Monday, May 4, 2009

Day 371 Made it to Nanaimo!



We made it through Dodd Narrows just fine.  Timed it perfectly.  Left Pirates Cove at 1200 and were ready to pass through at 1315 right on schedule.  Right at slack tide--just about no tide running in or out the pass.  We followed 6 or 7 boats across to the narrows and then each went through in a line, one at a time leaving room for those coming the other way.

We'd dress in our foul weather gear since showers were in the forecast.  It was overcast but no rain till we got to Mark Bay(49 10.856N  123 56.001W) a little after 1420 hours.  Took an hour to get to the narrows and an hour to get into Nanaimo.  

We're parked just the other side of the harbour at Newcastle Island Marine Park.  Dropped the anchor and set about getting settled in.  About 6 boats currently anchored here.  We're a bit close to another sailboat but it shouldn't be any problem.  The anchor is set well as the winds are blowing in from the South in the low 20 knot range.   We haven't moved an inch.  It started raining shortly after we pulled in so our timing was great.

We had a bit of a problem as we motored over.  The alternator for the house batteries didn't appear to be charging at its normal rate.  Normally, when we start the engine, it starts putting out 14.1 volts to charge up the batteries.  This time, it was in the lower 12 volt range.  The Webasto heater was running at the time plus we had the inverter on to make AC power for the computer so we could run our AIS program to "see" other bigger ships.  We needed to know if anyone bigger was coming the opposite way through the narrows.  If we slowed a bit, the volts went up, not down.  They'd top out at 13 volts.  Tomorrow, I'll be running some tests to see what it is putting out in volts and amps.  I have lots of toys now to check that sort of thing.  Since I had both alternators rebuilt while at Sea Marine, they shouldn't be causing any kind of problem-- yeah right!!  I figure I'll pick up another while here in Nanaimo just in case.  I'll probably take it out and have it checked while in Nanaimo.  We may have to spend more than one day if it ends up being bad.

As I said, it has rained since shortly after we got here and that is the forecast for the next three days.  I made reservations with Enterprise Rent A Car for Wednesday.  By that time the part we are waiting for should be in.  It's supposed to be here tomorrow.  Now I just need to find out where!


No comments: