Port Townsend Winter Haul Out Adventure

[Sababa]

My wife and I just got back from a bit of an adventure to pick up our Maritimo from its first winter haul out with Port Townsend Shipwrights. If you saw my post a few weeks ago about losing a fender when a head sea took out all my Polyform fender holsters (terrible design), you’ll know we had a chippy trip up to drop it off, and the return voyage was if anything even chippier, with 6-8 foot seas on the bow at times heading into south winds gusting to 30+ knots as we came down Admiralty Inlet. The Maritimo shrugged it off and after a quick transit of the locks and an aborted first attempt to get into our slip with the wind turning our stern sideways we were home safe and sound.

The weather was mercifully better when we flew in on Thursday in a little Cessna 172 air taxi. We stopped at the Spruce Goose, the airfield diner, for outstanding pie and coffee when landed, only to find out that the only cab in town was on a run 30 miles away to Kingston. Fortunately a nice older couple at the next table offered us a ride in to town. What a friendly place!

In any event, the work was totally worth the trip. The headline upgrade was the installation of a second Victron Quattro 5kva inverter to provide uninterrupted 240 volt 50 amp power from any combination of shore power, generator, or the house bank. No more manual load balancing, this just delivers the juice. We also installed a generator auto start that will kick on if the house bank drops below a threshold, so we can now leave the boat on the hook or a mooring with the freezers fully stocked if we need to step away mid trip.

For those of you who don’t know them, PTS is a cooperative of skilled tradesman who are a delight to work with and charge a third less than Seattle prices for top quality work. They assign a project manager who quarterbacks the whole team to take out your punch list quickly and efficiently. I won’t say on time and under budget, because that’s never the case with boats, but closer than any other yard I’ve worked with. We’ll be braving the winter seas to haul out with them again next year for sure.

 

[Insequent]

Great story!

I did a major refit with PTS in 2012-13. Re-power inc; exhaust system, twin disc rebuild, new shafts, fuel tanks & supply system incl/polisher, Naiad's, plumbing lines and fitting incl for the Webasto hydronic unit, solar system, custom hardtop plus a bunch of other things. About 7 or 8 months on the hard.

Not an, ahem, inexpensive exercise! But, nothing they did has failed and its now 12 years later. Everything they did was thought through with ease of maintenance in front of mind. I cannot speak highly enough of them!

 

[Rsysol]

My wife and I just got back from a bit of an adventure to pick up our Maritimo from its first winter haul out with Port Townsend Shipwrights. If you saw my post a few weeks ago about losing a fender when a head sea took out all my Polyform fender holsters (terrible design), you’ll know we had a chippy trip up to drop it off, and the return voyage was if anything even chippier, with 6-8 foot seas on the bow at times heading into south winds gusting to 30+ knots as we came down Admiralty Inlet. The Maritimo shrugged it off and after a quick transit of the locks and an aborted first attempt to get into our slip with the wind turning our stern sideways we were home safe and sound.

The weather was mercifully better when we flew in on Thursday in a little Cessna 172 air taxi. We stopped at the Spruce Goose, the airfield diner, for outstanding pie and coffee when landed, only to find out that the only cab in town was on a run 30 miles away to Kingston. Fortunately a nice older couple at the next table offered us a ride in to town. What a friendly place!

In any event, the work was totally worth the trip. The headline upgrade was the installation of a second Victron Quattro 5kva inverter to provide uninterrupted 240 volt 50 amp power from any combination of shore power, generator, or the house bank. No more manual load balancing, this just delivers the juice. We also installed a generator auto start that will kick on if the house bank drops below a threshold, so we can now leave the boat on the hook or a mooring with the freezers fully stocked if we need to step away mid trip.

For those of you who don’t know them, PTS is a cooperative of skilled tradesman who are a delight to work with and charge a third less than Seattle prices for top quality work. They assign a project manager who quarterbacks the whole team to take out your punch list quickly and efficiently. I won’t say on time and under budget, because that’s never the case with boats, but closer than any other yard I’ve worked with. We’ll be braving the winter seas to haul out with them again next year for sure.

Great to hear, we haul out in April for new stabilizers and hearing the good reports makes the $$$ pain just a little better!

 

[old salt]

RIPTIDE has been repaired/upgraded annually at PTS since 2015. I have nothing but the highest praise for their reliability, responsiveness and professionalism across the entire organization.

 

[Ertyqway]

How does their pricing (haul out, yard fees, labor rates, etc.) compare to other yards in the region?

 

[Sababa]

How does their pricing (haul out, yard fees, labor rates, etc.) compare to other yards in the region?

About a third less than Seattle labor rates.

 

[Mac2]

I hauled out at PT this summer. Can confirm everything above. Would also add the community is extremely nice. People actually say “hi” to you walking down the street. The best Thai restaurant, 123 Thai, is within walking distance. Neighboring tables will strike up a conversation with you. So civilized!

