Every year in mid-April I run the boat to Wrangell and have it hauled out for bottom paint, zincs, and other preventive maintenance tasks. A boat like mine requires constant attention and maintenance in order to keep it in a safe and comfortable running condition. I am no mechanic and so I tend to overdo it a bit on preventive maintenance. I have some guys in Wrangell that have worked on the boat many times and they do many of the recurring maintenance tasks that are needed.
This year I had a little deviation in my normal Wrangell trip in that a buddy of mine wanted to go up at the same time. So, our plan was to "buddy boat" on the way up there. We would run fairly close together so that if one boat has a problem the other is nearby and can assist.
Our haulout date was scheduled for Monday April 15th, but it makes sense to leave early enough to allow for unanticipated delays on the way up there. You don't want to miss the haulout date because at this time of year the yard gets very busy, and you might have to wait a bit to get on their schedule again if you miss your haulout date.
Our plan was to leave on Friday April 12th, weather permitting.
Terry's boat, the "Lady Sea," is somewhat slower than my boat. It's about an 85 mile run up to Wrangell and he only runs at about 6.5 knots. I can make it there in one long day if I want to, but our plan this year was to run about 35 miles to the little community of Meyers Chuck and spend Friday night there. There is a dock there that transient boats can tie up to.
And then from there it's about another 50 miles up to Wrangell.
Here's a map snippet that shows the first leg, from Ketchikan to Meyers Chuck.
You can't really tell it from this map segment but most of that distance is in Clarence Strait, which can be pretty gnarly at times. We needed fairly calm sea conditions there in order to make this part of the trip. If it was nasty in Clarence Strait on Friday 4/12, we could have left either Saturday or Sunday. But we were lucky, and the Sea Gods smiled on us allowing us to leave on the day we wanted.
Here's a map segment showing the rest of the trip, about 50 miles from Meyers Chuck to Wrangell. There is a very small part of this leg that is in Clarence Strait, but then you turn into Ernest Sound, and then eventually Zimovia Strait, and almost all of that is pretty protected.
We left Ketchikan at about 7:15 AM on Friday 4/12, with me leading in Faraway, and Terry following in Lady Sea. I have made the trip many times and I have predefined routes on my GPS chartplotter, so it made sense for him to follow me. I had to go much slower than normal so as to not get too far out in front of him.
Here's a shot of Guard Islands light house as we passed it.
Guard Islands light house is automated now, but back in the day there used to be a little house on the island and the light keeper and his family actually lived there. I read a book a while ago written by a lady who lived there when she was a young child.
Here's a shot of Terry's boat running behind me.
We got to Meyers Chuck at around 12:30 PM after a calm and uneventful run up Clarence Strait. There is a fairly large dock in Meyers Chuck where transient boats are allowed to tie up. It used to be owned by the State of Alaska, but I think it is currently owned by the city of Wrangell. There are also several private docks in the area. I did not take a lot of photos this time during my brief stay here, but if you are interested you can check my blog post from last year at this time where I posted numerous photos of the houses in the community.
Here's a shot of our boats tied up at the dock in Meyers Chuck.
We had a pleasant but rainy and brief overnight stay in Meyers Chuck.
On Saturday morning we were up and away fairly early, pulling away from the dock at about 6:15 AM. It's about another 50 miles to Wrangell from here and we wanted to make certain we did not arrive in the dark.
The run up through Ernest Sound and then Zimovia Strait was calm and uneventful, and we arrived into Wrangell at about 2:30 PM, getting tied up in Wrangell's Heritage Harbor. This is their newest harbor, and it is a little farther from town than the old harbor, Reliance Harbor. But Heritage Harbor is much newer and just a nicer harbor to hang out in while waiting for our Monday haulout appointments.
Here's a shot of the two boats tied up in Heritage Harbor.
When I was here last year there was an article in the local newspaper about Heritage Harbor. It stated that the harbor had been constructed without attaching sacrificial zincs to the pilings, and now it was going to cost an estimated $1 million in order to rectify that problem.
Apparently, it has taken the city of Wrangell about a year to get this project going. There were stacks and piles of the huge zincs laying all around the harbor, apparently awaiting a diver to attach them to the pilings.
We were all speculating on how they actually got these huge and heavy zincs down into the water and controlled them well enough to weld them to the pilings. A dive boat came in late on Sunday night and early on Monday we got to see for ourselves. They had a system down for this and used a "come-along" winch to lower the zincs down into the water. Here's a shot of the dive boat they were using to support the divers in the water.
Here are some of our neighbors in the harbor.
This is the "Adak," a huge old tug/work boat that was tied up right in front of us. It was so huge I couldn't get far enough away from it to get a very good photo of it.
