Haul Out Front

Haul Out Aft

A few difficulties resulted in the delay of the survey by a week and it finally fell on Thursday, February 6th. Thursday, February 6th was the coldest day of the year so far. When I got to Poulsbo it was 17 degrees Fahrenheit.  The plan was to motor over to Seaview West at Shilshole, perform the survey and then sail back. It went mostly as planned, but we have already sailed the boat the previous weekend and the idea of doing actual work on the sailboat in 20 degree weather was not something any of us wanted anything to do with.

The first and most important thing I will write about is the Webasto diesel forced air heater.  I have heard a lot of people talk about the Webasto diesel forced air heater.  I didn’t know anything about diesel heaters.  My impression was that they used the engine to heat the boat.  Little did I know.  Let me tell you about the Webasto diesel forced air heater. We scampered down below waiting for our surveyor to arrive and the broker flipped on the Webasto diesel forced air heater.  Okay…. I’m being a bit silly…. but let me tell you, this thing is the best invention on earth.  We had the boat up to about 65 or 70 degrees in a matter of minutes and we were kicking back drinking our coffee and enjoying the warm air. I’m really not trying to shill for Webasto, but this whole “luxury in boating” thing is totally new to me.  Heat for me until this point has been chemical pocket warmers and a thicker sweater. So, yeah, this was pretty awesome.

Anyway, we got underway, letting our poor broker do the steering while we started the survey down below underway.  Some impressions I wrote down:

* 19 degrees Fahrenheit at departure time from the PYC. Wind 0 to 1 knot from the south. Skies clear and sunny, visibility unlimited.

* Engine cold started 2nd crank, at 19 degrees, this was great to witness.

* I wrote down in my notebook: “heater works great, too warm.” Teehee

* We did a radio check on the VHF with the Coast Guard. They were really pleasant and wished us “have a nice day” when it was over. A good day for the Coast Guard too!

* We did a radio check of the SSB and picked up some folks speaking Arabic (I’m pretty sure).  Amazing to pickup signals from around the world on the high frequency/medium frequency system.  I’m stoked to learn to use the SSB.

We had a very pleasant motor to Shilshole and overall the haul out inspection went great.  The boat doesn’t have a whole lot to be worked on. The immediate project list is pretty simple:

* Sea water return elbow on the engine is corroded and needs to be replaced.  Funny that I looked at the entire engine room at least six times and never noticed this.  Good surveyors pay for themselves.

* Zincs need to be replaced on the prop and the bottom.

* The fire extinguishers need to be charged and inspected

* Flares need to be renewed.

(The Coast Guard wouldn’t be pleased with these items)

The engine rev tests showed no issues with the exhaust, and the engine has almost no movement between it and the shaft.

* The cutlass bearing should be replaced

* The boat could use new bottom paint this year or in the next couple of years. It’s probably wise just to get it over with this year.

In regard to the sails, I had already taken all the sails to North the week before to have them inspected and they were in generally great shape.  Probably my most pressing item is a new genoa to get the boat around in light air in Puget Sound.

So, that’s about it. There’s a bunch of small stuff besides the big items above (which aren’t that big), but that’s boat ownership.  I’ll have to get some better knee pads as I’ll be spending quite a bit of time working on the teak decks this spring.  Call me sick, but I’m actually looking forward to this.

If all goes well with the recent of the process, the boat may be ours as early as next week. Is it still too early to be emotionally attached? I guess some things can still go wrong with the process.  We are crossing our fingers and holding our breath.