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For most boats travelling from Wrangell to Petersburg it is about a 40 mile journey, often as a single days journey if the tide cycle works in Wrangell Narrows.  For us, it was 300 miles in 10 days.

We left Wrangell on May 25 with an excellent weather forecast, light winds and no rain. Since we had been thwarted in our attempt to explore the east shore of  Prince of Wales Island, we thought we’d explore the east shore of Kuiu Island along Sumner Strait. We’ve passed that area a number of times but we’ve always done it directly as to minimize our exposure to the ocean swells that can travel into Sumner Strait.

Our first anchorage was Port Beauclerc, a poorly charted area.  We followed the directions in the Coast Pilot and entry wasn’t difficult. While heading to our anchorage we passed by many sea otter mothers with their pups suggesting that boating traffic was light. The anchorage was a huge area with good depths and scenic. Our only complaint was that its size meant it didn’t feel “intimate” and it might not be protected from wind.

The next day we continued south, then turned a corner into Affleck Channel and proceeded to Bear Harbor for the night. The charting was better but entry was tighter. Fortunately the entry tips from the Coast Pilot were spot on and we were soon anchored for the night. True to its name, we saw a black bear foraging along the shore as we entered. It too was a lovely anchorage but not one I’d choose to sit out a storm with forecasted south winds as the terrain was relatively low.  The winds we saw in the anchorage were pretty much the same winds as were in Affleck Canal.

We continued our exploring by backtracking about 6-miles to Kell Bay.  We spent two nights here. First in the basin formed by several islands on the SW arm of the bay.  It was quite lovely and the islands gave visual interest and intimacy to it.  The next day, we passed through the very narrow (30-35 yards wide) channel into “land locked” basin south of the arm.  While narrow, it is steep-to and the least depth we saw was about 4 fathoms (24 feet) at a +2 foot tide.  The inner basin felt like you were in a mountain lake.

Both of these anchorages seem well protected but we experienced southerly winds that were only slightly diminished from those winds that were reported at the Cape Decision light house 7-miles away.  While the fetch was short so the chop was minor, we were surprised at how consistent the winds were in the afternoon from sea breezes,  The winds apparently blow up the various drainages on the windward side of Kuiu Island, over the low passes then back down the drainages on the leeward side.  The wind simply follows the direction dictated by the terrain.  We’ve notice this same phenomena in some of the inlets and bays on the east shore of Baranof.  An anchorage looks like its well protected on the chart but wind comes whistling down the mountainside following the terrain.

With a good forecast in hand and an early start, we rounded Cape Decision on the south tip of Kuiu Island and made our way to Port Malmesbury.  We put our stabilizing “fish” in the water as we cruised up the west shore of Kuiu Island since we were beam to the prevailing SW swell. We anchored in the “Mud Hole”, a misnomer as it is quite nice.  A humpback whale later came in to feed so it had the whale’s approval as well.

One reason we wanted to be in Southern Chatham was that it was one of the few areas open to King Salmon fishing.  The next day, after waiting of fog to burn off, we fished the mid-day bite along the shore south of Port Cosmos.  No king but a pink salmon was hooked and released. We anchored in nearby Gedney Harbor.

From Gedney Harbor, we fished the early morning bite then crossed over Chatham Strait to the east short of Baranof Island and fished mid-day bite north of Port Walter.  We anchored for the night in Denmark Cove in Port Walter.

With a forecast for bigger seas in Southern Chatham, we fished the morning bite than proceeded north. We encountered 15-25 knot winds and unpleasant head seas (3-4′ with a very short period) as we motored north.  They only started to moderate about the time we turned into Gut Bay.  Conditions were markedly better inside and we anchored in our preferred spot.  Soon the temperatures reached the 70-degree mark for the first time during our trip. 

At this point we decided to head to Petersburg to reprovision, do chores and visit with friends there. From Gut Bay we back across Chatham strait to Honey Dew Cove, a lovely and popular anchorage at the NE corner of Kuiu Island. We arrived early enough to make forays to shore which have areas suitable for play with Drake.

