Vancouver Island Circumnavigation - Summer 2018

Well, it's time to get ready for another adventure! Though not quite as big as the last one - you might remember us from the Victoria, BC to the Sea of Cortez thread - there are plenty of projects in the works to get the boat ready for this summer's circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. With less than four months to go, it already feels like we're behind the eight ball!

The plan is to take three months to loop counter-clockwise around the island, starting June 1st from the North Saanich area (planning to get the boat hauled there to complete the final jobs before we cast off) and returning by the end of August. Major projects include:

- Complete electronics upgrade. The fish finder and radar were 1980's vintage (think big CRT screens) and have already been removed and sold off. I'm currently pricing out a complete SimRad package (2 x 12" MFDs, 4G radar, ForwardScan sonar, autopilot (finally! - we hand-steered all the way to Mexico), and AIS transceiver to upgrade from the current ICOM receive-only device.

- The old wooden mast and support wires were removed, which will open up a huge amount of space on the fly bridge. I'm looking for quotes for a stainless steel arch based on this Beneteau design.

- The fly bridge deck will be re-surfaced (the non skid is cracked and peeling) and the seating will be removed and upgraded. We'll finally have a proper captain's chair instead of a bench, and we're looking at some nice teak furniture for lounging around.

- The Ford Lehman's injectors have already been removed and are currently being serviced. Also going to do the valve clearances which I've never done before (shame)!

- I've already purchased and received an RS11 from Noland Engineering to digitize all engine data and feed it to the NMEA 2000 network (inspired by this thread). I'm looking forward to being able to set warning and alarm parameters at whichever values I please, which will reduce some of the stress of cruising.

- The old, crappy, moldy foam mattress in our main cabin is finally going in the dumpster. It was actually made up of three separate layers of foam which I can only imagine were added incrementally by the PO(s) to try to make it more comfortable on the cheap. A brand new, custom fitted, latex foam mattress (if you're in the Victoria area, talk to these guys at Fawcett Mattress) should be ready by the end of this week. The Froli System box spring has already been installed and fitted in an effort to reduce condensation in the winter.

- Our original 1980's fridge/freezer is also gone, with a new stainless drawer-type on the way. It's about half the height so some cabinetry work will be required. Unfortunately it looks like the old cabinets were screwed AND glued so it's going to be a big job to rip everything out. Still not sure if I'm going to try to DIY or bring in a professional. Probably a professional.

There are numerous other projects on the list that are a slightly lower priority but those are the big ones. We haven't fired up the watermaker in nearly two years so hopefully that still runs alright. I'm also hoping to get my HAM license knocked off so we can use the HF radio during the trip (didn't need the license to use marine bands in Mexico).

Stay tuned for updates...

Good to see you back on the forum VicTrawler. Looking forward to following your adventures.

Sounds awesome - all of it!

I'm also in Victoria, and after a lot of research am about to place a mattress order with Fawcett Mattress. Nice to hear someone else feels its the right product - expensive but looking forward to it.

Islandr8 said:

I'm also in Victoria, and after a lot of research am about to place a mattress order with Fawcett Mattress. Nice to hear someone else feels its the right product - expensive but looking forward to it.

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I was sold on it after talking to Duane for a couple of minutes. I think it'll be a big improvement over traditional foam. We'll have it on the boat by the end of the week or early next so I'll be able to give you some feedback shortly.

You will have a tremendous trip, and this will be a great thread!

Hopefully we can cross paths during our "inside half-loop" during the last 2 weeks in June. We might just return down the outside - we shall see.

Thank you for taking us along.

would love to see some videos posted on you tube of your refit and trip, please...

IRENE said:

You will have a tremendous trip, and this will be a great thread!

Hopefully we can cross paths during our "inside half-loop" during the last 2 weeks in June. We might just return down the outside - we shall see.

Thank you for taking us along.

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Always happy to meet up with TF members! Nice boat!

Lucky Chucky said:

would love to see some videos posted on you tube of your refit and trip, please...

