Roche Harbor is one of our favorite spots, in spite of the strong currents that run through
the harbor often making both anchoring and tying up to the docks a challenging experience. Last July when we motored in to clear Customs, the little harbor was full of anchored boats as well as a haphazard line of motor and sailing vessels waiting to tie up to the Customs Dock. We joined this informal line-up. Ahead of us was a big motor vessel that, blissfully unaware, kept idly backwards into us. Behind us was another 50’ sailboat whose captain was having a very hard time holding position. What needs to be mentioned here is that this meandering line-up crossed the path that the commercial seaplanes used to get to their dock. Thus, every time a plane came in or took off, our line-up had to scatter to give that plane room to maneuver. Feeling a bit squeezed, I suggested to Bill that he might like to take over the helm, but, quoting this as another good learning experience, he refused.
A boat on water does not sit still. Currents pull her, winds push her and even in dead calm, an idling prop crawls her one direction or another. It’s a trick to get her to stay in one place especially when other boats, a mere handsh
ake away, are engaged in the same dance. For well over 45 minutes, we all jockey around out there. Finally, it is Avante’s turn to head into the dock. A boat has finally pulled off the dock leaving roughly a 50’ space open between boats. I slowly ease us up, but there is no way Avante is going to fit into that vacant spot unless I lift her up and place her in like a jigsaw puzzle piece. I have to circle around and hope that the boat behind me does not take my turn. It wisely does not and fortunately another boat leaves the dock giving Avante room to angle in. I pull in close to the dock. Bill jumps off, quickly ties off the line in his hand, but I have misjudged the outward pull of the current from the dock. The bow swings way out. It is a stretch to throw Bill the bowline and a super human effort for him to pull her back in. Bill, not too very pleased with this sterling performance, stomps off to the Customs Shack. Chagrined and stuck on the boat, I watch the sailboat behind us come in. Even with bow thrusters, they do such a miserable job that I have to jump off Avante and give them a hand before they take out Avante in their efforts. I now feel better. I may not have made a smooth landing here, but at least Bill and I did it on our own without half the people on dock helping us. I have discovered that contrary to our experiences in Telluride where no matter how physically good you think you are, there is always someone better, out here on the water, no matter how badly I think I am doing, there usually is someone doing worse. Small consolation, but at least it does offer a way to “save face” if not also some much needed encouragement.
This time, this day, I make a perfect landing at Customs and later gently stop Avante right next to our temporary dock so all Bill has to do is step off the boat with a line. I receive a “well done” from Bill, and that’s enough to make my day!
Roche Harbor is
a popular tourist spot with the Hotel de Haro brightly dominating a commanding harbor view. The Hotel’s gardens are ablaze with lilacs. In the 1800’s, the McMillan family ran a limestone mining operation on the island and for a time was the largest employer in the area. Last fall when we stopped here with Telluride friend, Sally Puff Courtney, and her sister, Barbara Puff, on board, we hiked out to the Afterglow Vista Mausoleum, a final resting place built by father McMillan for himself and his family.
What a strange place! In the middle of the forest stands a circle of columns. Within the circle is a large stone dining table surrounded by chairs with the names of a family member edged onto each back. All kinds of questions arise. Why and what for? Answers are long ago buried with the builder.
Time passes, and the offices of the Limestone operation are now a well-stocked grocery store to which Bill and I head for wine and fish for tonight’s dinner.
Shopping completed, we untie and head across to a
nchor in Reid Harbor. Our favored spot to anchor is below a house whose owners once gave us two very nice crabs just taken out of their crab pots. That was about nine years ago on a bare-boat charter vacation. We offered to pay this nice couple for the crabs, but they assured us that they already had a freezer full of crabs taken from right below their summer home. Wow! A freezer full! Now you can see why “How to Catch Crabs” was so important to me on our trip to Alaska last year. There is a bounty of crabs out here --- somewhere --- just waiting to be caught!
