Frustrating Spring Break

Our neighbor in the Anacortes Marina

The next time we saw our lovely boat was over spring break...the end of March/first of April. We drove to Anacortes with the hope of spending more time OUT on the boat with our boat broker, Greg Mustari. He's a great Nordic Tug pilot and we were excited to get together with him and learn more about handling the boat, as well as about the electronics.

The boat was docked in a covered slip in the Anacortes Marina, so it was well-protected. Greg was busy on Monday so we just relaxed on the boat and tried to imagine what it would be like to live aboard. Tuesday morning, Dana (the lady who had done all the washing and waxing of Cosmo Place) came over and gave us a boat-washing lesson. Don't laugh!!! This is serious stuff. And a bunch of work! She actually washed the boat with dish soap and either brushed or sponged every surface clean, and then dry. It took her about 3 hours and the boat looked great, but we were both thinking...oh, my gosh!

It turned out Greg was busy Wednesday, too, so not going out with him that day. We decided to just fire her up and go by ourselves. Certainly we could pilot her out into Fidalgo Bay and Guemes Channel without getting into too much trouble. We called our friend, Chris Munch, to join us on a cruise, and began the preparations to leave the slip.

The engine started beautifully, and then quit; never to start again. Jerry called Greg M and he offered some suggestions none of which worked. He came over to the boat (great guy in an emergency I must say!) and worked over the phone with a diesel specialist from Nordic Tug. Still no go. Jerry had discovered a serious amount of air in one of the fuel sight tubes, and was sure we had a fuel line full of air.

We never did get the boat going that day...but had 3 very disappointed people. About 1030 the next day, Thursday, Jim Knudson, the diesel NT guy, came over. He and Jerry worked about four hours and finally managed to get the air out and the engine running. Jim thought the problem was corrected by applying hose clamps to all the fuel lines...keeping our fingers crossed!

We were so disgusted by the whole week, we decided to load up and head for Visalia, knowing that it would be nice to be well south of Seattle before stopping for the night. Needless to say, it was a frustrating, disappointing week. We won't to see the boat again until we're retired and ready to live aboard. But we sure didn't feel prepared to do so!

Apparently it was a good time to leave. That night, shortly after midight, the refinery that's about 2 miles across Padilla bay from the marina had a huge explosion and ultimately seven people died as a result. The Munches, who live on the other side of Anacortes were awakened by the explosion. Fortunately the boat was not affected in the least.