March 5, 2012 - Skiing & Snowmobiling in North Idaho

Again, a blog entry that doesn't involve boats!  Well, man can't boat ALL the time!  Since it's winter and our kids are really enjoying snow skiing, we are doing a lot less boating that we usually would this time of year.

We made another trip over to Sandpoint Idaho on Wednesday night, after I (Steve) finished a two-day water maker technical training class in Seattle.  Water makers convert seawater into pure/fresh water that is safe to drink.  Most long-distance cruising boats now have water makers, and they require quite a bit of maintenance and a well planned installation.  I am now a certified RACOR/Village Marine water maker technician.  Woo Hoo.....If you want to learn more about reverse osmosis water filtration, go here:  Village Marine's website

There hasn't been much snow in north Idaho this winter, which has made snowmobiling directly from Kathy's parents house pretty much impossible.  But luck was on our side and north Idaho received a lot of snow just a few days before our arrival, and it snowed hard again when we arrived.  Enough snow had accumulated so we were able to bring the snowmobiles down to the house.  There have only been two weekends all winter this was possible, and we just happened to be there for one of them!  Most winters we can ride directly from the house up into the forest trails, but this year the snow just hasn't been there, and a lot of the trails have been unusable due to lack of snow.

For the 4th year in a row Kathy's parents have allowed us to bring our friends over.. There were 16 of us this year, which is the smallest group we have had.  Mark and Jennifer were at St. Maarten in the Caribbean on a no-kids family reunion so their kids (Aidan and Grace) came to Idaho instead.  Every year our group takes over the house while her parents go off and have a fun vacation somewhere else.  This year they went to Parma Idaho to go skiing at Bridger Mt.  This winter trip is a special time for all of us because it is very rare that we can take a group vacation like this, and go to such a fun and beautiful location.  It is truly one of the highlights of the year for all of us.  The kids REALLY love it!

Every year we have built a sled run in front of the house.  It has turned out to be extremely popular with the kids who spend the bulk of their free time sledding on "the tube run".  They get a lot of great exercise playing in the snow with minimal "screen time"; this is good wholesome fun!  We were very lucky with all the new snow.  Just a week earlier there was not enough to build it, which would have been a huge disappointment for the kids.

We built the sled run on Thursday morning and also did quite a bit of snowmobiling.  Everyone in our group of friends can ski so Friday we all went skiing at Schweitzer.  Kevin has been dying to try snowboarding so we rented him some gear and put him in a two hour private lesson.  He's now a snowboarder and he loves it!  It was a great day of skiing with good snow, no lift lines, a huge mountain to explore, and lots of friends to ski with.  Saturday we played around the house on the sled run, in the snow, and out on the snowmobiles.  It warmed up Saturday and everything started to melt.  By the time we left on Sunday the sled run was almost gone and riding snowmobiles from the house was impossible.  Our timing couldn't have been better.  In fact, this was perhaps the ONLY weekend of the entire winter that there was enough snow to make this all possible.  We live charmed lives...

Rather that outline every event, I'll just post some pictures with captions:

Sledding in front of the house.

You can see the ski runs at Schweitzer Mtn, across the lake in the sun.

Some of the kids having fun at Kathy's parents house.

Kathy and Tess dropping out of the woods back onto the road.  Wheeeeeeee!

Jamie and Grace coming through one of the woods "trails".

Aidan, Cindy, Grace, and Kathy on the Stella chairlift.  Schweitzer Mt.

Getting ready for a steep downhill trail.  Everybody ready?

I think the kids are saying "hey grown-ups, let's get going!"

Vaughn takes Steve for a ride over the landscaping adjacent to the driveway.

Jamie and Grace, then Tess and Kathy, on one of the trails.

Aidan and Mark return from a fun ride through the forest.

Kathy and Steve stop to enjoy the view of lake Pend Orielle.

Lunch break after a few good hours of skiing.

