TomCat Heaven - or Rainforest

John,

Great stories of your adventures. I guess we warned you about the weather but didn't really expect you to get just about everything except a heatwave all in one week.
Hope you are still here today to see why we put up with "those" days for the few that are like this !!
Wish we could get out to join you but the "Honeydo" list after the windstorm is still not completed so I have to go climb on the roof.

Merv
 
Merv - I am really enjoying my experience up here on the Sound. The people are all wonderful! We've had so much fun exploring and meeting new ppl. I meant to stop up by you at Oak Harbor, but my son wanted to go to Bell Harbor to explore downtown Seattle and then he wanted to meet some friends in Friday Harbor, so we've been racing North and South past you three round trips so far. All three we hit winds at some point of 35k or more so stopping to anchor or call anyone local was kind of out of the question if we were to get back to safe harbor by dark. I do appreciate your offer.

Today, THursday, was pristine! Sunshine all day, albeit a bit cool. We' ve been using the uninsulated "insulated" bait well as a cooler and the first two blocks of ice just melted away today, after 4 or 5 days use.

One last quick tour of the Sound area tomorrow. I don't think I have enough energy to challenge Juan de Fuca again tomorrow, so am exploring the Southern Sound.

Finally figured out the Raymarine 3-D bathymetrics display as well as the aerial photos etc.. We had progammed too much magnetic deviation in which was prob the cause of course errors early on. I thought the unit automatically did the 6 degrees that we measured, but apparently not.

Now that I'm leaving, I have command of half the features!!!

Also, I have seen pics and heard ppl talk about Decepton Pass and the high rain forest there, but seeing it was awsome. I am certain there are many other sights of equal magnificence.

Thanks for sharing your corner of the country! John
 
Thanks, El and Bill - esp. for your great reportage over the years. Some day I'll get a photo of me with a some floating Alaskan glacier Ice just like you two! Cruising up there over the Holidays meant most everything was closed, but the people we met were incredibly interesting characters.

Back in sunny Kansas now, we only saw a couple hours of sun while in the Seattle area. With all the logs we saw in the water and on the hillsides, I could get a hint of what destruction the storms must have done on the more inland slopes. 'Hope you all have the power back on by now.

'Had a last couple days of single-handed cruising Thursday and Friday before New Years. The weather changes so fast there and goes from fog to sun to storm in just a few hours. As such, both days were a mixed bag, but lots of fun for a NW novice.

Friday I heard the Coast Guard call for anyone near Obstruction Pass to assist a boat that had hit a log, but I was way too far South to be able to help. I am curious if any of you heard what finally happened about that.

As for the Tom-a-Hawk, a few glitches need to be ironed out and then she'll be shipped to Grand Lake 'O the Cherokees in Oklahoma. It's supposed to have more shoreline than the entire coast of California.

Thanks again, C-Brats for all your info sharing over the years! John
 
drjohn71a":33a4lbsh said:
As for the Tom-a-Hawk, a few glitches need to be ironed out and then she'll be shipped to Grand Lake 'O the Cherokees in Oklahoma. It's supposed to have more shoreline than the entire coast of California.
Click to expand...
John – looks like an interesting lake. I looked at the photos of it and it has lots of fingers, like Shasta Lake and Powell Lake. Didn’t realize Oklahoma had that much water. I have a brother in Bartlesville. May have to go visit him with my boat.

Sorry I missed you when you were up here.
_________
Dave dlt.gif
 
John,

Great Pics! Sorry I missed you and your son during your stay in Seattle. I work in the Pike Place Market area and would have enjoyed meeting you for coffee if I had known you'd be in the area. Also, I see you cruised through the Swinomish Channel on the way up to the San Juans. Right off the channel near the Railroad Bridge that you took a picture of is Twin Bridges Marina. I'm sure you saw it, that's where we and a lot of Brats store our boat.

Oh well, I'm sure we'll have another chance to meet up, hopefuly in the summer sunshine. Glad you had a nice time getting that beautiful boat wet in the rainy NW.

Peter
 
Peter of C-Dancer.... I don't know why I just passed by that Twin Bridges Marina. I guess it was 'cause we had been thru such a terrible storm the day before that we wanted to race on to Friday Harbor ASAP. I am only now starting to make some of the connections to those places so familiar to all you natives.

Coming into the Sonomish from the South with a brisk wind behind us and the logs coming at us at 8-10Knots, was quite a busy excursion.

