Saturday morning we had a couple of storage related tasks to do, but by 11:30 we were at the Tiger mountain trailhead ready for our familiar 6 mile 2,000 foot elevation gain grunt. Woof.
The app only gave us credit for 5.4 miles, but the book, map and signage point to 6.1. Oh well.
The Camp Robbers abound at the top. If I’m reading the bird book right, they are also known as a Gray Jay, Canada Jay or Whiskey Jack.
We ran into a bunch of cub scouts at the top who were having a great time with the birds. We also saw many kids in back packs, so when one gal hiking up a little one in her pack we didn’t think much of it until what was the world’s ugliest baby was more correctly identified as a rather cute bull dog. The dog looked rather content in the pack, but when you expect to see a kid and instead see a bulldog, it’s a little shocking.
From the hike we wound up at what is now one of our favorite places. Stoup brewery. Great food truck outside and as always a vibrant feeling inside.
Sunday’s breakfast included pumpkin pancakes with fresh apple compote and sausage. Yum.
The rest of day included watching the Seahawks win and tackling some misc projects including: Permanent winter mooring lines which should make docking easier as they stay on the dock. For that project needed to brush up on making an eye splice and proper lashing the end of the lines. The newly built steps work wonderfully. LED lights are now complete on the starboard side. Misc other small things done during lulls in the game.
The Heater
Before we moved aboard, I obsessed with a way to heat the boat. Forced air or hydronic heat? Each has pros and cons. Both are expensive and would require quite an installation. I had assumed the old Dickerson Antarctic would be insufficient. Nearly an antique, and as simple as they come, the old diesel seemed fine for an occasional winter cruise, but wouldn’t work for a full time liveaboard.
Oh boy was I wrong. It works great. But I needed to get to know its nuances, as well as I needed to learn how to manage and distribute the heat on the boat.
Last winter was trial and error, but the lessons were learned and last night we cranked it up for the first time this season.
One of the enhancements added last year was an ‘eco fan’. It has a little motor and it generates its own power once it heats up. You simply set it on a hot surface and in a few minutes it’s silently spinning away distributing heat throughout the cabin. It’s perfect and it really works.
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