Refitting

These are the adventures of renewing  our small sailing vessel MaryJane. Purchased in 2011 she is our second sailboat.   Specs  New engine, power sources, mechanical stuff, a long list that is not yet finished but keeps us occupied. Eventually we will have to embrace some more sedate hobby, but for now this is it. Along with gunk holing up and down the coast from our home port in Richmond, BC.

 A Gulf 32 Pilothouse Motor sailor 'The MaryJane'. The 1982 cutter designed by William Garden and built buy Capital Yachts, now defunct, of San Francisco. We are the fourth owners, and we have spent the last few years fixing her up, with plans to cruise the north Pacific waters of BC. Lily found the boat on the internet and I went down to Olympia, Washington and checked her out. The price was right so the project began. Bringing a 1980's boat up to a usable state requires a bit of work, and just where to start sometimes is troublesome. First off was fixing up what the surveyor found wrong...mainly minor stuff. Ground fault plugs for AC, etc.

Haul out at Olympia, Wa. There were quite a few jobs that we tackled the first couple of years...a new lewmar windlass new G4 chain and new rode..200 feet of each plus remodeling the anchor locker door and adding forward scuppers. The original had the deck water run off through the anchor locker. This had caused flooding for the PO when he failed to clean his anchor chain and the miniscule scupper in the locker plugged. I raised the bow area and glassed in the triangle door there and put a hatch in instead. We also installed a Norcold refrigeration unit in the cold box, replaced the defunct Ardic furnace with a new Espar furnace. Removed the Dorado vents and repaired the incipient rot there and replaced with two Vetus vents. Eventually we replaced all the plexiglas windows with custom laminated glass with sliders on the four side windows. We replaced the black water tank and hoses. Re-painted the deck non skid surfaces with two part epoxy paint. We added a new sounder as the original unit calved. Inside, the forward bulkhead interior facing had to be replaced due to the afore mentioned flooding. New woodwork in the saloon ceiling and new LED lighting in the galley. I did a lot of rewiring and fusing. pulled yards of old wire going nowhere out. I replaced the fuel feed hose with type A hose. Added a vetus anti overflow device and new deck pipe. New anti surge device as a backup. Installed an FM antanae. Prior to the new engine install we had installed a larger alternator and replaced the injectors. Put in a new hot water tank. Re built the fuel filter assembly. Replaced the fuel tank sender. Replaced all the taps. Replaced all of the 110 ac plugs with GFIC plugs. The list goes on.

Addition of Bimini and Dodger, and below Lily at the helm leaving Tzoonie Narrows, heading for the Skookumchuk. We took a shortish trip up to the Sechelt Inlet in June of 2014. The first time there with the boat. We had done a kayak journey there a few years earlier camping for a couple of nights. This time going through the Skookumchuk Narrows which is a bit of fun! You must watch the slack carefully as this is a long stretch of turbulent water. going in we reached speeds of 8 knots with the flood just starting. Coming back we aimed for the slack at the end of the ebb but due to a strong NW storm  the ebb was held back some and we hit 10 kts heading to the final bend. No way to steer.. had to just go with the flow which luckily spit us out. I thought we were going aground on the rocks for sure. Interestingly when we first sailed into Tzoonie Inlet we met up with some friends who also have a Gulf 32. Totally serendipitous meeting.

2015 I installed a wind generator-the Air Breeze  model. This machine is an internally regulated generator which performs well once the threshold wind speed is met. About 8 kph it starts producing amperes related to wind speed. I purchased the mounting hardware kit from a supplier in Florida as I couldn't find the individual components here in Vancouver. I am sure they exist here but locating them was near to impossible. Stainless steel in 316 grade with accessory rubber washers etc. The rest of the tubing and wiring was no issue though and with the swivel base mount that came with the kit I am able to lower the whole apparatus by myself to the dock and remove the generator for maintenance.      Wind Gen

This shot also shows the solar panel on the back side of the bimini, though hard to see. Spring 2017 at Wallace Island MP.

We found this Sail-o-mat windvane from a fellow who was upgrading his boat to a larger size. Still in the box unassembled for a fantastic price. We don't really use it much around these parts but it is great when we do. Very easy to set up and adjust. All aircraft grade aluminum, and lightweight. Windvane

Above is a short video of the windvane working away out in the Strait.