Tons of new snow.  Schweitzer Mt. Ski resort.

Grace and Cindy riding "Musical Chairs".

Kevin puts on his snowboard.  Emily is ready to ski!

Kevin can now snowboard.  He's so excited.

Kevin links two turns together. Most people can't this their 1st day.

Dinner for the kids. 

Video "phone call".  Aidan & Grace chat w/their parents (both on a sailboat in the Caribbean).

The human pyramid!

Feb 25, 2012 - Skiing at Grouse Mtn British Columbia

The marine forecast was terrible with gale force winds forecast for Friday and Saturday.  So, once again we decided to go skiing instead.  This has become our winter pattern; boating when the weather is good, skiing if it's not.  We have a "family" season-pass at Grouse Mtn. British Columbia, so this is where we ski.  The mountain is just outside of Vancouver B.C. (home of the 2010 Winter Olympics) and it looks down on the city of Vancouver.  It's a spectacular view, when the skies are clear.

It was a very cloudy and foggy day skiing Saturday.  The winds were calm until the late afternoon when it got gusty and cold.  The snow was a bit heavy and wet, but the skiing was decent.  The crowds weren't too bad.  After a few hours of skiing, and dealing with very poor visibility the kids asked if they could go ice skating.  We said "of course."  Kevin has done it once before but this was Cindy's first time.  

Kevin uses "the cage" to get some extra speed.

Cindy enjoying skating at the outdoor rink atop Grouse Mtn.

Wonderful view of Vancouver B.C.

Cindy heading down "Paper Trail".  This is our kids favorite run at Grouse.

View from the restaurant on top of Grouse.  The wind is blowing pretty hard.

We put the kids in a semi-private two-hour lesson.  It was just the two of them and their instructor Jordan.  We were worried that they might not like having a lesson, or that one of them might get hurt, or that one of them would have to go to the bathroom, or....  you know, the usual parent stuff.  Well, they loved their lesson and we could see that both them had improved as soon as we skied with them.  It was amazing!  Kevin was doing very good parallel turns and Cindy had completely lost her snowplow!  In two hours Jordan did more to improve the kids skiing that we have in 10+ days of skiing with them.  But, I know I'm a terrible ski teacher, so I guess it's no surprise.

Here's a little video I (Steve) shot of Kevin skiing down a narrow trail through the trees.  It's a little shaky, sorry.  This was before their lesson, but even so, it's hard to ski this trail without doing a snowplow almost the whole way.

Kevin skiing the woods trail.  It's so fun to see him do this!

It was a great day, despite the poor visibility and less than ideal snow.  The lessons were a huge success; the kids can't wait for another lesson, and we could see big gains in their ability in just two hours.  We'll likely put the kids in another lesson or two with Jordan, if we can get him again.  It was well worth it.

On Sunday I worked on our boat galley.   I'm working on permanently installing our microwave oven.  This is proving to be a very time consuming task.  But, I'm so picky when it comes to these things that I'll easily spend an extra few hours just to get something to fit "just right" when likely I'm the only person who would ever notice the difference.  I'll post some pictures of the galley in week or two when I get things put back together.

Feb 20, 2012 - Idaho skiing and snowmobiling

Well, this doesn't relate to boating except that it is the reason we weren't boating.

We took advantage of the President's Day holiday by heading over to Kathy's parents place in Sand Point Idaho.  Monday was the holiday but for some reason there was also no School the Friday before.  We pulled the kids out of school Wednesday just before lunch and made the 7 hour drive to Sand Point.  We skied Thursday, Friday and Sunday at Schweitzer Ski Resort.

Riding the high speed 6-pack.  Grandpa, Cindy, Kathy, Kevin

Riding the chair lift.

Top of Schweitzer.  We are headed for "Down The Hatch".

Cindy, Steve, Bob, and Kevin at Schweitzer

Steve playing in the Terrain Park.

