solar panels putting out juice!

Finally got the solar panels wired through the charge controller to the batteries. It was great to watch the voltage go up, even with the refrigerator on. If we had known 6 years ago that we would eventually need solar panels, we might have chosen a different way to mount our radar, as it partly blocks one panel depending on sun angle.
This has been a nice week to be in Astoria doing boat projects. If the weather forecast holds, we'll be off for Newport tomorrow around noon.

More projects

Today I repaired the inboard end of our whisker pole, which had been broken since the last run down the coast. I also installed an AIS receiver, which is a great safety feature. You can see the location, name, direction and speed of travel, and other information continually being transmitted from all large ships in the area. I could see ships upriver to Portland, and up to 70 miles offshore.

Work day in Astoria

Vicki hitched a ride back to Portland yesterday with some other boaters that have been delayed here since last Thursday, and then drove our car back down here. This morning, we decided that she and Mike would drive home, and I would stay here to work on the boat. Even though its too rough to cross the bar, its sunny and beautiful here in Astoria. Before the winds piped up for the day, Vicki hauled me to the masthead to work on our wind instrument and to install the new SSB long wire antenna. That's an Ericson 27 next us, Windwalker from Portland.

Astoria for now

The forecast for ocean conditions is pretty grim (30kts wind, 12' seas) for the next several days, so we'll probably hop the bus back to Portland tomorrow morning and drive home.

Let the voyage begin!

The day has finally come to cast off the lines and head downriver. Our neighbor Mike Brown is along for the ride. It's a beautiful day, but the forecast for offshore will probably keep us in Astoria for a couple of days. There was a huge barge coming downriver just as we left the dock. The I-5 bridge had to be lifted, and traffic was backed up for miles. Don't mean a thing to us! Light breeze and plenty of time, so we're tacking downriver. Anchored for the night in Walker Island Slough.

wind vane installed

After about 35 hours of work, the Hydrovane self-steering system is installed! Fitting the lower bracket to the underside of the transom took most of that time. A pad of teak had to be shaped to match the compound curve of the hull on one side, while providing a perfectly level and straight surface for the mounting bracket on the other. Far harder than it sounds! I used a small angle grinder to do most of the shaping, otherwise it would have taken much longer. The bolt holes were so close to the waterline, I had to position the drill inside a bucket, pushed down into the water. But once the lower bracket was bedded, the upper bracket only took about 2 hours, and bolting on the rudder post and windvane another hour. We weren't able to test it, as we wanted to let the bedding compound harden for a few days.
You can also see the outboard motor hoist we had fabricated by a local welder. He is also helping us to construct a mounting system for solar panels that will eventually live on top of the bimini.
We also exchanged our 33lb Bruce anchor for a 55lb Rocna. Luckily the larger anchor fits perfectly onto our anchor roller.
Finally, we have also been working on cosmetics. We hired a detailer to clean, wax and polish the hull and topsides, and we put on new vinyl lettering for the name and hailing port.

SSB radio installed

After several days of "bilge yoga" I've got the single sideband radio mostly installed. This will allow us to check in with various cruisers' nets as we make our way down the West Coast. Vicki helped me fish a battery cable under the cabin sole to connect a keel bolt to the RF ground - definitely the hardest part of the installation. Using a temporary "long wire" antenna hoisted via the main halyard. Permanent antenna will either be an insulated backstay or a fiberglass whip. Still need to test the transmission, but we didn't want to leave the marina yesterday.