Fast forward to 2016...After adding the wind generator last year and the watermaker this spring I found the battery capacity too low for the output of the generator when it is really working so new battery bank had to happen. The original bank that came with the boat were two 75 AGM as house and one 90 AGM as start.I had already parallelled all of those together for the house and added a 55 AGM for the start, but the three originals were nearly eight years old and just did not have enough capacity with all the gear we have been accumulating. We were able to get a discount for the old lead and at the same time decided to put up some solar panels. Settling for one 100 watt panel for now, placed on the bimini. The very thin and flexible panel sets very nicely on the back half of the bimini and the power line was fed down through the radar tower. I have added the bigger of the old AGM batteries to the start bank with the idea of having a battery to power the outboard. This method will keep the battery topped up rather than leaving it stagnant until needed. After much research I determined that there is no harm in mismatching battery size and age when in parallel as long as the type is the same. In series the stronger battery will drain to the weaker but in parallel there is only an additive effect. Later I got a small 50 watt solar panel to charge this battery.

The first thing that worked well with the solar panel was the watermaker.    40E    The solar puts out around 6 amps at peak and the H2O uses around 4.2 amps per hour so they work well together on sunny days. The katydyn 40E is a little small..putting out only 1.8 gallons per hour. This is adequate for two people but you must operate it each day to avoid falling behind. If you do laundry on the boat we may have to run it longer. It isn't a problem to run it but it is noisy on a small boat so we try to operate it when the engine is running or go for a paddle to avoid extra noise when at anchor. It is good to not have to run for water all the time though.

Now we have two banks with 440 AH in the house and 145 in the start. We have changed most of the lighting to low power draw LED. With the Dometic portable freezer going 24/7 and the fridge going 4 to 5 hours and the watermaker going 4 hours daily we have enough capacity to keep everything happy for a couple of cloudy and windless days. If we are in a motoring mode then no issues. Along with the new battery bank we put in a larger capacity ACR bus to combine all the batteries for charging. As well as larger fuses in the primary and secondary runs.

After  our summer trip to the Broughton Island area we have found a few more items to add to our 'recommissioning' list. The first was that the propane stove had to go. I like the simplicity of gas, but not all the accessories and condensation etc. So we have gone diesel for a cook stove. Settling on the simple ceramic top rather than one with an oven. We never used the oven except to store the pan anyway. Now we have one fuel supply only. No exhaust inside, and no condensation plus more storage space both in the galley and in the aft lazarette where the tanks were kept. I chucked the barbecue as well..became such a soot monster for the Bimini. Don't miss it, though have often considered a big external gas powered crab pot, haha but that is just stupid!

New Wallas 85dt stove. Control switch on the right runs on diesel.

So long Hiller range circa 1980.

I fired up the new cookstove last week and it is very nice. Dry heat that draws cabin air. and exhausts out the back. |This makes the stove able to double as a heater on those chilly mornings instead of firing the cabin heater. I installed a separate tank for the stove but plumbed it from the main tank via the polishing pump so filling is easy.

When I installed the H2O maker I plumbed the intake off of the engine intake line, as the boat was in the water and I wasn't pulling it out soon. However as we found during our journey there was a problem with debris and crustaceans taking up residence in the through hull causing restriction to the engine cooling system. The worst that occurred because of this was a broken bolt on the thermostat housing that I caused while sleuthing the first overheating event. The overheating was not damaging as I caught it right away, however it demonstrated to me that I needed to overhaul the through hull fittings and create a separate intake for the watermaker. We decided that if we were to continue with our plans for extended coastal cruising that some more serious refits were required. The engine was nudging me for attention. The powerhouse has never let us down since acquiring MaryJane, but I have done consistent maintenance and have changed out the injectors as well. There is diminished compression though and she complains at high rpms. So as the engine is 35 years old we decided it was time. The end of the summer brought us back down to the lower mainland and up the Fraser River to Shelter Island on September 15, and now she sits on the hard. I got to work right away and by early October the engine was pulled and sold to another boater in need of a working machine. I considered rebuilding the block but in the end figured that was a lot of money to spend for an old engine. The new engine which will also be a Kubota block (Beta 35) arrives in January. Meantimes the engine bed is rebuilt, and new throughhulls installed.


Getting ready for the new Beta 35 install DIY.

old V1501

I did not take pictures of the engine

old beds..3 mounts!

removal, but with the aid of the buyer it went smoothly. I had it all disconnected and with a chain block lifted it using the boom, which I supported with a second line over the spreaders to take the weight. I used a heavy line looped around the boom which I then attached the main halyard and the second 1/2 inch line to thus isolating the boom.
I then used my small chain block come a long to swing the engine out over the cockpit. The yard forklift then was able to pick it off and place it in the buyers' vehicle. Whole operation took 20 minutes. Set up took a bit longer.

