Monday, June 23, 2014

Gig Harbor

I got to Gig Harbor at 1630hrs and got the last spot on the dock. Hurrah. I met my ole Army friends for Mexican food and took an early to bed request from my body. The docks were busy as usual and I met some really interesting people. I met Jon Richards as he was biking and noticed Shatoosh. He and his wife always sees Albins while they are boating so he came aboard to look. He stated he was bringing his boat on Sunday and would stop by.

Pashmina and I took a row around the harbor Sunday morning. I met Georgia for lunch and then went back to do some chores but the boat traffic kept me busy. Then Deborah came to visit and meet Shatoosh. The Richards came so we had a nice tour of their aluminum dive and photography boat. Jon takes some unbelievable photos. They dive at night as well. Wow. Monday morning I ran across them fishing. What a pleasure to meet them.























Deborah and I walked to end of the harbor and ate at the Thai restaurant for dinner and discovered this sweet beach called Mussel Beach. 3 stone clams. It was delightful to get to know Deborah as we have just met at a conference in May. What a nice day meeting new people. Again I fell asleep at 9 pm.

As I approached the Foss Waterway on the way home I picked up a Channel 16 report that a Captain had fallen overboard in Elliott Bay. His vessel continued under auto pilot and rescue boats were being sent to retrieve the man and the boat. The ferries had been alerted. I did not hear the final results.

Tacoma Women's Sailing Association TWSA to Dockton

Saturday morning I made my way down to the launching ramps at Point Defiance to pick up Georgia, Laurel and Ann.























We had a wonderful time and I was so busy showing off Shatoosh, letting folks ride in Pashmina, getting donations for the Peter Puget Memorial Project that I did not take any pictures. I met lots of new people in TWSA. Georgia, Laurel and Ann can be invited back again. After I dropped them back at the launching ramp I made my way to Gig Harbor to meet friends for dinner. I got a phone call to see my location as one of the members engine had died. I hope she got back ok. I'm sorry I was out of the area as we love to tow.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Oil Dipstick Transmission

The other day my handle to my oil dipstick broke off while screwing it back into the transmission. I carefully super-glued the handle on and waited for it to get a grip on itself. Then there was room for me to secure the handle neck with a pair of pliers. I paused, did Reiki on the connection and with a gentle turn she loosened so I could slowly unscrew it. In went the new dip stick. All is well.

old one on left new one on right
embedded oil stick

Monday, June 9, 2014

June Maintenance

This is the year of battery replacements. I always dread this, as it is drudgery. After 3 days of wrestling them in and out of the boat, up and down the dock ramps, in and out of the car at the battery store, and then reversing the process for 3 batteries my biceps are sore, my back has been stretched to the limit and even though I am older it seemed easier to get it all done.

There are always surprises and this year there were some that torqued my mind into maizes wondering how I was going to get myself out of the situation. But as usual, people popped up from strange places to bring order to chaos.

I have owned Shatoosh since December 1999. I have lived with the belief system that the starter battery was hooked to switch number 1 and the house batteries were hooked to switch 2. In hooking them up again it became clear that information  was not true. My batteries were wired to the switch with the starter battery being number 2 and the house batteries were wired to number 1. This means for 14 + years I have started my engine on the house batteries and ran all my house items off my starter battery. How did I not know this? This is the third time I have changed out my batteries and I am just learning this! I went to my original diagram that I made when I bought Shatoosh. This shows how each battery is connected and wired. I use it to follow when I hook the batteries back up. I realized that I have never really looked at the switch wiring and there it clearly stated the engine starter battery was hooked to #2 switch and the house batteries were hooked to #1 switch. Oh boy, I am surprised that I never ran into any load issues.























The other issue was I discovered a loose connection on an espar heater connector. I found my way to a local auto store and they did not have a part but another one did. The man standing next to  me said he lived close by and he could hook up the new connector in his shop. In minutes he had me back on track.

 The next day I checked the transmission oil and it was fine, but as I was screwing the dipstick into place it broke off at the neck of the handle( made from plastic). Now I am waiting for a new dipstick to come from Seattle and will need to extricate the remaining dipstick from its inner cave.






The diesel mechanic came to change the oil, filters and salt water impeller and was instrumental in sorting out the wiring problems. The diesel I had bought the previous day to fill the fuel filter turned out to be gas. Gads can this project get any more distorted. Well,  this has been quite a long weekend, but lots got done in addition to all the above. The guys on my dock are so great and helpful all the time. Thanks for all the people who just happen to show up and help me get out of tight situations.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Another First

I've been working on Shatoosh on and off in May to get her ship-shape, but today was Pashmina's turn.
I took her up the Foss Waterway to an old dock at the fish market. No one was there, the skies blue and the the wind was less than a  knot.

This will be the first time for me to take Pashmina off the hardtop by myself. Everything went well. EZ PZ Done.

Kenmore Airlines Flying in and out of Tacoma at Foss Waterway.



Sue Schaeffer of Tacoma Waterfront Assn hails me down in a new boat of hers. This looks interesting.




















Afterwards, Pashmina got a good bath and we went rowing around the marina looking at boats.
A great day.