Thank you, Prince Rupert, it's been a wonderful visit!

Brigadoon at the Breakwater dock at Cow Bay Marina in Price Rupert

Written by: Kerry

So we've been here for almost three weeks and it's been a lovely visit.  We've enjoyed a few restaurants, a couple of movies, some library time, four visits to the local aquatic center, a few museum trips, some good ice cream, and a good deal of much needed relaxation.  Cow Bay Marina has been nothing but lovely - great staff, great location, and superb facilities.

Donn got a few projects completed while here, including: installation of our tiller (auto) pilot, replacement of running backstay shackles half way up the mast with lower profile pins, replacement and redesign of the staysail sheets for a 2-1 purchase, installation and testing of the lifeboat canopy for our dinghy, and various boat maintenance/chores.  We also both worked on editing Donn's novel and are getting very close to publication - hoping to do this when we get back to Port Townsend in August.

Speaking of Port Townsend... tomorrow, Saturday, July 22nd, we begin our return trip southward towards our home waters of Puget Sound.  This past Wednesday, our friend David, an experienced sailor in his own right, flew in from Seattle to join us as a third crew member for our foray into offshore sailing.  He's settled in nicely, we managed to make room for him, and we think it's going to be a great trip back.

Our plan:

Tomorrow we leave the dock, head out into the Prince Rupert Bay and commission our tiller pilot, work the sails and hydrovane a bit and acclimate David to our boat.  We'll anchor in a nearby bay on Saturday evening.  Sunday we'll retrace our steps back towards Borrowman Bay on Aristazabal Island - including anchorages in Newcombe Harbour, Patterson Inlet, and Weinberg Inlet.  From Borrowman, the current plan is to head directly south into Queen Charlotte Sound making a beeline for the outside of Vancouver Island and arcing out into the western offshore waters and down to the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  We hope to do this last part non-stop, 24/7, keeping a watch schedule and experiencing night sailing for the first time.  We have all agreed that we'll head into one of the harbours on the west coast of Vancouver Island if we need/want to or are having any weather issues, etc.  If we do manage to do it non-stop, it'll be a 3-4 day trip from Aristazabal to Port Angeles.  If you want to follow along, you're welcome to check our progress here:  Brigadoon Tracker.

We'll be away from wi-fi starting tomorrow, so we'll be going internet silent until we get home.  We'll catch you up on all the adventures then!

During our last visit to the Aquatic Center, I had the fun opportunity to test one of our older life vests, which we needed to re-arm and update for David.  Here is the video of how that went:

And here are some photos from our time here - Enjoy!  

Dead Rockfish found in the middle of the street - photo by David Cohen

New tiller pilot - photo by Donn Christianson

Storm windows installed on the pilot house - photo by Donn Christianson

Ruins at Historical Northwest Cannery - Photo by Donn Christianson

Historical Northwest Cannery - Photo by Donn Christianson

The Sunken Gardens in Prince Rupert - Photo by David Cohen

Otter mural on the outside of the Earl Mah Aquatic Center - Photo by David Cohen

Stone carving outside totem carving hall in Prince Rupert - Photo by Donn Christianson

We Have a Mast

It's been a long road, with tons of sanding disks, rivets, taps, machine screws, tape, Lanacote and some blood here and there. After all that, today, the stick went in. We have a mast.

Photos courtesy of :Ray Zebas

Thanks to Anders and Jeff of PT Shipwright's Co-Op and Gus the crane guy.

Oh, and Kerry, my dedicated and hard working First Mate.

The day started out calm and promising.

Brigadoon lay ready for her mast.

Gus the crane operator arrives as promised, making us very happy, after we have to cancel yesterday. He did some quick schedule juggling yesterday and wrote a check of hope he cashed today. It was great to see him arrive early.

And here comes the mast, for the second time in as many days.

Masthead, with anti-bird Mohawk.

All wrapped up nice and safe.