That evening began the first of what was to become a series of quirky system failures that hits us or, more rightly speaking, hits Bill. The reliable Westerbeke Generator is not sending out any AC current. Without power from the generator we have no heat and are limited in electric power use by our battery capacity. This problem is a bit of a surprise as the system had checked out perfectly when Bill had tested it in Canoe Cove. The Captain pulls out the manual for the Generator, but this manual spends 95% of its content covering the diesel engine that powers the generator and says almost nothing about the actual generator. The port aft cabin is pulled apart to access the Generator, and the cumbersome sound dampener that covers the Generator is removed. Tests are made. The Generator is working perfectly except for its refusal to provide AC. Finally, Bill discovers an on/off switch for the Generator output. There’s no mention of it anywhere in the manual. Bill figures that somehow in replacing the thick, heavy noise insulation cover over the Generator back in Canoe Cove that the little switch must have been hit. The switch is turned on. AC is back on line. Bill adds this new item to his schematics of Avante’s systems.
Leaving Reid Harbor, we sail up Rosario Strait to Sucia Island Last fall, with Sally and Barbara Puff on board, the sail up this channel had been exhilarating with high winds and rolling seas.
That’s Sally at the helm.
This time, conditions are balmier and calmer, but there is still plenty of wind to raise the sails.
nchor in Reid Harbor. Our favored spot to anchor is below a house whose owners once gave us two very nice crabs just taken out of their crab pots. That was about nine years ago on a bare-boat charter vacation. We offered to pay this nice couple for the crabs, but they assured us that they already had a freezer full of crabs taken from right below their summer home. Wow! A freezer full! Now you can see why “How to Catch Crabs” was so important to me on our trip to Alaska last year. There is a bounty of crabs out here --- somewhere --- just waiting to be caught!
That evening began the first of what was to become a series of quirky system failures that hits us or, more rightly speaking, hits Bill. The reliable Westerbeke Generator is not sending out any AC current. Without power from the generator we have no heat and are limited in electric power use by our battery capacity. This problem is a bit of a surprise as the system had checked out perfectly when Bill had tested it in Canoe Cove. The Captain pulls out the manual for the Generator, but this manual spends 95% of its content covering the diesel engine that powers the generator and says almost nothing about the actual generator. The port aft cabin is pulled apart to access the Generator, and the cumbersome sound dampener that covers the Generator is removed. Tests are made. The Generator is working perfectly except for its refusal to provide AC. Finally, Bill discovers an on/off switch for the Generator output. There’s no mention of it anywhere in the manual. Bill figures that somehow in replacing the thick, heavy noise insulation cover over the Generator back in Canoe Cove that the little switch must have been hit. The switch is turned on. AC is back on line. Bill adds this new item to his schematics of Avante’s systems.
Leaving Reid Harbor, we sail up Rosario Strait to Sucia Island Last fall, with Sally and Barbara Puff on board, the sail up this channel had been exhilarating with high winds and rolling seas.
That’s Sally at the helm.
This time, conditions are balmier and calmer, but there is still plenty of wind to raise the sails.
Sucia Island is a Marine State Park with some of the most interesting trails in the area. The island is made of sandstone, and along its many beaches are fascinating and dramatic sandstone shapes carved out by the sea and wind. We’ve enjoyed many hikes here in beautiful weather, but with the cold, overcast weather that had blown in by the time we anchored, we decide to stay put on Avante. Looking at our many pictures of island hikes in warmth and comfort is much more inviting and inspiring.
.
.
On Sunday, June 1st, we sail back into Canadian waters, raise our Canadian courtesy flag and clear Customs at Bedwell Harbor on South 
Pender Island. We anchor below a luxury resort with the romantic name of Poet’s Cove. Both of us recall the time 2 years’ ago when Bill shooed me and our son, David, off the boat to go climb Mt. Norman while he dug around and replaced a malfunctioning water pump. I fondly remembered the hike with David while Bill not so fondly recalled his interlude with the water pump. This time, with nothing amiss, I suggest that he should climb Mt. Norman, for the view from the top overlooking the islands is impressive.
We do just that enjoying a wonderful late afternoon cl
imb to the top. We look across the islands toward Sidney and then down toward Turn Point Lighthouse on Stuart Island.
As we sit there taking in the view, a large freighter blows its horn as it approaches this hazardous turn whose blind corner can be dangerous to the casual cruiser. Boundary Pass flows up one side of Stuart Island, and Haro Strait comes up the other where they tumultuously converge just past Turn Point. From our lofty view, we are surprised at how clearly these converging currents show their turbulent waters. They look just as forceful from up here as they are down there riding thru them.