On Saturday we went snowmobiling.  There wasn't enough snow on the ground to snowmobile right from Kathy's parents house, so all of the "sleds" had to be parked up at Gordon's place.  Even though it's only another mile up the road, there was enough snow there to get us going.  There are miles and miles of great trails weaving through the state forest land.  Gordon has made many of these trails himself during the summer while riding his dirt bike.  On Monday Steve went riding again for a few hours with Gordon before we had to leave to drive back home to rainy La Conner.    

Which sled to ride?  Oh, life is full of tough decisions :-)

Beautiful trails through the woods!

Kathy brings her sled over the berm onto the road.  Gordon watches on.

Gordon checks the skegs on the skis to see how worn they are.

New snow.  Steve and Gordon's Monday morning ride.

It was a GREAT trip.  The skiing was absolutely fantastic on Sunday.  Snowmobiling was great fun too.  As usual the scenery and climate of Sandpoint were a delight.  Bob and Barb sure picked a great place to retire.   We love going over there to visit in the summer and winter.

Feb 5, 2012 - Kiket Island

On Thursday afternoon I went to change the transmission fluid on the transmissions (which I'd never done on this boat) and ended up breaking a pipe fitting spilling transmission fluid into the bilge.  If I couldn't fix this we couldn't go boating.  I did get it fixed in about 3 hours time.  I had to have a new hydraulic hose fabricated and I had to track down several somewhat obscure hydraulic fittings.  But I got it done and put back together the same day, so we could go boating for the weekend.  On Friday I went to the big boat show in Seattle for the entire day.  I sat through 5 hours of very informative seminars all related to long-distance cruising.  I spent another few hours looking at sailboats and long distance power boats taking pictures of cool things I might be able to build into our boat as I slowly set her up for our planned year-long trip to Mexico.  I spent another few hours talking to vendors and also business contacts for my work.

It's been quite a long time since our last trip on the boat due to bad weather, winter break, Christmas, New Years, a Florida/Bahamas vacation, and snow skiing.  The weather shaped up to be excellent for boating so we changed our weekend plans and headed out Saturday morning after Kevin's basketball game.

Kevin's basketball team; kindergarten and first grade.

Saturday morning we motored an hour or so to our favorite close-in destination; Kiket Island in Similk Bay.  We usually have the entire bay to ourselves, even in the peak of summer.  This weekend was no exception.  We anchored in 18 feet of water and immediately put the dinghy downr so we could head over to our kids favorite sand beach (Ala Spit on Whidbey Island).  It's a spectacular afternoon in the sun.  It's actually pretty warm, for February.

Kevin takes us over to Ala Spit.  He loves to drive.  Perfect weather.

The beautiful ladies!

A perfect day to be beachcombing.

As usual our kids find a place to jump from.  For some reason this is one of their favorite things to do when on a sandy beach.  They are certainly getting creative and expressive during their short flights.

Ninja Cindy catches some air.  Mt. Baker in the background.

Kevin doing the splits.  WOW, I don't think I could ever do that.

Our children will get in the water no matter how cold it is.  This water is only 45 degrees...   It wouldn't surprise me to see an iceburg float by :-)

Playing in the water.  This is early February.  Brrrr....

Beam me up Scotty.  Interesting lighting from the afternoon sun.

We motor back to the boat after spending several fun hours in the sun and sand.  Back at the boat we play some games, have dinner, and play more games.  After getting the kids to bed, Kathy and I settle down to watch "Castaway" with Tom Hanks on DVD but fall asleep half way through the movie.  We wake up at midnight and head off to bed.  About 4:00AM the wind kicks up and I (Steve) find myself up surveying the situation for a few hours.  Not a good night's sleep.  On Sunday we have a very relaxing day on the boat playing several different games, doing some reading, watching the kids play with Legos, talking about our upcoming Mexico boat trip, and simply hanging out together.



Playing the game "Sequence".  Our furnace is great; note the short sleeves.

We stay in Similk Bay as long as we can before pulling anchor so we can return just before sundown.  We tie up in our slip just as the sun sets.  Another PERFECT weekend out on the boat.

Kathy washes the mud off the anchor and chain.

Heading back home.  Perfect winter boating.

I'm happy to report that our furnace performed flawlessly this trip.  So did the new inverter.  Everything that uses AC power works better with this inverter.  The new digital tachometers also worked great.  The bad transmission leak is gone.  And the new mufflers were noticably quieter.  The boat is performing very well these days, and is slowly being transformed into the well equipped and capable vessel we will need to carry us safely to Mexico in a few short years.  We find ourselves talking about our Mexico trip all the time now and are both working very hard on several fronts to ensure that this trip becomes reality.

hasta próximo tiempo

Jan 31, 2012 - Boat Projects

The weather hasn't been great since we got back from Florida's warm vacation, so I decided to get a few projects done on the boat.  I ordered some custom built mufflers late last year and I'm finally getting around to putting them on.  I measured several times and had the company make the largest ones that I thought I could squeeze into the confines of the engine room.  The bigger the muffler the quieter the exhaust.  Our boat exhaust was VERY loud.  So loud in fact that I've had several people comment on it.

Anyway, I've now gotten around to installing them.  They are much bigger than the old mufflers.  I think I calculated they are 2.5 times bigger (interior volume).  They JUST fit our boat.  I don't think I could have gotten anything bigger to fit.  Phew!

The old muffler (small) compared to the new muffler (large).

The starboard side old muffler.

New muffler installed.  Also some fresh paint.  Bright and cheery.

New muffler on the port side.  This one JUST fit!  Only an inch to spare.

These mufflers were made by the same company that made our original mufflers.  They are a newer design that reduces the noise even further.  The new design has two chambers and is this companies quietest muffler.  For every 10dB reduction in volume, your ear perceives it as being 1/2 as loud.  I was hoping to see the exaust noise with the new mufflers about 1/2 as loud, which would be a 10dB reduction in the sound level.  I measured a reduction of about 20dB.  This is a HUGE improvement, and well worth the money, at least in my opinion (and probably a few of my neighbor's too).

Before: 100.6dB.  Standing on the dock.  LOUD!

After: 79dB.  The new mufflers are MUCH quieter.

While I was at it I cleaned and painted the areas that would be impossible to paint with the new mufflers installed.  It's a start and someday I'll get the whole engine room painted.  This special engine room paint (Interlux BilgeKote) makes it much easier to spot leaks and drips.  It's also easy to clean, it's brighter, and just plain nicer to work in an engine room that is spotless.

I also removed the old square sine wave inverter/charger and replaced it with a nice true sine wave inverter/charger.  It's a big upgrade for the boat.  Now every AC powered device on the boat will be getting power like it would at home, not the chopped-up and crude power it was getting from 20 year old inverter technology.  This means battery chargers won't overcharge and ruin our batteries in laptops, cellphones, cordless drills, Nintendo DS's, etc anymore.  It means the microwave won't buzz loudly when in use.  It means clocks will keep time and the navigation computer will be more reliable.  It also means the TV won't make it's slight buzzing noise anymore, and will have an even better picture.  Plus it's a much better boat battery charger meaning our expensive house battery bank should live a longer life.

The old inverter.  I'm going to wire it up as a spare, just in case.

The nice new, high-tech inverter.  It produces much better AC power.

I have a few little projects left on the inverter installation.  I have to install the battery temperature sensor that senses overcharging (which causes overheating) and regulates the chargers output.  I also have to install the battery monitor kit which will tell me exactly how much electricity is flowing in or out of the battery, and keep track of it for me so I can just look at the display panel to see where the batteries are.  It will show up as a percentage.  If it says 68% then the batteries are 32% down from their max charge.  This is a big help in determining when to start recharging, and when to stop.  You never want them to get below 50% because discharging below 50% is tough on the batteries and they won't last as long.  You generally want to recharge to about 85%.  You can keep going in an attempt to reach 100% but you could end up leaving the generator running for half a day just to put back that last 15%.

I fixed a really bad transmission fluid leak.  It started a few months ago and would leak a quart in about 15 hours of engine run time.  That's a bad leak.  It was simple to fix once I figured out where it was coming from.  The O-ring that seals the shift rod was leaking. I just had to pull the shifter shaft out of the transmission and install a new O-ring and the problem was solved.  I replaced the O-ring on the other transmission as a precautionary measure, just to be safe.

I also installed some new digital tachometers.  It took a bit of messing around with to get them to match up correctly with our tach senders.  I finally figured out that our Detroit Diesel senders output three pulses per engine revolution and once I set the tach's for that, they were perfectly accurate.  I compared them to my hand-held digital laser tachometer and they are PERFECT.  These tach's are accurate to within one RPM.  The old mechanical tachs were off by hundreds of RPM's and were virtually useless.

New digital tachometers, with engine hour meters (top readout)

Our new 2nd refrigerator arrived yesterday.  So, now I need to turn to the galley cabinet project so we can have both refrigerators.  I also have a trash compactor to install in the galley which will mean cutting up and reconfiguring a cabinet to make room.  I know what I'll be doing in my spare time during the next month or so.

Stay tuned for updates...

Jan 15, 2012 - Florida and Bahamas vacation

We got a break from the usual cold, gray, cloudy NW winter and a had a family reunion/vacation in Florida.  Well, actually the reunion was aboard Disney's newest cruise-ship, the Disney Dream.  This is the 3rd largest cruise ship in the world.  4000 passengers and 1600 crew.  That's a LOT of people!

Kathy's entire family was there; her brother Brad and family from NY, brother Les and family from Colorado, and her parent's from Idaho.  There were 15 of us and we had adjacent rooms on the ship.  We were even able to have the crew open up the decks so we had one long balcony connecting all 4 rooms.  The kids loved this.  The ship left Port Canaveral FL and cruised overnight to Disney's private island in the Bahamas (Castaway Cay), then over to Nassau for a day, then out to sea for a day, then back to Castaway Cay, and finally back to Florida.  It was a great 5-day cruise.

We then spent the next week going to Epcot, a Disney Waterpark, a Disney indoor arcade, a Disney minerature golf, several other miniature golfs, an airboat ride through the swamps, and Universal Studios.  Prior to the cruise we spent several days exploring Florida by car.  We made stops at West Palm Beach, South Miami, and drove into the keys.  We put about 900 miles on our rental car in the two weeks we had it.  I feel like we saw quite a bit of southern Florida although it would have been nice to have another week to explore

Here are some pictures from the trip.

Florida Keys

The name of the cruise ship

Early morning walk while the boat was underway

Kevin catches a wave at Universal Studios

Getting ready for our air boat ride to see aligators and turtles.

Playing in the warm water - Florida Keys

People, one of the swimming pools, people, the cool waterslide, and people.
That's a huge TV that plays Disney movies during the day.  Did I mention People?

Kevin and Steve on a water toy ride.  The ship was HUGE.  1150' long.





Harry Potter World at Universal Studios.  Fantastic!

Heading into Epcot.

 After a great trip in the sun, playing in warm ocean water in the middle of winter, and the bright blue skies of Florida, we had to come home.  And guess what?  It was snowing in Seattle for our return.  The van was encaesd in a layer of ice and one of the sliding van doors was frozen shut from the ice.  It makes me re-evaluate where I live  :-)

We came back to this!  Snow in La Conner.  Brrrrr.......

Our kids had been out of school for the 2 weeks of winter break, followed immediately by our 2 week vacation.  Then, due to the snow and ice there was no school for an entire week.  Wow! 5 weeks with no school?  I hope they don't get held back a grade because of this...  :-)

Back to reality for all four of us; I hope we can take it.