|
Arrived at Port
Townsend, WA.
10/10/04 This
concludes the updates to this trip. A new page will be started
to log future adventures and show the schedule of her travels
around the Puget Sound. |
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| 9/10/04
- Friday - Departed PA about 08:00 and arrived at Port
Townsend about 11:30. We are guests at the Wooden Boat
Festival. We will probably push the last hour to Port Ludlow
on Monday morning.
WE MADE IT! More later.
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| 9/09/04
- Thursday - Everyone was up around 06:00 and we enjoyed one
of Royals great Coffee & Pancake breakfasts. The trip to Port
Angeles should be about 4 hours. We got to the fuel dock about
08:30 and underway about 09:30. The trip was fantastic. The
weather was warm with high clouds and the sea state of the
Straits was calm with 1-2 foot rollers from the westerly
winds. We arrived as guests at the Coast Guard Station Port
Angeles about 13:30 and tied up between three 110 footers.
We got word this afternoon that an
80 foot tug that was going to be at the Port Townsend Wooden
Boat Festival had cancelled and we were invited to tie up in
their place. Now we have to clean up this "scow." There
is a lot of stuff we can unload in Port Townsend and that will
help a lot.
|
9/08/04
- Wednesday - We were up at 05:00 and got underway at
about 06:30. The Grays Harbor Bar was flat and the seas were
about 1ft. Hurray. At about 11:00 the forecasted showers
started and the wind from the south picked up a bit. So were
running in 4-6 foot swells and 10-15kts to our backs. The NOAA
forecast was right on accurate. We arrived at Neah Bay about
16:00, tired and whipped. Royal and cheered when we made the
turn Eastbound. Roxane was there with the van and pre-scoped
out the layout. We tied to the end of the A dock and headed
for the showers. We then had dinner in town and went back to
the boat and died about 21:00.
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| 9/07/04 -
Tuesday - I rounded up a crew of 3 and we headed for Westport.
For this leg Mike Mallett from Port Ludlow volunteered to make
the trip. We arrived about 15:00 and finished the fuel
hose and valve system for pulling the fuel from the barrels
instead of the two 100 gallon tanks. The evening weather
report still looked favorable for the trip. |
| 9/06/04
- Monday - We have just been watching the weather
forecasts. I looks like the rough weather will break on
Wednesday, so we are planning to leave Port Ludlow tomorrow
afternoon to get ready for a Wednesday morning departure for Neah Bay. Visit
https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/PUBLIC/WAM/all_npac.html for
the wave height forecast. It looks like a couple of days worth
of 3-6' swells. The
following photos were provided by Myron "Tike" Hillman, also
in Port Ludlow. He served on the 83527 from 1954 to 1956 (I
think) and was the un-official ships photographer. Here is the
start of his collection that he is sharing with us. More to
come later.
|
09/02/04
- Thursday - Scratch that schedule. Weather conditions
are the same and should stay with 10-15kts from West and NW
with 5-10ft swells. I couldn't face 10 hours of riding the
trough to Neah Bay. We finished up some of the projects and
headed back to Port Ludlow in the early afternoon.
|
 |
09/01/04
- Wednesday - We arrived about noon in Westport. Started
working on settings things up again for the trip. The wind in
the marina was about 20-25kts. It was about 17:30 when we got
things running for the test run. We stuck our nose out
beyond the breakwater and really got slapped around. Executed
an immediate 180 and headed back in. The engine ran fine. We didnt know how to act with no engine smoke in the engine room.
We tied up for the night and after listening to the weather
some more decided to cancel the departure tomorrow and just
work on more technical cleanup. Went to the local Pizza place
for dinner.
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| 08/31/04
- Tuesday - Engine is reassembled and runs fine at the dock.
We opted for the lower end rebuild which consisted of new main
bearings, rods, pistons, rings and sleeves.
Our plan is to depart Port
Ludlow and arrive in Westport before noon tomorrow and give
the boat a 2-3 hour test run in the immediate area and get
some other projects out of the way.
The planned schedule looks like
this:
|
9/1 Wednesday - Engine should be
completed Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday Morning. We
will get a clearer sense of that on Tuesday. But the
plan is to leave Port Ludlow in my Van early on
Wednesday morning and get there with time to do 3 or 3
hours of sea trials after the rebuild.
9/2 Thursday - Assuming success
on 9/1 depart very early in the AM for Neah Bay. It will
be about 10-11 hrs, depending on how hard we push the
new engine. Stay the night at NB.
9/3 Friday - Depart Neah Bay for
Port Angeles. Arrive Port Angeles Coast Guard Station
mid afternoon. We are invited guests of theirs at the
station. Do some PR and guest appearances with
"Peninsula Daily News". Share the boat with Coasties on
the base. Stay the night there.
9/10 Saturday - Around noon or
so depart for Port Townsend. Arrive at the new Maritime
Heritage Center dock at Port Hudson. Stay there for one
or two days and greet the public and unload lots of
excessive crap that I have collected (life rafts,
transmission and rental safety equipment).
9/XX Who knows, move down to
Port Ludlow when our welcome is worn out at this dock. |
|
| |
| 08/24/
to 08/30 - Talked with other 83footer guys and got more
photos and stories. |
| |
| 8/23/04
Monday - Visited the Coast Guard Museum-Seattle and scrounged
up lots of documentation about colors and hardware layout on
the 83's. In the afternoon visited the different organizations
that will participate in Tacoma Fest, the final waterfront
event of the summer. We are now invited to be there. So now I
must get the old girl home and put on some "makeup" before we
take her out in public.
Tonight I got the photos (Tacoma and Gig Harbor, WA) from Tom
McAdams (ex-OinC of 83527) scanned in and here they are:
|
| 08/22/04
Sunday - Day of rest.
|
| 08/21/04
Saturday - Chuck Fowler and I looked at the new dock in Port
Townsend built by the Marine Heritage Foundation, to see how
difficult it might be to tie up there. It is a great
arrangement and we may try it a couple of days on the way
down. I received an
envelope of photos from Selby Drew BMCS USCG (Ret) and family
of our arrival, stay and departure at Ft. Bragg. They are
really great.
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| 8/20/04
Friday - Take a look at the Ft Bragg Advocate-News for as long
as the story stays current:
http://www.advocate-news.com/Stories/0,1413,95~3977~2330316,00.html
or see it here:
|
Busy week at U.S. Coast Guard Station Noyo
River
By Bruce Rogerson, Flotilla
87 USCG Auxiliary
While taking care of the
regular business of vessel assist, search and rescue, boat
inspections and more, Chief Perkins and the men and women of USCG
Station Noyo River were at their best for a visit last Friday
morning by Rear Admiral Kevin Eldridge, Commanding Officer USCG
District Eleven. Earlier in the week the station hosted a lunch
barbecue in celebration of National Coast Guard Day and provided
overnight berth space for the veteran USCG Cutter No. 83527
alongside the station dock.
 |
|
|
The crew of the
CG-83527 prepares to dock as the vessel entered Noyo
Harbor last Thursday. Tony Reed photo. |
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This was the admirals first
visit to Station Noyo River, since he assumed command last year of
District Eleven, which encompasses California, Nevada, Utah and
Arizona. Eldridge is a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy and holds
degrees in ocean engineering and chemical engineering. He has 30
years service with the Coast Guard as an officer and commanding
officer on USCG buoy tenders at stations in Honolulu and Galveston,
as Chief of Operations, District Eight based in New Orleans and
prior to his present assignment, served as Assistant Commandant for
Governmental and Public Affairs at Coast Guard Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. He was accompanied on the visit by Capt. Pettitt,
Commander Group Humboldt, Commander Turner, Group Operations
Officer, Commander Cullen, District 11 SAR Operations Officer and
the admirals aide Lt. Kabal.
During his time at Noyo
River, Admiral Eldridge met with Senior Chief Michael Perkins,
Officer in Charge, Noyo River Station, Executive Officer Don Miterko
and the department heads to review operational readiness, equipment
needs, personnel issues and future funding requirements for the
station. Eldridge toured the station and talked to the men and women
of the various departments, including deck operations, engineering,
communications and the 21-foot rigid inflatable inshore rescue boat
crew.
After donning the mandatory
orange survival suit and gear, the admiral then boarded one of the
two 47-foot motor life boats based at Noyo River for a short sortie
out of Noyo Harbor under the new Noyo Bridge and down the coast
almost to Point Cabrillo. Chief Perkins, conned the vessel as
coxswain with Engineer PO Lawler, Boatswains Mate Jimenez and Seaman
McCann as crew. The conditions were ideal with a calm ocean, little
swell, no fog and a fine view north to the Lost Coast. During the
ride, a whale was spotted about a mile off the outer channel marker
and a pod of dolphins frolicking in the calm seas. The chief assured
the admiral that these were far from typical conditions on the
Mendocino Coast!
On return to the station,
Admiral Eldridge concluded his visit with an all hands meeting on
the recreation deck. There he briefed the gathered Coast Guard
personnel on the changing role of the U. S. Coast Guard following
the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and as part of the new Department of
Homeland Security. Greatly increased funding from Congress has
enabled the Coast Guard to acquire badly needed new equipment,
improve pay and conditions for personnel and assume the greatly
expanded homeland security role of the Coast Guard in protecting the
waterways and ports, large and small, around the U.S. He emphasized
the continuing importance of the boating safety tasking of the Coast
Guard and commended the station for its outstanding service to the
men and women both of the commercial fishing fleets and the sport
fishing community on the Mendocino Coast.
During his visit the admiral
recognized Senior Chief Perkins with the presentation of an official
Coast Guard Achievement Award for his outstanding service as
Executive Officer, Station Humboldt Bay from May 2003 to May 2004.
FA Shelby Charley was also recognized by the admiral for excellence
in the performance of his duties at Noyo River over the past year.
National Coast Guard Day
Aug. 4
National Coast Guard Day
commemorates the anniversary of the signing of the act of congress
on Aug. 4, 1790 establishing the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service which
eventually became the U. S. Coast Guard in 1915 when the Revenue
Cutter Service was combined with the U. S. Life Saving Service. The
U. S. Light House Service was merged into the USCG in 1939, creating
the broad-based maritime safety service we know today.
On a sunny afternoon, Noyo
River Station personnel hosted an informal lunchtime barbecue for
the local community bringing together Coast Guard families, retired
Coast Guard personnel from the area, veterans, local residents and
boaters from the coast. Over hot dogs, snacks and some cool brews,
the attendees enjoyed conversation, fellowship and memories in the
Fishermens Park in the south harbor adjacent to the station. Many
families were there with children enjoying the inflatable jump bag
provided by the Station for the day.
Retired Coast Guard Cutter
CG-83527
Last Thursday late afternoon
saw the long white veteran wooden cutter snugly moored alongside the
Noyo River Station Berth after a full days trip from Bodega Bay.
CG-83527 is the last
remaining Wheeler Class 83-footer dating back to World War II and is
on a voyage from Rio Vista on the Sacramento River to Port Ludlow on
Puget Sound in Washington State. She was built in June 1944 by
Wheeler Shipyard in Brooklyn and served in the Caribbean and Gulf of
Mexico before being assigned on the cessation of hostilities, as a
search and rescue cutter at Tacoma, Wash. where she served for 17
years before being decommissioned in December 1962.
CG-83527 was sold to a
private owner and used as a houseboat for over 30 years before being
willed to the Sea Scouts in Isleton where the Scouts used her for
static crew training. Now she is on her way north under the command
of Skipper Dan Withers, the driving force behind the effort to save
and restore her for future use in a maritime park at Port Ludlow.
Also on board is Royal Journey a retired Boeing engineer and former
Air Force officer and Selby Drew from Fort Bragg who served on board
similar 83-foot cutters during his 23 years of Coast Guard service.
CG-83527 left Noyo River on
Friday afternoon after a surprise visit aboard by Rear Admiral
Eldridge. The CG-83527 reached Eureka late that evening for a
two-day stay.
To learn more about this old
veteran vessel, her history, the voyage north and the restoration
program, visit
www.warboats.org/cg83527.htm.
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| 08/19/04
Thursday - The following letter was in the mail pile from July
15th. |
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| |
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| 15 July 2004
Ref: CG 83527
I relieved Ltjg Frank Ryman on the boat about 1952. I think
that that was the first 83 to be under an OinC in the 13th
District. At the time there were 83's in Astoria. Pt.
Angeles, Pt Townsend and Bellingham also. The Astoria and Pt.
Angeles were later moved to Pt. Townsend to serve as harbor
entrance patrol. The 527 had to relieve on occasion.
A small list of the 11 man crew;
Ltjg Frank Ryman
Walter J. Annas BMC
Pat Wendland BM]
Wallace Ford BMl
Louis LeFevre GM2
Myron Hillman 1302 (now living Pt. Townsend) Davis CS2
Deptwa EN2
Alban K. Chinn SN
Donald Burkenbine EN I (deceased)
Of course not all of the above were aboard at the same time.
Some of the event's that come to mind.
We patrolled several Gold Cup hydroplane races on Lake
Washington while the Slo-mo-shun's were in
power. .
Provided water to the Vashon fire dept. when a waterfront
home was ablaze. We had a P-500 pump loaned and later given
by USN Tacoma. Sent a 4 inch hose ashore with a wye gate
which the fire dept. hooked on two 2112 inch lines.
Extinguished a railroad trestle fire at Steilacoom waterway.
Rescued two suicide jumpers, one from Tacoma narrows bridge
(later died) and the other from 11th street bridge over City
waterway. No medals awarded.
We were required to visit Strait of Juan de Fuca to exercise
the 20mm cannon and the ahead thrown ASW weapon on a
quarterly bask
Gave safety equipment inspection to between 500 to 750 boats
a year and numerous assists.
The Tacoma Yacht club asked the District to have us moor
there during the marine Daffodil time. As you probably know,
the dry exhaust pipes backfire make a cannon sound quiet
while starting. The yacht club is sided by a hill and the
smelter slag pile. The startled (it was 0600) visitors came
out in all stages of dress and undress. Needless to say we
were never asked to return.
The radios never seemed to work properly in the Tacoma area
so the Tacoma police loaned a police unit which was
installed in the sonar room.
Cooperation with the FBI consisted of a night search for
McNeil (spelling?) Island escapees with negative results and
stopping a freighter to put aboard 2 agents to apprehend a
stowaway,
Am sending a photo taken at the Ballard locks with the
Relief Lightship and CG Base building in the background,
Note the ready ammunition boxes for the ASW hedgehogs, The
':40mm ammo boxes are not visible. Depth charge racks were
installed on each side and 2 on each quarter. No depth
charges carried.
Somewhere in my junk I have 10" x 12" CG photos of 527 and 2
other 83 's. When located will send them on.