The Gulf 32's Universal 5432 was set up sitting on three mounts. Two at the back and one at the front. The new engine is smaller and lighter with more HP and has four engine mounts and so required significant re-modelling of the engine bed. With the spec sheet in hand I began by building a jig and fixing it to the shaft. I then

mounted a small laser pointer to the shaft to mark the angle for the engine bed. Once that plane was established I fabricated out of plywood a riser which I bedded onto the old stringer. I then laid up the mat and woven roving and painted the works with bilge coat paint. I had to place a 4" spacer onto the shaft and then the flexible coupler to allow the engine to fit onto the new beds. I was able to buy the proper threaded lag bolts from a local supplier and dropped the engine in and lagged it down. The alignment was remarkably easy due to the extensive measuring prior to laying up the risers. I needed to adjust the aft port mount down a quarter inch or so to line up the centered shaft with the engine flange. Final gauge measurement of the marker bolt while turning the shaft through 360 degrees was within a couple thousanths so I was pretty pleased. The final engine run up would be the real test though. The Beta man had thought my prop may be a bit large for the engine so we were still a little concerned with that.

new beds made of plywood and fiber-glassed in with mat and stitched woven rovingcloth layed to the shaft angle

new paint job

 All the plumbing throughhulls are replaced with up to date valves and fittings and a few new through hull fittings installed as well. The black water holding tank is also pulled and new valves installed for the intake and discharge lines. The bronze through hulls are still good and the New Zealand valves of ultra strong composite mate perfectly. These ball valves replace the 1980's cheap gate valves of molded plastic that have performed perfectly for the past 35 years! Though they are no longer compliant with marine standards, and so for any resale opportunities in the future they had to be upgraded. The original installation with plywood backing plates slapped on with a glob of goop would never pass inspection these days though, and the plywood was rotted through..crumbling off when the bronze nut was freed. Luckily I only had to remove one through hull on the head discharge. I will do some fibreglass repair and install the new hull fitting soon, going with a composite fitting here as well. The original bronze through hulls were installed during the lay up so that they are fully embedded. This made removing the fitting a bit tricky, but on the positive side once drilled out and replaced with composite through hull the entire fitting becomes one with the hull. No uneven expansion and flexing.

new composite through hull valves. The one on the left is a Tru Design from New |Zealand. ABYC compliant with all composite fitting sitting on glassed in backing plate of 3/4 plywood. The other is Forespar Marelon from USA. It is mated to existing bronze through hull from original install. The former is feeding the watermaker and the latter feeds the engine cooling system. March 2018...I have since taken the Forespar seacock out and drilled the through hull fitting out because it was too small -only 1/2 inch- for the new engine. I have installed a 3/4 inch Trudesign through hull fitting and ball valve instead to meet the Betamarine minimum requirement for the engine. I also removed the old 1 1/4 inch through hull exhaust fitting and replaced with a 2 inch trudesign composite fitting to take the 2 inch exhaust line from the engine. 

looking down into the holding tank compartment with the tank out and the old plastic gate valves removed. The one bronze through hull visible there is for the head direct discharge. |The taped area is where I removed the other discharge through hull because I could not free the nut and while attempting to I broke the seal to the hull so had to pull it out. 

 Holding tank for black water reinstalled. (more or less..still awaiting one small fitting from Tru-Design for the direct to overboard valve) The valve on the right. The red hose is the vent line. White is the deck pump out.

www.trudesign.nz 


I have now got to the end of January 2018. The holding tank is back in place hooked up to the new valves. New y valve in the head and new anti syphon valve in as well. The head sink drain I replumbed to the through hull that had previously accommodated the knotmeter transducer thus no new hole bored for that. As planned our new engine arrived Jan 31. However on inspection we found some transport damage so I sent it right back to be repaired.

 In the meantime I have repaired the through hull hole for the propane tank cabinet overflow and drilled out the old bronze through hull for the wet exhaust. A new two inch composite through hull hose barb is now epoxied in place to accept the wet exhaust when installed. I had to get a new waterlock as well for the new engine as it takes the 2 inch size hose. I chose a Vetus waterlock and am hoping the can style that I got will just fit in appropriately otherwise I will need to exchange it for a narrow model. Waiting for the engine to come back again now.

So doing all of the little jobs I can think of, cleaning up wiring and rerouting bilge hoses. Checking all the potential issues that may arise stalling the relaunch at end of March.

So received the engine back again and dropped it in. Neighbor helped to wiggle it through the companionway but otherwise very easy to hoist it in using the boom and chain block. the horizontal come along eased the back and forth while lining it up.

 Here is engine all hooked up and ready to go. Below is a shot of the high rise and waterlock and stuffing box.

 Below is a shot of the filters on the right and the stove fuel tank in the middle with the hot water tank at left. There are two banks of filters. Each bank has a primary and secondary filter and can be switched over while the engine is running should it be required. There is also the engine filter which should remain clean theoretically with all the pre-filtration. Below you see at the top of the picture the main aluminum 330 liter fuel tank. At the bottom is the plastic 10 liter stove fuel tank which will receive fuel via the Walbro transfer pump as needed. To the left is the hot water tank.

