So, cruising in remote locations isn’t always golden sunsets and killer whale sightings!

 

As we were approaching Port McNeill the engine was idling roughly as we pulled to the dock. Usually when a diesel engine is not running smoothly it usually relates to a fuel supply problem. I went into the engine room and switched to the alternate main fuel filter and that seemed to fix the problem.

After leaving Port McNeill the engine ran fine underway but each time we came back to an idle the engine would surge.

As we came into an abandoned cannery dock, Butedale, (which by the way is about 100 miles from the nearest significant town….ugh!) the engine was, again, running roughly at idle and then would not restart when it was shut off!

Here's where we were.

Crap!

Besides the fuel filter I switched on the wall of the engine room there are two on-engine filters which I thought must be the problem even though they had been installed less than 100 hours ago.

I changed those filters but the engine would still not start.

I then thought I must have introduced air into the fuel system by replacing the filters so began bleeding all of the fittings to ensure that fuel and not air was escaping.

After bleeding every fitting and finding fuel at each one I was pretty sure I didn’t have any remaining air in the system.

But still the engine wouldn’t start!

Shit!

All through this process every time I tried to start the engine the engine control panel did not indicate any errors or warnings.

Finally on the last start of the day an error message popped up on the control panel which gave me something to work with. 

I looked up the error message on the engine manual and it indicated that I had a high fuel pressure problem. I then went down to the engine and looked at the fuel pressure sensor, unplugged it and cleaned the contacts, and then plugged it back together.

Voilà!

The engine started right away and idled smoothly!

Below is a picture of the engine control panel indicating the problem. Not a comforting thing to see.

 

 

 

 

The next morning we got underway and the engine has been running perfectly since.

So…… It isn’t always golden sunsets and killer whale sightings!

Sometimes you have to deal with things that are a little sphincter tightening.

 

 

To end this blog post on a happy note here is a photograph of the marina in Masset that we are currently at taken at 2:45 AM (not by me but a friend on our buddy boat who couldn't sleep) just as the sun was starting to come up.

So, while not a sunset picture, it is pretty nice sunrise picture.

 

We left Vancouver on Saturday, June 10, overnited in Secret Cove and enjoyed a fabulous evening with John and Nancy at their stunning home at Red Roofs ....

Fast forward to Father's Day and we are now impatiently sitting in Port McNeil, waiting for a good weather window to cross the appropriately named, Cape Caution.

There have been 6-8 foot swells come from the west that are closely spaced (7-10 seconds) that would hit us on our port side which can be uncomfortable.

Tuesday looks better with 4 foot swells at 7-8 seconds so we’ll get up early and make the dash across. From there to Prince Rupert we are pretty well in protected waters (Inside Passage) so we don’t have to worry so much about what waves the ocean is generating.

We’ll run every day and should get in to Prince Rupert on Saturday where we’ll meet up with the Fishers aboard Daybreak.

They are bringing their boat down from Wrangell, Alaska having run it up there earlier this spring.

Our plan is to stay two nights there and then make the run to Masset on the north end of Haida Gwaii but we’ll see what Mother Nature has to say about that plan.

One of our stops en route to Pt McNeill was the Blind Channel Resort in the Broughtons which has been owned and run by the Richter family since 1970.

It is charming spot with the beautiful CEDAR POST Restaurant, where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner - complete with a bottle of Veuve (compliments of our kids who had arranged that very special surprise for us).

                     

  There is a short hike into the woods behind the resort, to a gigantic cedar tree ...

The trip has been good so far.

The boat is running well and the weather has been decent although not very warm. 

There is always interesting things happening along these waterways like this log-dumping barge full of logs and this fish processing plant being towed up to Alaska to process this summers catch.

While heading north, we saw this beautiful 1959 trawler called CURVE OF TIME.   For decades, she has travelled both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, then became an environmental awareness vessel for Greenpeace.  She has more recently been converted to an ecotourism vessel which runs tours up our Pacific West Coast and up into Alaska ... all yours for $750 per day per person!!!