The following morning, June 3, we made the push to Petersburg, arriving about 40 minutes ahead schedule on account of current boost.  Petersburg is notorious for the fast currents that whip by its docks making docking a challenge for the unwary.  We came in on a finger pier with several folks working on fishing vessel tied to the opposite side, who were kind enough to take our lines and make us fast before anything could go haywire.

While in Petersburg, we spent the evenings socializing with Kathleen and John Douglas who own Laysan, a sistership to Alpenglow. They keep their boat in Petersburg during the off season. They had returned a few days earlier and were still doing chores to resuscitate Laysan from its winter hibernation.  One afternoon we traveled in their dinghy across the channel to Kurpreanof Island and walk a lovely boardwalk loop trail through the forest.

From here our goal is to head to Sitka via the relatively direct Peril Strait route.

Miles covered this leg was 300 NM over 10 days.

For most boats travelling from Wrangell to Petersburg it is about a 40 mile journey, often as a single days journey if the tide cycle works in Wrangell Narrows.  For us, it was 300 miles in 10 days.

We left Wrangell on May 25 with an excellent weather forecast, light winds and no rain. Since we had been thwarted in our attempt to explore the east shore of  Prince of Wales Island, we thought we’d explore the east shore of Kuiu Island along Sumner Strait. We’ve passed that area a number of times but we’ve always done it directly as to minimize our exposure to the ocean swells that can travel into Sumner Strait.

Our first anchorage was Port Beauclerc, a poorly charted area.  We followed the directions in the Coast Pilot and entry wasn’t difficult. While heading to our anchorage we passed by many sea otter mothers with their pups suggesting that boating traffic was light. The anchorage was a huge area with good depths and scenic. Our only complaint was that its size meant it didn’t feel “intimate” and it might not be protected from wind.

The next day we continued south, then turned a corner into Affleck Channel and proceeded to Bear Harbor for the night. The charting was better but entry was tighter. Fortunately the entry tips from the Coast Pilot were spot on and we were soon anchored for the night. True to its name, we saw a black bear foraging along the shore as we entered. It too was a lovely anchorage but not one I’d choose to sit out a storm with forecasted south winds as the terrain was relatively low.  The winds we saw in the anchorage were pretty much the same winds as were in Affleck Canal.

We continued our exploring by backtracking about 6-miles to Kell Bay.  We spent two nights here. First in the basin formed by several islands on the SW arm of the bay.  It was quite lovely and the islands gave visual interest and intimacy to it.  The next day, we passed through the very narrow (30-35 yards wide) channel into “land locked” basin south of the arm.  While narrow, it is steep-to and the least depth we saw was about 4 fathoms (24 feet) at a +2 foot tide.  The inner basin felt like you were in a mountain lake.

Both of these anchorages seem well protected but we experienced southerly winds that were only slightly diminished from those winds that were reported at the Cape Decision light house 7-miles away.  While the fetch was short so the chop was minor, we were surprised at how consistent the winds were in the afternoon from sea breezes,  The winds apparently blow up the various drainages on the windward side of Kuiu Island, over the low passes then back down the drainages on the leeward side.  The wind simply follows the direction dictated by the terrain.  We’ve notice this same phenomena in some of the inlets and bays on the east shore of Baranof.  An anchorage looks like its well protected on the chart but wind comes whistling down the mountainside following the terrain.

With a good forecast in hand and an early start, we rounded Cape Decision on the south tip of Kuiu Island and made our way to Port Malmesbury.  We put our stabilizing “fish” in the water as we cruised up the west shore of Kuiu Island since we were beam to the prevailing SW swell. We anchored in the “Mud Hole”, a misnomer as it is quite nice.  A humpback whale later came in to feed so it had the whale’s approval as well.

One reason we wanted to be in Southern Chatham was that it was one of the few areas open to King Salmon fishing.  The next day, after waiting of fog to burn off, we fished the mid-day bite along the shore south of Port Cosmos.  No king but a pink salmon was hooked and released. We anchored in nearby Gedney Harbor.

From Gedney Harbor, we fished the early morning bite then crossed over Chatham Strait to the east short of Baranof Island and fished mid-day bite north of Port Walter.  We anchored for the night in Denmark Cove in Port Walter.

