Thawing Out from the Winter

4/24/12

Sea lion buddy looking for handouts

I'm sitting in Blue Bossa at the port of Petersburg, listening to my sea lion buddy snurf and sputter near the transom of my boat looking for fish.  He is as easily big as the local Santa Cruz harbor sea lion, and just as fat and happy.  But unlike California sea lions, he doesn't bark. Just makes a lot of funny noises.  The sun is shining through the rain clouds, the rain being intermittent today, while yesterday (Sunday) it was totally sunny. I spent a good time yesterday walking the streets of Petersburg and along the shoreline, enjoying the view and stretching out my legs.  There's nothing nicer than Alaska with sunshine.

Super low tide and beautiful day at Petersburg

Petersburg is a much more "civilized" town than Wrangell.  It is known as "Alaska's Little Norway" and has a ton of history starting with a bunch of Norwegians starting the town in 1910.  There are lots of buildings that are built with a certain northern European flare, and plenty of things, such as Norwegian flags and even a mini-viking ship on display to remind everyone that. All aspects of Petersburg has been oriented towards the fishing industry, with a couple of big processing plants in the town, and a huge fishing fleet.  I stopped briefly at Petersburg last year, but didn't get a chance to really know it.  The reason why I'm in Petersburg now is to solve a couple of issues on my boat, but I'm also happy to explore a bit more of this small town. I may even rent a car to explore the island later this week.

Petersburg's huge fishing fleet, waiting for the season to start

Petersburg's Viking ship (boat)

Petersburg looking north

The local Coast Guard

An unwrapped Blue Bossa (cover off)

Wrangell - my storage was at the blue arrowhead towards the bottom

So lets go back a couple of weeks:  I landed in Wrangell after having spent the last 6 months in "The Lower 48", spending most of my time in Santa Cruz, where I happily played a lot of music with lots of gigs and enjoyed the mostly sunny weather.  But by the time April came around, I was feeling antsy and ready to get back on Blue Bossa. During those winter months, I had a guy checking on the boat once a week to make sure that the boat cover was still on, that all of the fans and air-dryer heaters were working, that the boat was nice and dry, and that the bilges were empty. He mentioned that often he would have to go around the boat to push the snow or rain water out of the pockets of the saggy boat cover, but, other than that, there were no issues.  When I arrived in Wrangell, the town was right in the throes of reconstruction of their entire main street in the middle of town, making it dusty, noisy and irritating.  I'm sure, to the shops along the street, it has been hell. 

About to get hoisted out of the water

Wrangell is a quirky town and reminds me of a typical Mexican village, with it's run-down looking shops, dirt streets, and, when it's not raining, dust all over the place.  I'm sure when they get the street completed (exasperated folks are telling me that it'll never get completed), it will be a much better looking town.  Shops (including the market) all close on Sundays, and the Harbor Master's office is closed both Saturday and Sunday. It's not a strong work ethic, but the people are pretty friendly.

The guy controlling this contraption has the green shirt

Easy does it...

Pressure washing the bottom

Perched on stands

Get on board by the two ladders

No zinc!

The first thing I did was to get the boat hauled out.  Since the boat yard is city-owned (along with all of the marinas), I mostly dealt with the harbor master who is responsible for hauling out boats, mounting them on stands, and then launching them back in the water when the jobs are done. To get any labor done, I contracted out to a local service agent, who got the necessary manpower to spray off the gunk on the bottom, to tape off the boat, and then to spray on the new bottom coat.  I had purchased 3 gallons of bottom paint from West Marine, but found that I needed another gallon.  The first 3 gallons were a light blue, and the only bottom paint that I found that matched the




















contents of the 3 gallons was the color of brick red.  So I ended up with a gunmetal blue bottom, which looked kind of cool.  I also found, to my consternation, that the zincs, fastened to the transom of my boat, had almost completely dissolved. A zinc, for those who don't know, is used to "sacrifice" itself from metal-eating electrolysis, caused by being in a saline solution (salt water) with two or more dissimilar metals, causing the weaker metal to start falling apart. Luckily, this mishap had not caused any corrosion that I could see, so I replaced the zincs. 

All clean, taped and covered for the bottom spray job

I also had the pleasure to put some epoxy "SplashZone" on the bottom of my keel where I had run into some rocks last year.  The stuff is super sticky and hard to work with unless you have some water to mix the 2-part stuff with...you mix it with your hands and it's like Play Dough.  With water you smooth it out and then let it dry.  Once it's dry, it's harder than steel, and just about as hard to sand.  Really good stuff!

A word about the Wrangell boatyard: this boatyard is the biggest and best yard in the panhandle, so a lot of fishing boats from all over come to get hauled out.  It has become so popular that a good chunk of the Wrangell economy is based on the boat yard. The city is investing in another travel-lift.  The one they have can lift boats up to 150 tons.  The one they'll get next year will handle 250 tons.  To give you an idea of size, my boat weighs 11 tons. The operator of the lift (who could control it with a remote control device slung around his neck), figures that they'll be able to haul out boats up to 150' long or more.  Since the boatyard is so popular, it took me almost a week to get everything done that I needed done while it was out, because everyone was so busy.

Spray painting the custom-colored bottom paint

Once I was back in the water (thankfully no mishaps or accidents), I spent a good week de-winterizing the boat, putting the jib back on, moving the dinghy and outboard on the davits, putting the paddle board and kayak back in their rightful spots.  Then I got into some mechanics by replacing the water heater and waste tank macerator, both jobs requiring yoga-style contortions to get into the tight places, something my old and out-of-shape body has a hard time doing.  Nonetheless, it got done and it all works fine; it's nice to have some hot water on demand. However, my navigation instruments (speed, depth, windspeed, and, most important, autopilot), which are all connected as a network, refused to work, even after exploring the boat's electrical system, which is very complicated.  I decided that I needed some professional help and found that Petersburg had a few businesses that could help. 

Wrangell Narrows

I figured I better haul-ass to Petersburg before a big front was suppose to land the next day, so I took off, planning on timing the tides so that I could get through the Wrangell Narrows without bucking against any current.  I ended up about an hour and a half late at the entrance, but, as it turned out, I couldn't have timed it more perfectly, and by the time I was in Petersburg by 3pm, the sun was out and shining.  I was guided easily through the Wrangell narrows with the help of a great buoy system marking the channels, and the use of my GPS map in my computer.  I didn't need a depth sounder, though I would have felt more secure with one on.

So now I've located a guy to work on my instruments and we have been able to find that it was caused by a corroded link cable in the cockpit, which the tech has ordered from B & G in the east coast.  Hopefully he'll get it soon and we can install it. I also dropped off my Honda outboard to a service repair center for servicing, cleaning it up, and trying to find out why the damn thing isn't working.  It's probably because of a corroded wire somewhere in it's complicated insides.

Oh well, such are boats, a hole in the water to pour money.  And effort.  And time.  And lots of thought.

Going north in Wrangell Narrows