January 5-10, 2023
Hi All,
Yep we did it. We made a very short trip to Mystic from January 5-10. We got into SFO late Tuesday night about 6 hours before the FAA shutdown…luckily dodged that snafu!!! We originally made this trip short as we thought we might have another trip in a few weeks but unfortunately that trip did not materialize.
So gee John….what did you do in such a short time….well, worked my butt off to be truthful….so here goes…the joy of boat ownership:)))
I take engine coolant and oil samples every year to help spot issues. The Cummins coolant sample came back for the 2nd year with copper…..hmmm, something is corroding??? The level is low but still alarming. Last year the advice was to change the coolant and flush the engine a few times. We did, but still got copper in the sample again last fall. So this year we decided to change the oil cooler (we changed the heat exchanger and aftercooler core about 6 years ago so don’t think it’s those items but we’ve never changed the oil cooler in 19 years).
I thought is was going to be a full 1-day job….oh silly man….it was 2 very long days….ugh!!! The first obstacle was taking off 3 hoses in front of the oil cooler….sounds easy…well, after 3 hours of tugging, cursing, pulling, and more boat speak the last hose came off. Hmmmm…then I spent 2 hours trying to line up the new oil cooler, cover and 2 gaskets….nope not happening….so I called a Seattle mechanic who chortled for a few moments then empathized and gave me the secret trick….you lightly silicone in the 2 gaskets just enough so they hold while you line everything up and insert the 12 bolts. I had some silicone so tried it….nope, evidently not the right stuff as nothing stuck after an hour. Went to ACE to get the right stuff….Ultra Gray silicone and some cleaning brake solvent and after another hour to let it dry I got the dang unit installed on my first try….yea, and how easy once you know…..arghhhhhh!!!
The next day I installed the ornery hoses and started to clean the engine coolant system with Cummins Restore Plus, an acid cleaner to remove corrosion et al. You have to run the engine for ~90 minutes and then let cool. You then drain the water and flush again several times until the water is clean…it took me another 3 flushes for the water to be clean. Then you add the 8 gallons of Fleetguard coolant. Then you clean up the big mess you made…..fun, right…..NOT:))) First day I worked 10 hours, 8am-6pm, then next day 9 hours, 8am – 5pm. AND YES, there were a few wee drams each night:))))
The next morning while waiting for the sun to rise….day break is 8am, sunrise is ~9am but the sun doesn’t clear the mountains until 10am….then the sun sets ~3pm and it’s dark by 4pm…yikers. I vacuumed the water out of the keel….remember the ER bilge leaked into the keel for 19+ years so every 3-4 months I vacuum the keel from the ER bilge and consistently get 40-50 ounces of water. We ran the GEN and Yanmar, no issues…yea….I checked the zincs, all good, polished the fuel, rebalanced the fuel tanks as the Kabola diesel heater is using a lot of fuel as it is dang cold in Sitka now, and changed out a Kabola radiator fan the wasn’t working…..AND then the other biggee, washing Mystic. TG it was sunny Sunday & Monday albeit cold….hi 30’s….the water even froze in the hoses….now that was a 1st:))). It took me 1.5 days to clean all the soot off Mystic. Many of the fishing boats near us use a dry stack exhaust and if it is not clean, it spits out soot….ugh!! If the soot is washed off while it is wet it is pretty easy to clean. But if the soot is walked on or allowed to dry it takes a lot of scrubbing to remove, especially on the deck’s non-skid surface. By the end of the 1st day my knees were saying no mas kneeling…ugh!!
We had hired a boat washer but obviously that did not work out. We have feelers out for another boat washer but I suspect when we return in late April I’ll have another 2-day job…ugh!!!
The good news Mystic was in good shape, the Kabola heater kept her dry and warm, Kathy ran the washer & dryer successfully so all in all a good trip. However, we never went out to do anything fun….I was pretty worn out come quitting time and didn’t want to walk the 1-1.5 miles one way to town to dine out….so we just ordered takeout pizza and Chinese. Kathy did make it to Safeway and bought a chicken so we ate off that as well….we didn’t go hungry:)))
So what else have you guys been doing since you left the boat on Sept 2, 2022….we were gone from Mystic for 125 days…a record for us!!! Well, we did make John’s 50th high school reunion in Overland Park KS….it was a super great time seeing about 15-20 of my closest HS friends, most still lifelong friends, but I was disappointed that I did not recognize more people (the class size was ~750 people and there were ~200 attendees) and when I did recognize some people I had a hard time recalling some of the memories….ugh!!!! In my defense, I did recognize a lot more people in the yearbook, they just did not attend….that’s my story:)))
A week after the reunion I had shoulder rotator cuff surgery….and the recuperation and therapy is about all we did for the next 3 months. Oh….we did attend lots of events at our Trilogy Club…most had some kind of wine theme so we had a very active social life which is a lot of fun….we have great neighbors so as they say Party ON!!!!
In the next few months we have a family ski trip to Tahoe in early February….I am going to try and ski w/our 4 & 6 year old grandkids….whish me luck:))). After that we have a bucket list item in March…..a 3-week trip to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands…it is with Swoop Antarctica. Here is the link if interested:
https://www.swoop-antarctica.com/cruises/south-georgia/discover
Oh, we both got sick mid-December…basically a bad cold…..but John tested positive for Covid (his 1st time) while Kathy continues to test negative…..but she got sick first cries John:))) I did have a fever for a few days (Kathy had no fever) but after that just cold like symptoms. TG we are both vaccinated and boosted so our symptoms were mild!!
Cruising Plans: We hope to cruise further north this summer….Prince William Sound, Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak…..Kathy is especially excited to see the big Brown bears in Kodiak while I want to see more glaciers:))) We will get back to Mystic ~April 20ish, then spend 2-3 weeks getting Mystic ready….have to change out the windshield wiper controls and hopefully install Starlink, plus lots of maintenance, cleaning and provisioning. It’s a long trip and requires some overnighters crossing the Gulf of Alaska so we really have to be ready both physically and mentally…we shall see if we have one more hurrah left in us:)))
That’s it for now!!
Hope is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