If the memory is OK, on the full power trials we made 12 kts.
At 1200 rpm and used 100 gals. of gas per hour.
I was later assigned as OinC of the Pt. Bennett and the Pt.
Countess and they were much more luxurious than the open
steering of the 527.
Walter J. Annas BMCM USCG (ret)
31 McAlmond St.
Sequim. Wa. 98382
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|
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| 08/18/04
Wednesday - Ah, what a night in your own bed can do for the aches
and pains of those "pipe racks." Today I scanned in these
newspaper articles that appeared in the Sunday and Wednesday
Peninsula Daily News. They are pretty neat.
|
08/17/04
Tuesday - Royal and Dick tried to fly over to Westport from
Jefferson County Airport, but the Westport airport was socked in
with fog and low clouds, so they flew back. After getting the word
that they were back I returned to the boat and ran into relatives
of Royal that had come over to see the boat. We called Royal to
tell him that they were over and he said he would leave
immediately and drive over to help move the boat to another ship
that had shore power. I needed reliable power to keep the
batteries charged to keep the bilge pumps going. He and Sue
arrived about 3 hours later and we moved "her" and got hooked up
to shore power. We stopped for dinner and drove back to Port
Ludlow. Finally I got a hot shower and a night in my own bed.
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| 08/16/04
Monday - I met with Mark from Westport Diesel. Yep, she is toast.
In the Starboard engine one of the cylinder liners has shifted
upward and several pistons show signs of over temperature. (No
lie) After a conversation with those close to the
regular activity of the boat, I decided to go for an "in-frame"
overhaul. This may take 5-10 days depending on what things look
like once they start digging in.
Since I will leave the boat during
this period I have to move her to a dock that has shore power. I
have been charging batteries and having house lights using the
Coleman generator on deck. During the night the batteries have
carried the bilge pumps OK. I have been using a 1500 watt
inverter to provide limited lighting and cellphone charging using
one of the batteries, during the evenings.
Today I have a rental car and have
found a couple of wireless sites to download this update timely.
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| 08/15/04 Sunday
- I inflated the Avon and spent about 3 hours with the bucket of
sawdust stopping a few leaks.
In the afternoon Chuck Fowler
drove over from Olympia and we discussed future projects and
possible time frames. Chuck also knew of someone with a few
ideas to try to isolate which cylinder was knocking. I will try
those tomorrow.
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| 08/14/04
Saturday - We were finally inspected about 10:30 am and headed
out for Neah Bay about 11:00. After being underway for
about 30 minutes, we decided that we really did not have enough
daylight or fuel to make this leg of the trip safely. We
returned to Westport fuel dock and took on another 300 gallons.
When we started the starboard engine
there was a terrible clanking noise in one cylinder. We
left the fuel dock and went back to the original slip to ponder
our condition. We decided to put the trip on hold and send
Nancy, Roxane, Royal, and Dick back to Port Ludlow, leaving me
with the boat to insure that the bilge pumps stayed operational.
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| 08/13/04
Friday - About midnight we were near Grays Harbor, WA. Then it
happened. I noticed that one of the battery chargers had died. No
lights on it at all. Then the starboard engine started falling off
and after a quick filter change it seemed to clear up. Then I
turned my back for only a second and it died. Now the batteries
were too far down to re-start. I even tried to "penny" four of the
six cylinders to get it started, but not a chance. Now we were two
miles from the first buoy at Grays Harbor and now we were in a
condition of very hard steerage. It became impossible to hold a
course. The harder we struggled the more tired we got.
So we threw in the towel and called
Coast Guard Grays Harbor and requested assistance getting in. They
dispatched a 47 footer and a great crew. First they threw across a
line with a VHF handitalky and a flashlight. That eliminated any
incompatibility in the communications. They then passed the towing
line and off we went towards the harbor. Then they shifted to a
side tie and snuggled us up to the dock,
Then the fun began. Inspection
time. They ripped through the boat looking at everything. We
passed all things except the "safety of the engine room." That was
a true statement. While we were "dead in the water" slopping
around in the trough, the oily bilge water slopped up over
the top of the floorboards and it looked terrible. BM1 Marshall
indicated that our trip was terminated until it was cleaned up.
At 4:30am we finally got to bed.
Then back up at 8:30 to get started. We did a general boat
cleanup, a trip to Wal-Mart for oil and batteries, Sears for
battery chargers and then got busy in the engine room cleaning
things up.
About 7pm we called the "OOD"
[Officer of the Day] at Coast Guard Grays Harbor to request
the inspection. Its now 10:15 and we have not received a reply
call. Off to a shower, pizza dinner and on to bed. An early start
now looks doubtful.
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08/12/04
Thursday - We were out of the jetty at Newport, OR about 8:30,
after a delay at the fuel dock. Northward bound. Everything was
working as hoped. The weather was 2-4' swells from the
North. As we passed the Columbia River things were still working
fine and we decided to press on, even though darkness was
approaching. Then came Friday morning.