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I'm definitely thinking about documenting the refit work, but probably not the trip. I think a lot of the refit material would be unique/original and of interest to older trawler owners.

Booked the haul out today. May 2nd at Westport Marina in North Saanich. Heard good things from some of the residents of our marina.

That will give us nearly a month to get everything done on the boat that I can't do while it's in the water.

Vic T

That is a very good and complete list of work and upgrades. What group will be doing it? Where will your vessel be when in North Saanich area?

sunchaser said:

Vic T

That is a very good and complete list of work and upgrades. What group will be doing it? Where will your vessel be when in North Saanich area?

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I'm project-managing the work myself, so I'm in the process of sourcing quotes for the various jobs. Westport is great in that they allow outside contractors to come in and work, so you're not limited to their pool of staff, not that there's anything wrong with the work they do. In the end I wouldn't be surprised if most of the work is done by Delta Marine which is based in the yard. All depends on what they want for the work.

The boat will be on the hard at Westport, otherwise we'll be at our home marina in West Bay (Victoria) or underway on our trip!

Flybridge demolition underway!

Before:


After day one:


There's A LOT of room up top. We're really going to have to put some thought into how to best use the space.

Just completed a similar project on the flybridge, teak out, cut out soft spots, went back with on the deck with glassed coosa board. Refinished the deck with slick coat and non- skid, cut the front seats out making room for 2 new helm seats . . . Modified electronics console and added 12” Garmin recorder/plotter and will add iPad next to it.

Very nice! Just curious, how did you secure the pedestals for the helm seats? Did you have to bolt right through the deck? I'm assuming I'm going to have to pull back the material on the ceiling of the saloon and bolt right through.

Exactly, the coosa board core on the deck gives much better stability to bolt into and used starboard backer in the saloon ceiling as added support. Should be good for the long haul. Having comfortable seats make cruising more enjoyable. Thanks and have fun with your project.

Jim T, well done.

I can't imagine hand steering to Mexico, I once did it for a day on the ICW and was ready to kill myself.

I also still have not adjusted my valves, but I will, soon. I promise.

My only question is your route. now, I know nothing of B.C., but am wondering if by taking the west side of Vancouver Island in early June, it would be more susceptible to large swells and more storms than a month later?

What did you pay for the mattress?

We'll cross paths in 2019. Good luck.

Richard

This is a great trip - it's the best of both worlds with the west coast remote, wild and at times challenging, and the inside, full of great boating folks to connect up with along the way.

Enjoy,
Jim and Rosy
M/V Sea Venture

Wxx3 said:

Jim T, well done.

I can't imagine hand steering to Mexico, I once did it for a day on the ICW and was ready to kill myself.

I also still have not adjusted my valves, but I will, soon. I promise.

My only question is your route. now, I know nothing of B.C., but am wondering if by taking the west side of Vancouver Island in early June, it would be more susceptible to large swells and more storms than a month later?

What did you pay for the mattress?

We'll cross paths in 2019. Good luck.

Richard

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I think we were just so excited to be going to Mexico (and every port in between) that we didn't mind hand steering. It gave us something to do.

We'll be doing the trip counter-clockwise around the island, so we'll be coming down the outside in late summer.

The mattress, including custom cover, was $1800 CAD (~$1400 USD).

Wxx3 said:

My only question is your route. now, I know nothing of B.C., but am wondering if by taking the west side of Vancouver Island in early June, it would be more susceptible to large swells and more storms than a month later?

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Richard

Good question, and as Vic indicated doing the trip CCW keeps the seas astern or quartering off the starboard aft. There is very good weather forecasting and lots of places to duck in from Barkley Sound up to Cape Scott. But those coasters coming across the North Pacific can gain lots of steam even if the local weather forecast is OK. Buoy data watching is interesting.

Wxx3 said:

Jim T, well done.

I can't imagine hand steering to Mexico, I once did it for a day on the ICW and was ready to kill myself.

I also still have not adjusted my valves, but I will, soon. I promise.

