This morning’s alarm was set for 4am (!!!) and we all left Deep Bay in time to catch slack at Sergius Narrows (4:50am, about 30 minutes from Deep Bay).
Conditions were calm, gray, and rainy today, so not many photos were taken along the route.
Along the way, Two’s Out had a mechanical problem. A new sound had appeared – vaguely like a pump. But, the sound only happened when the boat was in gear. After a bit of investigation, they discovered a retaining ring on the hydraulic get-home drive had come loose and was swinging freely on the drive shaft, making the noise. It appeared to be harmless, the ring was around an area of the drive shaft where it didn’t appear it could damage anything. They found an RPM where it was spinning nicely – which let the boat make over 6 knots. Great job by the crew keeping calm, diagnosing the problem, and proceeding safely.
We’re all tied up now at Eliason Harbor and will spend four nights in Sitka…enough time to go out to dinner, shop, explore town, go to museums, hike, do boat chores and projects, and wait out the weather coming through on Monday and Tuesday.
Two’s Out already had made arrangements to meet a mechanic – Jacob Ogilvie of Sitka Mobile Marine. Their dinghy outboard was having a cooling system problem – water had stopped flowing from the tell-tale on the back of the outboard. Jacob quickly diagnosed and fixed the outboard, and came up with a solution to keep the retaining ring secure and away from the drive shaft while appropriate replacement parts could be ordered for the get-home drive.
If you have a mechanical issue in Sitka, Jacob – Sitka Mobile Marine (907) 209 1708 – is highly recommended.
After we leave Sitka, the next opportunity for any amenities is when we arrive in Juneau around June 22nd, so we’ll provision well before we take off. And in the meantime, we’ll enjoy this cool Alaskan town!