Wow, the new icebox is seriously amazing!

The two bags of ice AFTER a weekend. 

 This weekend was another real test of the new icebox since I did the major retrofit with better insulation. We loaded it up with a two bags worth of food that needed refrigeration but had grown warm on the two ferries and car ride in between Bainbridge and Friday Harbor. We bought the two blocks of ice on Saturday morning, loaded it all up and took off to Jones as described below.

We had sausages and yoghurt and all the normal stuff. When we got back to our slip in Friday Harbor at around 1pm on Sunday, and emptied the icebox of food. When we got down to the bottom to retrieve the ice, we were amazed to see it was completely unmelted. Like, brand new. The photos below are from AFTER the overnight trip.

Adding two inches of polyiso all around and an inch of pink foam up top has really done an incredible job of it. Wish I hadn't waited so long.

A wonderful get away

We escaped the news and the trauma and busy-ness of our semi-rural Bainbridge Island lives to the more wild and refreshing respite of Jones Island State Park this weekend. Old friend. We went up Friday night as we like to do, and had deep, deep boat sleep through Saturday morning.

I was excited to use our new icebox for the first real trip and to also use the new Racor 500 for the first outing.

A carpet of color. Perfect. 

Amy and the boys were off to Cafe Demeter in Friday Harbor for the num num run after we managed to rise after 9am, and I got the boat ready. We didn't leave until after 11, and the day was gorgeous. Forecast was for rain and SE winds that night so we headed to the north side of Jones.

We were the only boat at the island. Once again. On what turned out to be a beautiful weekend, people stayed away by the millions. We no sooner had anchored than we were ashore and walking around the West side. Every few moments we would stop and just take it in the stunning views, and enjoy the stillness. The embracing of all things. The intricate poetic detail of nature.

Owen on the edge of the world

The boys spent some time chasing each other among the slopes that rise steeply up from the water. Owen's only real chance is patience, since he has the misfortune to have an older brother who runs sprints and the 5K in state qualifying times. But Owen does have patience, and eventually the tortoise caught the hare. They've been doing that since Owen could run, and this is their last year of living together under the same roof as Elliott is a senior. Getting all choked up about that.

When we returned to the dinghy Elliott had decided to once again swim back to Aeolus. He has this tradition now. It was 48 degree air and probably 46 degree water. He stripped down, plunged in, and did it. Some Wimhoff. It was about 100 meters to the boat. Dude is tough.

It poured rain, hard, all night. Some light winds. But we were snug as bugs. On Sunday morning the rain stopped and we had another beautiful day. We played frisbee, and enjoyed the fall colors of the island.

Toward eternity

I walked for some time in rapture at the beauty of the trees. So profoundly beautiful.

Thank you Aeolus, for another magical family trip.

Vastly improved icebox!

The insulation is done and it is glassed. Ready to be painted. 

Finally got around to adding some serious insulation to what we have long called our warming box. The original icebox on the Gulf has paltry insulation and is in a shared space with the engine. A couple blocks of ice might last a day. It's cavernous, but useless. Thanks Don Casey for suggestions of how to do this.

So I added layer after layer of high quality polyiso insulation, in half- inch thicknesses, staggered and interlocking. I added these layers 3-4 deep on all side and the bottom, and added 2 inch pink foam to the top. I also sealed off the so called "day access" hatch as it was just another source of air leakage and absolutely impossible to use anyway.

Sealed the whole thing in fiberglass, used epoxy primekote over it all, and today put the coat of bilge note on it for a nice clean and cleanable white icebox.

On a trial run I added two blocks of ice, and the trip was for 4 days, and damn if that ice wasn't still there at the end. This is a game changer for our ability to store stuff. We gave up probably 25% of the ice box volume, but gained a true icebox. I've left out a lot of detail, but let me know and I can share more about how I did it.

Added an inch of pink insulation to the lid and glassed it all over.  This is before I  painted it. 

A view into the now painted box. The shelves still install and  the drain still drains. 

New Racor 500MA as main filter

Having had two episodes now when a plugged filter left me dead in the water, and one of them even after fully cleaning my fuel tank as I reported here, I finally have had enough and installed a new Racor 500 MA as my primary filter and plumbed the old Racor 220 as my backup. I can switch them on the fly. I also installed the vacuum gauge on the 500, and at cruising RPM it now sits at only 1mm Hg. I'm so damn fastidious about maintenance that it drives me batty to have ever had a fuel filter problem under way.

The source of that hair like stuff must have been from a tank of fuel I picked up somewhere. My pet theory is that the fuel station had a rat get into the tank and die, and those hairs got put into my tank, as there is simply no way in the world for hairs to get in my tank otherwise. And unlike dirty fuel, which would simply clog the filter, those hairs actually accumulate around the check ball and physically block the flow of fuel before it ever gets to the filter. DAMN HAIRS.

So, with the two filters now, I can switch over on the fly and deal with whatever is causing grief in the  other.

The new Racor 500MA

The set up with a view of one of the two three way switches that lets me switch filters on the fly. 

Beware the check valve ball on your Racor!

