As often happens when we get seriously into a project, I’m losing track of what happened when, but I believe we were hauled out Friday after lunch. The Wrangell travel-lift is quite a bit bigger than those we’ve used before; they handle heavy local fishing boats, and hope to replace their current lift with an even bigger one. The chute which the travel-lift straddles is also much deeper at low tide than those we’ve used before, due to the extreme tide ranges here.

The lift went without incident, but… there was so much noise from the engine and motors of the lift, and I was running around the decks tying off the lift straps, making sure vent covers were clear etc, that the engine idled for several minutes while we were out of the water – meaning the raw water pump was running without water, not supplying it to the engine heat exchanger. There was no indication of a heating problem (as the ambient temps were quite low, and the engine was idling, and coolant was circulating but no doubt I will need to change out the pump impeller, which does not take kindly to being run without water.

(A boat lifted out yesterday, was on the deck before noticing the engine was still running – but that boat has a keel cooler and isn’t pumping raw water thru a heat exchanger)

The real test came in moving DavidEllis into Don’s boatshed – will it fit? With feet to spare above the top of the mast, the travel-lift carried DE into the shed, down onto blocks and stands. And then the fun began.

Dorothy and I spent Saturday thru Tuesday “gift-wrapping” everything north of the water-line, as well as closing/blocking all thru-hulls, transducers, bow-thruster gear, cutlass bearing exposed end, vents and any other place where sand-blast grit/dust might migrate/enter and cause problems down-the-line. Not an easy task, wrapping the boat; lots of gymnastic routines and the use of both a snorkel basket and a scissor lift. Tape had to be heated to make it stick to the plastic tarping, as temps went from 30s to 20s to teens at times – rain, snow, ice and bits of sunshine from time-to-time. We are in a covered boatshed, but there are lots of places for the weather and wind to whip in and remind us what’s happening outside.

This is the point where we feel our age and old injuries; go to bed at 7:30pm and do a fair amount of moaning and groaning upon getting up at 0600. For Valentine’s day the best I could manage was giving Dot a (fully-clothed for those of you with gutter brains) neck and shoulder massage. Very romantic… OK, not romantic, just kind

We’re enjoying working with Don Sorric, the fellow who will do our bottomwork. He’s a very capable and decent guy, and I’m learning loads.

Writing this at 0400 Wednesday (Alaska time, which is one hour earlier than Pacific time); the outside temp is 21 deg F; the forecast is a high of 23 and an overnight low of 15, followed Thursday by a high of 21. Break out the boardshorts!

Rusty is having a hard time in that he wants to be outside sniffing, greeting, peeing and playing, but it’s very cold and that takes it’s toll on him. He doesn’t have the coat for this kind of weather, and it must be murder on his feet as well. Dot found an old sweatshirt which he was wearing, reluctantly, yesterday afternoon.

I believe we will be blasting in a couple of hours, followed by the first protection coating – likely to be another long (cold) day.

Additional photos below...