Pender Island. We anchor below a luxury resort with the romantic name of Poet’s Cove. Both of us recall the time 2 years’ ago when Bill shooed me and our son, David, off the boat to go climb Mt. Norman while he dug around and replaced a malfunctioning water pump. I fondly remembered the hike with David while Bill not so fondly recalled his interlude with the water pump. This time, with nothing amiss, I suggest that he should climb Mt. Norman, for the view from the top overlooking the islands is impressive.
We do just that enjoying a wonderful late afternoon cl
imb to the top. We look across the islands toward Sidney and then down toward Turn Point Lighthouse on Stuart Island.
As we sit there taking in the view, a large freighter blows its horn as it approaches this hazardous turn whose blind corner can be dangerous to the casual cruiser. Boundary Pass flows up one side of Stuart Island, and Haro Strait comes up the other where they tumultuously converge just past Turn Point. From our lofty view, we are surprised at how clearly these converging currents show their turbulent waters. They look just as forceful from up here as they are down there riding thru them.
Top left is the freighter. Just about top middle is Turn Point. Running out from there is the line of turbulent current caused by the merging of the two masses of water.
It is so pleasant sitting there in the last of the warm afternoon sun that we are reluctant to h
ead back down Mt. Norman to Avante anchored in the bay. This afternoon will rank up there as one of our nicest in the Gulf Islands. That is --until we return to The Dingbat, and Bill almost breaks the pull cord on the motor trying to start it. It appears to be seriously binding. Not being able to pull out that cord is my frequent wimpy complaint, but when Bill can’t pull it, then I know there’s a problem. Fortunately, he does get it started and we head back to Avante where some tweaks and oil eventually (and simply) resolve this issue.
The next day we head to one of our most favorite island stops – Ganges Harbor on Salt Spring Island. This is where I will do the bulk of my shopping for next 10 days’ journey to and thru Desolation Sound and the Broughton Archipelago. There are also a few other stores I want to visit one last time. I’m ready! On the way in, we drop our crab trap (did you think I had forgotten about this activity?) with high hopes as we see other floating markers of crab traps out there. The wind is up when we anchor and having had some difficulty in the past getting a good set in this harbor, we decide to stay on the boat for a while until the wind drops as expected. When we finally arrive at Mrs. Clean’s Laundromat where the showers are located, we are half an hour before closing. Only one shower is operational, and that is questionable. It seems the coin-operated water meter is broken. But – never fear - they have by-passed the machine. Now the person about to take the shower who is standing there on the wet floor, in his or her all-together, is to press on this wire that then makes the connection that turns on the water. The water runs for about a minute (if you’re lucky) and then stops leaving the showerer, now dripping wet and really standing in water, with no option but to hit this wire again praying all the time that there’s no current connection to be made between that wire and his/her body. I don’t like this set-up at all, but not having much time to spare or much of an option, Bill pulls me into the shower room with him -- and I’m sure we’ve given the three dread-locked kids standing around doing nothing something to talk about for the rest of the day. “You’ll never guess what this old geezer and gal did! In the shower, they went together. Wow, man, groovy.” Or, maybe a la James Bond, we’re two international spies about to trade secrets. Oh, well, let ‘em talk. We take our showers and do not get electrocuted. Bill exits the shower. I follow a stealthy five minutes later. To my disappointment, the dread-locked kids are gone having lost interest in our imagined romantic tryst or potential international plotting. Of course, there is no electric outlet anywhere to plug in my hair dryer so I plant my baseball cap with “Avante” lettering firmly on my wet head and off I go to the grocery store before it, too, closes. Strange the things one will do coming off a boat that one would never do anywhere else ever!
Back on the boat, Bill is bothered by a seeming failure of the batteries to charge as well or as rapidly as expected. He considers that these batteries must be about 8 years old and maybe not charging as newer ones would. We have been mostly sailing these last few days and thus not running the Yanmar Diesel Engine whose job, after turning the propeller, is to charge the batteries. Maybe we just have not been giving the batteries enough charge time. The system bodes watching. In the meantime, we start the Westerbeke Generator and keep it running until the batteries show a full charge.
