Thursday-Friday July 31st & August 1st:
Today did not really get off to a good start. The first indicator was it was still raining when we got up. Not much, but it was a gloomy overcast morning. We had to be five miles south to make it through a narrow passage called Surge Narrows by 9:45am. So I wanted to have the anchor up and be on our way by 8:30 at the latest. As usual, we planned to just get up, raise anchor and have breakfast and coffee on the way.
Luckily, for some reason we decided to start the engine early and charge the batteries since it had been overcast for a few days and not much wind. That was when we noticed the problem. For some reason, the regulator (small device that controls the amount of power the altenator puts out) was not working. It was not getting any power at all, so the display lights were not even on. This was not good. It meant that with out the regulator doing it’s job, their was a possibility that the altenator could over charge and damage our new batteries. Also, not good.
I was fairly confident that the altenator was not the issue. I based this on the fact that I paid 500 bucks for a new one less than a year ago. So with that bit of knowledge, I decided that the issue was the wiring between the altenator and the regulator. So I start testing wires and connections with my multimeter. I’m up against time and tide here. Since I had to get this figured out in less than 20 minutes or we would have to wait 6 hours(till the next tide) to leave or longer. Luckily, I find a loose wire and clean it up and reconnect it. TADA! and holy shit! it’s working!
So up goes the anchor, wave good bye to Curtis & Cynthia on WindDancer and away we go south towards Surge Narrows and only 5 minutes behind schedule. Our destination today was a small group of islands we had passed on our way up that looked like a good place to explore. This island group is called Copeland Islands and was about 25 miles away.
We made it to and through Surge Narrows on time and with no problems. But that was about to change. As we rounded the bottom of Read Island and turning east Tawn checked the regulator and noticed that while the regulator was working just fine, the altenator was not doing any sort of charging, at all. Shit! We do not have a working spare altenator, so we decided that instead of going to the Copeland Islands and anchor out. We would head for Lund and get a spot on the docks and find a mechanic to look at our dead altenator.
As we approached Lund and got a cell phone signal (the first in 2 weeks) we called the only mechanic in town. He informed us that his “alternator guy”was out of town till next week. He gave me the number to another guy about 15 miles way. This guy said he could look at it, if we could get the alternator to his shop. We figured we could hitchhike, get a cab or steal a bike and get it to him.
The plan was set, except for one problem. The marina, probably due to the storm we were sailing through, was completely full. Not one spot to tie up in the whole marina. And by storm, I mean it was raining buckets! At times it was raining so hard I could barely see 50 feet away. The next town south, Powell River was 15 miles away or basically 2.5 hours. We decided to head there and hope to get a spot. It was a bigger town and would hopfully have more than one mechanic.
We pulled in and tied up right in front of a giant tug boat in the Westview Marina at about 6:30pm.
Did you know that tugboats keep retarded hours and are loud as hell when they start up at 4am? I do!
It was to late to deal with the altenator issue, so we went into town, did some laundry, took a real shower and had some really good Thai food.
The next day we got the alternator pulled out and tested (it was dead) and totally rebuilt ($378) and we would be on our way the next day. Only lost one day to this breakdown. And really it did not mess us up to bad, since we got to visit the town of Powell River, sorta.
As usual, Map of trip is at this LINK