My only question is your route. now, I know nothing of B.C., but am wondering if by taking the west side of Vancouver Island in early June, it would be more susceptible to large swells and more storms than a month later?

What did you pay for the mattress?

We'll cross paths in 2019. Good luck.

Richard

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We've gone around the island in both directions. Later in summer, prevailing northwesterly winds favor CCW, but earlier in the season typical southerly winds favor CW. But as Tom said, you're never more than a few hours away from someplace to duck into if need be. The one place to be really cautious is rounding the Brooks peninsula in either direction. The topography compresses and increases the wind a lot. Listen for wind speeds off Solander island.

Got the fuel injectors back yesterday. Opening pressure was low on all of them, two were leaking fuel at the threads, and one of the nozzles had to be replaced.

Reinstalled them but couldn't start the engine. Heard lots of air hissing by the injectors... I think the problem is that I failed to clean the sealing seats for the copper crush washers. Will try again today!

VicTrawler said:

Got the fuel injectors back yesterday. Opening pressure was low on all of them, two were leaking fuel at the threads, and one of the nozzles had to be replaced.

Reinstalled them but couldn't start the engine. Heard lots of air hissing by the injectors... I think the problem is that I failed to clean the sealing seats for the copper crush washers. Will try again today!

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Did you remove old washers and use new washers? When installing the new injectors with new washer be sure to give the injector a love tap with a rubber mallet to seat it well. There are no doubt many you tube videos to look up for some hints.

sunchaser said:

Did you remove old washers and use new washers? When installing the new injectors with new washer be sure to give the injector a love tap with a rubber mallet to seat it well. There are no doubt many you tube videos to look up for some hints.

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Yes, new washers.

I took them all out and reinstalled them today. Cleaned out the seats as best I could. Gave the injectors a tap as you recommended. Good news, got her started and everything looks good. She was idling smooth so that's a good sign.

Valve clearances next...

Will keep an eye out for you this summer. Not sure if we will circumnavigate or go North but have set aside 3 months also.

GoldenDawn said:

Will keep an eye out for you this summer. Not sure if we will circumnavigate or go North but have set aside 3 months also.

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Excellent! I intend to be transmitting on AIS this summer...

Port side all cleaned up and ready for screw-hole filling. Problem is it's too cold for the epoxy and gelcoat to cure, so I'll just continue with prepping the deck.

Got word early this week that our new fridge/freezer was en route from Seattle and could arrive soon, so had to shift gears and quickly build a platform for the new fridge (the new fridge is much shorter than the previous one). We decided to go with a platform because it's a drawer style fridge/freezer with the fridge on the bottom. This will make it easier to get to the fridge drawer (less bending over). It also creates a convenient place for storing shoes without blocking the door.

The two green squares you see are pieces of foam to temporarily block the vents while the fridge is missing. They vent directly outside. I'm considering filling them and just having the fridge vent into the saloon, but I won't bother with that just yet. Actually, that begs the question, what kind of ventilation do you have on your boat for keeping the fridge happy?

The platform is 1/2" teak plywood with spruce 1x2s as reinforcement. Varnish and trim to follow.

Some good news and some bad news.

Good news: received the new mattress yesterday and it's fantastic! Very happy with the way it turned out.



The bad news: also received the new fridge/freezer and it's damaged. The hinges for the door retaining clips dug into the bottom edge of the freezer drawer and the top edge of the fridge drawer. Also the freezer drawer does not operate smoothly at all. It gets hung up on the rails and the basket that sits in the freezer gets caught inside when you open the drawer. Very strange. Probably going to have to send it back.

JimW said:

Just completed a similar project on the flybridge, teak out, cut out soft spots, went back with on the deck with glassed coosa board. Refinished the deck with slick coat and non- skid, cut the front seats out making room for 2 new helm seats . . . Modified electronics console and added 12” Garmin recorder/plotter and will add iPad next to it. View attachment 72995 View attachment 72996View attachment 72997View attachment 72998View attachment 72999View attachment 73000

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I love the seats. Can I ask the source?