Roam returns to Anacortes from Southeast Alaska

[Favunclerich]

Cheryll, Roam and I just completed our round-trip from Anacortes, WA to Southeast Alaska. We believe that Roam (2008 R-25 with 110 HP Yanmar) was the smallest vessel to travel from the continental US to Alaska and return during 2013. The statistics;

88 Days
2962 Nautical Miles
437 Engine Hours
6.8 knots average speed – includes warm up, cool down, whale watching time, anchoring, docking
625 gallons of diesel burned by Roam
4.74 NM/gallon
$4.71/gallon – average price of diesel
2 quarts of oil added between changes in Sitka and back here in Anacortes this afternoon – thanx Bob for the use of your oil pump
3 gallons of kerosene burned by the Wallas stove
4 one-pound propane cylinders burned using the Magma grill
225 gallons diesel each way trailering; 2500 miles in the Silverado/Duramax diesel (10.6 mpg)
0 waves encountered taller than four feet
0 days spent waiting for weather – We did push ahead a few times to miss some unsettled weather.
1 day spent repairing Roam – see the trip report link below.
7 days when the radar was used running in fog – slowly!
77 degrees F – Highest temperature
48 degrees F – Lowest temperature
69 degrees F – Warmest water temperature (Wrangell and Desolation Sound)
0 hours watching TV aboard – We did watch a few DVD's
0 Ranger Tugs seen during 6 and 1/2 weeks in Alaska – (We did hear about Russ and Toni on R-27 Traveler about a week ahead of us. They trailered to Prince Rupert and started from there. They've posted a link to their excellent blog elsewhere on this site.)
4000 pictures and videos taken by Cheryll; Here's a link to a trip report with 24 selected pictures and some stories. Please be patient with the download, the file is 7MB.

http://odendahls.com/Alaska2013.pdf

The big question is; who will go next year?

We are looking forward to meeting many of you at the Rendezvous in Anacortes. Afterwards, we'll load her (Roam, not Cheryll) onto the trailer and head back to Michigan.

Rich

 

[lashobe]

Read the blog, saw the pictures, felt the thrill of the trip. Simply a stupendous trip and achievement. Congratulations on your adventurous spirit and thanks so much for sharing.

Lee Shobe
Sea Ranger

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Welcome back Rich and Cheryll, wonderful experience...we look forward to seeing you tomorrow in Anacortes and hearing more about your adventures.

Jim F

 

[DBBRanger]

Unbelievable!! I'm speechless. What adventurers you guys are. You've left me wanting more stories. Sorry we won't be in Anacortes to hear them first hand.

Congratulations!

Doug
Still Crazy

 

[baz]

Wonderful adventure story... and so glad your transmission problem did not deter you from completing the cruise/trip. Thanks for the wonderfully written blog which was a pleasure to read along with those amazing photos. You both did good and I envy you the experiences you surely must have had during those 88 days. It must have been a bit scary to have those whales so close by and also wonder how they figured out how to avoid your boat. :roll:

Were you ever nervously low on fuel during the trip ?
How about fresh water supply -- did it last ?
Did you use paper charts primarily or did the Chart Plotter provide adequate info ?
Would you advise this cruise for a solo crew ?
What kind of spares did you think of taking along ?

See you at Cap Sante for the answers.... 🙂

 

[sportner]

Rich & Cheryl,

Welcome home. We enjoyed reading about your trip and looking at your photos. Sorry we couldn't have got together while in Alaska, maybe next time.

Thanks for posting.

 

[STELLA L]

Wow, you guys are amazing. I did 1241 miles but they were "tame" compared to your trip. Since this was our first year in the salt your trip info and our experiences on the water should better prepare us for our plans for next year. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

[Favunclerich]

Wonderful adventure story... and so glad your transmission problem did not deter you from completing the cruise/trip. Thanks for the wonderfully written blog which was a pleasure to read along with those amazing photos. You both did good and I envy you the experiences you surely must have had during those 88 days. It must have been a bit scary to have those whales so close by and also wonder how they figured out how to avoid your boat. :roll:

Were you ever nervously low on fuel during the trip ?
How about fresh water supply -- did it last ?
Did you use paper charts primarily or did the Chart Plotter provide adequate info ?
Would you advise this cruise for a solo crew ?
What kind of spares did you think of taking along ?

See you at Cap Sante for the answers.... 🙂

Barry,

In response to your questions;
No, we didn't worry about fuel, but I never let it go below 1/4 full. In places, it's well over 100 miles between fuel docks, and we covered about 200 miles in Glacier Bay without access to diesel. In these areas, it's necessary to run at slower displacement speeds to improve economy and increase range.

