Captain’s Log: Work is Done; Now What???

May 10 – May 30

Hi All,

Yes, we did it…..project work on Mystic is almost done:)))) But, that leads to the question, “now what???” More on that later…..

We left Port Angeles on Thursday May 28 for a 37nm passage to Reid Harbor on Stuart Island in the San Juan Islands. It was a very calm, trawler weather run across Juan de Fuca and Haro Straits, albeit very slow…avg 6.0 kts, had a 2-3kt foul current!! It was so calm we saw 100+ small boats fishing for halibut (opens every other day in June).

My attitude still sucks….Kathy’s is much better. We are hoping getting all these projects done might help me relax and get back my enthusiasm. I mean in my defense, what was supposed to be 4-5 months of project work has stretched out to 8 months….since last Oct 1 to end of May…..that’s a really, really long time to do boat projects!!! But, the State of Washington has crushed what little enthusiasm I had. Erik, the Harbormaster in PA, knew of my love for fishing and kept me informed of the ever changing fishing regulations. Hey, John…..good news, Halibut is opening, and prawning is open for certain days in June and maybe crabbing in July. Wow….my attitude quickly changed, I had something pleasurable to do…..the next day in the rain, I walked the 2 miles (and 2 miles back, both ways up hill:)))) to the local store, bought various baits and went to get my fishing license. Yep, WA crushed it….they had suspended all nonresident fishing licenses to discourage travel during the Covid-19 crisis….whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Now I sit in Reid Harbor and watch all the guys in their dinghies go out and fish and prawn:(((….life for me is an Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Yes, I know….we, our families and friends are all healthy so quit your whining and get your big boy pants on….ok, I say that about 100 times a day!!!!! We did have a quiet but good Mother’s Day celebration….all the kids called and grandkids danced and sang for Kathy…very uplifting. A few days later I quietly celebrated my birthday….#66….again a good day until the BBQ broke later that night:)))) Then we quietly celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary….of course, Kathy counts boat years like dog years so we have been married 134 people years:))))

So….what have we been doing for the past 3 weeks in Port Angeles:

FLYBIDGE ENLSOURE: done and we love it!!! I’ll post some pictures!!!
SWIM TRANSOM STAPLES: installed by Platypus….great job aligning!!! Sure makes getting onto/off the transom sooooo much easier…Kathy is very happy!!!
NOBELTEC: Installed Time Zero Pro and installed new Intel NUC PC….actually it was pretty much plug and play. Of course, Greg over the phone walked me through everything:)))
BALMAR ALTERNATOR: Hmmmm…..on the way to Reid Harbor it stops working….another trip to ER and I discover the Max Regulator not working…WTH….do some tracing and find the 10amp fuse is loose or maybe the fuse holder is bad….reconnect and it works for about an hour….so I just change to a new fuse and it works the rest of the time…go figure!!
ENGINE ROOM CAMERAS: Installed both forward and aft cameras. And, they stayed on the entire run to Reid Harbor…yea!!

We had one of those days on 5/14….this is when my attitude really went south. Trouble always comes in three’s…right!!! So, I’m up on the FB fixing the BBQ…the previous night the forward valve froze, breaking the control knob as I tried to turn it off, then when I took off the aft knob to use it also broke…now 2 broken knobs and 1 frozen valve. We do have a spare valve so got that changed, super glued and used hose clamps on both knobs….looking good I smile to myself….go to put it all back together and the aft copper tube going to the propane tank breaks….WTH….I didn’t even touch that pipe….ODG. So, 2 hours later trying to fix, I give up, call Karl at Platypus to see if they have a plumber….he says not too worry, he will come by after work with a flange tool and we’ll get it fixed….which he did and all is good!!!

