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June 13, 2008 ~ “Friday the 13th”
The day greeted us as the diesel heater / stove quit. “Friday the 13th” is off to a great start! John & Jeff took the entire stove apart and determined that the small electric motor which runs the exhaust fan had given out. We tried several things to get it running, but resolved to the fact that it had passed its prime and would not run without a new part.
With a very weak phone signal John stood outside on the front deck of the boat to improve chances of making phone contact with the dealer in Seattle. He described what we needed to make the stove operational again. John called Octobre, at the fish processor in Sitka. He’d spoken to her a week earlier to get info for Jeff on processing and shipping fish back to Texas. She said we could ship the small motor to her attention at the fish processor’s P.O. box. John called back to Scan Marine and got the guy to agree to mail the part to Sitka that day via priority mail. We plan to be in Sitka in about 4 or 5 days, so hopefully the part will have ample time to get there.
We launched Willy to take a closer look at an old cannery located inside Dundas bay. We had already seen a black bear within a hundred yards of the ruins so everyone was very cognizant of their surroundings. We made our way ashore and strolled around the large rusting boilers and machinery. John and Jeff scaled a steep hill to get a better look while Shanna stayed behind on the beach. We also checked out an old cabin which apparently had been maintained over the years as it was still in fairly good condition -- other than the tree that had fallen on the roof sometime during the past couple of years. Once inside we found very little of anything except an old Reader’s Digest dated 1982. As we floated the dinghy and headed back to the Tomcat we noticed a huge raven sitting on the radar dome. Shanna and I wondered if there was any correlation between the fact that it was Friday the 13th and the stove / heater went out. John being a bit superstitious, did not want to be reminded that it was “Friday the 13th.“ Great planning by John & Shanna meant that they had a back-up plan. We would use the portable generator to power the portable heater on the boat and a hot plate to prepare meals until we got the diesel stove back in operation.
We had a late lunch which consisted of reindeer sausage, pork liverwurst, swiss, pepper jack & cheddar cheeses served with Wheat Thin crackers.
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