Sep 30

At ease with nice weather. Are as ready as we are going to be for the passage. Tomorrow our new crew will be boarding and we will be busy with the orientation and safety drills.

Yesterday pulled the shaft alternator again and tested it onboard by putting it in the vise and using the drill to spin the stator. Found it worked as advertised. So after checking every thing found out that the problem was a slipping belt. As the rotation is rather slow belt tension has to be high to avoid slipping. So installed a better belt and hopefully have solved the problem.

The offshore weather is interesting to say at least. We are watching closely.
 

Sep 29
Got going at 0715. John likes to start right away in the morning. This is how things are done on the commercial vessels. Underway first than get organized. Start the generator. Than all instruments and the computer. Then the main engine and pull up the anchor. Underway a few minutes later. This is the way to make miles.

Found a good ebb tide running with us giving us a good boost. The weather is Sunny and flat calm. Start looking at the weather maps indicating a large low off the coast. Hopefully will move on before Thursday night as we like to avoid the Southerlies. Anyway to early the worry about it.

ETA Sidney around noon today.( Monday) Then at anchor and maybe find a alternator shop and test the alternator once more. Greg one of our new crew members is in town and has wheels. He offered a ride so we will take him up on that.         

All our new crew expected to board on Wednesday.

Sep 28
Departed Nanaimo with the late afternoon tide. The last few days we almost completed all our jobs on the list this never happened before. Just a few items left like diesel fuel and some last groceries.

Made it to Preedy Harbor at Thetis Island, and dropped anchor around 2045 in pitch dark. With the radar on and the computer navigation it is easy to run at night and the auto pilot steers like we are on rails. A small boat without lights crossed our bow but got them on radar. Just wondering what they are thinking. Dads Narrows was ebbing at 7Kts making a spectacular ride through the Narrows. Do not recommend this to everyone but with a large enough boat this is fun. Shaft alternator is still not putting out.

Sep 26

The wind increased last night but laid down early in the morning. It rained cats & dogs for most of the early morning but later it let up and we had some dry weather during the day.

Got a trip in to Tony in Lantzville who made the bracket for the alternator and did some final adjustment .A interesting fellow who is from the old school of craftsman. Among some of his skills he has 6 barrels of wine on the go after shipping in 50 crates of grapes in from California.

Then back to the boat and putting the system together. Got it all going late this afternoon but only get about 6 Amps of power out of it or about a third of what we expected. Have a email in to see what is up. Just wondering as this is a alternator with a ac plug maybe need to pick it up from there. Better keep this to ourselves as word gets out it may drive up the oil prices.

Tomorrow we hope for nice weather so we can get groceries dry onboard.

Sep 25

Western Grace is riding restless on her anchor as the strong SE wind are stirring up the waves in Mark Bay.

In a few days she will set sail for Sidney and points South on her annual migration. The weather is turning cool and the birds are gathering on large flocks preparing to head South as well.

The last few days have been spent to make sure we have enough supplies and spare parts to complete another 10.000 Nm voyage. Endless list with paint, oil, filters, spare parts etc to make sure we do not forget anything. Every day a trip ashore and back with the dinghy loaded to the brim.

Still working on a new shaft generator. This suppose to eliminate all needs for generating power when under sail at 5 Kts or better. A belt driven alternator from the shaft expected to produce 15 Amps or better.

Another power saving devise is the additional 65 Amp alternator on the genset boosting its output by 60 Amps. This will save lots of fuel and we put the Middle East on notice that in the future our fuel needs will be much less.

Went up the rig yesterday and thoroughly checked it for any signs of wear and tear. All is well but we are keeping a sharp look out for anything as we know SSteel can fail quickly.

Still have to finish swinging the compass.

Tomorrow we hope to get the shaft alternator installed and them we need to test it yet. Joanne is making a grocery list so provisioning is starting as well.