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Adventures of the Mole People (Water tank, part 2)
First was the freshwater leak. Eight years ago, we had the tank sandblasted and then glassed and epoxied. It has behaved like new since then. On our trip through Canada, the tank sprung a leak – a small hole in one corner. We (with the wise council of Ben at...
Water, Water, Everywhere
Life on a boat is never boring. Yesterday morning, we awoke to discover that the bilge pump under the guest staterooms was going on every 3 minutes (like clockwork for 20 seconds). At first, we thought we would just keep an eye on it, since bilge pumps often get stuck....
Gyrfalcon returns to Ketchikan
Gyrfalcon returns to Ketchikan! We arrived yesterday (to follow our travels and receive mini-blog updates, go to: Forecast.PredictWind.com/tracking/display/Gyrfalcon). As the US Coast Survey vessel Patton, our boat traveled to Alaska each year from 1941 to 1967 from April to October, surveying the coastline. Her home base was Seattle, but she...
Follow the Gyrfalcon on our Alaska Adventure
The time has finally come. The Gyrfalcon is returning to Alaska. As the Patton, our vessel went to Alaska every summer from 1941 to 1967, conducting survey work for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Now under the ownership of Peter and Nancy, she is returning as a commercial...
Announcement: Gyrfalcon chartering in Alaska Summer 2021
It doesn’t seem like a year since we posted last on the blog. So much has happened in the world, and with us. We’ll get to boat updates later. Our biggest news is that we are taking the Gyrfalcon to Alaska in a few weeks. Peter has fully retired and...
Marlinspike Baby Steps
Our boat has lots of marlinspike--wonderful ropework done (we think) by the US Coast Survey crew over the years that the Gyrfalcon was a government boat. Sections have disappeared or are cracking off, and need replacing. My first attempt (Nancy) at serious ropework was last summer. Katie W taught Jessica...
2020 Updates Part 3: Living spaces
The living spaces got several upgrades this year during our stay at LUBR. Here are the projects and pictures (some in slide show mode). GALLEY AND SALOON The middle 2 cabinet doors above the sink had always been cattywampus. Part of the problem was that the cabinet bottom has warped...
2020 Updates Part 2: Outside projects
We had a number of outside projects this winter. PORT LIGHT (PORTHOLE) MAINTENANCE: First, Gabe at LUBR made new urethane gaskets for all of our port lights windows. He made a mold and poured the gaskets over a week's time. We counted them--there are 37! Some had the original 1941...
2020 Updates Part 1: Engine room, crane, and winch
We had compiled a long list of updates for the Gyrfalcon. Several of these are in anticipation of longer cruising in the future; others just are part of the usual maintenance after more than 5000 miles of cruising in the last 8 years. We headed over to Lake Union Boat...
Fall 2019 on the Gyrfalcon
We had a nice fall season on the Gyrfalcon. We went to the Center for Wooden Boats for their annual gala. Later in the fall, we took several fellow Classic Yacht Association members on a cruise to Tacoma for the Change of Watch event. Seven fellow members cruised on the...
2019 August Vancouver/Victoria Trip
We decided to do something different for our August trip to Victoria—we added a few days in Vancouver BC at the Vancouver Wooden Boat Festival. Peter and I left Seattle and headed north on a blustery August day. 21 August 2019 Ewing Street Moorings to Drayton Harbor Seattle to Drayton...
