Shilshole Blog

Exclusively on the ShilShole Blog^TM, Harry’s adventures in the South Pacific:

I hope to escape from Samoa by Weds. The smell of the tuna processing plant is killing me! aCTUALLY, I’ve stayed ove a week to order and install a modem for my HF radio. Some of you will laugh Continue Reading »

After all the work that’s gone into removing our old teak decks, we are thinking of having our deck professionally sprayed with Awlgrip to match the hull. Continue Reading »

While rebedding two chainplates yesterday, it seems we irretrievably misplaced (i.e. “lost”) one of the deck covers.
Now we are faced with the prospect of staying stuck at the dock until we can find a replacement.

So I’m hoping someone out there can suggest a quick way to get another cover (preferrably before the summer is over…): maybe a sheet metal fabricator can make a replica? It’s a very simple piece of stainless steel, about 1/16″ – 1/8″ thick, 1″ x 3″, with a rectangular cutout and two screw-holes.

Thanks for any ideas!

OK – Now here’s a bit of trivia…

Have you been to Hot Springs Cove, up NW of Tofino on the West Coast of Vancouver Island?

You know the boardwalk you walk out to the hot springs on – with all the boat names and home ports engraved on the boards?

Some of these boards are very elaborate. Obviously folks are making them at home with fancy routers and engraving stuff before they go. Then they install them in the boardwalk.

Well, here’s the question… What size board is used?

That is: what are the dimensions of the lumber used in the boardwalk planks?

Anybody happen to know?

Thanks,

Nick (I forgot to make a board) & Cindi (How come he cares?) on Baloo.

Exclusively on the ShilShole Blog^TM, here is another installment of Harry’s adventures in the South Pacific:

What a trip! I left Papeete almost a month ago and spent three days on Moorea, a jewel of an island though with too many people. I was still suffering from my cold so I couldn’t free dive deeper than ten feet. Left there to go direct to Bora Bora on a day of blasting East wind. Got to Bora Bora without any motoring; in fact, I got to Pago Pago after using less than ten gallons of diesel!
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I am posting this on Brian’s behalf. He sent it on 7/10, but I neglected to check the blog email account for a while, so here it is with few weeks’ delay:

Hi Everybody!

We are in Port McNeill, BC, up towards the northern end of Vancouver Island.

We have had a great couple of weeks of cruising since leaving Pender Harbor. We had a nice sail up to Desolation Sound and Desolation Sound is the #1 most amazing place I have ever sailed… 5000+ foot snow capped peaks often shrouded in mist and wispy clouds, good wind for sailing, water warm enough to swim in, abundant anchorages. We even tried to spinnaker for the first time there… really fun. Sail is a BIG asymmetrical spinnaker made of fairly heavy cloth. Works great. Since Desolation, we have run 3 of the scariest tidal rapids: Yuculta, Gillard, and Dent. Currents in these rapids can run over 14 knots!!! And, running south to north (as we were) you have to take the first two about an hour before slack tide in order to make it to Dent (the real scary one) right at the turn of the tide. We did it in a misty, fog enshrouded downpour… very otherworldly-feeling. We then spent a night at a very secluded anchorage before heading on to Blind Channel Marina, where we spent a night. It was very expensive in Blind Channel, so we are only stayed for one night, then on to the unavoidable 14 miles of Johnstone Straite… a notoriously nasty piece of water with currents in excess of 5 knots, combined with high winds funnelling in off the north Pacific through the narrow, west-facing channel. The reward: The Broughton Archipeligo, Queen Charlotte Straite, and way less people.
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