The next morning a fine rain is falling. We decide that while I do the laundry, Bill is going to get the water maker operational. It is the only system that he has not checked out since the boat was winterized last fall. Upon my return, Bill is deep in the bowels of the port lazarette working on that water maker. Pump runs. Everything seems fine except that he can’t get the suction going. Out comes the manual for that system, and well into the afternoon, we are finally making water. It feels like a hospital post-operation scene. When the patient “makes water”, you may leave. Except we decide not to leave. It’s late, cold and rainy.
Bill has spent more hours this trip at the Nav Station not navigating but rummaging his way thru service manuals.
ead back down Mt. Norman to Avante anchored in the bay. This afternoon will rank up there as one of our nicest in the Gulf Islands. That is --until we return to The Dingbat, and Bill almost breaks the pull cord on the motor trying to start it. It appears to be seriously binding. Not being able to pull out that cord is my frequent wimpy complaint, but when Bill can’t pull it, then I know there’s a problem. Fortunately, he does get it started and we head back to Avante where some tweaks and oil eventually (and simply) resolve this issue.
The next day we head to one of our most favorite island stops – Ganges Harbor on Salt Spring Island. This is where I will do the bulk of my shopping for next 10 days’ journey to and thru Desolation Sound and the Broughton Archipelago. There are also a few other stores I want to visit one last time. I’m ready! On the way in, we drop our crab trap (did you think I had forgotten about this activity?) with high hopes as we see other floating markers of crab traps out there. The wind is up when we anchor and having had some difficulty in the past getting a good set in this harbor, we decide to stay on the boat for a while until the wind drops as expected. When we finally arrive at Mrs. Clean’s Laundromat where the showers are located, we are half an hour before closing. Only one shower is operational, and that is questionable. It seems the coin-operated water meter is broken. But – never fear - they have by-passed the machine. Now the person about to take the shower who is standing there on the wet floor, in his or her all-together, is to press on this wire that then makes the connection that turns on the water. The water runs for about a minute (if you’re lucky) and then stops leaving the showerer, now dripping wet and really standing in water, with no option but to hit this wire again praying all the time that there’s no current connection to be made between that wire and his/her body. I don’t like this set-up at all, but not having much time to spare or much of an option, Bill pulls me into the shower room with him -- and I’m sure we’ve given the three dread-locked kids standing around doing nothing something to talk about for the rest of the day. “You’ll never guess what this old geezer and gal did! In the shower, they went together. Wow, man, groovy.” Or, maybe a la James Bond, we’re two international spies about to trade secrets. Oh, well, let ‘em talk. We take our showers and do not get electrocuted. Bill exits the shower. I follow a stealthy five minutes later. To my disappointment, the dread-locked kids are gone having lost interest in our imagined romantic tryst or potential international plotting. Of course, there is no electric outlet anywhere to plug in my hair dryer so I plant my baseball cap with “Avante” lettering firmly on my wet head and off I go to the grocery store before it, too, closes. Strange the things one will do coming off a boat that one would never do anywhere else ever!
Back on the boat, Bill is bothered by a seeming failure of the batteries to charge as well or as rapidly as expected. He considers that these batteries must be about 8 years old and maybe not charging as newer ones would. We have been mostly sailing these last few days and thus not running the Yanmar Diesel Engine whose job, after turning the propeller, is to charge the batteries. Maybe we just have not been giving the batteries enough charge time. The system bodes watching. In the meantime, we start the Westerbeke Generator and keep it running until the batteries show a full charge.
The next morning a fine rain is falling. We decide that while I do the laundry, Bill is going to get the water maker operational. It is the only system that he has not checked out since the boat was winterized last fall. Upon my return, Bill is deep in the bowels of the port lazarette working on that water maker. Pump runs. Everything seems fine except that he can’t get the suction going. Out comes the manual for that system, and well into the afternoon, we are finally making water. It feels like a hospital post-operation scene. When the patient “makes water”, you may leave. Except we decide not to leave. It’s late, cold and rainy.
