side-tied on the inside of Pier D and tracked down the aforementioned water. Yah sure, you betcha… available several piers away and accessible if you strung together 4 of your own hoses… and no one else in the marina wanted water to clean fish at the same time. No problem, it was an opportunity to chat with some of the neighbors. Tenakee Springs attracts visitors with its community hot springs bath house which features warm water with a high mineral/sulfur content. The dock water held traces of a sulfur smell and a flavored taste as well. We only topped off one of the water tanks, to hold as a reserve “just in case”, happy that Rhapsody has three separate tanks to draw from. I might not choose Tenakee water to brew tea, but it could come in handy for washing down the anchor chain.