Walldog's Journeys, Willie's Tug

[walldog]

We actually got nearly a foot of snow in a lot of places...we got about 8 inches but missed some of the wind. I am really envious of y'all in the south. Boating is at least 2 full months away and really more like 3+ before the water gets to the point where immersion is not a life-threatening adventure. I follow all the winter adventures here and really enjoy them. Thanks!

We actually left Port Isabel a day earlier than we planned to come to Port Aransas. We were closely checking the weather forecasts and saw that we did not want to try buck the conditions we are having now. Winds are sustained at 40 and gusting to 46. Across the bay from us a station reported 51 sustained and 54 gusts. We noticed the cleat on the dock at our bow is moving and loose. I found a hole from a previous failed cleat and looped and extra bowline around the beam at the edge of the dock. Insurance. But we are warm, even if we cannot stand up straight outside. And it will get better as the day goes on and should be a beautiful day tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.

Here is a picture taken with my phone this morning of our neighbor here on the dock. This large cat named Buster is one of 4 cats and Labrador retriever that lives aboard this sailing "Cat".

 

[walldog]

We are in Port O'Conner, Texas. Daylight rise to dense fog. Looks like we will wait for it to lift a bit. We had enough trouble those tows yesterday when we could see them.

 

[walldog]

From what I remember you have a lot of straight runs with tiny corrections and the scenery is much the same. But you are on the water with your best friend (and Jake) so life is good, we envy you. Please post photos here or in your blog.

The weather here is still a little nasty for good cruising.

Hi Russ, Toni,

You are right it is similar scenery, but never boring. It seems that every five minutes, we hear something like this on Channel 16 with his best southern drawl "This is the Kathy Swango west bound at the 405. We are pushing two loaded doubled up." Now since we are east bound, we know it is going to get interesting real quick. Loaded means they are pushing the depth of the ICW in a lot of places. You cannot depend on assuming which side they will be on if any. The trick is to give them as much room as possible without getting out of the channel too far and into the muck. A couple of times yesterday we stirred up the mud pretty good as I watched our depth come up to around 3 foot. There are two links to the same album of pictures below. I will post some here when we get stopped for a while in Kemah (Houston).

https://plus.google.com/photos/11668025 ... 5475590929

https://picasaweb.google.com/1166802598 ... directlink

This guy's barges were stuck into the other side bank, leaving us about 35 feet or so between his stern and the bank on this side. Turbulent water from his prop wash had us really working to stay on top of our steering.

 

[sportner]

Herb & Wilma,
Great photos. You're right, lots of barges!! Are you able to anchor out much or just using marinas? We enjoy following you online, what is your destination?

 

[Pat Anderson]

Herb and Willie,

Are we going to see you out here any time soon again on the Great Upper Left Coast? Perhaps a cruise with Russ and Toni on Traveler, Garry and Vicki on Amy Marie, and (if you guys will allow a lowly CD25) Pat & Patty on Daydream?

Pat & Patty
CD25 Daydream

 

[walldog]

Herb and Willie,

Are we going to see you out here any time soon again on the Great Upper Left Coast? Perhaps a cruise with Russ and Toni on Traveler, Garry and Vicki on Amy Marie, and (if you guys will allow a lowly CD25) Pat & Patty on Daydream?

Pat & Patty
CD25 Daydream

We have plans to spend June-September back on your upper left coast. We may make it out for the mini gathering in Lake Washington at the end of May. A cruise with you and Patty will be high on our priorities. We have been following Garry and Vicki with their new boat and look forward to meeting them. It will not be long now, we are keeping in practice by cruising up and down the ICW. The Houston Ship Channel was really interesting yesterday. Huge ocean going tankers passing us one after another. We actually met the "Buster Brouchard" going out as we were incoming. A few days ago leaving Corpus Christi, we followed him out the Corpus Christi Channel. We watched him on our AIS app as he took a short cut across the Gulf to Houston. For Russ and Toni, we anchored out at the Galveston Causeway bridge for about an hour yesterday as we waiting for the RR bridge that was under construction to open. We have spotted a few places to anchor and will probably do more returning to Port Isabel next week. We are still a bit wary about venturing off the ICW, as it gets shallow really quick if you do not have "local knowledge".

We anchored here waiting for the bridge to open. By the time it did, there were many tows waiting on both sides to cross. The bridge operator said she would not be the traffic cop and that we would have sort out who went when between us. Being small and faster, we were able to slip through easily. The doubled up tows had to break their barges apart and go through single file as the opening was just wide enough for one barge width.