Bill has spent more hours this trip at the Nav Station not navigating but rummaging his way thru service manuals.
It is overcast with hardly a breath of wind on Wednesday, June 4th, as we motor out of Ganges Harbor. Just to keep us from becoming too cocky after three days of fine sailing, Mother Nature throws in a series of low fronts coming down from the Gulf of Alaska for the next few days. We pick up our crab trap with great expectancy. This trap has been down there for well over 24 hours. It has got to be full with the bounty of crabs out there. I haul in two beautiful Dungeness Crabs – both female. So back they go into the Great Blue to reproduce as they should. (I do enjoy the fact that in the world of Crabs, male crabs are deemed redundant and expendable.) We console ourselves with the fact that we at least did catch crabs, and that’s a monumental improvement over our first efforts last year. We head back to Canoe Cove.
Now, what I have not mentioned is that though the new sails made by North Sails are up and beautiful, North Sails failed to send us the correct battens for these sails. Battens are these long, flexible shafts that slide into pockets in the sail. They help a sail hold its shape and decrease flutter. North Sails made both the mainsail and its matching battens. Why the wrong battens were sent is beyond me, and, of course, it’s not until the sail is installed on the boat and the battens about to be slid into place that one can see that the sizes are wrong. There are five battens of graduated lengths for the mainsail. Only three fit. One is too short and one is too fat. Out came the cell phone, but it was Memorial Day back in the USA, and businesses were closed. Finally, Bill was able to contact a North Sails service representative at home who explained how North Sails should have trimmed the end of the widest batten to fit the medium size opening. This will require some type of machine tool, but as we are still in a boatyard, Bill leaves with the too fat batten and returns within the hour with it properly trimmed. Easy fix for that batten, but not so for batten #3 which is 16” too short. North Sails promises to express ship the correct size batten the next day. Let’s see – San Diego to Sidney, BC thru Canadian Customs – it’s anybody’s guess as to how long that will take. As it had not arrived by the time we were ready to leave, we decide to take off for our farewell tour around the islands hoping that it will arrive before we head north out of the area. That’s why we’re heading back to Canoe Cove: the batten has finally arrived. We pick up the batten and put it in the sail. It fits and off we go to Montague Harbor on Galiano Island. This will be our last stop before heading north up Trincomali Channel and across the Strait of Georgia to Desolation Sound.
We motor past Montague Harbor to drop the crab trap in a convenient spot to be picked up on our northerly exit tomorrow morning and then head back to anchor in the Harbor. Anchoring accomplished, Bill goes below to begin his end-of-the-day check and notations. To our dismay, he finds that the batteries received absolutely no charge from the Yanmar Engine that had been running for several hours today. That’s not good. The Westerbeke Generator is powered up to charge the batteries, but this is a problem that halts all further journey until resolved. Our primary source of battery charge is not working.
Now begins The First Mate’s course in Basic Boat Mechanics and Electricity. As you may recall from the blog entry, “The Intrepid Mariner”, Physics is not one of my fortes. Well, Basic Boat Mechanics and Electricity ranks right up there with Physics. It takes great effort to stay focused as Bill commences The First Mate’s education. The eyes want to cloud over. The brain wants to wander. The process of absorbing and understa
nding is painful. Finally, I resort to sketching a flow chart of how energy is inputted, transformed and used around the boat. It helps me at first, but Bill’s explanation of the systems keeps on going. Will it stop? There’s too much. One flow chart becomes 2, then 3. Now I’m drawing lines and arrows to connect systems across pages. My comprehension decreases as the number of pages increases. I’m frustrated to tears. This can’t be so hard. Bill, between pity and disbelief, draws up a schematic using one concise page instead of my mess of five.