With a forecast for bigger seas in Southern Chatham, we fished the morning bite than proceeded north. We encountered 15-25 knot winds and unpleasant head seas (3-4′ with a very short period) as we motored north.  They only started to moderate about the time we turned into Gut Bay.  Conditions were markedly better inside and we anchored in our preferred spot.  Soon the temperatures reached the 70-degree mark for the first time during our trip. 

At this point we decided to head to Petersburg to reprovision, do chores and visit with friends there. From Gut Bay we back across Chatham strait to Honey Dew Cove, a lovely and popular anchorage at the NE corner of Kuiu Island. We arrived early enough to make forays to shore which have areas suitable for play with Drake.

The following morning, June 3, we made the push to Petersburg, arriving about 40 minutes ahead schedule on account of current boost.  Petersburg is notorious for the fast currents that whip by its docks making docking a challenge for the unwary.  We came in on a finger pier with several folks working on fishing vessel tied to the opposite side, who were kind enough to take our lines and make us fast before anything could go haywire.

While in Petersburg, we spent the evenings socializing with Kathleen and John Douglas who own Laysan, a sistership to Alpenglow. They keep their boat in Petersburg during the off season. They had returned a few days earlier and were still doing chores to resuscitate Laysan from its winter hibernation.  One afternoon we traveled in their dinghy across the channel to Kurpreanof Island and walk a lovely boardwalk loop trail through the forest.

From here our goal is to head to Sitka via the relatively direct Peril Strait route.

Miles covered this leg was 300 NM over 10 days.

To ease into our more leisurely Alaska cruising practice we started on a loop of Behm Canal, the body of water which circles around Revillagigedo Island where Ketchikan lies. Our original plan was to then cross Clarence Strait and spend additional time exploring the east shore of Prince of Wales Island (PoW)..

Our first stop after Ketchikan was to the new (to us, anyway) destination of Bailey Bay where the USFS has a public buoy.  The buoy is intended to support access to a 2-mile trail to a USFS shelter at the hot springs near Lake Shelokum.  The buoy looked in good repair so we tied to it for the night.  As is often the case where the USFS buoys are sited, anchoring is difficult because of the steep-to nature of the bottom.  I went ashore with the kayak and found the first few hundred yards of the trail in good shape.  Since I was travelling by myself, I elected to not go far but noted it for a return stop.

The next day we back tracked a bit to anchor in Yes Bay for two nights to wait the passing of a short stint of wet and windy weather. 

From Yes Bay, we headed to Walker Cove in Misty Fiords National Monument where again, we tied to a USFS buoy located in front of a perfect bear beach.  Unfortunately, like last year, the sedge grass had not grown enough to make it bear country and we didn’t see any bears.

At this point, we abandoned our original plan to explore the east shore of PoW because the weather forecasts begin to suggest that the good conditions in Clarence Strait, which borders the length of PoW’s east shore, was short-lived.  Over the years, we’ve learned to respect Clarence Strait and to be elsewhere when the conditions are poor. 

From Walker Cove, we returned to the Bailey Bay buoy but this time the whole family paddled to shore and Drake went for a hike.  We covered a little over half a mile along the trail and turned around when it became a little more ragged, wet and muddy.  Using the freshwater washdown hose we got the accumulated mud off of Drake, avoiding a more time consuming full bath.

The sea conditions were good the next day and we made the 73 mile journey down Behm Canal, up Clarence Strait and up Ernest Sound  to Santa Anna Inlet and ended up about 10-1/2 miles west of the Bailey Bay buoy we started from..

We spent 2 nights in Santa Anna, dropping and retrieving our 3 prawn pots twice.  Our efforts rewarded us with our first seafood catch of the season. The next day we went along the east side Wrangell Island and anchored in Berg Bay.  There is a USFS cabin there and a clearing in front of it that served as Drake’s much appreciated “dog park”.