Gus, the crane operator, rigging our mast while some guy who I have no idea who he is, tries to stuff a check at Gus. I was too busy to whip out my, "do you mind waiting just a moment and not distract my crane operator while he is rigging my job," speech. I still puzzle at it, looking at this photo.

Check guy goes away, the spar is rigged and up she goes.

Some very careful walking to Anders and Jeff...

Kerry hands it back to Jeff, who came down to the boat...

And we get ready to lower the spar.

Kerry clears the electrical, which has to feed down first.

Anders and Jeff, making sure it's right.

At this point the spar is mostly in the boat.

The unskilled help is sent below to catch the mast.

After some wiggling, the spar slipped onto the step.

Furlers are installed.

The smooth as glass marina made this job much easier. It would have been very difficult yesterday.

And there she is, with her spar standing and rigging good and snug.

Knowing

Just dropping by for a quick update. I'll be posting more when I have time. 

Since Jan 18, we have completed all hull related stuff like:

• Re-engineered and rebuilt rudder shaft.
• Pulled, inspected and replaced perfectly good propshaft, with the proclamation from the prop guy that the yanmar was perfectly aligned. 
• New bronze chainplates and re-engineered G-10 bases and covers over butyl.
• New glass in the port holes, which included sandblasting the ports, installing the glass wrong, taking it all apart, installing the glass and seals right -- Kerry was also a trooper on this job. She did all the cleaning and prep and it was awful, including the second time.
• New padeyes in the forward deck -- bedded to raised G-10 pads to get clear of the teak.
• Rebuilt the anchor windlass (cleaned it and lubed it, basically) saving us the cost of a new one.
• Cleaned water tanks (awful job -- Kerry handled it like a pro)
• Divided the anchor locker and installed new spurling pipe from PT Foundry.
• Solar is ready to go now that the mounts are complete.
• Hydrovane unit is installed and aligned. We still need to sea trial.
• Honda generator is on line.
• Watermaker purchased and here.
• Iridium go purchased and here.
• AIS purchased -- still needs install.
• Honda outboard on Monday.
• Anchor chain goes all new both rodes on Monday.
• Oh yeah, fix the Dickenson stovepipe.
• and more.

Mostly though, after all that was done, there was still the rig. The 30 year old spar was looking pretty rough. Should I paint it? Do we have the time and money. No, aluminum is pretty tough. If you isolate it from other metals correctly, its outer layer of aluminum oxide will protect it better than any paint. Bare mast it is then.

After six hours of sanding, one side.

So I spent the last 40-50 hours sanding 55 feet of mast, turning a faded white, scuffed spar into a nice shiny spar. This included welded aluminum bodywork and everything. It looks awesome. I never want to sand a mast again but, this was so worth it for the finished product.

This was halfway though the process.

Polished and waxed.

And today, after weeks of taking stuff off the mast, I finally put something *on*. I punched the first rivet for the electrical race and the last rivet of the SS sail track that supports our strongtrack.

The last rivets for the sail track.

It was so satisfying, walking away from that mast at the end of the day, knowing the race is done, the sail track is done and we are ready to pull wire and build the standing rigging.

More to do and three weeks to go. My faith in this boat grows every day.

It's the Knowing. That's what all this is about. 

Knowing.

The 2015 Boat Show...decisions, decisions...

Each year, we make plans on attending the boat show. It's a chance to spend a week totally focused on the boat, our plans, and the execution of same. We can talk about stuff all we want but, if we don't execute on that talk, this will never happen.

This year we were focused on getting information about a few major and projects:

• Water Maker
• Self Steering
• Power generation (alternator/generators, solar, wind, hydro)
• Batteries

The show also provides us opportunities to consider ideas that pop up during the show. Some of these were:

• Honda gas powered generator
• Honda gas powered outboard for Fiona, our Portland Pudgy
• Propane powered outboard
• Electric drive for Brigadoon (flirted with this for a day or so)

So, here are some of the things we are considering.

