Joshua's fresh new transom

A mild fall and winter last year made for decent outdoor work from October 2014 to the end of January 2015.  We had frequent visits from Bill who was active in the work and encouraged progress.  I personally enjoyed Bill's visits to the office, marked with humor, stories, and musings.  Andy, I and the shop built a friendship upon an acquaintance for which we are richer.  In late summer, we had the pleasure of visiting with Bill, Mary Alice and their crew/friend Dick, aboard Joshua in Doe Bay, Watmaugh Bay and then in Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival, as they concluded their annual cruise in the inside passage.

Andy has captioned the pictures below with descriptions of the work.

Joshua at anchor in Watmaugh Bay

Our friend Bill's Spray replica, Joshua.  She'd been leaking from the deck

Some frame parts (futtocks) and the ends of the shelves and clamps were rotten.

Futtocks dry fit, working on the transom frame

New layers  (lift) in the taffrail, shelf/clamp assembly being re-engineered across the stern

Puzzling out the configuration of the quarter knees, clamps, shelves and transom frame

Locust quarter knees made and dry fit, ready for paint

Aft deck shelf and clamp

Shelf/clamp/ quarter knees installed, fitting covering board from below. Sprung into place.

Fitting top of transom frame under covering board. Also new frames down the sides

Bolting the frame heads to the structure

Lots of shape in the quarters

Framing and covering board all completed ready for planking

James working out the covering board on this side. He built it in two pieces to get around the frame heads and bulwarks

Planking begins, some ends were scarfed on.  Bill is having fun, as usual.  It's fir across the stern and yellow cedar on the sides. All galvanized fasteners.

Cork'er up and she'll float!

A boat on wheels?

And a good day to you sir!

Beta Marine Engines sold and installed at Emerald Marine

Emerald Marine is now a Beta Marine dealer.  Betas are Kubota diesel engines fitted with heat exchangers and a choice of reduction gears that provide a wide variety options for vessel re-powering.
Kubota engines are used in many applications, such as power generation and refrigeration, through out the world. They are very reliable and parts are easily available.

To successfully move old out and new in we employ a variety of methods and use various equipment that are handy in multiple situations. Our shop has an overhead beam with a trolly and electric chain fall for  boats inside. We use a crane for outside work.

This Beta 14 is in a 18' strip built Poulsbo boat.  It consumes a less than a pint per hour at 1800 rpm while making 4.5 knots.

Inside Windsong's engine compartment quiet and heat producing

We have successfully installed five Beta Marine engines including one in our company flagship "Windsong" and in a Stonehorse sloop that belonged to business partner James McMullen.

Max prop, nice addition!

For winter cruising heat Andy installed a  radiator and fan  that recycles the energy off the engine and blows it into the cabin.  It's a lovely feature for cooler weather boating.

Each install is different and has it's own challenges unique to each vessel.  Trouble shooting and adjustments typically are made in these areas: shaft, fuel system, engine mounting, control panel and electronics.  Our team works to make the transition and installation as easy as possible.

Slocum 42', Singularity

Beta 50

This engine replaced a Perkins 4018. It is more powerful, smoother and gained lots of space in the engine compartment which, together with all the engine's service points being easily accessible,

makes for a worthwhile upgrade. "Singularity"was in the yard for a major overhaul, including new teak decks, in preparation for extended cruising.

Our next project will be installing a Beta 35 in Symra a  42' Monk Sloop

Customer feedback….. quick reliable start up, simple control panel, smooth running and powerful, pleasing red color, easy maintenance.

James' Latest Sail and Oar Adventure (Part 2)

DAY TWO
I slept awfully well, as I always seem to do when rocked to sleep aboard Rowan, only waking up a couple of times in the night as rain squalls passed through. But the new Rocna really seems to be an excellent anchor, and it didn't seem to budge an inch despite a couple of tide changes and those squalls. It was quiet and peaceful when I woke up for reals in the morning, though very grey, with a promise of more rain any time now.



So I just put on my drysuit and my neoprene cap first thing while I stowed my kit and got breakfast under way. Who doesn't like a little rain in their morning coffee, anyways?



And the skies which had started gray, simply got grayer, and rain spitted down for hours, endlessly. But they did bring along with them an unexpected easterly, which swept me along in a one-reef beam-reach down Saratoga Passage nearly three-quarters of the length of Camano Island by lunchtime. I'll take a little rain in exchange for a bonus beam-reach instead of the expected all-day headwind. It's a bargain!



