Old boat, old body

Thursday morning. Overcast, low 50s. Rain is in the forecast and a wind advisory is posted for Sitka Sound this afternoon.

Well I’m still in Sitka. Last weekend I was able to repair the cooling system on the engine to my satisfaction without The Part. It involved finding a preformed hose of the proper dimensions and carefully clamping it on to the damaged hose barb. The hose has to make an almost 180 degree bend and I was afraid of putting too much stress on the broken piece by bending a straight hose to fit. Napa to the rescue. I ran the engine for an hour on Saturday with no leaks. I had a bit of a start when the temp climbed to 205. I was beginning to think there might be something else wrong when it dropped back to 180. Must have been the thermostat hanging up before it opened. Anyway, no more cooling issues observed. When I reorder The Part I will order a thermostat. Monday I ran the engine for 45 minutes and changed the oil.

I spent Monday and Tuesday running around for last minute stuff. I was happy to see my fishing license in the post office. Thank you Susan!

Because the route to Tenakee Springs goes through several narrow straits, it’s important to use the tidal current to your advantage, especially with a slow boat like the Blue Note. The currents can reach 8 knots in Sergius Narrows and if your vessel is only capable of 6½, it’s obvious that timing is crucial. The tides on Wednesday dictated a departure time of 1:00 PM to get through Olga and Neva Straits, with an overnight stay in Sukoi Inlet to catch low slack water at Sergius Narrows Thursday morning. That way we could ride the tide through Peril Strait and on to Chatham Strait.

Best laid plans… Tuesday night I hit the liquor and grocery stores. All that remained was to settle up with the harbormaster, stop at the fuel dock, and go. Wednesday morning I hopped out of bed and was bending over when something went out in my lower back. The pain drove me to my knees and brought tears to my eyes. It was all I could do to stagger into the head, swallow some ibuprofen, and crawl into bed. I spent all day flat on my back. Fortunately I had a good book. It was a struggle taking Jazz to do his business.

As I write this, the pain has pretty much subsided. I can move around without looking like a cripple. The only problem is now the weather doesn’t look very good for the next day or two. I’ll check the long range forecast when it comes out this afternoon and make new plans.

The pic shows our route to Tenakee Springs. Google Earth is so cool!

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