Water Makers

There are many models out there. They range in capacity, power, ease of use, simplicity vs. complexity, cost, and support. We've heard horror stories involving failed units, lousy customer support and difficulty in maintenance. We decided that we would focus on the systems we could see at the show.

Watermakers range in price from about $4K on up to $11K for one that will fit out needs on Brigadoon. That's a large range. Some of the units are very simple and others have a lot of touch screen electronics. We are wary of this level of features and complexity as we just can't run down to the corner store to get a replacement if it fails.

RO Watermaker

The RO unit is one we have noticed before. It's AC driven. This means we have to power it from our batteries, through an inverter. This is not easy to do and, since pulling AC from a  DC batter pack can lose 15-20% power, it's not a good choice. Well, they have an answer. They power it with a Honda 2000i generator. 

Well, that got us doing down the road that suggested gasoline on the boat. If we go with this, we have to have gasoline for the generator. And the generator can be used to put electrons back into our batteries. That also means that, since we have gas on the boat, we can get a Honda 2hp outboard too. They are great engines. So, by purchasing a watermaker to the tune of about $4-5K, I would also have to purchase a generator for $1K, and end up with an outboard that coasts about $1K. 

It's a good watermaker, but I'm not sure of the path it leads us towards; explosive gasoline on the boat.

ECHO Tec Water Maker, sold by Hydrovane.

 The ECHO Tec is sold by the same company that sells the windvane steering we will purchase next year. The unit is either powered by the DC motor you see here, or an engine mounted pump to the right. Either way, the system is price competitive, simple, and serviceable.

http://www.hydrovane.com/other-products/echo-tec-watermaker/

We don't think we want to load up our diesel auxillary engine with the pump. At only 27 hoursepower, our engine needs all the power it can get and, I don't know if I want to side load the crankshaft to drive the high pressure water pump. This is also true for large alternators.

Then...

Back side of diesel genset, water maker pump, and large DC generator.

Diesel Genset with water maker pump, large DC generator, and refrigeration pump.

We saw this unit a couple years ago and deemed it too expensive. However...

This is a Kubota diesel genset. It's is reliable, is built to carry large loads of the high pressure water pump for the water maker and a large DC generator for topping up our batteries. It's starting to make sense. The cost of this unit is comparable to another water maker, plus generator, upgrading the engine to take the generator loads to fill the batteries to run the DC watermaker motor...it's a rabbit hole.

But this. This is a generator. It's a simple machine. It's not that large. It should fit in the stern compartment, behind the engine. All in all, we are seriously considering this unit.

Why? No need to purchase a Honda generator. No gasoline on the boat. It runs on fuel we already have. We don't need to upgrade our drive motor with a big alternator or pump. That way, the only time we are running the engine on Brigadoon is to -- and this is key -- move the boat.

Self Steering

Hydrovane Self Steering unit

Beautiful workmanship here in the guts of the Hydrovane.

Self steering is crucial to crossing oceans. There is not way a person on watch can steer a boat the whole time. You need the machine to do that for you. Because Brigadoon is a pilot house sailboat, with two separate steering stations, we need a unit that is independent from out steering. A regular system that attaches to the wheel in the cockpit is likely to have issues with friction in our steering system.

http://www.hydrovane.com/

Besides, what do you do in a boat with a rudder failure? If you have this, you don't worry about it. The Hydrovane has a separate rudder that hangs off the back of the boat. If our main rudder fails, we can use this one. The black handle you see in the second picture is the emergency tiller. 

We have little doubt we will put this system on the boat in 2016.

Lighting

Replacement Spreader Lights

Our spreader lights are really crappy old Perko units. They are dim, corroded and incandescent. We want all LCD lighting on Brigadoon so, I looked at the new LED lights flooding the market. Many of them use only a few watts but put out impressive amounts of light. Well, we found a model we like at a good price. Stay tuned for the pictures of me climbing the mast and installing these. 

Batteries 

We need electrons on Brigadoon. They need to be held in large batteries. When it comes to power, where you might pay cents for your kilowatt hours, on boats they are more on the order of dollars or tens of dollars. Generating power and storing it takes money. You need a place to store it and a way to make it. 