Here's a nice looking Nordhavn called "Serenity" that was tied up nearby. These Nordhavns are designed and built to cross oceans. They can carry thousands of gallons of fuel and typically use a single engine with a large slow turning prop to minimize fuel consumption.
There were a couple of houseboats in the harbor. This one is a newer one that I don't think was there last year. It looked shiny and new. It did not have any means of self-propulsion so I imagine that if they need to move, they hire a tug to move them.
Here's an older houseboat that I've seen here in previous years. It's obviously older and much smaller.
Up at the end of the harbor area there is a mariner's memorial. It consists of a small open sided building, some viewing benches, and several large curving metal pieces upon which plaques are mounted which have information about mariners that have died, presumably from the Wrangell area.
Here's the little open sided building, with a large compass molded into the concrete on the floor.
Here is one of several of the large, curved metal surfaces upon which they mount the individual plaques.
Each one has several plaques on it, but lots of room to add more.
Each plaque has the name and birth & death dates of the person, as well as a little saying or slogan. Some of them are somewhat somber or philosophical, but some are downright funny.
On Monday morning they hauled Terry's boat out at about 11:30 AM, and then they hauled mine at about 1:45 PM. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day with very little wind.
The guy controlling the lift walks around with the controls hanging from his neck.
Here's Terry's boat on blocks.
And here's my boat on blocks.
I planned this trip about a year ago and I was just fortunate that we had such nice weather for both the run up from Ketchikan, and also the hauling and blocking process.
Now we both have some painting and other maintenance tasks to attend to.
Terry and I were both hauled on Monday. I had a lot more work scheduled to be done than he did. He was done by sometime on Wednesday, but the yard was busy and could not launch him until early Thursday morning. I was done by early Thursday afternoon, but they scheduled me for an 8 AM Friday launch.
I took a bunch of photos when they were launching Terry's boat but the SD card in my camera was corrupt and so far, I have been unable to retrieve them. Who knew an SD card could fail? I Googled it and discovered that it does indeed happen.
I had the guys in Wrangell do many maintenance tasks and one of those was to replace both the primary and secondary fuel filters on the main engines. In order to do that the fuel supply must be shut off. Sometimes diesel engines balk a little bit at starting after the fuel has been shut off, and that's what happened to us this time. My starboard engine fired right up but the port engine refused to start. They had to work on it for about another hour before it finally started.
For anyone who may be interested, here is a list of all the maintenance tasks I had done during this haulout:
Pressure wash upon haul-out
Bottom paint
Clean & wax sides from boot strip up to gunwales
Replace Racor fuel filter elements on main engines
Replace on engine fuel filters on main engines
Replace impellers on main engines
Replace impeller on generator
Replace Racor fuel filter on generator
Replace on engine fuel filter on generator
Check belts on main engines
Check belt on generator
Replace 3 of the 5 thru-hull valves, including sea cocks
Main engines (2)
Generator (1)
Remove bow thruster props, paint them and thoroughly clean tunnel
Replace all exterior zincs
Check shafts for true
Replace glow plug and mesh screen on furnace
Install toilet service kit
Check props for damage, clean & buff
Replace windshield wiper blades for lower windows
Replace windshield wiper blade on flybridge
Measure cutlass bearings for replacement April 2025
Repair damage to port corner of swim step
Check the hull closely for any ice damage
Remove the exhaust “flaps,” clean them up and reinstall
Once I had 2 running engines and I had tested the generator and the toilet I pulled out and immediately headed south towards home. It was about 9:45 AM when I was able to get underway.
Here are a few shots of the Wrangell harbor from the water that I took right before heading out.
This house is right on Pt Shekesti, which overlooks the old Reliance Harbor. A sweet location to be sure. I wonder who lives there?
This is the waterfront area, near where the boats are hauled.
The 84 mile run down to Ketchikan was largely uneventful, which is good. Thank goodness for the autopilot!
The snow-covered mountains visible while transiting Zimovia Strait and the northern part of Earnest Sound were indeed impressive.
I had intended to stop in at Meyers Chuck for the night, but when I got there at about 4 PM I saw that Clarence Strait was calm and I still had about another 4 hours of daylight, so I just went for it and headed for home without stopping.
One last photo before hitting town, a lumber ship anchored out in front of Ward Cove. I assume he was loading lumber, but there was no activity as I cruised past.
I got into my slip at about 8:15 PM in dead calm conditions and fading light.
It was a very successful trip, and we were very lucky to have had good weather on the way up there, during our time on the blocks, and for the return trip as well.
I logged 168 miles for the round trip.
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