The next day, Sunday May 22, we headed to Wrangell where we tied up in Heritage Harbor, about a mile walk into town’s main business section. It had been several years since we last visited Wrangell but it didn’t take much time to refamiliarize ourselves with it.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the previous two years had a near absence of cruise ships.  The schedule of Alaska cruise ships in 2022 is very similar to years past although we are unsure of the occupancy.  A new addition to the vessels visiting are the larger luxury “expedition” style vessels.  Two of them happened to be in Wrangell on the same day, the Roald Amundsen (Hurtigruten Line) and the Ocean Victory (American Queen Voyages). Both are recent builds with designs radically different from traditional cruise ships.

We covered 274 miles in 9 days of travel on this leg.

To ease into our more leisurely Alaska cruising practice we started on a loop of Behm Canal, the body of water which circles around Revillagigedo Island where Ketchikan lies. Our original plan was to then cross Clarence Strait and spend additional time exploring the east shore of Prince of Wales Island (PoW)..

Our first stop after Ketchikan was to a new (to us, anyway) destination of Bailey Bay where the USFS has a public buoy.  The buoy is intended to support access to a 2-mile trail to a USFS shelter at the hot springs near Lake Shelokum.  The buoy looked in good repair so we tied to it for the night.  As is often the case where the USFS buoys are sited, anchoring is difficult because of the steep-to nature of the bottom.  I went ashore with the kayak and found the first few hundred yards of the trail in good shape.  Since I was travelling by myself, I elected to not go far but noted it for a return stop.

The next day we back tracked a bit to anchor in Yes Bay for two nights to wait the passing of a short stint of wet and windy weather. 

From Yes Bay, we headed to Walker Cove in Misty Fiords National Monument where again, we tied to a USFS buoy located in front of a perfect bear beach.  Unfortunately, like last year, the sedge grass had not grown enough to make it bear country and we didn’t see any bears.

At this point, we abandoned our original plan to explore the east shore of PoW because the weather forecasts begin to suggest that the good conditions in Clarence Strait, which borders the length of PoW’s east shore, was short-lived.  Over the years, we’ve learned to respect Clarence Strait and to be elsewhere when the conditions are poor. 

From Walker Cove, we returned to the Bailey Bay buoy but this time the whole family paddled to shore and Drake went for a hike.  We covered a little over half a mile along the trail and turned around when it became a little more ragged, wet and muddy.  Using the freshwater washdown hose we got the accumulated mud off of Drake, avoiding a more time consuming full bath.

The sea conditions were good the next day and we made the 73 mile journey down Behm Canal, up Clarence Strait and up Ernest Sound  to Santa Anna Inlet and ended up about 10-1/2 miles west of the Bailey Bay buoy we started from..

We spent 2 nights in Santa Anna, dropping and retrieving our 3 prawn pots twice.  Our efforts rewarded us with our first seafood catch of the season. The next day we went along the east side Wrangell Island and anchored in Berg Bay.  There is a USFS cabin there and a clearing in front of it that served as Drake’s much appreciated “dog park”.

The next day, Sunday May 22, we headed to Wrangell were we tied up in Heritage Harbor, about a mile walk into town’s main business section. It had been several years since we last visited Wrangell but it didn’t take much time refamiliarize ourselves with it.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the previous two years had a near absence of cruise ships.  The schedule of Alaska cruise ships in 2022 is very similar to years past although we are unsure of the occupancy.  A new addition to the vessels visiting are the larger luxury “expedition” style vessels.  Two of them happened to be in Wrangell on the same day, the Roald Amundsen (Hurtigruten Line) and the Ocean Victory (American Queen Voyages). Both are recent builds with designs radically different from traditional cruise ships.

We covered 274 miles in 9 days of travel on this leg.

During the first two COVID years our direct transits to/from SE Alaska along the British Columbia coast went remarkably smoothly and quickly. We had no weather delays and even had some very calm days that allowed us to take more direct routes outside of the protected inside channels. .The weather so far for 2022 is very different and is moving us back closer to the average conditions we’ve had over the years.

We departed our homeport on Bainbridge Island on Thursday, April 28. First night was Reid Harbor on Stuart Island.  The next morning we cleared into Canada at Van Isle Marina next to Sidney.  The interaction with the Canadian Border agents was done via telephone but they must have been very busy because Marcia was disconnected several times while on hold and the phone wait was about 30 minutes each time she called.

