Picture: Ted hauling the suitcases up to Shuang Yu; it was one of many disadvantages of being "on the hard". We are about twelve feet (3.6 meters) up in the air.

We left "Shuang Yu" in September of last year, eight months ago, the longest we had ever left her. Ted came back twice during that time to check on her. In December he found that, despite four air driers that are supposed to heat the boat a little, her bilge was frozen and the pumps burnt out. After replacing the pumps with a different kind, he tried to remove the propeller shaft to service the "Dripless" bearing where the shaft enters the boat but it was impossible because it was so cold that bolts and drill bits and other things were extremely brittle and kept breaking. It was a miserable and disappointing visit but necessary because had the pumps not worked when it rained (which it does a lot), water would come down the mast and filled the boat.

The second time Ted visited the Shuang Yu was during the first part of May. The weather was warmer but it poured with rain most days he was there. This time he managed to remove the prop shaft to service to Dripless bearing, install a new cutlass bearing (the bearing that holds the shaft just in front of the propeller), replace the zincs and put a new flange at the gearbox end of the shaft. The cutlass bearing was damaged when we got caught in the Russian poacher's fishing net off the North coast of Japan. On fine days he was able to do fiberglass work outside the boat, repairing areas damaged on the journey from Japan to Alaska. There was slight fiberglass damage where we hit an iceberg in Alaska as well as where the Russian fishing net damaged the wing on the bottom of the keel. Also there was a hole in the stern just below the water line where another yacht hit us in a marina in Japan. Luckily, the double layer of fiberglass meant that we did not leak because water only entered the air space between the two layers. This is such a well made and designed boat, we are very fortunate!!! We had a fiberglass specialist fix the hole, but Ted did the rest of the work.

One our friends, Peggy, dropped us off at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. It was sunny and the temperature reached 87 degrees (25.5 celsius). We even had the air conditioning on in the car. When we stepped out of the terminal at Ketchikan; it was 56 degrees (13.3 celsius), cloudy, windy and drizzling. A huge difference considering it is such a short flight. "Is it possible to turn back?" I thought, "of course not! We are going to see our beloved boat, Shuang Yu". It was nearly evening when we arrived at the boat yard. Ted had completely turned the boat inside out before he left. He took all the covers off the seats and foam mattress from our bed. He had the zippers repaired and the covers washed. The foam cushions were stacked high on the bed and we had to move them to the saloon so we had some place to sleep that night. Fitting the seat covers was like putting a complicated puzzle together, his exceptional spatial intelligence helped. My energy gave out after midnight but Ted stayed up to finish the job. The next morning, everything was in place! Life is back to normal again, well - almost.

There is no mains water supply to Air Marine Harbor at all, just a single rain water tank that collects water from the roof of one of the sheds. When Ted was there in December and May, he used our emergency water that we purchased in Malaysia two years prior. The rainwater tank from the shed roof was frozen in December and a rusty colored liquid in early May. We carried our water up and down the ladder. Dishwashing was reduced to two cups and we dried with paper towels. We missed our dishwasher and shower at home!

Right now, we are getting work done such as polishing the hull, painting the boat's bottom with antifouling paint, cleaning the rust off the stainless steel and many other preparations before putting "Shuang Yu" back in the water. Boating is so much work, but on the bright side, it keeps us fit!