Port Townsend...

...and the Island Packet Rendezvous.  We've never seen so many in one place before.  We thought it was actually quite odd to see them all.

Lots of IP's all in a row

Front view of the fleet - The boat with the flags

is a brand new 380

Point Hudson Marina

We really liked Port Townsend...shall we walk along the main drag?

A fun time was had by all.

Packeteers Rendezvous

We leave Wednesday morning on a good ebb tide for Port Townsend, Washington via Point Roberts (our check in point) and Friday Harbour on San Juan Island.  The occasion is the 2013 Rendezvous of the Puget Packeteers (oui, c'est vrais).  We'll get another group photo like the one here (we hope).

2012 Rendezvous pic.  We're not there,  but will be this time

around.  

The Bilge Pump Blues....

A while back we were constantly hearing the bilge pump come on intermittently - not often enough to convince you that the hull has been breached, but often enough to wonder where the water was getting in.  As it turned out, we found the culprit to be a "T" connection in the hot water system to the hot tank that had been added when the boat was commissioned.  The culprit was a plastic fitting and it had cracked sufficiently to produce a leak that would eventually put enough water in the well to trip the pump.

Let's fast forward to yesterday and hearing the bilge pump go off occasionally the previous night and I get up to have a shower only to discover a sputtering shower and my asking my wife if she knew what might be up with this.  Apparently the night before, our son had noticed the tank gauge indicating just over half a tank  when he had just filled it.  That explained hearing the pump come on.

So after some sleuthing by Explorer Yacht Services, we find that the culprit this time is - yes - a plastic fitting that had totally failed.  We promptly replaced fittings on the hot water side with brass fittings.  Come on Island Packet, this is a no brainer.  Having the fresh water system empty by the bilge through a failed cheap fitting is not consistent with the quality of these boats.  Had this happened at sea, well - OUCH.  

"...so where the ^$^%$* is the fondue fuel...??"

Finding things on a boat can be maddening.  I was looking for something (which I have now forgotten) and came across not one but two plastic bottles of fondue fuel - you know, the stuff you put in the fondue warmer to keep the cheese hot.  They were both the wrong stuff.  On a boat (if you decide to have a cheese fondue to start with), you can't go having volatile flammables hanging around.  You need the gel type and you need to know EXACTLY where the damned thing is.  So in looking, I realized we only had a very DIM idea of where things were and what type of things went where. In an emergency, you can't go rummaging through all sorts of stuff to discover items you never thought you had in the first place

So!!!  We have decided ti inventory the boat.  That's right - do a bloody inventory and CATALOGUE everything so we know: 1) what the heck we have, 2) exactly where the items are, and most importantly: 3)  where emergency items are located (like the fire extinguishers we have on board for example).  Here is one of three drawings that will be n the Owner's Manual along with the manifest.  The drawings will also be on the nav table.

How Much Rode?

I have just been in touch with Moreno at Anchor-Safe.  It is a wireless chain counter than can be installed without running the wiring sensor back to the cockpit.  This thing is ideal for the single handed  sailor or for one with a crew with limited experience.