They plan was supposed to be another raft up with the Family Yacht Club at Roche Habor. But, we had some issues that didn't allow us to leave Fort Collins until Friday. So we loaded up the Cruiser with cats, clothes and all of the things you might need for a week of cruising and headed off to west coast. Now for some reason, it was extra windy driving across Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Seattle. For two days we battled unseasonably strong winds driving across the plains. Man, I was just plain beat up.
Finally we managed to hit the Bainbridge ferry at 7:30 ish. We decided to go ahead and eat in Bainbridge since everything around Port Ludlow would be closed (Everything being the one place to eat in Port Ludlow). So we headed down to docks and had a nice little dinner. We even saw Lizbeth and Dave. After finishing up, we had the big drive to Port Ludlow. Somehow we managed to make it there by about midnight. By this time we where pretty much tired.
On Sunday, we headed back to Bainbridge and met Dave and Lizbeth on Bainbridge for their 3rd of July celebration. We were going to wait and watch fireworks at Port Ludlow, but we were just too tired. So we scooted back, exhausted again!
The Monday plan was supposed to be a trip to Lake Union to see Eric's new boat, but gravity really set in. I ended up finishing the splice on some double-braid dock lines that I had started working on at home and just hanging out in the sunshine. Meanwhile, we ended up meeting another couple that had a big ole boat moored near ours. The lake Union trip was really starting to look like a drag, so we ended up bailing on that gig and headed up to Port Townsend to watch Fireworks at Fort Worden. We ended up getting a nice spot on the beach near Point Hudson. It was a good show and not crowded. I think we had something like 30 people on the beach. A real nice gig!
Now I was feeling good and rested, so the next day I decided to replace my starter with my spare. The old starter had been really bothering me, since the solenoid kept on getting jammed, causing the motor to not start at the worst possible times. So I pull out all of the crap in the aft berth and notice a little bit of water below the water heater. Uh oh. It turns out the heater was leaking. Crap. I decided to ignore that for a bit and replaced the old starter. This wasn't too bad and the new one cranked right up. Meanwhile, I also ended up changing the oil and replacing all of the fuel filters. At least the motor was good and happy. The water heater, I just ignored for another day and eventually pulled it out. That was a really big friggin. mess. So for now, we have no hot water and probably won't until I decide what to replace it with.
5/13/2010 Note -
I eventually replaced the water heater with an Isotherm model. It looks like it is built quite well. The only issue is that it has an anti-scald device that makes the water colder than I would like. I think this has to do more with my lack of water pressure than anything else.