A word to the wise, your diesel may die for reasons not related to your filters being clogged. While crossing the Straits of Georgia last week, on a windless day, my trusty diesel did the old "thump, thump, thump, dead". I had just done my annual change of both fuel filters and had recently cleaned out my entire fuel tank, so I was completely surprised.

As it goes, this was not a bad time, given that we were a mile away from any land, but the lack of wind meant we were bouncing around and drifting with the current right toward that pointy island over there.

I immediately began working the problem and had replaced the primary Racor filter before you could blink. No luck. Engine started, but then died. What? It had looked clean, as it should. I went ahead and replaced the secondary filter. No luck. Started, then died. By now I was truly befuddled. We had gotten uncomfortably close to the the nearby hard rocks when a puff of NW wind allowed us to sail toward our destination of Nanaimo. While my boys sailed us along, I was down below cogitating. I knew it was a fuel issue.

1. It was not the filters.
2. I had no reason to suspect a vacuum leak as none of my fittings had been touched, or were loose.
3. After changing filters over the past 12 years I had never had my motor not run smoothly. The Universal 5432 has a bleeding screw near the injectors that always seem to bleed off any residual bubbles.
4. It was not a problem with my injection pump because during the short intervals of the engine running, I could feel each injection line had the normal pulses of pressure from the pump.

I would start the motor, then it would run for 3 minutes, or 2 minutes, or 1 minute. I must have done this 20-30 times, hoping whatever residual air in the system was getting worked out. I was getting concerned about various things, mainly losing battery power and what I was going to do if I couldn't get it working.

As we got to within about 5 miles of Nanaimo, I decided to call Victoria Coast Guard and request a commercial tow. The wind had died, and there was no prospect at that time of my motor working.  I was soon put in touch with Vessel Tow out of Nanaimo and they would send someone to pull us in a bit later. In the meanwhile, I kept thinking and problem solving.

Finally, a light bulb. Aren't our brains fascinating? I remembered how once upon a time, on this very blog, I had written about how a bunch of hair like gunk had fouled my check valve and prevented the ball from seating, and how this had prevented the diesel from running. I decided to pop off the plastic cover and inspect the ball.

The Goop. All that was below the check ball valve preventing it from seating. 

Sure enough, when I removed the ball it came up with a whole bunch of what looked like hair. I dug down into that area and pulled up more gobs of this hair like stuff. I got my dental tool and scraped out even more! Once confident it was clean, I put the rubber ball back, tighten everything up, and started her up.

Here is the Racor image of the check ball on a 200 series spin on filter like what I have.  There are also check balls on the 500 turbine series and many others.

Purr, purr, purr. 5 minutes later, purr, purr, purr. 15 minutes later, purr, purr, purr. Damn if that wasn't it. Never was my filters.

Another BC and Straits of Georgia summer!

These will never get old. I will never get old doing them. Heading north from Friday Harbor and crossing Boundary Pass is a rite of passage to my life, and one that I crave on at least an annual basis. This year it was saddened by the inability of my dear and lovely wife to join us, so it left just a bunch of Y chromosomes on the boat. We made do.

Owen and I started off as the only crew and headed first to a night on Prevost in Selby Cove. One of many nice little spots in that area. Though we didn't do it, I understand there is a trail that takes you from here over to the more used anchorage at James Bay. We had a lovely evening and hot, benign conditions. This would remain for the bulk of our next week. It meant motoring, but as the islands glide slowly past, and the sun arcs across the sky, there is that cultivated state of mind that cannot be engendered other ways.

Salish Sea: everywhere

We went to DeCourcy the next day, our favorite spot in the northern Gulf Islands. My anchorage choices are heavily influenced by 1. The boys on the boat and their need for play and adventure and 2. Me on the boat, and my need for play and adventure. DeCourcy provides all of that.

We always anchor in the south cove, and prefer the views and spaciousness of that spot, rather than in Pirates Cove. Happy to say the pirates chest had an ample amount of booty in it, though my own boys are now too old to feel appropriate for taking things. We swam like fish and jumped off the pilothouse and hiked around the park and immersed ourselves into the consciousness of the place.

Mantus Anchor Swivel

I've decided to try the Mantus Anchor Swivel on my system to alleviate some chain twisting I've experienced over the years. From all I can read they are stout and not a weak link. I used the S2 or size larger than is recommended, as it still fits my 5/16 HT chain. An interesting characteristic of the Mantus Swivel is the oblong pin that goes through the chain. It's a clever, simple way to get more metal in there for a stronger pin.

Here is my current set up, looks sharp and should work well

New Anchor Rode for Aeolus. G4 Chain and 8 Plait.

I've updated my anchor along the way to the fantastic Mantus design that I've written much about on this blog, yet I attached it to my same old 3/8 BBB chain. I've had that chain regalvanized once myself a few years ago, and it was showing signs of rust again. I'd long wanted to upgrade my chain to High Test G4 and finally got around to doing that this week.