 Another view of the engine. I added the overflow coolant chamber seen below at the top left as the engine doesn't come with one. $13 at Lordco.

 Bottom paint finished. Didn't spend alot of time on the bottom this year, but will definitely have to scrape it all down next time. There was a bit of flaking of the old soft paint which I prepped by sanding down and priming with heavy cuprous primer. Will see how this black aquagard soft ablative works. Cost was about 170 a gallon at the store..later I found some cheaper!! damn 145 oh well I used just over a gallon for two full coats to the hull and a third coat around the high turbulence areas.

 Fresh anodes. Not really sure how effective binding the large doubleplate anode to the pintle plate is but that was how the PO had it rigged...they also connected it to the cutlass housing. Don't know why because the housing is isolated from the shaft and prop and there are not noble metals there, so I did not attach the anode there. I have a shaft anode at the distal end of the shaft. Last one lasted two years. The previous keel anode was still complete on the port side but 50% gone on the starboard. I also painted the prop with ablative paint, just for the hell of it. I don't imagine it will stay on for long but will be interested to see.

 Cleaned her up a bit and ready now to go in the water tomorrow March 16, 2018.

I am hoping for a straight forward re-immersion and commissioning of the engine. I have a couple of things to work out once tied up at the dock, I need to re-position the transmission lever to give me a push for forward gear. Need to fabricate a small piece to facilitate this. In the meantime will need to remember the opposite action.

 So she is back in the water and all is well in that regard, no leaks. Started the engine up readily after three cranks. Helps to prime and bleed the lines first. Only problem appeared once running...the tach not working and the charging light is on with the buzzer blaring. Of course not being fully informed on tachs and such other than how they work, I was trying to figure this out while at the loading dock while also monitoring the engine performance. Those buzzers are loud! After some time looking without seeing anything amiss I motored over to our spot on the dock close by and continued to search for the fault over there. Not finding the fault I shut down until the next day whereupon I found that the lead to the excitation post at the rear of the alternator was just hanging on by a couple of strands and came loose when I wiggled it. Thinking I had found the culprit I affixed a new spade end.

Any how, back on the water looking for the wiring issue I see the repair work when they replaced the broken alternator. Instead of taking the alternator off the support and then undoing the leads, which is the normal, because it is very difficult to get your fingers in behind without either moving the alternator or finding someone with really small hands, they just cut the leads and then spliced some old wire they had laying around. As you can see they spliced a chunk of red 14 gauge into the brown yellow lead which according to the manual is supposed to go to the tach sender post. Then on the other lead the blue black wire, they found a bit of staight blue wire and fit it on to the  lead. However some how they attached the end connectors on reversed. The exciter lead should have had a spade terminal and the tach should have had a ring terminal. The mechanic after cutting the leads then reversed the ends so that the leads were then reattached at the wrong posts. Well after spending several hours checking continuity on all the leads which entailed deconstructing and accessing and removing and you get the picture, I called the owner of the franchise that sells Betamarine engines and we further sleuthed the issue over the phone. He couldn't figure it out until I described the wire colours and where they were attached to the alternator. Then I too saw the discrepancy.


He sent the spares pack gratis as an apology.






Our spot at the docks at Shelter Island is not prime, being on the inside of the dock in the shallows, and parallel parked in between a couple of cruisers with about 3 feet on either end to maneuver in and out. Wow..coming in the first time there were a couple of folks on the dock who came to my assistance and even then due to a short bit of breeze the back end got swung out and I had to do a 180 degree turn and come back in the other way. This is actually what I wanted as there is only one way in and out so it worked out serendipitously. For us to get out I pretty much have to wait until high slack tide and hope there is no wind. I have about a boat length wide of space before the keel will drag bottom so this makes it a bit more problematic getting in and out. Hopefully a better berth will come up soon.

Back to getting ready for the shake down cruise. Once the weather warms up a bit we will take off for the islands and check all of the stuff out. Not anticipating any major issues, but need to restart the water maker and shake out the sails.


Once in the water again the engine ran smoothly at the dock but I didn't take it to sustained WOT as I wanted some calm water and a few hours on the engine first. After running her down the river and doing the break in routine of fifteen minutes of 1/3 throttle then fifteen of 2/3 throttle I checked all the fittings etc and then ran the engine at 1800 rpm across the strait. Next day after further checks and re torquing the shaft bolts we ran it up to temp and pushed it to the WOT stage to see if we could get the spec rating of 2800 RPM. After a few minutes she was up to 2700 and change. The riser exhaust started to burn off the paint and and stink pretty good but the gear was running smoothly and it appeared that the prop was in the ok range. I was happy and the dealer ok'ed the install. I may replace the prop with a slightly smaller one in the future but for now there is no issue.