Roam has a 30-gallon fresh water tank. We also carried 7 gallons in jugs. We were very conserving when we knew it was a while between water stops. We never used the water in the jugs, but just about emptied the tank in five days in Glacier Bay.

The Raymarine chartplotter and Navionics chips worked fine. We also have the US charts loaded on an iPad as part of the Active Captain ap. Our second backup is the Navionics ap on my Android phone. Before departing, I downloaded the charts for the area we covered, so cell signals and wifi are not necessary.

We also carried about 100 older (1980's and 1990's) paper charts and a couple of chart books that I bought used. They served as a good planning tool and backup. We like the Waggoner guide for marinas. Unfortunately, it only goes as far north as Ketchikan. We also think that their reviews are slanted in favor of marinas that purchase advertising, so we used Activecaptain.com for a little more objectivity. We also carried the Douglas cruising guides. They're not as up-to-date as Waggoner, but they give great descriptions of anchorages that don't change much. I also carried the Ports and Passes book for tide and current information, but didn't use it much as it's largely redundant to what's available electronically in both the Navionics software and Active Captain iPad app.

I can't answer your question about doing this solo. I read an article about three guys who did a similar trip on R-21's several years back. They each single-handed their own boat, but traveled as a group. The answer to your question is a function of your personal tolerance for risk and how well you enjoy solitude.

Here's a rough idea of Roam's spares inventory;
4 sets fuel filters
2 oil filters
4 impellers and gaskets
2 alternator/water pump belts
1 set zincs
1 spare shift cable (new)
1 spare fresh water pump (may also work for raw water washdown)
oil, coolant, steering fluid
assorted hose clamps
butt connectors
bulbs for interior and running lights
fuses
drain plug
wire ties
assorted screws, nuts, bolts, washers
thruster fuse
thruster shear pins
valve cover gasket and injector seals(overkill?)
wiper blades
bilge pump cartridge
wire
Gorilla Tape and blue tape
Silicone Sealant
3M 4200 and 5200
Epoxy
Wood plugs for through-hull and sea strainer

Best Regards,
Rich

 

[baz]

Rich: I appreciate your response... that spares list looks daunting. About solo-crewing... I think my son would not let me go it alone... just as he did not let me go it alone when I purchased a Volvo using the overseas program where you go to Sweden to pickup the car and tool about for two weeks etc before having the car shipped back to USA. Son elected to go with me then, and we had a great time wing-ing about Sweden and Norway for several weeks, all on Volvo's dime.

Did you have to replace/repair the wipers... I ask as they seem a bit fragile IMO on our R-25. In rain/drizzle/foggy situations the wipers become a critical component... and where did you get your wiper spares from ?

 

[Favunclerich]

Did you have to replace/repair the wipers... I ask as they seem a bit fragile IMO on our R-25. In rain/drizzle/foggy situations the wipers become a critical component... and where did you get your wiper spares from ?

Barry,

Roam is six years old, and I replaced the wiper blades shortly after I bought her two years ago. One of the blades was cracked and separating. I have not changed them since. I had a hard time finding replacements locally at the auto parts stores, but the Ranger Tugs parts department sells them.

On a related note; many people on this site use Rain-X and similar products. They feel that wipers are not necessary. On this trip, I decided to do a test. I Rain-Xed two windows, and left the other two untreated. After a few days, I reached my personal conclusion as to the product's effectiveness. I'm not going to share the result. I invite other Tugnutters to try a similar controlled experiment and reach their own conclusions.

Rich

 

[baz]

Thanks Joe...

I used Rain-X at first and I now use Clear Fusion on my glass. Even so, water drops will still cling to the glass at times or so much water is thrown up that wipers are needed to quickly clear the glass and so good wiper action IMO is a requirement in order to see out clearly. I don't care to peer through glass with water droplet obscuring my vision.

I need to replace my wipers after 4 years of use so will be contacting Ranger for some new ones shortly. 🙂

 

[debandal]

Sounds like you guys had a great trip. It is on our list as well. We were in the Prince Rupert area fishing until the 24 of August. Would have liked to have met up with you on your way back. We met Russ and Tony in a rest area on our way up there and had a nice visit with them.
Al and Deb
R25SC (Reel Ranger)

 

[Olytuggers]

A wonderful blog of an amazing cruise. Thanks for sharing, you give us something to dream about and plan for. Hopefully we canl someday follow in your wake! Looking forward to hearing more about your adventures at the Rendezvous.

Lois and Dan Cheney
Hoku Kai R25SC