We took a great class on boat systems from Nigel Calder on Saturday. The three hour talk was well worth our time. We learned about the requirements and complexities of generating and storing power on board. After attending that seminar, we don't think bolting large loads on our ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) just to make water; that doesn't make that much sense. 

Battery technology is really gaining ground. There are flooded batteries (cheap and powerful but not a long life along with requiring regular maintenance). There are AGM (sealed batteries, sometimes called gel cells, that are more expensive and require almost no maintenance. Then there are Lithium Ion batteries. We agree with Nigel that these are not suited for boats. They are too prone to suffer from thermal runaway for our taste. I don't want an unbalanced battery to set itself on fire and burn a hole in our boat while setting the whole thing on fire.

AGM technology is getting there in capacity and cost over flooded. We have about 500 ah (amp hours) in flooded cells right now. There is newer technology on the way for AGMs that looks promising. They can accept a very high charge rate and perform well over many discharge/charge cycles.

We will likely replace our flooded cells with newer AGMs in 2016.

Wind Generators

We know that wind turbines get a bad rap due to the noise some models make. And yes, the winds (10-15 knots) make for good wind but not a good anchorage. Where there is good anchorage, there is little wind. So, why get one? 

The wind, my friend, it is free. It's not a major component of our power generation but it may supplement. I like power from multiple sources so...

Hydro Generators

These are really coming to the fore. Since water is denser than air, the generator is smaller and can generate more power. The nice thing about this model is it's being sold by the Hydrovane guys. They even make a bracket that attaches the generator to the post for the self steering unit. 

Now, this unit is not cheap. It costs thousands but, it's extremely reliable and it generates a lot of power. The fact that it's used on the Vendee Globe and other ocean races speaks to the capabilities of the unit.

We are watching this one too.

Solar Generation

We will get solar. We just haven't decided on which unit yet. Since electronics, especially solar, is making such huge gains over the last couple years, we feel good about holding off on this one until 2016.

Electric Drive for Brigadoon (no -go)

Yes, we actually thought about this. There are some boats out there that have electric drive setups. It makes sense for sailboats because, most of the time, the engine is used to get in and out of a harbor, or through a canal, or a set of locks. That usually doesn't take much power. An electric drive might work. 

All you have to do is tear out the diesel engine (no more oil changes, no more diesel fuel, no more maintenance), build a huge batter bank, and find a way to charge it. Unfortunately the technology isn't quite there yet. Power generation and battery storage needs to catch up the new motors before I'm willing to cross the globe with such a setup. It was a good exercise but, it really came down to putting a large generator on board - much larger than the Kubota above. 

Why tear out one diesel engine to simply replace it with a generator of the same size?

VHF Radio

Our current VHF is a decent radio. It has never failed to perform. However, we don't have AIS capability or DSC ship to ship capability. This radio has that. This means that, even though we will add an AIS transponder to the boat, this will give us an additional AIS receiver, along with a RAM (Remote Access Mic) for the cockpit. We picked this up at the show and will install it this week. The other radio? It gets boxed as a spare.

SSB (Single Sideband) Radio

This a mainstay of cruisers around the world. VHF only reaches so far and, it can't pass data. SSB is long range and can pass data (with the right modem), which means you can get weather charts and email. The system were more complex and expensive but, we think we found a simpler install method that is less expensive, while still using a high quality radio. This is another 2016 item.

In Summary

It was a good show. We made some good decisions around systems, gained some good knowledge from Nigel Calder, got new spreader lights, a new VHF radio, and some galley sundries.

It's a real challenge, figuring out what to do. There are plenty of people out there who are more than willing to sell you something you don't need for a price you can barely afford, to laugh it off as, "well, you need this or you can't go cruising and it's always expensive."

Sorry, not playing that game.

We are going for value, usefulness, simplicity, ease of maintenance and I think we are on the right track.