 I have rearranged the shifter so that the action is like it was before..and changed out the fuel filters. Should have done that before but it slipped under the radar. I have replaced the head pump as well, and so far the new plumbing is all performing as expected. I am now considering how to place a transfer line from the watermaker to the main tank. Manually transferring water in the 6 gallon jug is a pain that I need to avoid.

Update...found that there is enough room for a 50 liter tank in the cubby alongside the watermaker. In the picture below the watermaker is mounted on the bulkhead aft of the filter. The tank is well secured from any movement with struts and straps. The small March transfer pump is attached to the sole in front of the tank..you can see the four bolt heads there. To access the machinery that shares this space requires detaching two hoses from the base of the tank and pulling out the tank. The small March pump came with the watermaker as a lift pump, however I found it was not necessary for that purpose but works quite well to transfer the made water to the bow tank.

In the meantime while our spring departure date approaches I have stripped and recoated the galley floor, put in some brass lifting rings where there used to just be finger holes..keeps so much dust and lost items from falling into the engine well. Put the headsail back up the other day and gave the decks a good scrub down. Pretty much down to little jobs now. Lily busy getting all our gear organised and making provision lists. Cleaning up everything after a winters worth of work she is looking pretty ready.

After taking the engine out for its shakedown we found that the mechanical fuel pump had some difficulty supplying fuel at 100% efficiency. I spent a day at anchor re-configuring the Walbro polishing pump to work as a booster pump. Found that the engine would work fine with the mechanical resident pump but occasionally would starve and stall necessitating the electric assist. I like to keep the Walbro for polishing and transferring fuel and priming after filter changes. It is a good quality pump with built in filter and has a demand chip in the circuit so will operate passively, but I think is overkill for this application. I have a smaller marine grade Airex pump that I will install and wire to the ignition. This is what the Beta folks advise doing in their manual so will comply.

I think the fuel feed problems are likely due to the lower fuel pressures when the tank gets down to half full. Now we should have no issues, and enjoy redundancy as well. I have likely put way too much gear on this little issue but what can I say. After year of operating and having the occasional stoppage even after installing the Airex I finally found the cause or the stoppages after they had gotten nore frequent and after I had done everything I could with the filters. I rechecked all the lines that I had installed and all the factory lines, which is just one that goes from a block on the bell housing to the mechanical lift pump and from that pump to the filter then to the high pressure pump in the engine. There are five clamps on that hose line and one of them had been removed..the one at the input to the mechanical lift pump. These hoses have a protective sheath that goes over the rubber hose and the clamps so you cannot readily inspect the clamps and this clamp was off with the sheath pulled up over it...I scratched my head quite a bit over that. You cannot accidentally knock those clamps off. At any rate once found and repaired the engine no longer hesitates at all.

This year (2019) after finally finding and fixing the air leak, we had also built another watermaker. I, being a sucker for punishment, took on the fabrication  and installation of an engine driven 20GPH watermaker. Haha. See the blog entry. So we took off to check out our work. The first iteration needed more work, so we came back and I made some adjustments. Going down the river the second time I hit something with the prop...I noticed a sudden change in sound from the engine...initially thinking maybe something else but kept going anyway, sailing over to Clam bay. I was thinking that I had picked something up..had done that before snagged a submerged chunk of branch that got wedged behind the prop. I fixed that by releasing the shaft from the engine and the piece fell out, so I first wanted to check that possibility. We were heading up the coast so I did not want to go back to the dock unnecessarily  so when at anchor I viewed the propellor. Long story short we headed back after a bit of sailing up to Club Jed and back. The perturbing noise didn't occur til the RPM exceeded 1500 so it wasn't too bad, but.. then the watermaker drive broke again so we headed back. I had the boat hauled and pulled the prop --had it to the prop shop where it was tuned up. Meantime I had the watermaker platform beefed up. So now we headed back out to check everything out over ten days in the southern Gulf Islands. Turns out the harmonics that the prop had exhibited at 1100 rpms after the new engine install also disappeared with the prop tune. The WOT produced the engine spec of 2800 RPM and it was beautifully smooth. The new watermaker pump base also held firm and the water production exceeded anticipated volumes. So all good. We are going to head up to the central BC coast waters next spring and hopefully will have all our systems functioning as we want them.

Broughton Island and Blackfish Sound

Broughton Archipelago

I am not sure where this is however it is fairly representative of coming Into Blackfish sound and Broughton Islands area. After leaving Matilpi and heading down Chatham Channel we pulled into Cutter Cove for the night.

Setting anchor at the head of Cutter cove dead center just ahead of a farm of crab traps. A bit later a large sailboat came and anchored a bit further in and became entangled in the crab sets. As the wind grew in from the NW and the chop increased he was having a tough time disentangling from it.