Now, what I have not mentioned is that though the new sails made by North Sails are up and beautiful, North Sails failed to send us the correct battens for these sails. Battens are these long, flexible shafts that slide into pockets in the sail. They help a sail hold its shape and decrease flutter. North Sails made both the mainsail and its matching battens. Why the wrong battens were sent is beyond me, and, of course, it’s not until the sail is installed on the boat and the battens about to be slid into place that one can see that the sizes are wrong. There are five battens of graduated lengths for the mainsail. Only three fit. One is too short and one is too fat. Out came the cell phone, but it was Memorial Day back in the USA, and businesses were closed. Finally, Bill was able to contact a North Sails service representative at home who explained how North Sails should have trimmed the end of the widest batten to fit the medium size opening. This will require some type of machine tool, but as we are still in a boatyard, Bill leaves with the too fat batten and returns within the hour with it properly trimmed. Easy fix for that batten, but not so for batten #3 which is 16” too short. North Sails promises to express ship the correct size batten the next day. Let’s see – San Diego to Sidney, BC thru Canadian Customs – it’s anybody’s guess as to how long that will take. As it had not arrived by the time we were ready to leave, we decide to take off for our farewell tour around the islands hoping that it will arrive before we head north out of the area. That’s why we’re heading back to Canoe Cove: the batten has finally arrived. We pick up the batten and put it in the sail. It fits and off we go to Montague Harbor on Galiano Island. This will be our last stop before heading north up Trincomali Channel and across the Strait of Georgia to Desolation Sound.
We motor past Montague Harbor to drop the crab trap in a convenient spot to be picked up on our northerly exit tomorrow morning and then head back to anchor in the Harbor. Anchoring accomplished, Bill goes below to begin his end-of-the-day check and notations. To our dismay, he finds that the batteries received absolutely no charge from the Yanmar Engine that had been running for several hours today. That’s not good. The Westerbeke Generator is powered up to charge the batteries, but this is a problem that halts all further journey until resolved. Our primary source of battery charge is not working.
Now begins The First Mate’s course in Basic Boat Mechanics and Electricity. As you may recall from the blog entry, “The Intrepid Mariner”, Physics is not one of my fortes. Well, Basic Boat Mechanics and Electricity ranks right up there with Physics. It takes great effort to stay focused as Bill commences The First Mate’s education. The eyes want to cloud over. The brain wants to wander. The process of absorbing and understa
nding is painful. Finally, I resort to sketching a flow chart of how energy is inputted, transformed and used around the boat. It helps me at first, but Bill’s explanation of the systems keeps on going. Will it stop? There’s too much. One flow chart becomes 2, then 3. Now I’m drawing lines and arrows to connect systems across pages. My comprehension decreases as the number of pages increases. I’m frustrated to tears. This can’t be so hard. Bill, between pity and disbelief, draws up a schematic using one concise page instead of my mess of five. Avante’s creature comforts are sophisticated. Of her many power-hungry systems, we have heating/air conditioning, a microwave, AC outlets, surround sound with a flat screen TV and CD/DVD player as well as water heater, refrigerator/freezer, water maker, auto pilot, radar and (most important) the Cappuccino machine. There are 3 sources of electric power available. The easiest to understand from my perspective is shore power. Plug it in -- 120 volts AC -- right there on the dock. It feeds all the systems requiring 120v AC. It also sends current to the Inverter that cleverly thru a maze of arcane electronics stuff inverts the 120v AC to 12v DC. This 12v DC output feeds or recharges a bank of big batteries. These batteries provide power for all the 12v systems on the boat like lights, radios, navigation equipment, water pumps, refrigeration, the cigarette lighter type outlets, vacuflush toilets, and the very critical Bilge Pumps. Unfortunately, shore power is only available when we are tied up to a dock in a mariner that offers shore power.
A second source of power is the Westerbeke Generator, a bit of a confusing misnomer in itself. The Westerbeke is both a Diesel Engine and a Generator. An engine on its own doesn’t create electricity. An engine turns things, and this engine’s sole job is to turn the Generator. This Generator is one that produces 120v AC current, just like shore power, except that we can use it while cruising to charge up the batteries and produce heat in the morning.
A third source of electric power is the Yanmar Diesel Engine, a big, hulking monster that lives behind the companionway steps. It has 4 jobs to do: 1. Turn the shaft that in turn rotates the propeller to move the boat 2. Heat the water in the water tank located under our bunk 3. Charge the small, but very important, engine battery that starts both the Yanmar and the Westerbeke and 4. Charge the 12 V bank of batteries. Like the Westerbeke, the Yanmar is only an engine unable on its own to produce current. Our lucky little Yanmar has two Alternators (a type of generator). As opposed to the Generator on the Westerbeke that puts out 120v AC, these two Alternators put out 12v DC. One Alternator solely charges the small engine starter battery. The second Alternator charges the bank of batteries. Additionally, each Alternator has a Voltage Regulator in line with it. The Voltage Regulator monitors the charge on the batteries and tells its Alternator to get producing when the batteries need charging. Does all that make sense? Not to me unless I have my schematic in front of me.
