Weather Variable

The weather here is showers and sun, fog, rain and then clear again. Winds are running north east, then back around to the south west. Because there is still work to do before we can have the masts stepped, the boat stays in the shed today.

The weather, while variable, has clearly moved into summer. The air just smells different. Even though it gets cool, the rain is intermittent, and not for days on end. The locals say they had a cold, wet spring that kept them all indoors.

Boat Progress

To help conserve our fresh water we are having a handpump which feeds saltwater to the sink. The idea is to use the salt water for everything we can, and save the fresh water for drinking, cooking and final rinses on clothing. The only thing is that to do this we have three choices: 1) run a water line from way forward on the port side where the head takes in saltwater; 2) connect a fitting to the engine water intake (water cooled diesel engine uses salt water through a heat exchanger) or 3) drill another through hull and connect to that.

Option 1 has us leaving a seacock open all the time that we don't normally leave open, and the potential for leaking somewhere down the length of the hose is a concern. Option 2 has the potential to interfere with the correct functioning of the engine. So we go with option 3.

Although I am not wild about another hole in the hull, I think this is likely to be the least trouble. We will just have the yard guys put the through hull where we can keep an eye on it for leaks, in addition to a good valve and proper connections. Our experiments with just dropping a bucket over the side last year showed us why that was not likely to work well for us. We nearly lost the bucket and a crew member over the side.

I made several copies of the scaled drawing we have. I plan to go through what we have aboard and make notes on the drawing tonight after the yard crew goes home. We try to stay out of their way so they can just get things done. (The rate goes up if we watch, more if we help. )

Plant notes

The rain and wind have finished up almost all of the azaleas and apple tree blossoms. Just a few straggly petals clinging to branches here and there. The blossoms on the moutain ash (rowan) have gotten quite white as the flowers open out. If the weather is kind, the tree will have enormous clusters of red orange berries in late summer or fall.

In places the medians and verges have been mowed. The remaining plants are a bit more noticeable as a result. Lupines blooming along the hillside above the ferry terminal parking lot peer above the grass around them, so all I see are the flowers. Several weeds that look more like chrysanthemums than anything else are popping up all over. They are likely to be small herbaceous shrubs about 2 feet across, if they don't get pulled up or mown down.