Next day we headed down towards Potts Lagoon around Minstrel Island. Later we would come back from Port Elizabeth through the 'Blowhole' but the first time we went out into Knight Inlet and then back into Clio Channel.

From here we anchored at Potts Lagoon. Un inspiring. Just a small homesteading/logging type spot. Bunch of worn down floats with shacks on. A logging camp in the first little cove on the way in. If you can ignore all the junk it is a nice little lagoon.

We headed out down Beware Passage to Dead Point on Harbledown Island the next day. A pretty passage with lots of rocks in the east entrance but well mapped and easy to navigate. As there was already a boat anchored at the old settlement at the east end we carried on through to Dead Bay at the west end. There is an old homested there called Monk's Wall with history, and a trail over to New Vancouver.

Lily having a peek at the wall. The loggers have clear cut the forest almost to the waterfront at this location.

After a couple of days we headed over to Port McNeil to get some provisions and to Sointula to visit some folks before heading back to the park.

 Heading west out of Knight Inlet towards Surge Islands and Malcolm Island to Port McNeil on a glassy sea.

Passing around the south end of Cormorant Island we come into Port McNeil and anchor off of Ledge Point. This is a large anchorage directly across from the Marina and Government wharf with good protection from NW wind and good holding in 30 feet or so. A ten minute row to the store.
We stayed a couple of nights here then went to visit some folks in Sointula, staying at the great marina there. Great place good prices clean with laundry and showers. Next day we headed back to the park area.

 Heading out of Sointula avoiding the rocks and kelp beds we stayed north of Cormorant and headed for the Pearse Islands where we stayed the night before heading across Blackfish Sound in thick fog to Farewell Harbour.

 The distinctive islet that marks the entrance to Farewell Harbour from Blackfish Sound.We stayed a couple of nights there hiking the shore trail and taking it easy. It is a good anchorage dominated by a large fishing lodge.

Just to the west of the island is the 'famous' Chief's bathtub. A petroglyph marking a rock formation that resembles an oblong bowl at low tide. We headed a couple more miles north to the Crease Island area and found a nice spot alongside some rock walls to set the anchor for a couple of days.

 This island hoping black was swimming from island to island foraging.

The smokey conditions remained quite thick until we mover further into the inland areas. The outflow winds seemed to push the smoke down towards Queen Charlotte Strait and Johnstone Strait.

The sunrise below through the smoke.

 Away from the fog for a bit then the violent forest fires in the interior sent smoke out the valleys for us to consider.

From a small islet our boat in the Crease Island group. After a couple of days we headed towards Kingcome Inlet, stopping at Waddington Bay for a couple of days and weaving throuh the Fox group past Echo Bay up the Fife Sound to a small Bay at the junction of Kingcome Inlet.

 We stopped at Mamlilculla an abandoned village that is closely guarded by the locals. A mixture of European and Native architecture. We paddled about then headed over to Waddington Bay for a couple of days.

 Waddington is very protected though a little bit of northerly gets through.

 After a couple days we headed out through the Fox group to Fife sound where it was a bit foggy.

 Kingcome Inlet and a small bay where we anchored for a few days. The humpback whales cruised the inlet just off the bay but I was always too slow to get decent pictures.

 We then headed over to Mackenzie Sound stopping at a couple of bays along the way before heading to Drury Inlet.

 The anchorage at Drury the day we left to make the rapids at the entrance. We headed down Wells passage meeting strong wind and dense fog blowing in off the Strait so we ducked into Tracey |Harbour for a tour before coming down to Queen Charlotte Strait and along east to Booker Sound where we stayed for a couple of days.

We entered the strait just as the fog lifted

After Booker we went back to Port MacNeil for supplies before heading up Knight Inlet to Tribune Channel. We anchored in Protection Bay opposite Viscount Island.

The Face in Tsakonu Cove....we set the anchor and then checked the landmarks..I dunno. This cove also supports a logging float camp. Nonetheless it is a well protected anchorage about halfway up the Knight Inlet towards Glendale.

Viscount Island across from Protection Bay heading up the Tribune Channel to the North side of the island where there is a small bay -Wahkana Bay, with some anchorages near a couple of creeks.

With the Jib out sailing up Knight Inlet. After a few days exploring around Tribune and Port Elizabeth we headed back east towards Desolation Sound stopping off along the way as needed.

While in Port Elizabeth some white sided dolphins flew by. Once on the way back we spent a few days in Desolation Sound as well as a night at the docks at Powell River, before hitting Tribune Bay then back over to Boho Bay before making our way south through Dodd Narrows to Ganges. A side trip to Victoria and then back up the Fraser River to the boat yard where we hauled out for the winter.

Desolation Sound. 

