I’ve been spending more time at anchor this year, a week ago I had spent some time rafting with other boats all sitting on MY anchor. That’s been a first for me and I noticed that my ground tackle appears to be capable of holding my boat, but drags with others attached to me. One of the contributing factors for this is finding that I only have 1/4 inch chain. Hi test is strong stuff, but 1/4 is really marginal for a 22 ton boat. So while I was home last week I went down to Washington Chain and purchased a couple hundred feet of 5/16 to try out. The added weight of the larger chain should significantly help to keep the anchor burried properly. So would have a kellett, but upgrading to chain that can actually hold my boat in a good blow is appropriate.
We need a new Gypsy!
Ghost has an electric windlass for pulling up the chain. The part of a winlass that the chain runs through is called a gypsy, and a gypsy is a something that gets matched to a specific type of chain. When you change your chain, you change your gypsy. My prior gypsy always appeared oversized for the 1/4 inch chain, but it was not marked for its type. I drew an imprint of the chain size on the gypsy and it appeared to match perfectly with my new chain. Pulling only the weight of the chain, it ran though the gypsy just fine. But as soon as I tested pulling up the chain with a little weight on it, it wanted to skip every other link. We could pull the chain up, but not easily, or efficiently. We need a new Gypsy!
We need a new impeller!
Our generator exhaust cooling water is not flowing like it should. This is something we have seen before. An impeller is a flexible rubber wheel surrounded by rubber vanes. It turns in a housing to pump water which cools the motor. When they get old, the vanes crack and the water does not pump properly. A few years ago in Desolation sound while sitting in Melanie cove, a kayaker came by and alerted us to the very same symptoms. Which is why I knew immediately where the spare generator impeller was located when I failed to find it up in the parts store up in our bow. We had failed to replace the spare impeller, so our spare was the one currently failing in the generator. Pulling the water pump off the generator confirmed the diagnosis when we found cracked vanes. This little part can easily fit in the palm of your hand, but without it we can’t run the generator, can’t recharge our batteries and that means that in a couple days we can’t keep our refrigerator or freezer food cold. To get a couple days on the battery means we will need to cut back and conserve energy, so no watching movies at night.
My favorite place to shop for marine parts is Friday Harbor
It’s early on Friday on only our second day and were stuck in Parks bay until we can get some parts. The good news is that I have experience in sourcing parts out of Friday Harbor and my friends I actually DO recommend it. A couple years ago, I lost an alternator in of all places, Parks Bay. After trying to source one from the auto/marine stores in Friday Harbor, we got them from Fisheries Supply in Seattle and had them flown up via Kenmore air. Fisheries is one of the largest marine parts suppliers around and they happen to be located about two miles down the road from Kenmore air, who has regular scheduled flights to Friday Harbor, which is only about a 30-45 minute flight. Fisheries also has a very good ordering website where finding the products you need is as close as your nearest web browser.
Sitting in Parks bay, I did not want to fire up the computer as its a pretty big power hog, so instead I reached for my iphone and finding a good internet connection, was able to get a definative part # for my broken impeller within a few minutes and place an order at Fisheries. Later as Cliff and I spoke we realized that as we spoke, our wives were in fact in Seattle, in their car and in fact on their way to the Pike waterfront. A quick phone call, a LOT of gravelling and we convinced them to stop by Fisheries, pick up the part and give it a quick ride down to Kenmore air. Unfortunately fisheries dropped the ball when they became too busy to want to actually go pick the part for my wife when she arrived. Actually refused to help my wife. The saving grace was that I actually remembered where they kept impellers on their retail floor and in less than a minute my wife had found the part sitting on the shelf and she was on her way. In an hour, we ran the dingy from Parks bay over to Friday harbor and picked up the part from the float plane. I tell you again, other than dealing with poor customer service from Fisheries supply, the time it took to get the part was less than to have driven down to Fisheries and back if I were home.
Now the windlass was almost a better story. RC Plath is located in Portland, well actually Gresham. I found this out talking to them that they are just down the road from Mt. Hood where my parents live. He had the right gypsy on the shelf, but it needed just a little machining. When I hung up the phone Plath, I was expecting to get a gypsy quickly, say maybe by Tuesday or Wednesday the next week. Instead my cell phone rang on Saturday with the Friday Harbor post office calling, they had a package for me. Plath had finished the machining the same day, then DROVE the package to the Portland airport so that it would go out quicker than in Gresham. Folks, that’s probably a 45 minute drive one way. Then he had the nerve to call me on Monday to make sure I got it. I tell you, there is no such thing as customer service like that anymore and RC Plath deserves a major award for it.
So in the end, we had our boat put back together by Saturday afternoon, while still sitting in beautiful Parks bay. I did not even have to move the boat once and we enjoyed our time there. If your boat ever needs parts, I highly recommend Friday Harbor, or even nearby Parks Bay if you have a good dingy.
I just love boating like this!