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| 08/11/04
Wednesday - Jack's modified fix worked. Were back on line with
both engines. Royal and I changed all fuel filters and cleaned up
the "trashed" engine room.
There has been a small but
consistent leak near the starboard rudder. That caused the aft
bilge pump to go off every 15 minutes, or so. I decided to try a
"fix" that I had seen work before. I put the AVON in the water and
with a pole and plastic bucket I distributed "sawdust" from the
bucket in the area of the leak. As before it cleared up the leak.
It seems that the flow of water into the hull will pull sawdust in
with it, up to the point that the flow stops. I was amazed again.
Roxane and Dick drove to West
Marine in Portland to get a new radar. I got the other defective
radars removed from the mast and installed the new equipment. This
will give us more security when running in the fog or darkness.
The weather was windy all day
today, and is slated to stay that way the next few days. I guess
we will stick our nose out tomorrow morning and see how things
look.
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| 08/10/04
Tuesday - My brother, Jack Withers drove over from Salem, OR with
his tools and 671 repair manuals and jumped into the repair.
After removing the blower it was confirmed that the "quill shaft"
had stripped out its splines, so it couldn't drive the blower.
There were no shafts available anywhere. Jack took some parts home
with an idea about how to modify a newer version of the shaft. We
will now have to stay another day to get it completed.
We did meet with Tom McAdams, BMCM,
USCG, Ret. the "final CO" of the 83527. He left the boat when it
was decommissioned. I had a chance to ask a lot of questions about
"how things used to be." We also enjoyed sharing the boat and its
history with many fellows from the CG base.
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| 08/09/04 Monday
- We headed out for Newport, Oregon. It wasn't a great trip. After
the first hour we lost the port engine. After an hour of fiddling
and phone calls we decided that the "blower" wasn't spinning.
After removing the "air box" I could see that the blower
wasn't turning. We just decided to keep running. We ran an average
of 9kts on the one engine. The port engine has never given us
problems and she got us to Newport.
We were invited to dock and stay at
the Coast Guard Station upon arrival.
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08/08/04 Sunday
- We got underway for Coos Bay, Oregon. It was a great trip.
Everything worked fine. We got the engines PM'ed and ready with
new fuel filters.
|
08/07/04
Saturday - We arrived at about 6 am off the jetty at Crescent
City. It was quite foggy and we could not find the first buoy,
but the GPS said we were there. At about 6:15 am the sunshine
welcomed us and so we finally found it. After tying up for some
sleep we were awakened by a local knocking on the bridge. He
wanted us to relocate the boat. So we worked on getting things
cleaned up, relocated the boat, had dinner at a local restaurant
and hit the rack.
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| 08/06/04 Friday
- We spent half the day at Fort Bragg, California where we were
invited by the Coast Guard to stay at their facilities.
Had a good time sharing the boat and stories with both the
coasties as well as several 83 footers that appeared. We were
asked if we could stay a few more hours as the Admiral of the
11th Coast Guard District would be visiting and they thought he
would enjoy the history. So we did. We got out of Ft Bragg about
13:30 and got underway northbound.
We decided to go as far as the seas
would allow because there are many locations with rough water.
We decided to keep going as long as the water was calm. And it
was all the way to Crescent City.
The trip was not trouble free. I
lost track of how many times I started and stopped to change the
fuel filter. There were 4 hours of rainy weather and lots of
stress with fog. But most memorable was the hour of
moonlight and millions of stars. I love the trailing prop wash.
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| 08/05/04 Thursday - The crew was up and ready at 5:30. We had the
celebrated pancake breakfast. Engines were started at 6:15 and we
were underway at 6:30. It was slightly windy in the harbor and
pretty windy outside. The first 3 hours we took a "whoppin".
We reduced the speed to about 6mph and we were still getting
smashed. Finally the winds subsided and we kicked the speed up to
about 12mph. Once we passed Point Arena the seas calmed way down
and the rest of the cruise was easy. We arrived at Ft. Bragg about
4:45 and snaked our way in the narrow harbor. Jim was at the
wheel and Dan and Don were on the lines. Jim did a great job of
kissing her against the Coast Guard Station dock where we stayed
as invited guests. Quite a few of the "coasties" went on tours
through the ship and had fun in the engine room pondering how it
used to be. We were met by
Selby Drew, a local "83 Footer Sailor" and the group went out to
dinner.
Tomorrow we will delay our departure to show "her" to the visiting
Admiral and any staff that want the tour. Then we will depart with
Selby for the next leg, yet undefined.
For now, its time to hit the rack.
We are beat from just hanging on.
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08/04/04 Wednesday - I drove back to Richmond and did some parts
shopping and picked up Jim and Don and returned the rental car.
That took care of one day. We are ready to get underway first
thing in the morning. At last! The wind is really howling tonight.
I hope it gives it up before morning, or we don't leave. Off to
bed.
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| 08/03/04 Tuesday - Last night after the page was updated things came
together. I will make a "West Marine" run to Richmond
tomorrow morning and pick up two guys that will go on the Fort
Bragg leg, then work their way back to Richmond on their own. Then
from Fort Bragg, Selby Drew, a former 83 Footer will go with us to
Newport, then we will figure out how to get him back to Ft Bragg.