I didn't love the fog all that much, though. I came ashore at Camano State Park to use the shore facilities and eat some lunch under a less sodden shelter. A few fisherman looked at me with the usual astonishment when they found out I had come all that way without even bringing a fishing rod. Why on earth would I be out in that weather if I wasn't even going to fish? Crazy gringo.

 

By mid-afternoon, the fog and the rain blew away, and I was able to take off my drysuit again. It took the wind with it too, though, so it was back to the oars, and I pulled across from Camano to the Whidbey side to look for my next anchorage. Much of the soil of Whidbey Island is composed of a fairly loose glacial till, and it's not particularly stable. You'll see disturbances in the growth of the trees on the hillsides now and then and occasionally something even bigger. I'm not sure how recent this slide was, but it looks fairly recent at least.


Well, there was really nothing for it, but to just pull a couple of miles more to reach the town of Langley for the night. Milepoint 53.4  Of course I left the campstove in its bag this night and walked up the hill to Mo's Pub and eatery for a pint and fish'n'chips. I put in my dues eating breakfast and lunch in the rain already. I don't have to rough it all the time.
Anchored just inshore of the mooring buoys, where it's too shallow for real boats to tread. Little boats do have some big advantages, you know.





Great bronze sculpture in Langley, just above the path that leads to the beach access. I love this sculpture. Support your public arts!





DAY THREE
The morning dawned absolutely glassy, and I just knew it was going to be a rowing day. I made an extra strong pot of coffee, put on my gloves, and got to work.



The Whidbey shore of Possession Sound has some lovely and wild sections of it. There's some delightful, shallow, sandy beaches all along the side for quite a while.



Utterly windless.

More unstable soil here. Uh-oh, this looks much more serious. Better row over closer and check it out.



Yikes! I dearly hope no one was home at the time. Plus, the neighbors can't be too happy either. "Get yer house outta my yard, dammit!"



And on and on we pull. Past the Whidbey-side landing of the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry. Neither the wind nor the tide are doing anything for me at all. On and on and on.



Finally out of Possession Sound and at the northern end of Puget Sound, I considered my options. If I had gotten any boost from the wind at all, I would have likely made it all the way south to Kingston where my brother lives. But that was going to be just too much of a slog, especially since down around the south tip of Whidbey my favorable tides were going to switch to the ebbs, not the floods. So instead I rowed over to a place on the mainland side I had seen from the window of my Amtrak train to Seattle called Norma Beach, where I thought I could get decent enough holding ground for my lil' boat. Plus it was time to take my medicine. Milepost 71.3



I never actually bothered to row to shore that night. I was comfortable enough right where I was. And I knew I needed to get started before dawn the next morning, to catch every bit as much of the ebb tide as I could. Now I almost always set my mizzen while tented up, as that way I can usually leave the back flaps mostly open for great ventilation, and as I settled down to sleep as darkness fell, I felt Rowan start to stream to a more southerly, or even a southeasterly breeze. "That'll be useful tomorrow, if it lasts," I thought.

DAY FOUR
Good Morning! Today we're off towards Mats Mats. But what's it look like inside that tent, you say? Why it's tremendously cozy and comfortable actually. I pile all my gear and drybags and such off to port, while I stretch out on the starboard side. The sidebenches make handy little shelves to sort and stack and re-organize as I go, and as stores get used up and new batches of clean laundry are employed. I did purposely make it look much messier and disorganized in this shot, of course, so it wouldn't seem too intimidating.  



And the ol' JetBoil stove is a supremely convenient tool for the small boat camper. With the way the pot locks to the stove so that it can't slide off, the auto-igniter, and the super-efficient heat-exchanger built right in, you can whip up that pot of coffee in no time flat.



And the wind was still exactly where I wanted it. Seattle Traffic Control on the VHF reported no imminent commercial traffic coming down the pike, so I tucked in the first reef to be prudent, lashed my LED lantern to the mizzen mast, hauled anchor, and sailed out into the dark. 



This was great! A broad reach, the tide behind me, and a straight line towards my destination, and all while most everybody else was still in bed. What a delight!

After the sky had lightened a bit and I felt secure enough to do so, I shook out that reef and carried on. Not another boat to be seen in any direction. I had all of north Puget Sound all to myself. And on a broad reach, at hullspeed, with every single inch of travel contributing to CMG to boot. The only thing that could have made this any better is if I spotted a whale or someth--Hah! There's a spout! And another! Grey whales for breakfast. What a fine morning, indeed!!!

