Cambria is getting a new top. It's long over due. Well beyond its useful life, the aging sunbrella and cracked windows will be retired and give way to a slightly redesigned model. The objective is to have move a little more to a permanent top with solar on top. The current canvas has an athwartship (yeah, it's a word) zipper that allows for the aft portion to be taken down in good weather. The forward portion can also be rolled up to totally open the cockpit. Great. In theory.
First off, the weather is seldom good when we're on the boat. If it's July or August, we're likely to be backpacking or hiking in the mountains. The boat, for us, has become an off season haven. And when it's good weather, I'm bald and fair skinned. I get sunburned looking at tropical commercials on TV.
The top hasn't been down in years. We often remove the side curtains, but whether for sun protection, shedding rain, or retaining heat in the winter the top always is up. I debated a permanent top, but a friend walked me through the steps and cost of fabricating one and it was above my comfort level with expense. There are no straight lines and even the cost for a canvas top is astonishingly high (I got 3 bids, all within the same general number).
So this will be a semi permanent top, with removeable side curtains. It'll have 2 longitudinal zippers to peel back a portion during hot weather to get airflow (that feature is used often) and I'm hoping to augment my current solar array with flexible panels on top.
With the recent addition of 'starlink' Cambria has become a nice off the grid aquatic home with the ability to be fully on line anywhere between here and Alaska. The new top will enhance comfort in less than ideal situations.
I'm also putting in zippers in the aft window to allow for full rotation of the winch handles. This will allow for fully enclosed sailing.
But first I needed to get the boat up to Bellingham where Greg and team, at Oyster Creek Canvas will design and build the top.
Leigh was kind enough to give me, my bike and gear a lift to the boat before she departed the following morning to visit her father in Spokane. We had a nice outdoor dinner at sunset (will this summer ever end?? It's mid-October!)
Sleeping on the boat is heavenly. Quiet, gentle movement of the water, it's wonderful. I did wake up a few times reviewing my mental checklist as a got ready for a 70ish mile, 2 day, singlehanded journey from Seattle up to Bellingham. I've done this trip a few times but more commonly run up and down from the islands. I chose to run up the inside and go through the Swinomish Channel -- something I haven't done for over a decade.
The currents were modest and little wind was in the forecast. A simple dawn to dusk run up Puget Sound.
The never ending summer of '22 is paired with wildfires and the smoke this weekend was visible all day. The dirty orange sun rose after I had gotten underway.
I rarely watch football anymore, but between starlink and streaming services, watching college ball while underway is a nice diversion. Above is was the Iowa Texas game and below dishy is angled north retrieving a signal. The wonders of technology never cease to amaze. My mind roams back nearly a half century earlier when I took a 29 foot boat up to Alaska with no electronics at all. Not even a depth finder as we had a lead line. Now I can do zoom calls from the boat.
Below was typical of most of the day. No boats (except for fishermen off Shilshole and especially Edmonds. Off Edmonds I counted 40 small fish boats with a quick sweep of the binoculars. The day was calm, quiet, with a faint haze from the smoke.
The Swinomish Channel is a dredged channel connecting the upper end of Saratoga passage with Fidalgo Bay, entirely avoiding exposure to Rosario Strait. It's a nice comfortable alternative to the sometimes raucous nature of Rosario. It's narrow but well marked. You do need to pay attention. I'm hoping that the boat below isn't the old 'Roanoke'. It kinda looked like her but I didn't see a name on it. The Roanoke was a platform used by Al Cummings and Jo Baily-Cummings for their 'Gunkholing' books on cruising the Pacific Northwest. Both have since past, but between her curiosity and enthusiasm and his folksy nature (Al was a radio personality in Seattle for years) their 'Gunkholing' books still make for good reading on where to cruise. And, perhaps more importantly, why.
If it is the old Roanoke it'd be a sad last chapter in that boat's history.
Below is a shot from the channel
After getting underway just before sunrise, I was tying up just before sunset. Cap Sante marina is pretty nice and I'm hoping that after being on the wait list for 3 or so years I'll finally be able to move Cambria north permanently.
No comments:
Post a Comment