Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island.


The shakedown cruise is going pretty well, and we are happy campers. There have been a few problems, but this was only to be expected as Lone wolf has been out of the water for so long. This morning in Echo Bay on Sucia Island where we spent the night at anchor,(see pic) the 20kw Northern Lights genset would not run. After much head scratching, and a call to Scott Blair, the 'diesel whisperer' at La Conner Maritime, it turned out that one of the relays had worked itself loose through vibration and had actually fallen out!
The powerful hydraulic anchor wash system, worked a treat, pumping vast quantities of salt water from the sea and spraying the anchor with great force. We have tested almost all the systems on board; There are still a few problems with the stabilizers, but they are starting to behave themselves. I will still see the American Bow Thruster rep when he's around, because they are not yet perfect...
There are some minor problems with the electronics, and the stove top, and there doesn't appear to be any way of easily de-misting the pilothouse windows. More seriously, it was not really possible to deploy the flopperstoppers (only for use at anchor on the 62) correctly, because they couldn't be lowered to the correct angle with the support cables taut, without the rigging coming into contact with and chafing the sides of the (optional) canvas sunshade. I will put this to the owners website, but there can be no answer except an engineering fix.
Here in Friday Harbor there is another 62, Undine, and back in Anacortes, yet another, Autumn Wind. I also spotted another last year, Giraffe, from Vancouver. There are only around 37 of them so I'm quite surprised to have seen three others, but I suppose this is trawler country. Friday Harbor is just a stone's throw from the Canadian border, and is worth a wander, but it looks a bit dead at this time of year, and the nightlife in Bangkok is possibly better.


9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update Ned...

    By far the best people to help you correct some of those problems is Howard at North Harbor in Anacortes...

    Stay away from Cap Sante Marine..!

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  2. Ned....btw, ya have a plan in place for when ya come in contact with pirates... !

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  3. I think I remember him saying they sell machine guns in Anacortes!!!! I have friends that did part of the around the world trip on Zopilote (Delta 70) 1990-93. They had AR15's and the crew was trained in how to use them. And you do not invite ANYONE aboard in a remote location.

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  4. Chris... speaking of Delta 70's, that mold is sitting over on MJB's property in Anacortes...along with most all the ole Delta molds

    Amazing that Jack & Ivor have kept them around this long...

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  5. I crewed/towed on a flat bottom boat (E500) back in the early 1970 and knew the Jones.

    Chris

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  6. And...with their own two 58's they fished Puget Sound and owned that little processing plant on the Anacortes waterfront just west of the Guemes ferry terminal

    There was a third brother, Steve...he built the Starfire flat-bottom race boats

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  7. Pirates? A tricky one that- I don't actually have guns, but I think about this issue quite a lot. The best protection would seem to be to avoid well-known trouble spots...

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  8. There is a thread going right now on Nordhavn Dreamers on piracy.

    Ned did you get the AIS reprogrammed to put out "Yacht" in place of "Fishing" and correct the lenght and beam statements?

    Chris

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  9. Shouldn't be any pirates between Anacortes and Dana Point...

    so...you'll have time to install a cannon way out on your front deck prior to heading anywhere else.. !

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