It was too perfect. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Foulweather Bluff ahead. It's not named that for nothing, you know. The area where Hood Canal intersects the Sound is prone to all sorts of nasty weather and tidal current effects. Better be ready. . .



But nothing. I was on a beeline straight for the entrance to Mats Mats Bay. I'd already come further than I had after scrabbling all day long for it yesterday. I'd travelled 17.5 miles on a single tack before lunchtime. Remarkable. That's not what Puget Sound is really known for.
Look at these lazy chumps, lying around slug-a-bed all morning when they could have been doing something productive. Glad I was upwind of 'em, anyways.  



The entrance to Mats Mats is awfully scenic, a mere slash in the cragged rocks, with a narrow, 90° bend in it so you can't even see there's a bay back there until you've gone down the channel. The way it looks, it reminds me of places much further north, somehow.



And to the public dock at the south end, where I hoped to meet up with Tim! Milepost 90.4

The tide had to go way, way out first, though. I had gotten here hours earlier than I had dreamed possible. But I had brought a book. And my camp chair. And more Guinness. No problems.
And eventually, look what the tide brought in! Hello, Tim. Hello, Haverchuck. Nice to see you both!



I had gotten to see this lovely vessel pretty much all along the way as she was being built, so it was awfully satisfying to see her afloat at last. And she's fantastic. An excellent boat! She and Rowan are probably going to be spending an awful lot of time together. . .and I'm okay with that.



DAY FIVE
Port Townsend Canal was our next gate, and as there was no chance of bucking the tide to get through until later, there was no need to get up at the crack of dawn this time. And Mats Mats is an awfully quiet and serene little hidey-hole of an anchorage. Easy to find an excuse to sleep in a bit.

But soon enough it was time to get out there and watch Haverchuck strut her stuff. Not much breeze yet, but enough for some good pics.  







The canal is at the other end of Oak Bay there, night at the notch. There was barely enough wind to get there, and some unfavorable currents to boot, but mostly just enough wind to ghost along at about a mile an hour over the bottom. But then again, we had no particular reason to get there right away anyways, as there would be no bucking the current through the cut until it changed. A long, lazy, slow sail doesn't suck too bad when the weather is nice, as it was. I pretty much just wrapped the sheet around my big toe and had a nice nap.



Through the cut and under the bridge.



Indian Island is owned by the US Navy, and therefore is not all covered with condos and stuff. Nice! This is just to the north of the canal, opposite Hadlock.

That is a fine-looking boat!



Port Townsend is down at the end there, straight ahead, but it was much too early to go right there. We were a whole day ahead of our deadline. Plus, there were rumors that Eric might meet up with us, so we dodged in through the pass behind Rat Island into Kilisut Harbor for the run down to Mystery Bay.



Rat Island. That ain't driftwood.



Marrowstone Island in the background.



And sure enough, Eric Hvalsoe was there at Mystery Bay, having sailed down earlier. We sailed round for a bit until the wind died off, and then rowed to the Nordland General Store to replenish our supply of cold beer before returning to the beach at the State Park to make dinner on shore. 

DAY SIX
We had to get down to the mouth by 9-ish the next morning to get out of the channel ahead of the incoming tide, but after that, we had time for a nice sail before it was our turn to go in and tie up for the Festival. The wind was fresh enough to sail upwind against the incoming tide all the way to Point Wilson, so Tim and I did. Here's the point Wilson Lighthouse, and just beyond it, Conspiracy Strait.



And Alex Zimmerman showed up in Hornpipe just then, sporting his nice, new lug-yawl cruising set-up. Awesome!



What could be better than a bunch of pretty boats in a row?



But eventually it was time to go in and dock for the Festival at Point Hudson Marina. Milepost 121.What a nice show! The weather was fully cooperative this year for attendees, and it was pleasant and sunny the whole time. I got to park right between wizbang and AJZimm, which is definitely fun from what I can remember. Bruce is generous indeed with his beer, starting me off with a nice breakfast lager every day, and davebrown brought me even more. And it sure was hot and thirsty work, sitting at the dock like that. Anyways I very much enjoyed getting to see all sorts of friends, new and old. The panorama feature did a funny thing here, as that's actually a straight dock.



My friend Bernhard showed up from Portland with the skin-on-frame whitehall I'd built, so that was fun to see it again, and get to row it around the harbor. And BBSebens helped me out and awful lot by hanging out and answering all the general questions about Rowan and Sail & Oar™ for several hours so that I could visit with my friends. Much appreciated, Ben! You did a great job spreading the Sail & Oar Gospel, too.