Solar Panel Install

Ever since purchasing the first battery for the old Martin 29 we have been thinking about wind and solar power. The wind generator I discussed in the Gulf 32 post. We don't have an arch astern and I
didn't want to add anything to the Bimini structure so we went with
flexible 100 watt panels. One to start with and a PWM controller. I read about the MPPT vs PWM controllers and discovered that the additional expense of the mppt was not warranted for installations under around 400 watts. This may have changed by now but bears investigation if you are just putting in a battery maintainer. The two panels I got eventually from Canadian Energy along with the new batteries have performed well though they were cheap panels build wise. The way I installed them on the Bimini canvas necessitated using the grommets that came with the panels. Of course on the first panel the grommets were too small for the stayput fittings so I had to drill them out and install solid brass 3/8 grommets. Hard to find but actually found a kit at Wallmart. haha. Lots of cheap fake brass plated ones around but you need the solid brass ones. These guys are great for all things canvas. The second panel also from Canadian Energy was also cheap but differed from the first which was from Sun solar made in China to a German brand also made in China. The grommets in the latter panel were the right size but made from tin and so rusted out immediately and I will have to replace them this winter. This irritated me immensely and I complained to the company about the cheapness of the build. Imagine putting in cheap plated steel on a marine use item! However the solar cells themselves do function. I attached both panels directly to the bimini canvas with stayput fasteners and have had no problems with them at all. The first panel I built large backings and sewed the entire backing with the enclosed stayput fastener enclosed onto the canvas. The second panel I used a smaller version of the backing panel and sewed it on with waxed thread using an awl. The wind blows over the dodger when at anchor so the idea of wind lifting the panels off in less that storm force winds I believe is extremely low to non existent. If anchoring in a storm one would remove everything from the deck including sails bimini dodger etc. and tie off the genny as well though with the wind generator there is internal braking, but the manufacturers do advise that prolonged exposure to high storm force winds may damage it. I looked at the velcroing and the flaps sewn in and all that but it all seemed though pretty, overkill. I then attached the two panels in parallel and ran the cable down through my radar tower to the controller. From the controller the cable then goes through a breaker panel and to the house battery. The breaker panel also holds a breaker for the wind generator. The batteries are four 6V 220 amp hour AGM in a series/parallel arrangement for a 440 amp hour bank. With this set up I can easily do 3 or 4 days without the engine, or more of course depending on
how much stuff is running. I have done three days and three nights with the freezer, fridge and regular lights, furnace and stove fans running without the batteries dropping below 50%. This under cloudy skies, but with fairly persistent breeze around 10 knots.

I may install a couple more panels one day, on the coach roof. I would likely use the hard monocrystalline type there as they are better for the money. Although the higher end flexible panels are higher efficiency cells, with so much obstruction I wonder at their practicality in that location. Alternatively one could hang a couple off of the stern railings however once again the angle there can be 100% or next to nothing as the boat swings. For the most part though, the 200 watts that we have on the bimini is sufficient. We also carry a portable 50 watt poly crystalline panel in two 25s in series for charging our electric trolling motor. This is sufficient to keep the old 90 amp hour AGM charged up.We have since got rid of this group..the electric o/b and portable solar and battery. Too long to charge..too little power..too much stuff and weight. Although the principal is enticing the actuality is very expensive..Torqueedo, lithium, genset. So we bought a 2.5 HP o/b and a gas can. 
As I put these components in place a gradual learning curve branches off to form an understanding curve. After struggling with the battery monitor I finally glommed onto the point off negative load wires and positive load wires. Now I am re-running all of my negative load wires to the proper side of the monitor shunt, and removing all stray negs from the battery bank including the xantrex charger. Even though the charger has the capability of feeding two batteries, with the ACR unit this becomes redundant. In fact I rarely even use the second battery to start the engine, but keep it charged as back up only, the ACR taking care of this by shunting excess power to the second battery when float charge has been reached. I have not seen the SOC drop on the back up battery below its resting state of 13.5 since using combiners. Initially there was an old 50 amp combiner there I believe West Marine branded but made by Yandina. When the battery bank was enlarged I installed a Blue Sea ACR.   BlueSea

Heading to Broughton Archipelago 2017

The trip planned for quite a while but now finally we are free to take off for an extended journey up the coast to explore this region. We wanted to have unrestricted time to visit because there are so many spots in the region. Easy enough to blast up and zip around and call it done but that generally just leaves us tired out by the constant travelling. Consequently we like to travel for as short a day as is possible to take us to the next anchorage on our route and then stay there for a day or three if possible.

We left June 15 from our mooring at the Riverrock Marina and headed to Gambier Island for the first night. Next day being quite calm we motored up to Pender Harbour then on to Blind Bay. The next day was breezy from the NW so we got the canvas up and headed up the Malaspina Strait only to be turned back by heavy seas which slowed our progress to near zero with short interval 4 foot seas. Beating to windward no longer an option we turned tail and sailed back to Hardy Island at 7 knots under the Number 1 Jib.

