June 20, 2020. Port McNeill, North Island Marina
The days continue to whip by, even when we think we aren’t doing anything. We got up early, and I dug into work with a plan to try and finish today. Things take about twice as long to do on the boat as they do in front of a computer with a wired connection, but the very fact that I can keep up with work, and continue to earn some money while we are out here is fantastic, so I am trying to be patient with the slower speeds.
Some of the local residents, Port NcNeill.
After an hour or two, we went for a long walk up the hill in Port McNeill, to get an overview of the town, and the bay. It continues to be cold, and we walked along in the drizzle with full jackets on. The high today was something like 14 degrees, so felt very much like a cold spring day. After hitting the top of the hill and working our way back down into town, we did a bit of shopping, including a stop at the dollar store, and IGA. Then, I stopped by a small computer repair shop and found exactly the fan I needed to replace the broken one on the watermaker.
We headed back to the boat, and I finished up with work. We had lunch of soup and a wrap we had bought at IGA, then we popped over to the marina office to enquire about fuel. The marina here has a unique arrangement, in that they have extra long fuel hoses from the fuel dock, which they are able to drag to your boat, so you can fuel in your slip. The hoses are about double the size and weight of a normal hose, so it is quite a workout for the marina staff to drag the hoses over, but it is great to be able to fuel without having to move your boat. We topped off both tanks and our jerry cans, replacing all the fuel we have burned so far, and then some. We also paid our marina bill, for a grand total of just under $400.00, which was a bit of a shock, but the extra days in the marina and all the fuel we have been burning so far are adding up.
Still at the dock, with Tangent behind.
After that, I set about trying to replace the fan on the watermaker pump. It started out pretty simply, but somewhere along the line, the switch on the watermaker gave up the ghost as well. It has been a bit finicky since we first used the watermaker last summer. At first, I thought we were in trouble, but I looked at it for a bit, and realized I could wire it to run by bypassing the switch. But, I needed some larger splices than I had. Sara pointed out it was 4:45, and the marine store at the top of the dock would close at 5:00 p.m., and stay closed until Monday. So, we ran up the dock, and in less than 15 minutes, we had extra splices, some extra wire, and new switch.
Back on the boat, I managed to swap out the old switch for a new one, rewire the watermaker pump, and wire in the new fan. And voila! By 6 p.m., we were back up and running, with new parts, and a flushed watermaker. Hopefully that is a job that will stay done for a while now. Knocking on wood and crossing fingers.
Cold outside, cozy inside
After dinner of Chinese food from the IGA deli, I went for a short walk, while Sara reviewed weather, tides, and winds to help plan the next few days. We will both shower tonight, before we fill out water tanks tomorrow and head for parts north. The plan for the next few days is still coming together, so we’ll see where I am writing from tomorrow.
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