Chapter 3
Our last chapter ended in October with us working like crazy
hoping to get Hyacinth the Boat ready to try out on the water before bad
weather hit. In that chapter we described
our first outing where we had to get towed back to port which was followed by a
later outing where everything worked very well. Then the weather did hit with
first torrential rain and then record breaking snowfall so very little outdoor
work has been done on the boat since. On
the flip side after looking into having stainless arches made that will provide
a frame for a cockpit surround (AKA “cover”) and learning that the shops that
do that kind of work are booked months ahead because of fallout from the
pandemic and that even the raw materials were VERY hard to come by and VERY
expensive because of supply chain issues (again related to the pandemic) we
decided to try making them ourselves.
This meant that I needed to buy a welder that would weld stainless,
finding 316 stainless tubing (hopefully at a reasonable price), finding 316
stainless flat bar, and developing my skills on a new type of welder. Ideally I would have purchased a TIG welder
which I have used a bit in the past and made very pretty welds that would have
taken very little grinding work but TIG welders cost a pretty penny so instead
I opted for a wire feed welder of a respected commercial brand which does
provide the option of using a gas shield.
I will just say that the work is “acceptable” as to appearance and very strong. We found a place in Seattle that could
provide the tubing after they shipped it from a warehouse in San Diego and would
have charged us $12/ft plus shipping and other fees, we took a big gulp and
started checking as far away as Portland Oregon and finally found a commercial
pipe supplier in Vancouver Washington who had 6 – 20 ft “sticks” in stock for
$7/ft. We jumped in the truck and drove
about 250 miles round trip but we were glad to get the material. As to the bar stock we had a good friend in
Everett that owns a machine shop order what we needed and when we showed up at
his business we were allowed/encouraged to cut the pieces to size on his
commercial saw which saved us considerable time and frustration. After making
the arches in the garage we were able to mount them on the boat between rain
showers and are pleased with how the project is proceeding. Also because we purchased extra tubing “just
in case” we had enough left over to make railings for the stern of the boat
that are still waiting to be installed.
For Thanksgiving we had Bryan and his family up from
Beaverton, my mom down from Tacoma, and Bryan’s wife’s family over as they live
close to us. After not having a family Thanksgiving for several years while we
travelled on Salish Aire and Salish Airstream it was good to take a break from
the pandemic and have a big family celebration (thank you God and scientists
for making vaccines available!!)
We had a couple of weeks and then Erin’s family arrived from Ontario, Canada for a planned 2 week visit over Christmas. We had a wonderful time with them but were limited in outdoor activities by the rain. Christmas came and Bryan’s family again came north despite the forecasts for snow. Those who aren’t from Seattle may not know that white Christmas’s in Seattle are virtually unknown but this year the snow started falling by late Christmas day and we ended up with about 10 inches total in our yard. Next we have a lack of plows and other equipment to deal with snow because the frequency of snowfall in the Puget Sound lowlands doesn’t justify the cost of maintaining the equipment and operators so our roads remained very slick for some time. Finally the snow continued in the passes over the Cascade mountains in record amounts and thus the passes were closed for days at a time (rather than hours at a time which is common).
To top off
Erin's family's visit, Canada required a negative Covid test (PCR type only) within 72
hours of arrival at the border which created its own challenges. Erin and Paul had scheduled a test at a
University of Washington site where it would be free (as opposed to paying up
to $200 per person at some sites) that was in the Seattle area with the plan
they would visit friends north of Seattle on the same outing. The first bad
news was a text from the friends saying one of their children had just tested
positive for Covid so don’t come. The
next bad news was a text from the testing site saying they were closed because
of the snow. This was followed by a
warning from the airline that they were likely to be snowed in or out of Denver
by a forecasted storm and would they be willing to reschedule at no extra
cost. After much muttering and driving
around trying to find an open testing site the plan became: 1) delay leaving by
one day and instead route through Chicago, 2) since their arrival in Canada was
now delayed they could get Covid tests a day later than they planned – but all
sites in Western Washington were booked out several weeks for non-emergency
test, 3) drive to Yakima in Eastern Washington over White Pass (which is a bit
higher so it was having fewer problems with slides at that point in time) get
the family tested and drive home. The
drive to Yakima was on a rare clear sunny day and went without a hitch so they
were able to fly home on Sunday January 2nd with few problems (other
than arriving and learning that schools were closed to in-person teaching as
Covid was sweeping through Ontario with a vengeance).
So we drove Erin and family to the airport leaving at 3:30
AM on Sunday. At 5 PM Sunday our friends
the Hegwalds that live on a boat here in Olympia came to dinner and to buy our minivan
and to prepare to house and dog sit while we took a trip to Hawaii. This had
all been planned for some time except for Erin leaving the same day we needed to
do final packing and set the Hegwalds up in the house but it all worked
out. We had decided to go to Hawaii on a
bit of a whim when Erin offered that she had extra vouchers that we could use
if we finished our trip before February 4th. Costs for lodging and rental cars is
currently very high in Hawaii but with the plane fare covered it all became
possible and in the end we had a wonderful break from the weather and scenery
of Olympia. So at 3:30 AM on Monday Stephanie
drove us to the airport in their minivan (our old minivan) and off we
went. Despite the challenges of getting
into Hawaii with current Covid prevention restrictions the trip went pretty
smoothly.
Now we are trying to get back to a bit of a routine with
doctor visits (I’m working with my PCP to better control nerve pain in my legs
and treat ongoing respiratory problems), hearing aid replacement visits for me
and contact lens visits for Clarice, working with a local charity on a showers
for homeless folk trailer, church stuff and babysitting our granddaughter
periodically. Our current plan is to
finish up some house projects, get the cockpit cover for the boat in place, and
prep Salish Airstream for a trip to the southwest which should start shortly after we make a pilgrimage to the Seattle Boat
Show the first week of February.
Other photos:
