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| Prince Rupert (without the rain) |
This morning the skies are gray with lots of rain clouds and
a fair bit of wind. Soon we are in the
channel and have Prince Rupert in our sight.
We pick up cell service along the way and Barrie spends our travel time
talking with the supplier and trying to figure out the best way to ship an item
from San Diego to Petersburg, Alaska.
Interestingly, the fastest and cheapest method is the US Postal Express
Mail service. Krogen owners Knut &
Gerry Frostad live on their 48-foot boat Salty Dawg in Petersberg and are very
helpful in explaining how the express mail service works and in suggesting that
we use General Delivery. With a bit of
luck the package will arrive in Petersberg before we do.
En route our tachometer quit working which gave credence to
Barrie’s thinking that one of the two alternators aboard Chug is not working
correctly. Now, our plan is to use our
time in Prince Rupert to sort out alternator issues. We opted to dock at the Prince Rupert Rowing
and Yacht Club for easy access to stores and potential services.
It is Friday afternoon and trying to diagnose the problem
and locate help is a bit of a challenge.
We find R&R Rewinding in the local yellow pages and put in a call
that goes to voicemail. We start
believing it could be Monday before we can put this issue to rest. We have a lovely dinner at Dolly’s Fish
Market just a block or two from the Yacht Club.
Saturday morning and the bad news is that it is pouring rain
(again). The good news is that while I
am at the local coffee shop (did someone say latte?) my phone rings and it Dale
from R & R. Not only is he willing
to work on a Saturday – he will make dock calls. R & R tells us that the Balmar alternator
is “toast” while the spare that came with the boat and a tag that says 1996 is fine. Barrie tries to install the spare but it does
not fit the current system. He then
decides to remove the bad alternator from the system since we should be fine
running with just one. If necessary, we
have the generator available to charge batteries. We depart from the dock about 3 pm with the
plan of anchoring nearby but just a few hundred yards from the dock the engine
alarm sounds. We call PRR&YC and let
them know we will be returning to our slip.
Bummer – another chance to dock in the rain. Barrie checks the strainers and all is
clear. He then decides to replace the
thermostat but when we run the engine at the dock the alarm sounds again.
The next step is to check the heat exchanger. Interestingly, we have a spare aboard from
our trip to Alaska in 2014 (long story).
Sunday morning we walk to the hardware store in search of a rod to clean
out the exchanger. Barrie removes the
heat exchanger and cleans it thoroughly extracting a slimy bit from the raw
water exit but the exchanger looks near perfect. And indeed, we start the engine and the alarm
goes off again. A phone call to Larry
Determan (Barries diesel engine maintenance instructor in 2007 turned good
friend and mentor) and the light goes on! The belt for the first alternator also drives
the water pump (it was not an idler pulley after all!). Reinstalling the non-working alternator
solved the problem. But it is late,
Barrie is tired from too much time in the engine room, and the wind is blowing
gale force in Dixon Entrance. Oh, and
did I say it is still raining! We are
safely tied to the dock, warm and dry in our “ark” and staying put for the
night.
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