The weather was soggy and forecasts not great so we spent two nights at the Salt Spring Marina before crossing the Strait of Georgia and continuing north.  We had to wait another two nights in the Broughtons on account of weather before we could get around Cape Caution north of Vancouver Island.

For the last major hurdle, Dixon Entrance separating BC from Alaska, we departed from Brundage Inlet on Dundas Island.  While the swell was not large, about one meter, the period was short and steep, and we were beam to the swell and wind.  We put our roll stabilizing “fish” in the water shortly after leaving Dundas and didn’t take them out until we were north of Mary Island.  The ocean swell was mostly gone at that point but the wind had picked up and pulling the stabilizers in rough conditions is difficult.

As we entered Ketchikan, we stopped at the fuel dock and took on a little over 600 gallons of diesel fuel.  The price per gallon as pretty similar to that in Puget Sound, about $4.94 per gallon with all the taxes and fees.

Our arrival at Bar Harbor Marina in Ketchikan was a bit later than we like and the wind was now blowing briskly up Tongass Narrows.  Since it is early in the season, most fishing boats were still in port so the only slip available was one we needed to back-in.  We tried once and failed.  With the wind now blowing 15kts gusting 20kts, we decided to go anchor for the night and try the next day. 

Our first night, May 10, in Alaska was spent at Deep Bay, a small bay off of Moser Bay (~10 miles NE of Ketchikan).  The next morning we returned to Bar Harbor and managed to get ourselves secured to the dock despite the wind again blowing in the ‘teens.

As we watch the rain showers roll through, we study the long range forecasts looking for hints of a pattern change to this cool, wet and windy weather we’re in.

Having been to Alaska eleven times, people will sometimes ask if we get tired going back to the same places.  First, we don’t always go back to the same places each year. It is about a thousand miles from our home port in Puget Sound and our furthest destination in Glacier Bay.  My logbook has 330 different anchorages/ports that we’ve visited, and even now each year we usually manage to add a few new sites to that list.  Additionally, even going to the same place is different each visit because the weather may be different, the time of year may be different and the local wildlife may be different.  So,”No”, we haven’t gotten tired of cruising to SE Alaska.

Below are two Google maps I’ve put together of where we’ve been.  The first map is our 2021 cruise log showing where we were on each day of the cruise.  The second map is compilation of all the places we’ve been in the eleven trips.  Clicking on a location shows the number of visits and in which year.

2021 Cruise Log

2010 – 2021 Anchorages/Ports

Having been to Alaska eleven times, people will sometimes ask if we get tired going back to the same places.  First, we don’t always go back to the same places each year. It is about a thousand miles from our home port in Puget Sound and our furthest destination in Glacier Bay.  My logbook has 330 different anchorages/ports that we’ve visited, and even now each year we usually manage to add a few new sites to that list.  Additionally, even going to the same place is different each visit because the weather may be different, the time of year may be different and the local wildlife may be different.  So,”No”, we haven’t gotten tired of cruising to SE Alaska.

Below are two Google maps I’ve put together of where we’ve been.  The first map is our 2021 cruise log showing where we were on each day of the cruise.  The second map is compilation of all the places we’ve been in the eleven trips.  Clicking on a location shows the number of visits and in which year.

2021 Cruise Log

2010 – 2021 Anchorages/Ports

Our current practice is to have our bottom cleaned and recoated with anti-fouling paint every two years.  We tend to start a list of other things we want worked on or done at the next haulout as soon as we splash back into the water from the current haul out.

In the 2019 haulout we identified upgrading our house bank of batteries (the source of our electricity when we are not on shore power or running the generator) but upgraded the alternator charging our house bank instead.  We nursed our batteries through the 2020 and 2021 cruising seasons but couldn’t put off an upgrade any longer.  Fortunately, battery technology progressed during the intervening two years.  While still expensive, the cost of the lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries were getting to the point that on a per usable kilowatt-hour basis, the lithium batteries were cost competitive with traditional lead batteries.  The demonstrated reliability of lithium batteries was also becoming apparent, as well (thank you, first adopters).

