Journal 15 October 2009
Old planks need to be replaced, the hull painted. Maybe it could go up on the grid in Kake, pressure-wash as the tide goes out? Or down to Wrangell, about 35 miles farther than Petersburg?
“Juneau might be your best bet though,” Pieter said.
We put on denim work suits and went down into the engine room.
A world of heat exchangers and impellers, gensets (light plants) 3-phase and single phase, compressors, figuring out how to fire it up, getting the compressor up to 120 pounds, requiring about an hour of work from the German-made three-phase. The single-phase generator took care of normal boat operations, not needed when hooked up to shore power.
“I guess you become something of a gearhead,” said Pieter, tapping with a monkey wrench on the impeller. “Boiler’s in good shape, she maintains oil pressure.”
A bullet list to start the boat:
– Make sure cover is off smoke stack
– Sea valve is open
– No one behind you
– Open air valve for compressed air
– Adjust throttle
The boat shuddered. Hot black oil sprayed everywhere. Pieter shut her down, ragged up the mess, and we went back aboveboard.