From Newport we have a couple of possibilities for "crew" the rest
of the way. That part is jelling right now.
Today was spent getting things secure
for the trip. I worked on the main generator to see if I could see
a simple problem (no schematic) with the voltage adjustment
circuit. It should adjust down to 220vac, but runs at 300. That
makes the light bulbs burn real bright! We will continue to use
the Honda powered generator lashed to the deck as primary power
while underway.
We made the rounds to NAPA, Ace
Hardware and Safeway this afternoon getting "stuff" for the trip.
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| 08/02/04 Monday
- Here we are all cleaned up and cant leave. We are scrounging the
phone book for at least one more person to help us get underway.
The clock is ticking away for our hard deadline of Port Townsend
by August 14th. That is the day of the "83 Footer Sailors" Annual
Reunion.
This afternoon the sun came out for
the first time in 3 weeks. I got a few shots of the boat in the
sun. She looks like a band of gypsies live aboard.
|
Tonight was another "heart
healthy" dinner.Maybe we
will find that missing volunteer tomorrow.
|
 |
| 08/01/04 Sunday - Success! We got the "trashed" engine room cleaned up and
about 1pm left the dock for the test run. We drafted Juan, from
our neighbor boat for helmsman, plus he knew the entry and exit
procedures from the harbor. We ran her up to 14mph (on gps) at
full throttle, but generally loafed around at 11mph at 1100rpm.
There was no wind and therefore an uneventful landing at the
dock. I took some good video footage that I will try to get
working to stream from this site.
Since the schedule is so delayed I
don't have anyone absolutely committed to leave with us, so until
then we will have to set. I should hear from a guy tomorrow
morning that "says" he is in for the whole trip. That would have
us leaving on Wednesday morning though.
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| 07/31/04 Saturday - Richard arrived about 11 with the parts and we started
re-assembling the transmission. At 7 pm we were completed and had
been running it without a load for about 1/2 hour.
Off to the showers, but it was too
late for any of the local restaurants to be open, so we celebrated
with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We're beat. Early to bed.
Hopefully the wind will die down
tonight and we can get in a test run tomorrow. Unfortunately we
don't have a 3rd crewman for a Monday departure.
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| 07/30/04 Friday
- The bearings did not arrive as promised. There was some story
about FEDEX loosing the shipment. The tracking number did show
that they were near by. About 4pm they appeared and Richard
from MRS did pick them up and got the shaft ready to bring out
tomorrow. We worked on more
caulking and canvas cover projects today.
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07/29/04 Thursday - The bearings for the transmission had to be ordered, so
today was filled with more "fixit" projects. Since every night has
been foggy and heavy with dew, we chased down little leaks in the
deck and pilot house. We also cleaned up the dock where it looked
like a "crashbox" junkyard.
The bearings should arrive at the "parts place" at 9am, so maybe
by days end we will have it re installed for a Saturday test run.
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07/28/04 Wednesday - Ratz . . . We got the port transmission off and
inspected the front bearing. Wasted! Yes, no grease, but the
shafts don't seem to be damaged. We disassembled it down to the
basics and drove the assemblies to MRS in Santa Rosa. Richard will
attack it first thing in the morning. Hopefully we can find the
two replacement bearings first thing. Then we can have it back to
the boat for re-assembly.
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| patented dual comealong coupler splitter |
wasted
pilot bearing |
end of
transmission |
yarding the assembly
down to the dock cart. |
|
07/27/04 Tuesday - Hurray, she's back together. We got the kinks worked out
and the transmission reassembled and bolted up to the engine.
We will run test it on Thursday. Tomorrow we will pull off the
port transmission and turn it 90 degrees on the chain hoist. Then
we will pull the front cover to look at the forward bearings to
see if they are getting grease. If they are, then back together
she goes and we are done. That will take about 5 hours to do.
Tonight 3 Coasties from the Bodega Bay station stopped by in their
RIB to take a tour of the boat. They were amazed at the
"conditions" that their "forefathers" put up with compared to the
boats of today that they were familiar with. We were invited to
call the station and see if anyone was available to crew with us
on the test run.We wrapped
up the day with a big slab of salmon provided by the guys across
the dock from us. Royal dug out the "George Foreman" and "grilled"
it up for us. That was chased with chocolate pudding.
I got a phone call and an
invitation to stop at Coast Guard Port Angeles on the way down the
Straits on the home leg.
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| 07/26/04 Monday
- I called the mechanic this morning at 7am and left a message
about our non-progress. He called back about 8 and indicated that
he was going to be leaving Lake Tahoe about noon and would make it
by in the afternoon. That never happened. I got a call about 6pm
indicating that he would be there at 9am Tuesday.