One of our criteria was that it had to work with our existing charging system and not require a redesign of the electrical system.  It also had to fit in the space of our old battery bank, four 8D AGM batteries that weight 160 pounds each).  We ended up with ten smaller batteries that weighed 37 pounds each).  The listed amp-hour capacity of the new battery bank is 500 Ah at 24V which is not too dissimilar then the 540 Ah capacity of the old batteries. The real difference is that lithium batteries can be depleted almost completely without harming them while a lead battery ought not be depleted below half its capacity if you want it to last very long.  We expect we’ll be able to regularly use 80% of the lithium battery bank capacity,400 Ah.  Our old battery bank had aged to the point that even getting to the 50% point would only give us about 200 Ah.

The other advantage of lithium batteries are their ability to charge rapidly which we tested during our sea trials (below). At our normal cruising RPM, we are able to charge at about 150 amps until the batteries are nearly fully charged. While charging with our generator using the existing charger/inverter and the new standalone charger we are able to also charge at 150 amps until nearly fully charged.  While lead batteries can accept a high charge rate until the 80% level. Past that point the rate of charging diminishes rapidly and the last 20% can take a depressingly long.time.

Out with the New, in with the Old

One thing we also changed while hauled out were our anodes (they protect the metal parts of the boat from galvanic corrosion by offering up a “sacrificial” metal anode). In 2019, we switched from zinc anodes to aluminum anodes.  Aluminum is less toxic to marine life than zinc.  Aluminum is also more reactive than zinc which, apparently, turned out to be a problem for us.

As we hung in the slings of the travel-lift after being pulled from the water, the amount of “hard growth” (barnacles and mussels) on our boat was impressive and far greater than normal. In particular the growth on the anodes themselves was an issue. The best explanation offered was the greater reactivity of the aluminum meant the individual anodes were “working” less to supply the necessary galvanic protection. A zinc anode while working will sluff material.  Barnacles prefer not to make their home on a surface that is disappearing under them.  The aluminum anodes were apparently not losing as much material and allowed the hard growth to build.

When protecting a boat from galvanic corrosion, a calculation is done (or ought to be done) to determine the approximate location and size of the anodes.  Since our boat had come with zinc anodes we decided that perhaps the switch to aluminum was a failed chemistry experiment. We decided to switch back.

Sea Trials in the San Juans

We splashed back in the water on Tuesday, 8/24, did some testing at the dock then did a quick sea trial in Port Townsend Bay to make sure there were no issues with the preventive maintenance done on the engine.  We stayed the night at the dock to clean things up and put things back after two weeks in the boatyard. The next morning, we left with the ebb tide out of Admiralty Inlet. Our goal for the next two weeks was to spend most of our time at anchor, using the boat normally, watching the battery deplete than periodically recharging them with the genset.

We spent the first three nights at Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island, the next three nights in Garrison Bay on San Juan Island, followed by three nights in Echo Bay on Sucia Island, two nights in Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island, and two nights in Griffin Bay on San Juan Island.  We had a great time as all of the anchorages offered shore access for us to stretch our legs. 

The batteries and charging system worked exactly as we hoped.  We could usually recharge a day’s worth of battery use with less than one and one-half hours of generator time.  Previously, we had to run the genset for three and one-half hours spread over a morning and evening genset run.  Even then, the old lead batteries were never completely refilled by the charging.  We could also charge the lithium batteries by cruising for only one and one-half hours (about 10 miles of travel). The greater capacity gave us great flexibility as to when to do the genset run.  Our normal consumption is about 9 Ah per hour so we could do a the genset run whenever it was convenient during the day.

Our last night in the San Juans was Mackaye Harbor on Lopez Island where we visited David and Rachel, owners of the Diesel Duck Shearwater.. From there we crossed back across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend to have a couple of items addressed for which parts hadn’t be available before our departure two week earlier.

The next morning, Thursday, 9/9, we scooted through the Port Townsend Canal near Port Hadlock, then down Puget Sound back to the Queen City YC outstation dock in Eagle Harbor where we have winter moorage. Tying up there brought us full circle and finished off the 2021 cruising season.

Our current practice is to have our bottom cleaned and recoated with anti-fouling paint every two years.  We tend to start a list of other things we want worked on or done at the next haulout as soon as we splash back into the water from the current haul out.

