Over the past 18 months or so while actively cruising about the Salish Sea and Puget Sound, we have visited and stayed at nearly 100 different ports of call, harbors, bays and estuaries. We either anchor or dock at a marina, with anchoring being our preference. Looking back through the boats log it appears we anchor out about 75% of the time; our preference for many reasons: isolation, less wear on the boat because it swings with the pointey bow presenting to the wind and currents, security, quiet, and ease. It is far easier to anchor in wind and current than it is to get tied off to a dock when there is a lot of wind and current. We have two generators to make as much electricity as we need and enough battery storage to go at least 18 hours without charging if we need to. We may add more batteries and at some point a water maker to make us even more independent .
For the holiday season we decided to haul the boat out of the water to have a new crane installed to make it easier to lower and raise the dinghy from the fly-bridge deck where it lives. That and a few other things will keep us in drydock for the next couple of weeks. So…. we are currently “docked” on the “hard”, as it is known, with the boat up on blocks and held upright by supports, to keep it from tipping over. That would be bad.
Great Northern in drydock in a large, heated, dry, insulated warehouse in Anacortes.
In addition to the crane upgrade, we are having: the props removed and re-balanced, all of the zincs replaced (I did that myself on the 20th), a weepy through-hull is being replaced (one that was missed by the Philbrooks yard in Canada!), the dripless shaft seals are being replaced with upgraded silicone bellows (the originals are at least 13 years old and should be replaced every 6 to 8 years, or thereabouts.)
And that is all for now. We were considering having a stern thruster installed, but after watching the crew fumble about a bit with the crane install we determined that a more experienced complement of boat workers might be a better way to go on the next haulout.
So it goes… We are really looking forward to getting back in the water
The beast (Sea-Lift) that got us from the water to the yard 
More of the beast 
Quite the contraption… 
A fellow DeFever in the yard 
Our stairway to heaven 
GN up on blocks 
Blair Installing zincs on the rudders
The galley on the hard. Pollo Affumicato Y fungi in the making… 
Leo has reached 8 pounds, an excessively large Chi… 
And he is special…
So… here we are in Anacortes. The boat is on the hard and we are in the Majestic Inn and Spa for our anniversary (44th), Christmas Eve and Christmas. After that back to yard life…
See… on the boat since we are inside we can’t use the sinks. Each sink has a bowl in it to catch water that we then dump into a 5 gallon bucket that we then have to carry down the stairs and dump in a sink by the restrooms. The restrooms are very nice, but walking through the dark warehouse at 0200 is not a very soothing adventure. And the damn bucket can get really heavy, so we only let it fill 1/4 or so. We can use the boat heads, but try to keep that use at night when wandering through the yard is less appealing; because in the yard, there is no way to dump the holding tank if it gets full etc. Every thing else works just fine. So… kinda weird for our holidays, but what’s new. We’re just kinda weird enough to put up with the vagaries of live-a-board life.
Stay healthy by masking when needed (which is most of the time), isolating as much as possible, and washing your hands a lot, and get vaccinated as soon as it is available to you.
That is all for now…
… Blair, Les and Leo
Northwest Boating Travels With Blair, Les, and Leo 