We spent the day on little cleanup
tasks that were needed. Such as caulking and painting. I mounted
the new VHF radio and antenna, cleaned up some of the AC cords we
had strung around for lighting and relocated all of the stuff that
was moved for the mid-ship painting. Royal got the flying bridge
"canvas" tied down with screweyes that were added. Since the
"quarterdeck" is so nicely painted we cut some cheapo carpet
strips and laid them on the deck for greasy shoes to walk on in
hopes that it will stay clean for awhile.
|
07/25/04 Sunday
- We decided that we wouldn't get greasy today. Royal finished
hooking up the forward head and got that cleaned up for use. No
more 5 gallon bucket.
| Today is paint the balance of
the deck day. It took about 2 hours to vacuum, blow, wash
down, scrub and blow. any water away that was pooling. Dan cut
in around the edges and Royal rolled on everywhere else,
except for a pathway to the ladder. We put our shower kits and
clean clothes on the dock, then painted ourselves off the
boat. |
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After we got cleaned up we went to
Petaluma, actually Penngrove, and went to the Pengrove Power and
Implement Museum. They have the other Sterling Viking engine from
the 83527. Although I was hoping it was operational, it is just
setting waiting for some TLC.
On the way home we stopped at
Safeway and got some more food, cleaning supplies, water and
pancake mix. At Home Depot we got some cheapo carpet to make
runners between hatches to keep the newly painted deck "grease
free" from dirty shoes coming out of the engine room.
| This bumper sticker about sums
up the state of mind in Bodega Bay. |
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|
07/24/04 Saturday - Our first project was to install the new fuel
pump on the port engine. That seemed to solve the "surging" or
fuel starvation problem. Then we tackled the reassembly of the
transmission clutch. Although it was very time consuming, it was
easy to do. Unfortunately there appears to be something we cant
identify wrong because we can't get it to shift into "forward."
I'm guessing that something is binding or not properly assembled
on the main shaft. Later in the afternoon we got a call from a
friend from Richmond who suggested that he and another truck
transmission mechanic would come up and look at it with us. After
a couple of hours of fussing with it he agreed that something must
be assembled wrong on the main shaft. So goes another day.
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| 07/23/04 Friday
- This morning about 9am Ron from MRS arrived with what he thought
was the parts for a quick re-assembly. After a few questions like,
"where are the clutch plates" and where is the "bla,bla,bla". Well
he was the victim of "boss hurrying out of town." So we started
assembling the main shafts and I headed for their shop to get the
"missing" stuff and a new fuel pump for the port engine about
noon. Plus I needed to get some oil for the transmission and some
pipe fittings and "stuff" from the hardware store. So I
arrived back about 5pm and things were waiting for the parts I
returned with. Royal and I will finish the assembly tomorrow and
get it back on line. The fuel pump should solve the fuel
starvation on the port engine.
Its a big Friday night in Bodega Bay
tonight. We are taking our every 3 day showers and doing the
laundry at the marina facility. We will probably migrate out to
the Sandpiper for dinner later since were cleaned up.
|
| 07/22/04 Thursday - Today was
supposed to be the day to
receive the transmission parts and get it assembled. Now we are
told it will be first thing tomorrow morning.
Royal finished the flying bridge
windscreen top cover canvas instead. Also the piping for the
forward head was built up. We need one more pipe fitting to
finish. We will get that tomorrow. Since the sun came out for
awhile Dan completed the "white washing" of the starboard side.
She looks pretty "fresh" now.
We decided to take a look at the
port engine "fuel starvation" symptom we noticed when coming in
the bay. Closer inspection showed the fuel pump was leaking. We
bypassed the "new" Racor filter setup and determined that the
starvation was external to that. The engine will run OK at 1000rpm
if you are supplementing the fuel pressure with the bulkhead
mounted pump. I placed a call to Bay City Diesel for advice.
|
07/21/04 Wednesday - Foggy
as usual this morning. We have hot coffee and the "Big Bands of the
40's-and 50's" CD playing (Sentimental Journey right now) this
morning. "Live and direct from the decks of the 83527." "Sing it
Peggy Lee."
|
This morning we got a
call from Captain Jim Nolan from the USS Red Oak Victory, a WWII
Victory Ship down in Richmond. He is an participant in that
restoration. He brought three 25 man life rafts to carry back. We
got them hand carted down the dock and "block and tackled" on
board.
|
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| We then "block and
tackled" out the bad transmission sub assemblies and got them to
the van. We then delivered them to MRS for assembly with the
transmission from yesterday. From the blueing on the shaft you can
see how |
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hot
things got in there. This has inspired some conversation about
pulling the other transmission from the engine to at least know
what the front bearings look like. Since we have the A-frame in
place we could easily move it and only loose a half day looking.
Were still pondering that one.
|
I guess
we will take showers tonight and go into Bodega Bay for a real
dinner instead of the normal baloney sandwiches.
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| 07/20/04 Tuesday -
Breakfast for the crew. Started out on the phone trying to
sort through the parts sources. |
 |
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We were referred to Bay Diesel
who could get new parts in quickly. Unfortunately it turned out that
their supplier couldn't ship after 1:30pm from LA. That complicates
our situation because Richard at MRS must be completed by Thursday
evening (more vacations).
