But… before we get into a report on our seasonal Hudson Bay Company rule experience so far… let’s spend a few moments traipsing through a PNW springtime review:
And then… there was the laughing Loon just a few feet from Great Northern last week:
Then… there is the springtime flora to consider:
Enough prologue, eh? Back to my narrative: The results of our early season Hudson’s Bay Rule (HBR) discoveries. I covered the HBR concept in a past bloglet, so I won’t get into an in depth description again. But, in a nutshell: We spend the winter and early spring getting the boat ready for the upcoming cruising season. Engines, generators, chargers, battery banks, thrusters, electronics all get their customary maintenance, repairs and upgrades. This winter… a new bow thruster. Cruising boats like ours are very complex and all systems need feeding and frequent adjustments to make sure all components are playing nice-nice with each other. After all the adjustments, a thorough systems testing is warranted. A judicious working analysis requires a week long cruise through the San Juan or Gulf Islands. This includes: Running at slow, medium and fast speeds, using all of the navigational instruments, using both gen sets under load, anchoring, retrieving the anchor, testing the inverter under light and heavy loads, charging the batteries, recording and analyzing the results… in a place that is close to spare parts and mechanics if needed.
5/25/24: We are anchored in Garrison Bay. One of our favorite anchorages. It is just around the corner from Roche Harbor, but a world apart. There is no hustle, bustle, nor pretensiosity. Well… except for the Anacortes Yacht Club nidgits that put on a dinghy parade in the blustery , rainy, late May conditions. They were all flying pirate flags. I wonder if they know what that means?
The spring 2024 HBR results to date:
Engines @ idle, slow, medium, fast: PASS, No issues noted
Navigational instruments: FAIL
Wait! Fail you say. FAIL. That sounds bad. Well… it was and it happened just as we were leaving Port Ludlow. What an ignominious start of our testing. Two weeks before departure we invited a bevy of students from the Northwest School of Wooden Boat-building to use Great Northern as a teaching platform. As an older boat, GN provides multiple opportunities for students to hone their diagnostic skills and for them to formulate plans for repairs etc. Their mission was to look for potential issues with corrosion, stray currents and bonding. They did find one issue that I repaired, an isolated intake for the smaller gen set with a failed bonding wire. So… good on them. During their visit, 4 teams of 4 students each reviewing systems for 2 hours each… they opened and closed many circuits, through hull valves, measured current draw, stray currents etc.
When Les and I left Ludlow on our spring HBR, and went to turn on the autopilot, gps, chartplotters etc. we found that the autopilot was not functioning. Hmmm… Les looked at the 12 volt panel and found out that the autopilot switch was in the “off” position. Flipped it on and we had autopilot. I didn’t even know that the autopilot motor had a switch. I knew the control head had a switch, but not the autopilot motor itself. Kewl. Now I know. Thank you boat school peeps!
Using both gen sets under load: PASS (with a corollary). The corollary: The small 9KW gen set doesn’t have the uumph to run three 1500 watt heaters, the battery charger and the air fryer at the same time. So… it blew it’s override breaker. Good to know. And… the big gen set does have the uumph (yes that is a technical term). So there. Test conclusive and educational.
Anchoring: PASS
Testing the inverter under light and heavy loads: PASS
Charging the batteries: PASS
Retrieving the anchor: DON’T KNOW YET. We will know when we leave Garrison Bay. That being said… the worst that could happen is that the anchor windless won’t lift the anchor and chainback onto GN. Well… we have a nice spare anchor and a brand new swivel. Yes… I may have to cut the chain, but in this bay I would only lose 20 or so feet of chain. And… I have a dandy 18 volt, battery powered cutoff tool that would make for an easy escape. Cut the chain and off we go. I would hate to do that for several reasons, but… we have the means.
Charging the battery banks: PASS
So far… our HBR is a success. With the exception of the overexcited and exhuberant Anacortes Yacht Club behavior… blasting through the anchorage at full speed, just because they can. Our anchorage here has been just fine. Great Northern doesn’t really care much about dinghy wakes. Beyond the fact that it is just a bit rude on their part… it takes a lot more than a high speed dinghy wake to make a 75,000 pound boat do much of a rock and roll anything. Keith Richards could do so much more with just a guitar and HUGE amplifier. So there.
Next test: pulling up the anchor…
Salish Sea Cruising With Blair, Les, Leo, and Bliss 