 

[AlaskaProf]

Good municipal bus service from the market across the highway to all of downtown.

 

[Sababa]

If you want to treat yourself to a very special meal while you are there, Finisterre in Uptown is one of the best restaurants in the state for my money—and also about a third less than Seattle prices!

 

[Sababa]

My apologies for defaming Taylor Made earlier in the thread. They were Polyforms that failed.

 

[slowgoesit]

Thank you for setting the record straight! I hope you don't mind, but based on your post, I edited your original post to say Polyform instead of Taylor Made. TF Site Team

 

[Sababa]

Thank you for setting the record straight! I hope you don't mind, but based on your post, I edited your original post to say Polyform instead of Taylor Made. TF Site Team

Thanks! I was going to do that but didn't see how.

 

[slowgoesit]

Members only have a short time to edit their posts, not sure exactly how long. If you need to edit one of your posts in the future, and the edit feature is not there, click on the "Report" button in the bottom left of the post, and ask a moderator to please unlock the post for editing! Glad to help!

 

[Moonfish]

As locals, we are always proud and quick to recommend the PT Shipwrights because we know we won't regret the rec.

 

[Pieyed47]

There is no place on earth like PORT TOWNSEND..................

 

[klee wyck]

There is no place on earth like PORT TOWNSEND..................

PORT TOWNSEND….we are all here because we are not all there.

 

[hollywood8118]

There is no place on earth like PORT TOWNSEND..................

That's because some folks here seem like they are from another planet!
Hollywood ( 31 year resident)

 

[MVPacific]

My wife and I just got back from a bit of an adventure to pick up our Maritimo from its first winter haul out with Port Townsend Shipwrights. If you saw my post a few weeks ago about losing a fender when a head sea took out all my Polyform fender holsters (terrible design), you’ll know we had a chippy trip up to drop it off, and the return voyage was if anything even chippier, with 6-8 foot seas on the bow at times heading into south winds gusting to 30+ knots as we came down Admiralty Inlet. The Maritimo shrugged it off and after a quick transit of the locks and an aborted first attempt to get into our slip with the wind turning our stern sideways we were home safe and sound.

The weather was mercifully better when we flew in on Thursday in a little Cessna 172 air taxi. We stopped at the Spruce Goose, the airfield diner, for outstanding pie and coffee when landed, only to find out that the only cab in town was on a run 30 miles away to Kingston. Fortunately a nice older couple at the next table offered us a ride in to town. What a friendly place!

In any event, the work was totally worth the trip. The headline upgrade was the installation of a second Victron Quattro 5kva inverter to provide uninterrupted 240 volt 50 amp power from any combination of shore power, generator, or the house bank. No more manual load balancing, this just delivers the juice. We also installed a generator auto start that will kick on if the house bank drops below a threshold, so we can now leave the boat on the hook or a mooring with the freezers fully stocked if we need to step away mid trip.

For those of you who don’t know them, PTS is a cooperative of skilled tradesman who are a delight to work with and charge a third less than Seattle prices for top quality work. They assign a project manager who quarterbacks the whole team to take out your punch list quickly and efficiently. I won’t say on time and under budget, because that’s never the case with boats, but closer than any other yard I’ve worked with. We’ll be braving the winter seas to haul out with them again next year for sure.

Jeff Galey and his team at Port Townsend Shipwrights are the best! They completed a variety of upgrades and repairs for us this winter, including fabricating a new dinghy rack on our foredeck, removing and replacing our under counter fridge/freezers, replacing our old ice maker with new cabinets for storage in our galley, repairing some poor welds in our shaft log, and repairing and remediating what appeared to be a chronic leak under our toilet. All the work was top quality, and performed by caring, skilled crafts people.

 

[Mac2]

Jeff Galey and his team at Port Townsend Shipwrights are the best! They completed a variety of upgrades and repairs for us this winter, including fabricating a new dinghy rack on our foredeck, removing and replacing our under counter fridge/freezers, replacing our old ice maker with new cabinets for storage in our galley, repairing some poor welds in our shaft log, and repairing and remediating what appeared to be a chronic leak under our toilet. All the work was top quality, and performed by caring, skilled crafts people.

Very cool boat. I’ve enjoyed watching all the improvements over the last 20+ years since it was next to me in Ballard. I believe it was Port Townsend that cut your boat in half to lengthen the boat in the middle correct?

 

[MVPacific]

Very cool boat. I’ve enjoyed watching all the improvements over the last 20+ years since it was next to me in Ballard. I believe it was Port Townsend that cut your boat in half to lengthen the boat in the middle correct?

Nice. Yes, PTSC lengthened Pacific for the second owner, who sold her to build New Pacific. We bought Pacific last May from a good friend and former business associate. I first saw her in Ballard in 2007-2008.