Sue’s personal Electrical Schematic, color coded, and about as easy to read as these things can possibly be.
A second source of power is the Westerbeke Generator, a bit of a confusing misnomer in itself. The Westerbeke is both a Diesel Engine and a Generator. An engine on its own doesn’t create electricity. An engine turns things, and this engine’s sole job is to turn the Generator. This Generator is one that produces 120v AC current, just like shore power, except that we can use it while cruising to charge up the batteries and produce heat in the morning.
A third source of electric power is the Yanmar Diesel Engine, a big, hulking monster that lives behind the companionway steps. It has 4 jobs to do: 1. Turn the shaft that in turn rotates the propeller to move the boat 2. Heat the water in the water tank located under our bunk 3. Charge the small, but very important, engine battery that starts both the Yanmar and the Westerbeke and 4. Charge the 12 V bank of batteries. Like the Westerbeke, the Yanmar is only an engine unable on its own to produce current. Our lucky little Yanmar has two Alternators (a type of generator). As opposed to the Generator on the Westerbeke that puts out 120v AC, these two Alternators put out 12v DC. One Alternator solely charges the small engine starter battery. The second Alternator charges the bank of batteries. Additionally, each Alternator has a Voltage Regulator in line with it. The Voltage Regulator monitors the charge on the batteries and tells its Alternator to get producing when the batteries need charging. Does all that make sense? Not to me unless I have my schematic in front of me.
Sue’s personal Electrical Schematic, color coded, and about as easy to read as these things can possibly be.
The reason I went thru all this is so the non-mechanical and non-electrical of my blog readers will be able to appreciate and understand how critical our problem is. On our power hungry boat, one of our sources of battery charge (the Yanmar Engine) is not working. That does leave us with 2 other options (shore power and the Westerbeke Generator), but by heading north to Desolation Sound and the Broughton Archipelago, we will be sailing into an area with few marinas where we can plug into shore power. We will be remote and on our own. Thus, not being able to count on shore power to recharge those batteries means we will be relying on only one power source – the Westerbeke. There is no backup. Taking off with this handicap is just not acceptable. Imagine if the Westerbeke were to fail on the desolate west coast of Vancouver. No lights, radios, navigation, water or toilets!!
We know only that somewhere between the Yanmar Diesel Engine and the batteries lies our malfunction. Bill spends the rest of the evening and all of the next day until 8:30pm working and quietly cursing. The cabin is torn apart. Floorboar
ds are uprooted. It’s a disaster zone. The First Mate is told to just stay out of the way, and I do so by roosting in the owners’ cabin quietly occupied with my own concerns. It takes quite a while for Bill to find the Voltage Regulators. They are demonically tucked up into a recessed dark corner. In the process, he finds an even better hidden group of fuses. One is broken. Having a spare for almost everything, Bill quickly replaces it hoping that maybe this fix will solve the problem. But that would have been too easy. It does not. The Voltage Regulators check out to be doing their jobs. The one Alternator that charges the small engine-starting battery proves to be working. Thru this process of potential problem elimination, the culprit is unearthed. It is the Alternator that charges the main battery bank. Amazingly, we do have a spare Alternator onboard. Taking out the malfunctioning one is not easy, as Bill has to physically disconnect all the batteries, which requ
ires pulling up lots more floorboards. However, putting in the spare is worse. It is slightly too wide to fit into the mounting brackets. Bill crams and wedges it in only to find out that the pulleys on the spare Alternator are larger than on the malfunctioning Alternator. This meansg that the belts will not fit. Now the spare has to be removed, and the malfunctioning Alternator put back in even though it is capable of doing nada. At least we know where we stand or, perhaps I should say, where we are going ---- back to Canoe Cove for repairs.
The next day would be Friday, June 6th, and we know that by the time we motor back to Canoe Cove, it will be too late to get much done. All services are closed over the weekend. Over a family tete a tete at dinner, we decide to spend the weekend cruising around some of the Gulf Islands that we have not had an opportunity to visit. Sunday evening Avante will be anchored close to Canoe Cove so we can easily motor in early Monday.
The next morning, Bill calls Canoe Cove to alert them of our situation, and they promise to have their best man ready to come on board as soon as we arrive. How long the fix will take is anybody’s guess. A day or two? Hopefully.
Looking on the bright side of things as one must, there are several somewhat positive comments we can make about this predicament.
1. The Captain now knows more about the Mechanical and Electrical set up of Avante than ever before. He, too, has drawn up schematics. Some day out there off Bora Bora or some other remote place, it will be good to have this information at his fingertips.
We know only that somewhere between the Yanmar Diesel Engine and the batteries lies our malfunction. Bill spends the rest of the evening and all of the next day until 8:30pm working and quietly cursing. The cabin is torn apart. Floorboar
ds are uprooted. It’s a disaster zone. The First Mate is told to just stay out of the way, and I do so by roosting in the owners’ cabin quietly occupied with my own concerns. It takes quite a while for Bill to find the Voltage Regulators. They are demonically tucked up into a recessed dark corner. In the process, he finds an even better hidden group of fuses. One is broken. Having a spare for almost everything, Bill quickly replaces it hoping that maybe this fix will solve the problem. But that would have been too easy. It does not. The Voltage Regulators check out to be doing their jobs. The one Alternator that charges the small engine-starting battery proves to be working. Thru this process of potential problem elimination, the culprit is unearthed. It is the Alternator that charges the main battery bank. Amazingly, we do have a spare Alternator onboard. Taking out the malfunctioning one is not easy, as Bill has to physically disconnect all the batteries, which requ
ires pulling up lots more floorboards. However, putting in the spare is worse. It is slightly too wide to fit into the mounting brackets. Bill crams and wedges it in only to find out that the pulleys on the spare Alternator are larger than on the malfunctioning Alternator. This meansg that the belts will not fit. Now the spare has to be removed, and the malfunctioning Alternator put back in even though it is capable of doing nada. At least we know where we stand or, perhaps I should say, where we are going ---- back to Canoe Cove for repairs.
The next day would be Friday, June 6th, and we know that by the time we motor back to Canoe Cove, it will be too late to get much done. All services are closed over the weekend. Over a family tete a tete at dinner, we decide to spend the weekend cruising around some of the Gulf Islands that we have not had an opportunity to visit. Sunday evening Avante will be anchored close to Canoe Cove so we can easily motor in early Monday.
The next morning, Bill calls Canoe Cove to alert them of our situation, and they promise to have their best man ready to come on board as soon as we arrive. How long the fix will take is anybody’s guess. A day or two? Hopefully.
Looking on the bright side of things as one must, there are several somewhat positive comments we can make about this predicament.
1. The Captain now knows more about the Mechanical and Electrical set up of Avante than ever before. He, too, has drawn up schematics. Some day out there off Bora Bora or some other remote place, it will be good to have this information at his fingertips.
2. The First Mate, too, now knows more about the Mechanical and Electrical doings of Avante than ever before. She can understand the lingo and nod/sigh knowingly at appropriate spots in any conversation regarding such doings.
3. Our crab pot has been down all this time. It will be full!
3. Our crab pot has been down all this time. It will be full!
4. We have not missed anything by being stalled these last several days. It has done nothing but rain with the exception of occasional clearing in the early evening. The weather has got to be better when we restart this adventure!
5. When we return to Canoe Cove, I will be able to drive over to the Safeway, grab a Starbucks’ Latte in this bastion of civilization, and post this blog.
6. The Captain and First Mate are still talking and marital bliss continues.
5. When we return to Canoe Cove, I will be able to drive over to the Safeway, grab a Starbucks’ Latte in this bastion of civilization, and post this blog.
6. The Captain and First Mate are still talking and marital bliss continues.
1 comment:
Sue and Bill,
I love the adventure - Sue, you are quite the writer! Hugs, Barb M
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