A Letter from Pieter

I first saw Pieter from the deck of the Heron, as we passed by in the no-wake zone, on the way back from dropping off sea cukes in Juneau. A cloudless morning, Pieter welding on the stateroom to the Adak, periodically raising his mask for a drink of water.

I met him a week or two later, down at the docks – I forget the exact occasion. Warm, filled with wisdom, humble and handsome, exuding know-how, he has made the experience of buying the Adak just about as smooth as it could be. Below is a letter that, with his acquiescence, I will include in this record:

Yo B-

The projects I would address first on the Adak are geared toward making the space more comfortable for living. I would insulate the house on main deck.

This shouldn’t be too difficult; I found a product called Tiger Foam, a slow expanding closed cell foam that can be injected through a small hole (1/2″ ?) at the top of space between studs. This will make the house much warmer and reduce your wintertime heat expense. I would get started right away on tearing out the stairs that lead from the back deck to upper deck, aft of exterior top house.

I like this renovation for two reasons; it will make the galley much larger and more comfortable, and that stairway is a rain trap. In place of the stairway I would use either aluminum or steel, and make it steeper than stairs but not quite as steep as a ladder.

Along with renovating the galley, I would combine the current (tiny) bathroom with the entryway just forward of it, as well as the closet just forward of that. This expanded space would become the laundry/bathroom (move stackable washer/dryer from closet under (removed) stairs in galley). I might look for a different wood-burning stove.

The stove in place is great and heats the place well, but with a small burner box and as it is not air tight, it requires a person the be there tending it or else it will burn out in about one hour. It would be nice to have an airtight stove a guy could chuck some wood in before bed/work and still have hot coals/fire several hours later. I imagine with the right stove and 2 cords of wood a guy could get through the winter without having to burn diesel for heat. The windows looking aft from the wheelhouse need to be framed in. Pressure wash and paint both decks. Build sliding door for aft of top house. Finish wiring top house for lights and outlets (wires run, just need to connect to main panel and install fixtures).

Steve Hamilton of Juneau is a former owner of Adak. I would pick his brain, maybe even hire him, to assist with a haul out. When you go to haul out, you want to “sit on a grid” rather than actually be hauled out of the water. Really all Adak should need below the water line is a good scrape/pressure wash and paint. A solid team of dudes could probably get this done in three days, working with the tides. Steve has had the Adak on a grid, he knows how and where to do it. Grids are typically property of a city and are available for use at very little cost, whereas haul outs are private enterprise and can be quite expensive.

Your main expense on a skiff is going to be the outboard. A 35hp outboard will be plenty to push the Adak around. Keep an eye on Craigslist as well as Alaska’s List for a boat that will work for you.

Things are pretty mellow up here. La Nina has us in a cycle between sub zero high pressure and +/- freezing, wet low pressure systems = less than ideal skiing conditions. The jet stream should shift in our favor here in next couple weeks. Still buckling down two weeks at a time on the offshore supply vessel, accruing sea time and looking for the next advancement opportunity.

Hope things are right with you. Drop a line anytime…

peace

p