Sea Virgin

[Kelly]

So this weekend we're possibly heading out to the salty air in the south end of Puget Sound. We'll launch in Swantown and head North (you can't go anymore South) towards Harstine Island, possibly even venture up to the Narrows...but that's a long journey for a first time out in Puget Sound since I was 10.

I think I have everything I need for Inland Coastal Waterways. I've checked with the Coast Guard and everything is in order per their checklist.

I'm a little nervous to drop the Bearcat in the saltwater. She's never been in salt, ever. I will do a full flush/run with her at my lake when all is said and done.

I need to get a small depth finder. I want a "cheap" one with a chart feature...I'm looking now for that. Tomorrow I will finish hooking up the VHF and I have the print out with the channels.

Anything else you guys can think of? Any tips for prepping the boat either before or after the salt?

[Craig Aho]

I will be interested in hearing about your trip since I plan to do much the same thing with my bearcat and boat once it is completed with most of the use in the sound. Have a fun and safe trip.

[Kelly]

Well Craig, all went pretty smooth today. The only hiccup we had was while running back towards the marina...we got about 10 mins out and hit a pretty decent wave, then suddenly had 1/4 of the power that we normally had. After some quick troubleshooting I didn't see anything too obvious, so we cruised back to the marina at around 7 knots. As we were heading to our lake to flush and troubleshoot some more, I realized it had to be a fuel issue at WOT. When I got the boat last year it had an older plastic tank and I bought a new one to have a total of 12 gallons. As it turns out, that wave knocked some junk loose and plugged the screen for the pick up in the old tank that we were using at the time. After switching tanks and running around without a problem, I'm confident that's all it was. I looked in the old tank and there was plenty of junk in there. So tomorrow I'll go buy another tank and not worry about dirty tanks anymore.

All in all, it was a good day. It was Harbor Days in Olympia this weekend. There were tugs everywhere and when we got out on the water, the big commercial tugs were 10 mins from starting the final tug race of the day. That was fun to watch with a front row seat.

[Kelly]

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[Craig Aho]

Glad to hear you had a nice trip and the old bearcat was working well. Good thing you found out about the old fuel tank close to home. I drained the oil out of my motor again and the leaking has stopped again and at least I know that it is not from the main seal as the interior of the leg is dry and no oil comes out of the small holes on the gearbox. I may have to pull the motor though to replace the Pan gasket. That is a nice boat you have in the photos at your marina.

[Chelan]

Great looking boat! So happy all went well.

Allan & Sue

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

Glad to hear your cruise went well. Are these pictures of Swantown Marina?

Cheers,

Tim

[Kelly]

Thanks all. Tim, you're correct those pics are from Swantown. Nice marina and there's a $5 launch fee...but you have showers, drinking water, fresh water rinse, etc...

Craig, hope your gasket replacement goes well for you. Keep us posted in the Bearcat files