Decided to meet a guy at 3pm in Vallejo
who claimed he had a good used complete transmission. We met the
"un-named source" at the "designated location" and after pulling off
the top cover and endplate discovered that other than being ugly it
was in very good shape.
So here we set with a Chevrolet
Cavalier rental car and a 600# (at least) transmission. Fortunately
Avis had a lot in Vallejo to dump the Cavalier and we picked up a
Mazda mini-van at Hertz. Rushing back to the used equipment lot we
found them ready with the transmission on a pallet on the fork lift
ready to stuff in the back of the (undercapacity) minivan. With some
nudging and protective cardboard (and cash changing hands) we were off
for Santa Rosa hoping that we could get Richard at MRS to be there at
7:30pm to unload it at his shop so we didn't have to drive over the
mountains to Bodaga Bay and then Back in the morning. He was there and
we agreed that it would probably work as a parts dog for the repair.
07/19/04 Monday - Chaining up to
start lifting this morning. Successfully removed the transmission by
mid afternoon. Thanks to warboats fan Greg Brazil (Berkeley, CA) who
has been carrying his manual around for days now on our behalf. The
"replaceable" clutch plate and the end bearing were wasted. The
bearing has never seen any grease, mostly because there wasn't a
fitting to grease it. Richard (Mobile Repair) will be here at 8:am
Tuesday to start disassembly and parts determination. Back to
more mundane projects. Its too damp and foggy to paint. Royal is
working on the canvas for the flying bridge. (Other photos added
below, too.)
| 07/17/04 Saturday -
Since it was obvious that we were to be here for awhile, Roxane
and Sue will drive back to Seattle with the Suburban starting this
morning. They left about 10am. |
| Met with
George Burton (Dan's high school and Navy buddy) from Willits, CA and got ham radio working
and misc small projects out of the way. George dropped us off at the
Santa Rosa Airport and got a rental car and drove back to Bodega Bay
(via Home Depot). Dan is feeling almost normal again.
|
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| 07/16/04 Friday - Lay in port at
Spud Point Marina. Spent day calling around for assistance. Most
people gone over the weekend. Two good prospects gone all next week on
vacation. |
|
| Roxane took Wink Weber
to the Santa Rosa Airport to get a rental car. He was going to
drive to Oakland and fly back to Portland to meet his Monday
morning commitments. |
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| 07/15/04 Thursday - Departed
Richmond, Sugar Dock about 6am. Crossed under the Golden Gate about
7:10 and followed the fishing fleet out. The waters were calm and
great. After rounding Pt. Reyes we started riding the trough and
it was a different story. The old round bottom girl really
rolled. There went lunch over the side. |
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Later I noticed the stuffing box was
overheating so we slowed down and tried to cycle the transmission from
reverse to forward to get some cooling water circulating.
Unfortunately this resulted in locking the port transmission and
killing the engine. After considerable fiddling around we decided to
continue on one engine into Bodega Bay and evaluate our condition. As
we entered the bay the Starboard engine started to act fuel starved.
It would only run at high RPM if the manual fuel pump was pumped.
We finally had dinner across the street
from the Marina at a salmon feed place.
We were in bed by 9pm and I crashed
until 8am. We were whipped after that day.
07/14/04 Wednesday - We
got more things cleaned up and ready for getting fuel and a test run.
We moved across from the marina to Channel Marina and put on 500
gallons of diesel. That took about 3 hours. Then we went out for a 3
hour sea trial. Upon return the winds were calm and the tie up was
easy.
We had dinner and to bed early for a
6am departure.
| 07/13/04 Tuesday - Continued
preparation. |
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| 07/12/04 Monday - Continued
preparation. Painting and installed the oily water filter. |
|
| 07/11/04 - Sunday Continued on preparation. Royal working on
windshield. Dan on electrical and Wink on rigging and berthing. |
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| 07/10/04 Wink Weber, President of the 83 Footer Association
arrived at Oakland. Dan picked him up at the airport. |
 |
| Continued working on the
list. Royal started a windshield structure. Started stowing equipment
received when Roxane and Sue (Journey) arrived with the Suburban and
trailer. |
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07/09/04 Continued on the list.
Called in David
Perez, Bay City Diesel, to look over state of the engines. He
recommended a list of improvements. We agreed and he started some pipe
and injector replacements.
|
 |
| 07/08/04 Started attacking the list of projects.
Went to Home Depot and purchased hardware, plywood and etc. Started
replacing plywood decks in the aft two compartments for ease of
movement and clean storage of "stuff." |
 |
| |
|
07/07/04 Dan Withers and Royal Journey
flew to Oakland, CA and rented a vehicle. This will give us 5 more
days to get prepared for departure.
07/06/04 Dan and Royal packed the
Suburban and trailer with generator, life rafts, survival suits and
every other conceivable gadget that anyone we knew had laying around
that might make the trip more fun and safe. Roxane Withers and Sue
Journey will leave Friday morning for Richmond with the Suburban and
trailer.
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