Christmas Ships 2014

Christmas Ships 2014 is in the books.  We were going to leave last Thursday, but a high wind warning was issued and we stayed at the home dock.  Good thing!  The winds hit hard at 60mph.  Had we tried to go to St. Helens we would not have been able to tie up at the dock.

We made it to St. Helens early Friday morning and I teleworked for the rest of the day.  Then other boats started to show up.  On Saturday from 11-4 PM we held the first annual Sturgeon derby.  There were about 12 participants.  All day, not a single fish!  Then at 3:55 Ron Evans hooks a small, but winning fish, the only fish.

In total we had about 13 boats at the docks, the most in recent memory.  Lots of fun.  The boat parade was awesome and there was double of the boats from last year.  It was awesome.

Then came the fog on Sunday morning when I had my first fog adventure and man was it nerve wrecking. We left St. Helens, OR as the fog appeared to be lifting. It didn’t take long to be in the thick of things. Couldn’t see 10 feet in front of the bow. I attempted to steer IAW the GPS and radar, but not knowing what was out there in the shipping channels made it more of a pucker factor.

Lessons learned:

1. I will be getting AIS next month at the boat show.

2. Steering by GPS or radar is at best difficult. Should have plotted a course on the GPS and stuck to it. Should have increased radar range to at least a mile on the river. I was running ½ mile. I also needed to create a waypoint and steer toward it.

3. Stay out of the shipping channel! I actually had two ships making their way up the creek and all we could hear was their horn. I did see them on radar later and we were out of the shipping channel.

4. Slowing downed helped.

5. Second set of eyes was a good thing and the help from the Admiral helped me gain some confidence back.

6. Could have sat at the dock longer. Not got in a hurry.

7. Crap I forgot about the dredge work going on down river how the hell am I going to get around the pipes????

The fog bank was about 7 miles in length so we ended up in nice blue skies and no issues down river. I will be practicing more on a clear day. I am glad we went through this ordeal as it proved to me I and the admiral have to work as a team and gain more experience.

Getting some puppy love

My buddy Cruiser

First at the dock

Ron and Kathy

George Emery all decorated

One of Kay's sunset at St. Helens OR

Hoping for the big one

Sean and the Orca

American Tug

All set up for the party

Yep its a real tree!

High and dirty

Get that seal cruiser!

Boat arriving!  Kalama Reunion

Ms. LJ

Jimmy and Dianna

Blue eye

Jeff

The first annual Christmas Sturgeon Derby!  Ron won! The only fish caught

Here is Troy and Stephanie's boat.  I don't have a picture of them.  Wish I did, I could use it as blackmail to go fishing!!!

New members Dan and Sarah

 

Dan's wonderful daughters

Christmas boat parade

ASD all lit up!

This is the 60th year this parade has been operating

Our fire pit!  Nite nite and a very Merry Christmas!

 

House Battery Install

Well last week over turkey day weekend we left the dock and our port alternator quit working.  This cuased us to return to the dock for the weekend and as always happens to me on the holidays, you can't find the part anywhere.  I ended up ordering it from an outfit in Tennessee.

We also decided this would be a great time to install our 2 banks of house batteries.  The banks will be 4ea-6Vdc golf cart batteries or 8 batteries total.  You tie two batteries in series to achieve the 12Vdc you need, then you tie the four groups in parrellel for the house banks.  I found the batteries at Costco for about $98 each.  I also bought a battery isolator and switch, so I can charge the house bank from the alternators.  Spent about $300 on wire and other items to make it all possible.  The Battery boxes cost $75 each.  I found out wire is expensive. The total cost to redo this was about $1800.

The main reason for this set up is because the previous owner had the engine start batteries as the house batteries too.  Bad situation becuase if you drain your start batteries, you can't start your engines.

Old Setup.  The white case contains 2-8D batteries

The one with the red top has one 8D.  These are all start batteries for the engine.

 

This is the battery isolator.  This allows me to charge all the batteries while the engines are running.

This shows the battery isolator all wired up.  The red switch above the main engine disconnect allows me to charge the start batteries together or separate.

Closer look

With the red box out of the way, two new battery boxes are added.  Each box holds four 6Vdc golf cart batteries.

I still need to buy 4 more batteries.

Close up