It's Ours!
After a fairly anticlimactic 15 minutes at the dock, we were the proud new owners of "Island Eagle".
Our first step was to move the boat from beautiful Bainbridge Island to downtown Ballard, at the Ballard Mill Marina. Although somewhat less bucolic than Bainbridge, Ballard is a funky little place with every marine supplier you could want within a few minutes drive. Add the Salmon Bay Cafe a 45 second walk from our berth and you've got heaven for 4 guys working on a boat. The only real excitement was Scott smacking the boat into the concrete wall of the Ballard locks, and then proving it wasn't a fluke by crushing the aft railing backing into the berth. Did I mention that the boat is 61 feet long? Did I mention that it's single screw? Did I happen to comment on the lack of bow thruster and rudder angle indicator? It's freakin' lucky we ever got berthed!
Once ensconced in Ballard, we immediately embarked on our true passion: shopping! Between Fred Myer's, Home Depot, Target, Sears, west Marine and (most importantly) Fisheries Supply, we managed to hit the limit on most every card we owned. But it was fun. The boat looked like the inside of a good sized chandlery.
The other big projects were replacing the electric stove with propane, which Uncle Bob did with aplomb, and installing a new stainless steel railing, custom fabricated by Tom Kuegler. It's a true work of art:
Finally, we also removed the old generator. Now, lest you think this was easy, the old 2-71 Delco weighed over a ton and we had to bring it up through an opening about 28" X 24". And did I mention we had no crane? First, Bob and tug-man Daniel separated the engine, generator and base. Then, we rigged a come-a-long up the companionway, which we used to drag the pieces across the engineroom floor and up the companionway:
In addition to the come-a-long, Dad belayed a secondary line with a 1 inch hawser:
Needless to say, there were many temporary setbacks:
But in the end we made it:
Finally, we used a second come-a-long from a nearby piling to haul the stuff out of the boat. Then next morning the parts were hung from the piling and it looked like the generator fairy had visited:
We were up at 4:30 to catch the tide for our trip up the coast to Nanaimo. Captain Bob Laing, a great guy, was there to guide us.
On the first day we made it up through Deception Pass and the San Juan islands, anchoring off Sidney Island in Canadian waters:
We overnighted in a beautiful cove, silent except for the gas produced by Uncle Bob's chili. The next day we were up at 4:30 and underway a few minutes later. The big GM diesel purred like a kitten and we were in Nanaimo by noon.
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