Acco 5/16 G4 High Test chain with a WLL of 3,900 lbs

I ordered 100 feet of 5/16 G4 Acco chain from Defender, which has a WLL of 3,900 lbs. The larger diameter but weaker steel 3/8 BBB had a WLL of only 2,600 lbs. I'd swear the size difference is more than 1/16 as the new chain is so much smaller looking. Yet it is stronger. Part of my motivation is that although Aeolus has a wonderful Lofrans Tigres electric windlass, the controls for the windlass are in the pilothouse and not near the anchor locker. So when I am sailing alone, which often happens in summer when I am delivering our boat north to Desolation Sound, I have to pull that heavy 3/8 BBB up by hand. No fun, especially as I get older.

NE Ropes 5/8 8 plait with a WLL of 10,600 lbs. 

I also went ahead and replaced the 3 strand nylon because it was about 10 years old. This let me upgrade to the New England Ropes 8 plait that is far easier to work with and will lay better in the anchor locker. I hear it absorbs shock better, but haven't seen data on that. I use a 5/8 size nylon as recommended.

Tonight I spliced the 8 plait onto the chain and it's all ready to go. Altogether I keep 300' of rode hooked up on Aeolus, which has proven more than ample for even our deeper anchoring spots like Teakerne Arm at 70' depths. That Mantus anchor has never once, not once, in storms, so much has budged, and so even 3:1 has always been sufficient in moderate conditions. In anything resembling storm conditions in typical anchoring depths of 25-40 feet, we can go more than 6:1. And of course our bow roller is top notch and accepts two separate rodes, and I keep a back up anchor and rode aboard for truly horrendous conditions of a sort I have yet to experience despite year round cruising in all weather here in the PNW.

Tumbo Memorial Day--Again!

Where better to go for a Memorial Day than our favorite island? Nowhere better!

I've written so much, so many times, about Tumbo, and am sure there is nothing new I can say about a spot so special. This trip was of a kind. Sunny skies and wild things, great food and family time. Island walks and rope swings. Secluded beaches and sunsets. All one could want.

I'll let the photos tell a few stories:

So much to see! 

NO more picturesque view than Mt. Baker framed by marsh

The rope swing of the Gods

Had to

Cult Priest dons Cult Head Gear. Praise Cult Leader! 

Rocking at the wheel

Isn't every place a voyage on the sea of life? 

Uh, yeah

New Joker Valve for Jabsco Head

The Jabsco head on Aeolus is pretty much original to when I first bought the boat. I have never replaced the joker valve, and the head had been back filling and burping for some years. So I finally got around to the stinky job of replacing that valve and what do I find but hard encrusted scaly unmentionable things caked around the now dried out valve that kept it from closing fully. New valve installed, the area cleaned out, and problem solved. Replace your joker valves every couple years, they are cheap.

Wet escape and Sucia

The boys and I took for what was supposed to be a lengthy adventure into the Gulf Islands and the enjoyment of some of our favorite northern places. However, it's a crap shoot with the weather, and this time we came up short on the rolls.

Starting out on Monday we had grey skies but no deluge, as we headed to Jones for the night. I was really pleased to see two young families on Jones with two sailboats and three or four little rug rats. Always looking for more young people to experience the Salish Sea wilds. At one point we were exchanging pleasantries and they said this was their first time up in the San Juan's from Olympia and asked if I had any suggestions of places to go??????!!!!!!!!!! I shared a few places...

We started with nice weather, but it didn't last. 

The forecast at this point was calling for SE 15-25 and some SE 20-30 in the Straits of Georgia. With this forecast we shied away from going to Tumbo as planned (getting to Tumbo from the San Juan's requires crossing Boundary Pass, which in strong SE winds can be distinctly unpleasant, especially with a strong ebb running, which it was), so we decided to go to Sucia instead. In Shallow Bay there were two other boats, and we had a great afternoon running on the trails and hanging out. Again, the deluge had yet to start, but it was grey and cool. The following morning we did a new hike out to Ewing Cove. The walk there from the head of Echo Bay is about 2.1 according to the park sign, and it goes right along the shoreline and past many lovely Madrone trees and coves.

MLK weekend away to Prevost

Honoring Dr. King with a get away to wilderness may seem like an odd choice, but among the many things he championed, one could argue that the liberty to pursue happiness unimpaired by the dictates of a disapproving populace was high among them. He didn't argue we needed to approve of each other. He argued all people deserved the liberty, freedom and respect, to live a life of their own choosing so long as it brought no harm to others.

From a lofty perch, a place above it all. 

Among our highest choice of preferred liberties is time away from the very civilization that continues to institutionalize hatred, discrimination and prejudice. The owls don't do that, nor the trees. We commune with otters, and listen to the wind. The voices of oystercatchers are our companions and the  whisper of leaves our friends.

The Grandmother Tree-the center of the universe

This weekend we journeyed north to Prevost Harbor as the forecasted winds kept us away from Tumbo. Prevost is a bit less sheltered than Reid as it can receive vessel wakes and NE swells, but it is plenty sheltered enough that no real harm would ever come to you. Our trip there was uneventful, and it is 13 miles from Friday Harbor to Prevost. We encountered some chop in the vortex between Spieden, San Juan, Flat Top and Orcas, as that is a mixing zone for all currents and winds. Otherwise, we were on flat seas.