Next day proved calm. It figures zero wind and sunny skies. Motor works though so on up to the Copeland Islands for a couple of nights then over to Grace Harbour for the next three. We needed a break and that is a nice place for it. I had passed a kidney stone during the first night at Copeland. Always fun. There is a lake for swimming and a nice stream to do up a bit of laundry.

The anchorage can get a bit busy in the high season but there is plenty of room.

Also a great place to weather a storm as it is very well protected from all winds.

After a couple of hot breezeless days we took off and headed for Hole in the Wall pass via Gorge harbour and Von Donop Inlet where we spent a day in each. We tied up at The Gorge and went to the restaurant there, checked the store and got a bit of fuel. Von Donop is a nice spot with some good walking trails. On to Hole in The Wall passage. This is a short cut between Maurelle and Sonora islands. We pulled into Florence Cove to await the slack water at the Hole in the Wall pass which can reach current speeds of 12 knots or more. We ended up staying overnight there. Not great for anchoring as it is quite deep and littered with old logging gear as we found out the second time we stayed there on the way out to the Yucultas (uke le taw)

 The small bight within Florence Cove above where we dropped the anchor. The next day we headed over to Waiat Bay and the Octopus Islands marine park. The marine park was loaded up with boats but we like the larger area of the bay anyway so moved down nearly to the head of the bay to anchor. At the head of the bay there is a trail
that takes you across the isthmus to Kanish Bay.

 This is the head of Waiat Bay. Calm water and the whole bay is in the 25 to 35 foot depth.












Below is a shot looking west towards Johnstone Strait from the head of Kanish Bay. Vancouver Island in the background.

The following day we went back through the Hole in the Wall to Florence cove again to wait for the slack at the Yucultas and Dent rapids at Big Bay. This is a set of rapids that instill fear in people when reading about them..the double rapids approaching through the Yucultas then through Gilford passage and across to the Dent islands with their cascading waters. However the reality was less frightening. We motored straight up the center through the last of the flood and hit the Gilford passage right about the beginning of the slack. By the time we made it to the Dent islands the ebb was beginning and we were being pushed towards East Thurlow Island and Nodales Channel. Make no mistake though, in anything less than a high powered craft these are dangerous currents at their height.

The shot above is looking back towards Big Bay and Gilford Passage from close to The Dent Island passage. Soon we were turning down Nodales Channel heading for Thurston Bay. we stayed a couple of days there caught some crab and explored some before heading off to the Cordero Islands just before Green Point rapids. We anchored overnight there and the next day  took a short side trip to the Blind Bay resort and checked out their store before heading down Cordero Channel to Forward Harbour

 Anchored at Thurston Bay we were lucky to have this little cove to ourselves. Next time up we will explore the other parts of this large marine park including across Nodales at Hemming Bay. and further in to Cameleon Harbour.

 At Cordero Islands. This is a little anchorage off of the main channel. A nice stop over spot to wait for the Green Point rapids to be in your favour. Coming back we opposed these rapids and found that by hugging the west bank we could motor up the back eddy to just at the bend then when we turned out we hit a wall of water coming at us and slowed from 8 knots to 1/2 knot in a second. Took 30 minutes to slug through the next 1/4 mile or so until we got past the Cordero Islands and headed up to Bickley Bay further up Cordero Channel towards Nodales Channel.

 Heading down Cordero Channel past the Green Point rapids motoring into a NW wind of 20 kts.

 Looking up Loughborough Arm. Passing by enroute to Wellbore Channel and Forward Harbour. We hit the Whirlpool Rapids just before turning into Forward harbour at full ebb but it is very short and spat us out with no undue whirling.

 Forward Harbour at Douglas Bay. We were all alone by noon the following day in this picture, there were 20 odd boats the night before and a dozen or so that night. A popular stopover spot enroute up the coast via the back route.

 Bessborough Bay selfie. A short hike about 1/2 hour through a nice forest trail from Douglas Bay to Bessborough Bay. Bessborough is a small bay just north of the junction of Wellbore and Sunderland Channels.

 Looking back at Bessborough up Sunderland Channel enroute to Port Neville.

 Looking west at Yorke Island and Clarence Island at the junction of  Sunderland Channel and Johnstone Strait. Vancouver Island and Kelsey Bay in the distance.

 Port Neville looking at Robbers Nob from our anchorage in the middle of the inlet.

Arrived at Matilpi an abandoned native village down Havannah Channel. Situated on the mainland just before Chatham Channel which leads to Knight Inlet and the Broughton Archipelago. We stayed here a couple of nights. There is a little creek and fish in the waters around the islands. It is now July 8. Nearly a month since we left.