June 17, 2025
We are just hanging here in the south harbor with all the other boats, many of which are fishing boats. It’s quiet and tranquil with the occasional fishing boat heading out for the day.
Today was “boat project day,” specifically painting the anchor chain and trying to troubleshoot the bow thruster—truly the bain of my boat existence. First up the chain.
This morning we pailed out all 350 feet of our chain. From previous blog postings we talked about how our windlass was seizing in different spots when we would bring retrieve the chain and anchor into the boat. Marlene’s theory—which I believe is correct—is that our colored zip ties we had put on the chain to mark chain length were the problem. The Gypsy (what brings the chain back into the locker) was catching on the ties. So, today we cut all the ties off and lined up the chain and painted it different colors every 30 feet. We had tarps to make sure no paint ended up on the dock. None of the locals seemed to be concerned and we left plenty of room to walk through. We painted at 8:00, touched up at 10:00 then let it dry for the day. We brought the chain back into around 4:00 p.m. with no issue. Keeping our fingers crossed.
This is the bow thruster. It resides in a chamber in the bow of the boat underneath our bed. Getting to the thruster is a total, total—I repeat—total pain in the ass. We have to remove all bedding, then put the bed up on its side, and then crawl into the chamber. Painter mask on, Shop Vac in hand I delved into the chamber. The good news is, it was pretty clean. Not much carbon which was not the case last time. The brushes which function like pistons in the thruster throw off carbon. This time it was minimal. Once I cleaned the area up I got on the phone with Side Power (the manufacturer) service. Almost immediately I had a service rep talking me through the issues and possible solutions. The problem we are facing is that the thruster under use times out almost immediately, like 2 seconds. I get three bursts and then it times out completely for several minutes. The Side Power technicians believe it’s a bad thermal switch which acts as a safety valve to turn off the thruster if it’s getting too hot. This is clearly the case, so it’s probably this culprit. However, it could simply be that the brushes are stuck and need to be released. This happened to us two years ago. Soooo, what to do? I got on the phone to fisheries in Seattle this afternoon and ordered a thermal switch that will be arriving in Ketchikan in about 5 days. The mechanic, Tom, who fixed our boat two years ago is still in business and will meet us on our boat in about a week to work on our thruster. We will limp along without a “full throttle” bow thruster until we get back to Ketchikan and then work with Tom to fix/repair the thruster. Full disclosure: last night I told Marlene I was done with Alaska and wanted return home and sell the boat. I’m too old for this shit. Today, I’m back to, hmmm maybe I’ll just stay around the San Juan’s for a summer.
On a positive note we took a break and walked over to look at the NatGeo boat and found a mom and her daughter selling pies. Of course we bought one. That’s it for today. Yesterday was a “bad boat day,” today was better. Tomorrow we shall see.
Lee wanted me to tell you that the only reason we are still boating is that we have staff on call! As you know, Jeff Gleckler is a valuable resource and he has introduced Lee to Uriel Sosa, an Anacortes trained independent mechanic. Upon returning Sunday from Blakely, Lee discovered a small oil leak. Monday after 5 Jeff came over to troubleshoot, diagnosed the problem of leaky gasket, Uriel ordered the part and will install it once it comes in. We have a rendezvous in Maple Bay over the 4th and he assured us we’ll have a boat! It takes a village to keep boating after 80!
That, and boat bucks!
Pat, Jeff is the best. We use him frequently for everything from advice, troubleshooting, or review of our systems to make sure all is well. Having a well functioning boat becomes increasingly important the further out we go, in our case SE Alaska. And all it takes is talent, time and many, many boat bucks. BOAT: Bring Out Another Thousand.
Hope the mechanic fixes your bow thruster problems.