Pike's market was visited by my son. I had been all over downtown Seattle many times and had some more instruction book studying and fitting out to do on the boat to prepare for our run up to Friday Harbor. We arrived there with no tools and no boat accessories, so it was quite the task to walk all over trying to find a place both open and stocked with what we needed! So, my dogs were killing me from all that walking and hauling. Sightseeing was a bit below just getting a good seat to me that night!

John
 
Nice photos and essay, Dr. John. We were absolutely captivated with the area when we were there late summer... we were there for a few weeks and feel we barely scratched the surface of all the area offers. I mentioned the Bellingham gathering (next July) to the Blonde, and she said, "Let's do it!" That may require some re-thinking of our plans to head east in a couple weeks (um, what does MapQuest say about the best route from Key West to Bellingham? :crook ).

Thank you for taking the time to post the images and tell us about your adventures. Congratulations on the new boat and your successful maiden voyage! :thup

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
I know I need to take some detailed photos of the equipment locations, etc., but the weather was so wet and stormy,and I had no place to put the stuff I would have to take out of the boat in order to take the technical photos. Maybe in February...

There are so many electronic boxes that they completely line the undersink/stove area. The autopilot, teleflex electronic controls, satellite boxes, E-80 boxes, etc.. Pretty mind boggling array with three extra 12 volt busses and 13, 12 volt plug-ins, etc..

John
 
John – good start on your photo album. I like it when there is some text describing the photo, as you did.

The photos of “Thatcher Pass coming up” & “Trying to beat the storm to La Conner” really show some of the winds you encountered.
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Dave dlt.gif
 
drjohn

Great pics of all the memories of the Big Adventure!

Who installed the Permatrims on your Hondas, and what was your fuel burn/rpm in the 15-18 kt range? I understand that motor manufacturers will still warranty their engines, just not the AV plate where the Permatrims are bolted. Is that right?

Thanks in advance for the important feedback.

Bob Cat
 
We were not able to take pictures of the heavy parts of the storm. It took all we had to stay seated and headed the right direction.

Bob of DiveCat.... My Honda Speed guage was reading consistently lower miles covered and miles logged, so I don't think the readouts were reliable. Paul of Puget Sound Yacht services at Edmonds Marina installed all my electronics and accessories except for the Honda digital guages. He did a great job, but noted everything needed to be calibrated a bit better than time allowed prior to our sailing.

Set level, the Permatrims let the boat plane predictably at 14 knots SOG, and some at 12 knots, but I think the 12 mph planing was with ideal currents and winds. In the 4-6 foot seas, setting the trims down kept the bow down in the big waves. I know you're not supposed to use trim tabs down in heavy seas, but Roger and I both felt the ride was greatly improved by this.

We were at times in currents over 10 knots and with winds 35-55 knots, so the efficiency guage was reading wild numbers..... at one time it said 9 miles per gallon!!! Many times it said 3-5 miles per gallon, but I think the extreme tides and currents and winds of the season caused that.

I did alot of high speed cruising with no attempt to save fuel and over the 240 nautical miles I measured, divided by the gallons to fill the tank, I only got 1.6 Kmpg. We also had to slog around at 4-7 knots in the worst stuff.
 
drjohn71a wrote;

"In the 4-6 foot seas, setting the trims down kept the bow down in the big waves. I know you're not supposed to use trim tabs down in heavy seas, but Roger and I both felt the ride was greatly improved by this. '

??? ....Hmmmmm...........

Probably doesn't make for any problems as long as you're traveling faster than the waves so that none of them can catch up to you. (My guess)

Joe.
 
Agree, Joe.

Just running down-sea and sliding down the slope do the tabs seem to be a hazard. Burying the nose and doing a whoop-de-do can be un-nerving. BTDT. I use them in the down position all the time when running into heavy weather.

Dusty
 
Sea Wolf":1h1388gs said:
drjohn71a wrote;

"In the 4-6 foot seas, setting the trims down kept the bow down in the big waves. I know you're not supposed to use trim tabs down in heavy seas, but Roger and I both felt the ride was greatly improved by this. '

??? ....Hmmmmm...........

Probably doesn't make for any problems as long as you're traveling faster than the waves so that none of them can catch up to you. (My guess)

Joe.
Click to expand...
Just for clarification:
We had the bow trimmed down going into the waves as opposed to in following seas. A 6-7kts, there is some bow rise which the trim countered.
 
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