Scott and I took off out of Shearwater as soon as the boat was dropped back into the water around noon on Monday and headed south to Port Hardy. We left there this morning are hurrying to catch a favorable current in Johnstone Straight today. So this is just a quick post to say that we're headed home probably staying closer to the east shore of Vancouver Island, since we saw the west shore of the mainland on the way up.
The fiberglass repair, I dare say, looks better than new. The guy really did a nice job mending the hole through the hull. However, we are still taking on water somewhere, though we don't know exactly where it is all coming from, which make us wish the fiberglass guy had had more sailboat knowledge than he did. There seems to be a dribble coming in around one of the keel bolts, but that doesn't account for how quickly the bilge fills. It seems to be mostly coming from the stern, perhaps around the prop shaft or else the rudder pole. (Forgive my non-nautical terminology.) At any rate, it is enough to make us untrusting of the boat as a whole, but trusting enough to get it home. As long as the bilge pump holds out to emptying the bilge about 2-3 times per day, it will get us home okay, unless something else breaks. It looks like there will still be a lot of work ahead.
The continued leak has us downspirited to the point that we just can't make the sail home be like a whole new trip. That, and the fact that the boat is still grungy inside from the submersion, regardless of any amount of cleaning, makes it hard to keep our spirits high. I'm itching to put on a new coat of varnish on some of the woodwork below to make it shine like it did before, but that will have to wait.
On an up note, the engine seems to be a-okay, and the electrical is more or less okay as well. The new bolt through the transmission lever broke the first time we put it in gear, and now a cotter pin is providing the band-aid. We're babying it, trying to not go into and out of gear much, so our anchors have not been as secure as we'd be comfortable with.
This morning were socked in with fog, having about 400 feet of visibility, and were grateful to the radar for letting us know where other boats were, where they were headed, and how fast they were going. We've been running the engine all morning to catch the current, and motoring just isn't as fun for us as sailing. The good current will run for about 3 hours today and each of the next 2 days, which should get us to the other end of Johnstone Straight, and hopefully back to sailing conditions again.
Looks like Scott is getting the fenders out. We must be nearly to Port McNeill, where I will send this while Scott goes to the store, and we'll be off again as quickly as possible. We're already cutting into our 3-hour window for the current.
Sorry for the delay in getting word out that we're on our way again. We just couldn't stomach giving Shearwater another ten bucks for internet on top of the ten-thousand plus they already have. I'm not sure where we'll stop next. Someplace south, is all I know.
2 comments:
Scott wonders if you can tighten your stuffing box nut enough to cut back on some of the water. Most stuffing boxes will drip 1 drop every 2 to 3 seconds or so in order to lubricate the prop shaft. Do you have a stuffing box wrench to adjust this? Repacking a stuffing box isn't a big deal but if leaks are coming from the keel bolts you might want to get a back up bilge pump as cheap insurance. Scott thinks electrical connections are destined to corrode several months down the road, so when cleaning out your boat you might want to replace your existing electrical connectors with corrosion resistant connectors. Some people have flushed out their boats with fresh water and tapped a hole at the lowest point of the bilge instead of mopping things out by hand to eliminate the salt.
Let us know how we can help.
Mom says, we love you both and will just be glad to have you home safe. Lots of things to celebrate and lots of time for more adventures. You have each other and all of us ... things could always be worse, practice seeing the glass as half full!
We have a dripless shaft seal instead of a conventional stuffing box, and it hasn't ever leaked previously. I'm not even entirely sure how to tighten or refit it, frankly.
We have a spare bilge pump aboard. The rate of the leak isn't that terrible anyway, but it seems like it is coming from three different places, none of which make any sense, and it has me distrusting the entire repair job on the keel. Actually, some of it appears to originate above the hull/keel join which makes no sense whatsoever. I have a feeling we won't have any idea what the problem is until the thing comes out of the water again, if then.
I plan to redo all the wiring that was immersed; fortunately, the main harness runs fore and aft on the port side which was never in the water. The main circuit panel was also spared. All my electrical spares were ruined though so I can't do much about it at the moment.
Well, more in a post tomorrow, now that I have internet again.
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