Landon’s Like Multiple Challenges

Traversing Seymour Narrows

 

Blog readers from previous years are familiar with the challenges boaters face with Seymour Narrows.  Depending on the tides, currents through Seymour Narrows can run up to 16 knots; boaters are advised to motor in the direction of the current near slack water, within a half-hour of the turn.  Timing for slack water meant departing Campbell River in the wee-hours of the morning at 4:30am to make the hour journey (traveling at 8 knots) to reach Seymour Narrows in time for slack water.  Not wanting to head out that early and in the dark, we chose to depart at 9:45am knowing we would have a 4 to 4 ½ knot current pushing us through the Narrows along with whirlpools similar to what we encountered last year.  

Whirlpools and Boiling Current in Seymour Narrows

We arrived at Seymour Narrows around 10:40am and waited a while longer in Menzies Bay before committing ourselves to Seymour Narrows.  We hugged the west side of the channel to stay away from the worst of the whirlpools and “boiling current;” even so, hand-steering proved to be a challenge as the current knocked us around and whirlpools boiled up here-and-there.  Our speed increased as expected and we shot through at over 11 knots.  We had traversed Seymour Narrows 1 ½ hours before slack on a spring tide!  Thankfully we didn’t have traffic or wood debris to contend with this time around.  By 11:20am we were through the worst of the current and Leonard announced that he wanted to work on the “duckbills” located on the macerator pump; duckbills are rubber valves that allow sewage waste to flow from the holding tank when the macerator pump is on.  Earlier, Leonard had tried to pump the sewage out to sea (allowed only in certain locals and outside a prescribed distance from shore.  No overboard discharge is allowed in Puget Sound).  He noticed that the macerator pump was running but the gauge light never went to “empty.”  A clear indication that new duckbills likely needed to be installed, a very ugly, dirty, stinky job that he had been putting off for some time. 

Point Chatham Lighthouse on Vancouver Island

I continued motoring Got d’ Fever up Discovery Passage as Leonard started working on his project.  It was a gorgeous day with beautiful scenery, I managed to snap some pictures while on “auto-pilot” after reaching the intersection where Discovery Passage meets up with Nodales Channel and Johnston Strait.  A magnificent spot marked by Chatham Point Lighthouse and mountain peaks.  Too bad Leonard is down below, not where he’d rather be, I’m sure!  I rounded the lighthouse and guided Got d’ Fever up Johnston Strait, the waters were calm and we had little to no wind.  In the meantime, a foul-smell was wafting up the stairs, time to open the doors and windows.  Two hours had gone by and he was still hard at work, it was now around 1:30pm.  

Johnston Strait

Seeing that there was no wind and it was early in the afternoon, I continued motoring along Johnston Strait instead of turning into Mayne Channel to dock at Blind Bay Resort.  About a half-hour later we were traveling against a current bringing our speed down to 5 knots while running at 1800 RPM’s.  As time went on, we were slowed further to 3.4 knots – we were going against a 6 knot current!  This maximum tide would surely slack off as the day progressed.  For now I needed to keep a watchful eye, logs and wood debris were floating around with the current, I saw one log shoot out from a small whirlpool!  “Where is Leonard?”  He was still cleaning up and said he would be finished shortly.  

Finally around 3:30pm (after 4 hours of work), Leonard appeared in the pilothouse as I was just rounding “Earl Ledge,” a small reef; and then we soon passed Yorke Island, the site of a Canadian WWII military fortress where 500 men were stationed along with gun emplacements.  

Mountains along Johnston Strait on Vancouver Island

By now our speed was back up to nearly 8 knots and Leonard had time to “catch his breath” before deciding to take a shower; “a good idea,” I was whole-heartedly in favor!  I headed Got d’ Fever into Port Neville where we planned to anchor for the night.  Leonard finished his shower and came topside as we passed the old Port Neville post office and store dating back to the 1800’s.  We continued past the public wharf, rounding the corner into the southwest bay where we set the anchor around 5pm.  Phew! Or is that Pew?  We had finally arrived, time to relax in the cockpit with dinner and a glass of wine!  We shared our stories from the day’s events and I learned more about what transpired below decks.  After replacing both “duckbills” Leonard ran the macerator pump to see if everything was working properly - the pump ran but the gauge stayed at midlevel and never changed indicating that the pump was not working.  Leonard had several theories of what might be wrong:  the hose to the holding tank might be plugged up or perhaps the hose that connects to the thru-hull discharge is plugged, or maybe something is wrong with the pump itself.  He started with the hoses.  To see if the hose running to the thru-hull was clear, he had to open the thru-hull briefly to see if sea water would flood inside the boat!  Little did I know he was playing around with the thru-hull while I was maneuvering in current and around logs!  Leonard did figure out how to check the hose going to the holding tank, but it is to gross to talk about. 

Macerator Pump

He determined that the hoses were clear so thought something must be wrong with the pump; this meant taking the pump apart again including the pipe fittings and duckbills; and yes, cleaning and draining it all again!  If indeed something was wrong with the pump, a new pump would have to be sent FedEx to Port McNeil for us to pick up later upon our arrival.  Ok, back to the duckbills, there is one for each of the two plastic pipes on the pump - one fits inside an adaptor pipe on one side of the pump and the other duckbill fits on the other side of the pump.  

Macerator Pump and Duckbill

When installed, both duckbills need to be facing or pointing the same direction - duckbills have a round opening on one end and are tapered with a slit on the other end, hence the name “duckbill.”  As Leonard took apart the pump and pipe fittings, he found that one of the duckbills he had installed was put in backwards; this must have been when I had heard him yelling at himself, “oh . . . oh . . . you stupid idiot!”  (As a side note, the rule of turning right to tighten and left to loosen didn’t apply to the macerator pump which is “reverse threaded.”  He had earlier discovered the reverse threading which no doubt added time and frustration.  Fortunately, Leonard did not force or strip the threads!)  Two different scenarios had been playing out at the same time, one above decks and one below decks; you won’t find this kind of excitement on a Celebrity Cruise Ship!