But, in the midst of all that, Kathy tells me we have no hot water….WTH. Sure enough, the Kabola diesel heater is not working. We have a B-tap which heats the water…much like a tankless water heater. A quick call to Jeff at YSNW and we go through various problem solving and conclude we might have a bad PC board….ugh….which means we will need a new burner and controls as our unit is too old and no replacement parts….like $5k…..arghhhhhhh!!!!. So what to do about heat and hot water in the meantime as Jeff tells us the parts are in Europe and with no air travel will have to ship…could be a month or two:(((( So, turn on electrical hot water tank and it works…yea. Turn on HVAC Cruise Air for heat and nothing….we haven’t used the system in over 2 years. Seawater cooling motor not turning….give it the old hammer knock…voila, it turns, but wait….a loud boom and seawater goes all over the engine room…John’s yelling turn the “frickin pump off”, Kathy is scrambling to turn it off…..I’m soaked and reduced to muttering. Turns out the SS manifold that splits the cooling water to the forward and aft compressors has corroded out….ugh. A quick call to Karl again and he says no problem….I’ll order some parts from Fisheries, get them in the am and send Jared down tomorrow to help install….in the meantime I had after 2 hours of knuckle scraping effort removed said frickin manifold from behind the fuel tank sound panels with about 6″ clearance above the fuel tanks….who installs a manifold where it is almost impossible to get your hands inside let alone a ratchet or wrench….now you are getting a taste of my sucky attitude!!!!! So after sorting through all our plumbing parts I’m able to cobble some parts together to get the aft (upstairs) compressor to work and we have heat in the PH and Salon….ok, we can live with that for a night or 2. Now it is 6pm….I’ve been working since 9am….no lunch et al….I’m a beaten man….mucho wee drams por favor!!!!

The next morning Jared shows up with parts….he agrees about relocating the manifold as he can’t get his hands inside and he sees my scabbed knuckles….he leaves to get one more part but soon back and we get it all installed. Now we have heat down below as well.

We sent Costica at Kabola the questionable PC board to test. He calls a week later and says the board is good…yea!!! He has me do some more problem solving and I discover a burnt plug. He and Jeff say this is common and most likely due to low voltage. Hmmmm, but we have a voltage regulator to prevent this. So, back in the engine room I go to take apart the various electrical boxes and take more readings….all are good….now that sounds easy but it requires to remove a bunch of stuff et al….like a 2 hour job….more cold yoga!!!! We get the PC board and new plug back, I install and voila we have our precious Kabola back up and running…..more wee drams please!!!!

So what took Platypus over 3 weeks to get the cockpit doors and staples done….like maybe a week of work….well, it was the dang cup holders on the FB. These are varnished and allow you to set drinks inside…very convenient and cute, we have two. Well, we forgot to have them done last Oct and they are very very worn. Turns out there is something in the wood….we found out they are not teak….but a thick teak laminate over plywood….WTH….why would Howard go cheap on something small like this. Platypus must have redone the holders 3-4 times. White bubbles would come out of the wood and rise to the surface of the Awlgrip Awlwood paint…WTH….we finally said no mas, just put a satin finish and be done. And good for Platypus, they only charged us the agreed to price!!!!

Dinghy: ODG, what a saga. We were supposed to have the dinghy around the 1st of April. Well, it is still sitting in a warehouse in Fort Lauderdale. We hope we are being told the truth but due to Covid and maybe some shipping issues it is still there….like for over 2 months. Supposedly Guyer has a trusted truck lined up and maybe, maybe we will get the dinghy late June…..ugh!!!! He did offer to refund our deposit and forget the whole deal but then we would have to start the dinghy search all over again….we opted to wait some more…ugh!!!!

The Plan: we have none….just sitting at anchor, NOT fishing, waiting on the dinghy…but at least we are not paying double moorage….we have written Port of Sidney to let us out of our lease as we can’t cross the Canadian border (closed until 6/21 but odds are much longer) but have not heard back…ugh!!!!

One other piece of news is we did postpone our August African Safari until 2021. Natural Habitat has been wonderful to work with. All the trips in June and July have already been canceled and the odds are so will the trips in Aug and Sept. The virus is now raging through most of Africa and it doesn’t look good for the continent with inadequate health services. There is a bit of financial pain as our trip insurance does not cover “pandemics” but Nat Hab is pitching in to reduce the pain!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon

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