Opening Pandora's Box

Work, work, work.  That's what we've been doing on Cloud Nine since we brought her back from Port Townsend in August 2011.  Being that she's a 38-year-old wooden boat (translation:  in need of a lot of work), and she'd been neglected, every project we started seemed to uncover another area that needed tending to ... it was like opening Pandora's Box!


In all reality, Jerry has been the one working on Cloud Nine, day after day after day.  You see, I've been working full-time for an accounting office and just recently semi-retired.  I say "semi" because in all reality, at the age of 56, nothing is financing this retirement.  So, in between small side jobs teaching QuickBooks to anyone in need and picking up a couple of bookkeeping jobs, I join Jerry in the daily trip to the marina to work on getting Cloud Nine ready for a little summer cruising.


Most days will find my Energizer Bunny (what I affectionately call Jerry because of his endless energy) down at the marina working on the boat with occasional runs into town to our local Home Depot for tools, screws, glue, wood, paneling, more glue, etc.  Then a run back home to get on the internet to research how someone else resolved whatever problem has come up on this specific day.  Jerry is one of those guys who can do anything mechanical, electrical or with plumbing.  And what he doesn't know, he'll read and read until he learns how to do it.  Sometimes it doesn't work right the first time, but nothing gets this man down -- he just tries again.  He loves to quote Winston Churchill's "never, ever, ever give up".



For those of you interested in all the work that's been accomplished, the following is a list of everything done so far.  For those of you who could care less ... come on, admit it, there are a few of you ... you can skip this paragraph and continue below to the before and after pictures.  Jerry didn't take pictures during the process nor did he write down all that he did, but this is pretty close to what's been done:   In the v-berth, port windows were leaking and were removed with a temporary marine plywood closure in place until new port windows can be installed down the road; mattress was moldy due to said leaks and was removed and replaced; all the old vinyl wall covering removed, wood walls painted, and some vinyl replaced.  On the foredeck, the teak decking was leaking, support holding anchor was rotten, portions of inner hull were rotten; so teak decking was pulled up, marine plywood laid down, epoxied in place, and we've put the first of many layers of Safe-T-Deck paint; rebuilt anchor winch base and replaced rotten areas in inner hull running along foredeck.   Upper deck:  hole in upper deck dug up and patched with putty; propane line pulled and rerouted so that all the pipes ran outside of the boat with only two connections (one at tanks and one at stove).  Boat had no scuppers on the sides for water on the foredeck (just small drain holes), so scuppers were installed.  Dickinson heater had no connections, so we plumbed diesel fuel to it but grew tired of hearing the pump running all the time, so Jerry set up a gravity feed system with aluminum tank on the top deck; diesel fuel can be pumped up to the tank, then turn the valve and the diesel returns to the heater through gravity.  That didn't resolve all of our problems with the Dickinson heater, as it was not putting out the heat it should, so he took apart the carburetor and rebuilt it, took apart the entire heater for a thorough cleaning.  Kitchen:  when we went to move the kitchen sink to a more "usable" location, we found we had to replumb the entire boat with PEX because 38-year-old plumbing from Japan did not match anything available now in the U.S.; new counter in kitchen, extending old one further into salon to create more workable space; new propane stove and refrigerator; new sink, faucets and water filter.  Bathroom:  laid new tile down on floor; changed fitting on shower and moved heads and handles to a more convenient location; took out the forward head.  The explosion in January 2012 caused more problems:  replaced one window with three more to replace in the future; replaced antenna which was shattered in explosion and replaced radio at the same time; all doors will need to be replaced as they are just glued back together at the moment.  Other things we did were take out equipment no longer working or needed (TV antenna, direction finder), put speakers for stereo system in the pilothouse, and install electric heater in wall.


Before and after pictures of the work so far:

BEFORE:  Old kitchen with raised bar. 

Old kitchen had raised bar cutting down amount of counter space.

AFTER:  Bar removed and counter extended gives much more counter space

Old bar removed and counter extended gives more of an open feel and allows more working space.

BEFORE:  Kitchen from pilothouse.  The old sink was stuck over on the left side, right in the corner, which did allow more drawers, but forced you to bend way over in order to use the sink.











AFTER:  New sink moved over to right giving counter space between sink and stove (also new as old stove was rusted out at the bottom).  New stove is a Seaward and we love it!  Yes, we lost two drawers moving the sink, but it's much more convenient where it is now. 

BEFORE:  The salon and kitchen from the back door of the boat.  The salon has lots of space and most would love it the way it was, but ...

Oscar, our wood-carved Rainbow Rock Fish oversees our work.

 AFTER:  The addition of paneling warms up the salon.  Headliner has been pulled down because it was rotted after 38 years.  Reinforcement boards were screwed up into open areas to reinforce the top of the boat.  While it's open, new speaker wires have been run to surround sound system and wires also run for 110V lights above the settee.






So lots and lots of work done so far on Cloud Nine and yet, when you look at her current pictures, she looks like she still needs a lot done, and you'd be right.  We figure at least another year of hard work on her to get her "pretty" but we're going to enjoy every minute of it!  At least that's what we keep telling ourselves.

