The Ties That Bind

Sometimes, the unexpected is not unwelcome.  After we returned home from the Christmas sojourn in Sitka, the seemingly unending gray, darkness, and cold of Montana winter set in for the typical spell. 

Days and nights all just blend together in a routine of getting up, going to work, returning home, and doing it all over again.  One begins to dream of sunshine and warm wind, with a little sand thrown in for good measure.  In the middle of one such dreary day, we received a call from a wise and generous couple who recognized the suppressed stress in our voices, and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse  - a week in Hawaii at a timeshare they were not going to use this year.  After about 12 good solid seconds of thought, I accepted the offer, and life suddenly had magic in it again!   Ok, it rained 94 percent of the time we were there, but it was WARM rain, and I even got sunburned!  There were rumors that we were visible from the space station as white blobs on the beach, but I chalk that up to jealousy….  Thanks again, Z’s…

On the way home, we landed in Seattle – my homing instincts overrode common sense, so I turned North to Sitka for a short week to keep the boat project cooking a little.  Lovie, bless her heart, came on home and went to work.

I called the welding gang before arrival, so they were ready for a couple of days of action.  I used a large piece of thin plastic from an old Murray Pacific sign as a template to trace the curvature of the sheer between the bow and the forward A-frame mounts, and transferred it to a sheet of 3/16 aluminum.  Out came the Dewalt power saw, the goggles, and the earplugs, and Kirk’s shop once again was covered in aluminum chips as the panel was carved into shape.  I wound up with two 14-inch wide by 12 foot long pieces that looked like huge metallic smiles.  We got several lengths of 1x2 rectangular aluminum tubing and all was ready. 

I called the harbormaster and told them I would be using the work float just next to the suspension bridge connecting Japonski Island with the main Sitka town.  You will recall I have spent a lot of time here in the last few years, so nothing new…  At 7 am Wednesday morning, the wind was blowing straight out to sea at about 25 knots.  I had an appointment in town early, and Connley was coming to weld at 10, so I went to the harbor and fired the True North up.  Backing out of the slip was a little tricky with the wind on my stern, but I managed to get out without hitting anything.  The short trip out of the harbor and around the turn under the bridge revealed just how hard the wind was blowing – I thought for the first time that tying up by myself might be tricky, but shrugged it off.   As I came under the bridge, I cut power and just let the wind drive me towards the float.  No one else was there, so sure enough, it was all me.  No problem.  I had prepared all my tie-up lines in advance, and the plan was, just kiss the bow against the side, kick the stern over, jump off and loop the center line around the big 12x12 timber that makes up the side of the float.  Well it worked – almost.  As I nosed in, the wind caught my stern and stubbornly pushed the boat away from the float.  I gassed it a bit, and swung the stern in till the middle bumped, nimbly leaped to the float with my line in hand.  I gave the loose end a fling to pass it under the timber, and missed – but did a dandy half-hitch around my left shin. 

Now the boat is heavy, so it takes a bit to get things to change direction.  Slowly, while I hopped along on one foot trying to untie the half-hitch, the boat gained momentum away from the dock, taking me with it.  Directly in its path was the dock and hinged steel gangplank used to access the workfloat from shore.  High-speed visions of my boat dismasted as it carried away chunks of the city property with me towing alongside on a rope in the water served no purpose in calming me.  I finally got it untied after about 12 feet of dread, and got about a foot of line around the beam.  By now there was a great push on the boat by the wind, and it took all I had to get it to stop.  I tied it off, leaned out, grabbed the rail, hooked my toes under the beam, and pulled hard as I could in a frantic effort to get it back up parallel to the float.  Slowly, things settled down, and I got tied up.  I walked with a limp for the next 3 days from a pulled muscle in my butt, but at least I wasn’t having to explain to the Coast Guard and City of Sitka why I lost control of my vessel!!

 

Between wind and rain showers, we were able to fit and shape the pieces for the bow.  Once things were finally bolted in place and reinforced, we were able to transfer the sheer curvature to the top of the piece and weld the 1x2 in place.  One free evening, I took out one of the old windows, and replaced it with one of the thick new aluminum framed safety-glass ones we ordered this winter.  I think it looks awesome, and can’t wait to get the other 4 in place.  

We worked frantically up to about 2 hours before my plane left, and got things all looking clean.  I still have to put the forward and side rails on when I get back, but the new raised bow sure adds balance to the look of the boat.  Can’t wait to get back and get it done.  More to go.  Home again, and spring is here!  Stay tuned!  It’s going to be a wonderful summer.  Someday.