SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip
| Vessel Name: | Panta Rhei |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Able Apogee 50 |
| Hailing Port: | Seattle |
| Crew: | Larry and Karen |
| Social: |
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18 September 2017 | Seattle
We are back in Seattle
It feels like home. Of course we are not in Silshole. Maybe we will be, someday, but there is a list and we are on it. In the meantime we are at Bainbridge Island Marina.
23 August 2017 | Prince Rupert
The dinghy holds air again
It wasn't very nice of the bear to tear the fabric across a seam. We were worried that we couldn't patch it but tried anyway. The glue had a job to do and it did it!
15 August 2017 | Anan Bear Observatory
A Grizzly Bear damaged our dinghy
We were visiting the Anan Bear Observatory south of Wrangell. It is one of the best places to visit in all of SE Alaska BECAUSE it has bears. But (as we learned) there is a dark side to this bear concentration. And of course, there is a story to tell.
19 July 2017 | Petersburg, AK
Moving On
"No matter where you go, there you are" (unknown reference). By now we have been there and done that. Most recently that included Cannery Cove on Admiralty Island. The photo shows the quiet grandeur of the setting with Ron and Suzie's boat SV Tango in the foreground. It has been like that for the last [...]
17 June 2017 | Hoonah, AK
We are in Hoonah, SE Alaska now
We got something resembling a high pressure ridge so we moved expeditously across the Gulf of Alaska. The crossing took three days and weather stayed as forecast. That was a very good thing. The weather changes in the far north far more rapidly and dramatically than we ever experienced in the more southern [...]
03 June 2017 | Seward AK
Crossing the Gulf of Alaska
We are still in Seward, AK. Now that spring has come, why not start south?
Why is there clear water under the engine?
Looking for things is fairly easy. Finding out why something that is not supposed to be there IS there requires gaining access. Taking off the front and both side engine covers takes a couple of hours and makes a total mess out of the inside of the boat. Its something you do in a calm anchorage on a "down" day (it is raining). So, today we looked. It turned out to be a dripping shaft seal. The seal is about 14 years old so it is not surprising that it would need looking at but here is the difficulty. Since it hasn't needed service, I really don't know much about it. It seems like everything on the boat falls in that category. I know a lot more now. The question before us is, "Will the leak get substantially worse in the near future?". We are after all heading across a very big and very rough ocean on the passage to New Zealand. That seal holds back the ocean. That's a big worry. It is not our only worry though.
The windlass motor has completely failed. I have a spare motor aboard but when I tried to use it I found they had shipped me an incorrect part. The anchor we use is 110 pounds and the chain is 3/8 inch, which is around 2.5 pounds per foot of length. We cannot just pull the anchor up by hand. We spent a morning figuring out a new plan. We will use the primary winches in the back of the boat to haul the anchor aboard. We can do it in a series of 20 foot pulls where we alternate the load between the winch and the bow cleat using clips that can be rapidly attached to the chain and detached from the chain. We've rigged protection for the deck to minimize damage to the boat during this operation. For deploying the anchor, we can use the clutch on the anchor gypsea in combination with gravity.
The picture shows the propeller shaft and its associated self aligning seal.
