Anticipation

In three days, we leave for South America. This is a two-month trip where we will hopefully be visiting Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. We are joining two different "Adventure" tours with a couple of weeks on our own in the middle (in La Paz).
Getting ready for this trip has been surprisingly time-consuming, getting our respective work commitments looked after and finding someone to look after our house while we are gone. But everything now appears to be in place.
It is our hope that we will be able to post to this blog frequently while we are gone (which would make quite a change from how infrequently we update it while we are here). So keep your computer tuned to this station for further updates.
We will also be checking for emails at svsinetimore@gmail.com and we look forward to hearing from you.
For now, Hasta Luego.

A Sailing Interlude

Yes, we actually went sailing.

We left Nanaimo and slowly made our way north to Desolation Sound. The trip up was very nice; warm weather and some spirited close-hauled sailing, especially north of Westview. We visited False Bay on Lasqueti Island, the town of Westview, Copeland Marine Park and Refuge Cove en route.

Once we were in Desolation, the weather turned a bit cold and rainy, so we spent 4 nights at anchor, 3 in Theodosia Inlet and 1 in Grace Harbour, both parts of Malaspina Inlet. We were nice and cozy in our cabin, with the diesel heater keeping us warm, taking it easy reading books and playing games. This was a great opportunity to see how long we can go without power as the solar panels were not producing much while the sun was hidden by clouds.

On the forth day, the sun came out and we left the inlet and sailed to Cortes Bay where we able to dinghy ashore and do some hiking. As you can see, it's a pretty tough life.

We made our way back south pretty much all under power as the winds had completely left us. We did see some fog but it was not a problem as it kept itself at a distance and just made for a gorgeous photo opportunity.

We motored to Comox where we stayed overnight at the marina, then cris-crossed the straight, visiting the east side of Lasqueti Island (Boho Bay) and Bargain Bay (just south of Pender Harbour) before returning to Nanaimo just ahead of a major storm front that was moving in.

On this short trip, we saw more wildlife than we ever have before, many seals and birds of course, but also a Sea Lion and some Dolphins. We were beginning to doubt that these creatures even existed.

Unfortunately, we had to cut out trip short and hurry back to Edmonton. We have a lot of work to do, shutting down Richard's business and getting ready for our trip to South America in October.

Shakedown Prep

We are back on the boat for a while. This time we hope to do some more extensive sailing.
But first, there is always the preparation work to be done. Fortunately for us, the boat really does not require much. I have had to track down an issue with the engine warning buzzer (bad temperature sensor - just disconnected for now) and replace a faulty bilge pump hose (having a bilge pump that pumps all the water back into the bilge was not a good plan).
So now, just some last minute provisioning and we should be good to go.

Moving Forward

Just a quick note about our current status.
Over the last few weeks, we have actually managed to visit the boat for short while. We spent a week on board and, believe it or not, left the dock for 4 whole nights. We didn't go far, just down to Clam Bay and Montigue Harbour in the gulf islands, but we were able to do most of it under sail.
I have pretty well completed the solar panel (phase II) installation and we used the time to test to see how close we are to being completely independent of shore power.
We anchored out for 3 nights in one place and observed that we had more than enough power from the panels to run the fridge, computer and watch some DVDs in the evenings with the batterys returning to 100% charge by 2:00PM each day, so it was very rewarding - all the work was not in vain.
Of course, this all took place on some beautifully sunny days which does skew the results somewhat.
Unfortunately, upon returning to the marina, we had to hurry back to Edmonton for various commitments and are not sure when we will be able to continue our shakedown cruise. At this rate, we should be ready to go in about 5 years.
Meanwhile plans are underway for a major trip (by air) to South America for November and December, so life is not all bad.

Slow Progress

I finally made it back to the boat for a week. Although it was essentially a work-related trip, I did try and get some things accomplished on the boat itself. As usual, however, nothing is easy. My main projects of the moment are the completion of my ongoing solar power initiative and the search for a reliable autopilot solution. On both counts, I have fallen short.
The last time I was in Nanaimo, I ordered some fittings for the stanchions that would allow me to run a new stainless steel rail above the life lines, on to which I was going to mount the solar panels, one on each side of the cockpit. When I went to pick up the fittings it turns out that they were not quite the same as the pictures in the catalog. It now appears that the fittings as pictured do not really exist. So back to the drawing board.
I have come up with a new idea for stringing the life lines through a 1" stainless steel pipe, attached with some fittings that do exist, although no-one actually has them in stock. So I have orderd these fittings and it is back to the waiting game - I will continue the battle next time I can get back to the boat.
Meanwhile, the autopilot project is totally going nowhere. Getting the specifications for every autopilot on the market, and taking careful measurements of the current steering setup, it is becoming more and more apparent that there is nothing on the market that will meet out needs. The simple wheel pilots are not powerful enough, there is no room for mounting an actuator for a below deck unit, and all of the existing hardware hanging off the back of the boat makes it impossible to mount a wind-vane system. I have asked the local expert to take another look but am not hopeful.
I did book the boat for a haulout and bottom paint for next week, so at least we may be able to go sailing in the near future.