In the meantime, we're going to take her out for a 2-3 week cruise June 2012 and give ourselves a break and a little vacation.  We'll post photos of our travels and let you know where we're visiting.  

FOLLOW UP:  A couple of comments by friends asking if I'm planning on lifting my "delicate" fingers and do anything to "help".  (Don't you love sarcastic friends!)  So, just putting in that I'm taking all of the varnish off the teak on the outside of the boat as well as the one who has worked on the v-berth.  We have more photos to post with changes and will get to those soon.

Winter has long ago settled into the Puget Sound area, and Cloud Nine has been moored at her dock in the Sequim Marina.  Jerry works on her daily, getting her diesel furnace working again, building a fuel filtering system, and running new propane lines down to the kitchen stove.  He has spent most of the past 3 months working in her bilge, cleaning and finding the "treasures" that have been left behind by previous owners.  We're making plans for a trip in May and June into Canada's waterways.  We'll post updates later this spring.

A Labor Day Trip to Edmonds

Working full-time as the only person in an accounting office, my days off are limited to the weekends.  So with a Friday off and a Monday holiday, trip planning got underway for our first "official" voyage.  Where to go?  We wanted one day of travel, one day of enjoying where we went, and one day of travel returning, with one extra day in the mix in case of bad weather.  Should we take Cloud Nine to the San Juans and join the flotilla of all the other boats doing the same?  Or should we head to Edmonds to show her off to Jerry's son.  Showing off won handidly, and we made plans to make our way to either Kingston or Edmonds for the long weekend.  We had hoped to leave Friday, but changing the engine oil and other "servicing" took up our day and we headed out early Saturday.  A beautiful, clear day for cruising, albeit a little hazy due to the warm weather we finally were enjoying in NW Washington.  

  

East of Sequim is Protection Island, a National Wildlife Refuge.  This juvenile eagle was proof positive of the "wildlife" in abundance around the island.  We giggled that even with our binoculars, it was tough to read the "stay 200 yds away" sign until we were well within the 200 yards.   So we took some pictures and got back out of the way.  

 

Seals were very vocal about our infringing on their sunbathing.  They, too, were enjoying summer finally arriving in the Puget Sound. 



We we made our way east down the Strait of Juan de Fuca, boats were aplenty, all out enjoying the amazing weather.  Days like this are the exception in the Puget Sound, so many were taking advantage, including this wooden sail boat out of Port Townsend, with a large group out on a tour.  Mt. Baker in all his glory standing out.  I wish it had not been so hazy that day.  This would have been a great picture.

We made our way down the Admiralty Inlet and across the shipping lanes just in time to watch two cruise ships making their way north out of Seattle.

As Kingston was fully booked, we called into Edmonds marina and found we could moor in the space of one of their tenants who had vacated for the weekend.  At $60+ per night, we knew this would not become a "regular" in our list of marinas to visit, but instead a special treat.  "Active" is the understatement for this marina.  The guest moorage was filled with small pleasure craft, rafted together, and out early in the morning to gather their haul of fish.  Watching the boats maneuvering through the marina and out the breakwater was sometimes like cars merging on a busy freeway.  Add to this the ferry traveling back and forth between Edmonds and Kingston, we enjoyed all of the activity. 


The marina facilities are quite nice with each dock locked and their bathrooms and showers clean.  Having an Anthony's Restaurant at the marina was a plus for us, as we always enjoy partaking in a platter of their famous fish and chips!

On our return trip back to Sequim, we found out the hard way about the Point Wilson rips.  While we had ventured through this area three times before without incidence, this day we learned to respect all the warnings posted in many a cruising book about the dangers of this area. In the early pages of the Waggoner Cruising Guide they warn of the Point Wilson rips with a passage that reads:

One of the more frustrating pieces of water we face in

the Northwest is the infamous Point Wilson tide rip just

off Port Townsend.  The rip usually (but not always)

forms on an ebb tide.  The patch of rough water

can extend several miles north and west of Point Wilson....

They watched a white power boat enter the far side of the rip.  

The boat was about 40 feet long.  Once in it was trapped.  

It rolled and plunged taking water up to the flybridge.  

The longer it was in the rip the bigger the rip became.  

Rolling and crashing, the boat had no choice but to carry on.  

The bow lifted out of the crest and disappeared in the troughs, 

burying in the waves ahead.  Eventually, the boat got through.   

It was as if this passage was written while watching Cloud Nine roll and plunge that day through these waters, for reading this section after we returned, it described exactly how it felt going through these waters that day.  We had ignored the Coast Guard warnings of gale force winds in the east Strait because we could neither feel nor observe the evidence of winds.  We even stopped in Port Townsend to check at the marina for reports of bad weather around the corner in the strait.   There were none.  We also ignored the fact that we were going to be more than two hours past slack tide when we reached the area, and the tide would be on an ebb.  Nevertheless, we were in bad water that we hadn't seen and no way out but to continue through it.  While our nerves suffered greatly that day, it became clear that Cloud Nine had not suffered at all.  Returning to the Sequim Bay, and calmer waters, we idled in the Bay for a minute to survey the damage, which we found to be non-existent.  She had come through far better than us, and our confidence grew in her ability to take us safely on our passages to come.