By S/V Lealea | October 24, 2015 at 03:34 PM EDT |
2 comments
By The Skipper:
We have been trying to get started on refitting Lealea since September 2012 when we waited in vain for a weather window to allow us to sail South from Craig, AK to Port Townsend, WA after our first season exploring Southeast Alaska. Haven't accomplished much though beyond really, really enjoying life.
I have been in the - thinking about assembling my ideas into a general mental picture of the beginnings of a plan - stage all summer. Now, as we settle in for the winter (House sitting and pet care for the Harbor Master's mother), I am ready to sit down with a sharp pencil and begin.
Since we know what we want to do, the first decision is where to do the work.
An interesting possibility is Wrangell, AK, forty miles South of Petersburg. With a new boatyard facility, Wrangell, being farther South of LeConte Glacier and the much larger Stikine Ice Field is slightly warmer and drier. Waterways Veterinary clinic has their 50 foot aluminum trawler, M/V Hallie, set up as a floating clinic, and Laura thinks Dr. Hill could be persuaded to let us take her down there to live aboard while we do the work. Laura could operate the Vet clinic out of Hallie in Wrangell while we are there and that would save us the cost of lodging while bringing much needed services to the town. This looks like an ideal solution if we can put it all together. We will have to be very careful when it comes to ordering materials and supplies from Seattle. There can be no last minute changes or exchanges. Extra materials will have to be purchased, "Just in case". Work stopped for lack of some small item could be stopped for weeks, not just an hour or two as it might be in Port Townsend.
I think Port Townsend, WA may be the best place on the West Coast to get boat work done the Boat Haven boat yard has everything in triplicate and Edensaw Woods is just down the road; plus easy access to all the big city conveniences and civilization of the lower forty eight. Of course we have to get there, seven or eight hundred sea miles...
...but that has been our plan all along, every September since 2012. Going to Port Townsend will cost more but will be less risky and will give us more choices and flexibility once the project is underway. If I get in trouble with the job There are plenty of experts just a few steps away to whom I can turn.
All things considered I am leaning toward Wrangell. I still have to check on some things at the boatyard there but taking to my neighbors in the harbor it sounds like thee will be no insurmountable problems.
If we are going to do this in Wrangell, we need to figure out everything we need for the whole job and order it all at once in a single shipment if possible.
Once I figure out what I am going to need in materials I can develop a budget and start arranging for yard space, tools, shipping, lodging etc.
Might as well make a video or two of the planning and preparation process.
"Fair winds"
Chuck
I've been following your adventures for a couple of years, thanks.
We've left our boat in Wrangell for the past two winters, SV Delphina. Getting supplies isn't that big of a deal, there is a weekly barge that leaves Seattle on Friday afternoon, arriving within a week. I shipped 5 gallons of bottom paint up this fall, it only cost $65, that't the minimum charge, I think an entire pallet is only about $200.
Yes. Wrangell is a real possibility. We have spent some time there and we have an account with AML for shipping.