In the 2019 haulout we identified upgrading our house bank of batteries (the source of our electricity when we are not on shore power or running the generator) but upgraded the alternator charging our house bank instead.  We nursed our batteries through the 2020 and 2021 cruising seasons but couldn’t put off an upgrade any longer.  Fortunately, battery technology progressed during the intervening two years.  While still expensive, the cost of the lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries were getting to the point that on a per usable kilowatt-hour basis, the lithium batteries were cost competitive with traditional lead batteries.  The demonstrated reliability of lithium batteries was also becoming apparent, as well (thank you, first adopters).

One of our criteria was that it had to work with our existing charging system and not require a redesign of the electrical system.  It also had to fit in the space of our old battery bank, four 8D AGM batteries that weight 160 pounds each).  We ended up with ten smaller batteries that weighed 37 pounds each).  The listed amp-hour capacity of the new battery bank is 500 Ah at 24V which is not too dissimilar then the 540 Ah capacity of the old batteries. The real difference is that lithium batteries can be depleted almost completely without harming them while a lead battery ought not be depleted below half its capacity if you want it to last very long.  We expect we’ll be able to regularly use 80% of the lithium battery bank capacity, 400 Ah while our old battery bank had aged to the point that even getting to the 50% point would only give us 200 Ah.

The other advantage of lithium batteries are their ability to charge rapidly which we tested during our sea trials (below). At our normal cruising RPM, we are able to charge at about 150 amps until the batteries are nearly fully charged. While charging with our generator using the existing charger/inverter and the new standalone charger we are able to also charge at 150 amps until nearly fully charged.  While lead batteries can accept a high charge rate until the 80% level, past that at which the rate diminishes depressingly as you approach 100%. 

Out with the New, in with the Old

One thing we also changed while hauled out were our anodes (they protect the metal parts of the boat from galvanic corrosion by offering up a “sacrificial” metal anode). In 2019, we switched from zinc anodes to aluminum anodes.  Aluminum is less toxic to marine life than zinc.  Aluminum is also more reactive than zinc which, apparently, turned out to be a problem for us.

As we hung in the slings of the travel-lift after being pulled from the water, the amount of “hard growth” (barnacles and mussels) on our boat was impressive and far greater than normal. In particular the growth on the anodes themselves was an issue. The best explanation offered was the greater reactivity of the aluminum meant the individual anodes were “working” less to supply the necessary galvanic protection. A zinc anode while working will sluff material.  Barnacles prefer not to make their home on a surface that is disappearing under them.  The aluminum anodes were apparently not losing as much material and allowed the hard growth to build.

When protecting a boat from galvanic corrosion, a calculation is done (or ought to be done) to determine the approximate location and size of the anodes.  Since our boat had come with zinc anodes we decided that perhaps the switch to aluminum was a failed chemistry experiment. We decided to switch back.

Sea Trials in the San Juans

We splashed back in the water on Tuesday, 8/24, did some testing at the dock then did a quick sea trial in Port Townsend Bay to make sure there were no issues with the preventive maintenance done on the engine.  We stayed the night at the dock to clean things up and put things back after two weeks in the boatyard. The next morning, we left with the ebb out of Admiralty Inlet. Our goal for the next two weeks to was spend most of our time at anchor, using the boat normally, watching the battery deplete than periodically recharging them with the genset.

We spent the first three nights at Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island, the next three nights in Garrison Bay on San Juan Island, followed by three nights in Echo Bay on Sucia Island, two nights in Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island, and two nights in Griffin Bay on San Juan Island.  We had a great time as all of the anchorages offered shore access for us to stretch our legs.  Our last night in the San Juans was Mackaye Harbor on Lopez Island where we visited David and Rachel, owners of the Diesel Duck Shearwater.. From there we crossed back across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend to have a couple of items addressed for which the parts hadn’t be available before our departure two week earlier.

The next morning, Thursday, 9/9, we scooted through the Port Townsend Canal near Port Hadlock, then down Puget Sound back to the Queen City YC outstation dock in Eagle Harbor where we have winter moorage and finished off our 2021 cruising season.