So as often happens on this planet the rotational orbit around our sun causes seasons. There must be a speed bump where summer and autumn come together because the change happened over night! Given the fact that Hanna has open deck seams along her bulwarks rain has the amazing ability to run right down into the rain colleting area. You know it as a bilge. Anyway when we bought Hanna she came with a very ill fitting swath of canvas that did not do the job it was intended to do but was a lot of fabric. So we have set up shop on Lilliwaups stern since she is already buttoned up for the season and began the job of seem ripping, measuring and recreating a winter cover for poor Hanna Jane. More to come as it happens!

Well its a fine feeling to be back in the slip! Could have used about ten more weeks and fifty thousand dollars more in the yard but both Hanna and me are broke! Since her arrival we have gutted the galley and started making a winter rain cover for her decks and open sides! Paint is just going to have to wait. I will take some pictures of the inside and post them shortly!

OK so I am sitting here with a nice RomenCoke as we call them ready to fill you in all the gory details of the splash! So when we bought Hanna we already knew we were screwed taking on a 75 year old lady that needed help but my hold out was the mid 90's Yanmar diesel of 36 ponies. The owner couldn't start it because the batteries were months long dead. Fine I said my wife works at West Marine lets go get a new one and try it! Well the Yanmar started instantly and purred like a lion! I was convinced that the functional Furuno radar and running diesel justified the fifteen hundred dollars that she cost us. (((TO BUY)))) So we started the motor from time to time as we worked to clean the bilges and get her ready for a haul out and every time "WHAMMO" she started! Well the morning we went to take her to PT for her date with the slings she refused to start. A little playing around with the rain soaked wiring a voila we were on our way. The whole time we were hauled out I suspected that my diagnosis might have been pre mature. So again we are in the water and pushed off to the dock with our skinny little friend waiting to adjust the new packing we had put in the gland when..... Yup! she wouldn't start... FUCHULA!!! as I have learned to say! Well I wont bore you with all the details since there is only two people reading this blog and they sleep together but a friend helped diagnose a starter problem and since it was after five pm we were paying for a night on the dock till we could get to our local electrician in the morning. We did end up getting the help we needed as usual from Colin of Port Townsend Electric and had a very uneventful ride home later that morning. As for the water, most wooden boats left on the hard for two weeks in warm weather tend to take a while to "fatten" up again and stop leaking. I spent at least one night not sleeping and worrying about my old gal down in her slip. In reality the bilge pumps never came on by themselves and it was not as bad as it looked. I forgot my phone for the haul in so you get a picture of some of her rib and plank work to enjoy! I have already ripped the entire galley out though and we are feverishly working to maker her better day by day! I will post pics of the interior removal and exterior work after the Wooden Boat Festival! No she's not ready!

So obviously the first thing any responsible new boat owner does when they are suspicious of conditions does is haul out. Well I wish I could say it went easy but then it wouldn't be boating. First off the port has some new rules that include the need for liability insurance and also a bilge inspection before they lift you. Well the bilges were just a matter of getting on your hands and knees and working for 10 days straight to removes the sludge, rust, oil, chain and various other oddities from the compartments. The insurance was a whole other matter! So the port wont haul you without insurance and the insurance company wont cover you without a haul out (survey) Anyone besides me confused? Well we finally got past that circus and moved on to the real work. We installed six new ribs three new planks and over one hundred and fifty new fasteners and bung plugs! Needless to say we didn't get a lot of "pretty work" done in the two weeks we were out. The weather was warm and the bottom was getting dry so back in she went. Then the fun begins again.... The engine wont start and were taking on water......... More later....

So OK lets make our own Big Left Turn as T&J would say and sell everything we own that works and is made of plastic and buy yet another WOODEN boat??? Hanna Jane started life in 1940 likely in someone's shop or maybe even back yard and when completed was named "Squaw" later she became "Seattle" and then in 2014 we came along and finally gave her a name appropriate for an old wooden lady. Hanna has circumnavigated 3 times and is a Vessel of Historical Interest in the state of California. We have a brass plaque on the wall that says the same. We found her on Craigslist tied to a dock in Port Hadlock. Our first impression when he saw her was "RUN FOR THE HILLS" as she was not wearing her best outfit and was obviously in need of some love. OK maybe time, effort and tons of money would be more appropriate! Anyway after confirming that the 90's Yanmar diesel ran well and the hull planks were all there we let go the fifteen hundred dollars it cost to adopt the right to take over as her custodian for a while. If course the expenses did not stop there. Anyway you would think since we already own a 54' wooden trawler that we still in the process of restoring that we would know better than to take this path but know one ever said boat owners were intelligent people! Hanna Jane is obviously a Tahiti Ketch designed in the late 20's by John G. Hanna and was intended to be home built during the depression when labor costs were low and the simple yet blue water design was achievable for many who wanted to sail the ocean but could not afford most vessels of the time. Since we have had Hanna we have stripped her interior of anything that was not nailed down and some things that were. We have hauled her out and are now learning from a friendly shipwright we met how to make repairs on her. "Wild Bill" as I affectionately call him has a beard down to there and looks a little weather beaten under that old stained cowboy hat but you have never met a more honest and pure individual and we consider ourselves blessed to know such a man. I will continue to write about her restoration and post some pictures but at some point I have to work to continue paying for the privilege of knowing her.

So as it turns out yesterday was one of the lowest tides of the year and while running some errands we stopped at a favorite beach to ogle the seaweed and other rarely exposed elements of the ocean. We were quite surprised to find not one but two octopi in less than desirable amounts of water stuck in the eel grass! We stayed with them till the tide returned as the seagulls had been harassing them up until we arrived and they were much happier breathing water than air! The one I was watching was very social and we spent some time checking each other out and playing a little suction cup tug of war. Pretty cool way to start the day!