Prince William Sound and Gulf of Alaska

[Maka]

What an enjoyable thread.
Informative as well as entertaining.

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by northwestsailor

Wow, you are all much tougher than we are. We left Prince William Sound after three weeks of mostly rain this Summer so we could get really warm before Winter set in. We are now down in the Bay Area and miss AK. Maybe we are getting too old for this sailing business[emoji3] Maybe Baja this Spring will be just the right temp for us

Born and raised in interior AK...this stuff is warm fall weather for me. You aren't wrong about the rain this year, and we'll be in Baja eventually :-) Well, again--we used to road trip to Baja for a part of the winter. November for the Baja 1000, drive down to Bahia Concepcion for the company, go find some of the big empty beaches 10-50 miles before the Cabos for the scary pacific rollers as a bedtime lullabye :-)

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by Glacier Crews

Sorry to hear about your autopilot. Things to think about: Juneau is not a deep well of shipwrights or mechanics and does not have a single store totally devoted to boat parts. Sitka, Petersburg, Ketchikan, even Wrangell will have better facilities and better assistance from experts.

Large fishing vessels often head to Kodiak, area or on down to Ketchikan, Bellingham area. If you go into Canada, it will cost you less than in Alaska.

Shared information. We live aboard and cruise out of Juneau, we take our boat to Petersburg.

Good luck and have a good time cruising. Weather will become plagued by icy waters, winds (and gusts) as we progress into winter. Weather information is somewhat hampered by the fact that there are limited NOAA weather gathering instruments in place for such a large area; that said they do a pretty accurate job for vessels out and about in winter.

We are wintering in Seward--did last year while we redid the electrical and completed the PO's deferred maintenance ;-).

I can't think of many things, up to and including pulling the shaft or repowering, that we aren't capable of or would prefer to do ourselves. My husband is extremely handy, and I'd be considered all right myself if I didn't have him right next to me, ha. Still, great advice. In contrast, we've found Seward and Cordova to have excellent access to parts and shipping, and what we can't get there we can get in Anchorage.

Fortunately, the broken (now fixed) AP is a blessing in disguise bc we are going to have a lot of fun :-)

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by SV Sailfish

Courtesy of the author, this book is available online to read. It's a good one!
You can find it here... Self-steering for Sailing Craft

Thank you!

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by northwestsailor

As far as wintering in SE AK there are several options:
Auke Bay will be the warmest in the Juneau area however haul out is limited to smaller boats. Sitka will be probably more temperate than inland towns of Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell or Ketchikan due to coastal climate but first to receive brunt of storms. Juneau (Auke Bay) has the best shopping, next best would be Petersburg, then Ketchikan. Wrangell is fairly miserable in that regard but as mentioned before has a good supply of marine services as does Petersburg.
As if you like hot springs, Petersburg is closest to Baranoff Hot Springs, then Tenakee just north but about the same distance from Auke Bay. Sitka has hot springs a day sail north or south.
All these towns have good access to air travel should you wish head down to Seattle area to buy everything you need to get your boat and A/P in tip-top shape. The Seattle Boat show is near the end of Janurary and is a good opportunity to get some high ticket items at a discount. Airfares are quite reasonable in the winter time too.
In addition to all the above becoming an Alaska citizen with a drivers license has many pluses not seen in too many of the lower 48.

Love your info! Born and raised AK here, but interior AK and SE AK are entirely different except in their stupendousness ;-)

[TheThunderbird]

Hints

A 2nd AP, same model, or hydraulic

A HEAT exchanger using the engine raw water

[TheThunderbird]

My mistake sorry.

The heat exchanger uses the engine coolant fluid.

Raw water, as heated, gets to the exhaust pipe with gas

At 7am, I was sleepy!

[Meanderthal]

I woke up and got on cruisers forum too--redoing the bimini frame to accept solar panels, so I'm hainting the Electrical forum's great solar pics and posts.

Like most boats, we have a hot water heater equipped with a coolant line off the heat exchanger for when the engine is running. We've toyed with a hot saltwater takeoff after the heat exchanger but decided against it bc we don't want to risk the integrity of the exhaust. Next in line was a heat exchanger (more complicated, so lower on our list). Have you put in a second heat exchanger on your boat for cabin heat?

[dkroar]

Originally Posted by Meanderthal

Love your info! Born and raised AK here, but interior AK and SE AK are entirely different except in their stupendousness ;-)

You got that right! Born in Anchorage, (18yrs), and then living in Fairbanks, (35+yrs), now living aboard in SE Alaska, it's a whole new experience. I love it here, and even with the cooler temps, positively balmy compared to the interior. The locals laugh at us when we say we're living in the "banana belt" now. (Seward gets too much snow for my newly acquired SE AK mentality now)

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by dkroar

You got that right! Born in Anchorage, (18yrs), and then living in Fairbanks, (35+yrs), now living aboard in SE Alaska, it's a whole new experience. I love it here, and even with the cooler temps, positively balmy compared to the interior. The locals laugh at us when we say we're living in the "banana belt" now. (Seward gets too much snow for my newly acquired SE AK mentality now)

Heh, the whole month of it, eh? I loved being a liveaboard in Harris Harbor for the year I was there.

[joel383]

Good job wintering in Seward, one of the prettiest harbors in the state. Better than being stuck in Yakatraz!

We just moved aboard there this summer, and then sailed to Sitka. It is defenatly warmer here. Windy, but warmer.

If you do need a mechanic call Stacy Honebein, 907-362-7646. He is the best diesel mechanic on the peninsula. ALL of the fishing boats and charters use him. Tell him Joel told you to call.

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by joel383

If you do need a mechanic call Stacy Honebein, 907-362-7646. He is the best diesel mechanic on the peninsula. ALL of the fishing boats and charters use him. Tell him Joel told you to call.

Thanks!

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Maka

What an enjoyable thread.
Informative as well as entertaining.

Indeed, I wonder if the contributors realise quite how far and wide their posts are being read.

Peter

England

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Indeed, I wonder if the contributors realise quite how far and wide their posts are being read.

Peter

England

[fxykty]

Venture Lives http://www.venturelives.com/ live aboard their small sailboat in Alaska. Coming from SW BC and familiar with the coast up to the border with Alaska, I find their videos and this thread very interesting. Even though I’m now in NZ. It is an amazing place and one that we will be sailing to in the course of a Pacific circumnavigation that we hope to begin in about 3 years.

The summer season is so short, especially after waiting before leaving Russia, that over wintering seems like a requirement. Any suggestions Seward vs Juneau vs Sitka? Our boat definitely doesn’t like sea ice, so I think further south and away from the mainland makes more sense?