More later, as it is now time to walk Jake.

 

[Pat Anderson]

Fantastic, will check in periodically for updates!

 

[walldog]

We cleaned and re-oiled Willie's Tug's air filter. It is at least an over night job as after you spray the detergent on the filter, you need to flush it with water to rinse off the grime and detergent. Then it must dry completely before applying the oil. I used a soft toothbrush to remove the layers of accumulated grime before applying the detergent. Here is a picture after the oil was applied and the filter is ready for installation. Not a hard job and with regular cleaning and no physical damage, the $108 filter should last a long time. The instructions in the kit say over 100K miles. I do not know how that translates, but should be quite a few boat hours.

And yes I know that the filter is a BMC air filter made for Yanmar and not a K&N air filter. I have been assured that any of the good air filter cleaning kits will work very well as they basically do the same thing. Wash the dirt away and re-oil the paper.

 

[knotflying]

I just did my filter as well with the same product. Amazing how much dirt came out of the filter. I thought with only 130 hours it would be much cleaner. I have two filters and will just rotate them as needed, always having a clean one ready to install.

 

[lornec]

This goes back a few blogs, but do you have any pictures of the rest of your house ?
The whole package really ties together, house and boat shelter.

 

[walldog]

Mullygrubs
Years ago, my prime means of transportation was my motorcycle. I would work until I could take some time off and I would then ride my MC some place fun. Well sometimes the work took longer than I would like and my attitude would suffer from a malady I called the Mullygrubs. So in order to get my head back on straight, I would just have to fire up the bike and take off. No destination in mind, just ride until the Mullygrubs were all cleared out.

Today was one of those days, it had been too long since the last time I took Willie's Tug out. On my walk with Jake this morning, there was not a bit of wind and the skies were clear. When got home, I fired up the boat and went for a ride, just like days of old on the motorcycle. I watched the sun rise as I crossed the bay to the causeway. Thinking that the Gulf would be calm as the bay, I ventured out past the jetties. Well it was not calm, but not bad. The further I went out, the higher the swells. They were far enough apart that I did not get pounded too bad and when I turned around to return the currents gave me a nice push. Crossing the bay again on the way back a couple of Dolphins got friendly with the bow of Willie's Tug. No pictures, just a great morning and no more Mullygrubs for a while.

 

[sportner]

I can relate to your story Herb. Thanks for sharing.

 

[walldog]

Willie's Tug preparing for her journey to the Great Pacific North West.

http://captnjim.blogspot.com/2012/04/tuggin.html

The new bunk "cutouts" worked like a charm, placed just right. The ramp was perfect for the slightly higher bunks.

 

[Bruce Moore]

Come on out. The water's fine!

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[walldog]

The crew of Willie's Tug is spending a few days bumming around the Seattle waterfront with a few of our like minded friends. This link shows a picture that a stranger (new friend) took of us preparing to transit the Ballard Locks.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/showallphotos.aspx?mmsi=367496340

Willie has been active again in her blog http://andwilliesaid.blogspot.com/

Here is Nellie Too lining up for the locks

And a shot of Seattle's newest waterfront landmark. Bruce, at least it is a good way to dead reckon into Bell Harbor.

 

[walldog]

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/de...22.8715&centery=48.64641&zoom=10&type_color=9

See where Moondance and Willies Tug are right now.

 

[walldog]

Bunch of TugNuts at Rosario Resort on Orcas Island enjoying the concert after an afternoon in the hot tub and outdoor heated pool.

 

[walldog]

Willies Tug crossed into Canada yesterday via Bedwell Harbor with Moondance and Destiny.

It only took a phone call this time to clear customs. Some of you may remember that the last time we came through during the Desolation Sound Cruise last year, we spent an hour or so on the dock waiting for customs officers to arrive from Sydney to check us out.

All in a row at Ganges. Stocked up on wine and few perishables and now off to Conover Cove. Hey Winslow, check out Jake on the cockpit.

 

[walldog]

Destiny and Moondance leaving Friday Harbor heading back to Seattle. Leaving Willies Tug all alone in Friday Harbor. Great 10 days or so touring the Gulf Islands with the last two nights in Victoria.

 

[JamesTXSD]

It was a treat to get to see the six of you last night. I'll look forward to getting together with you and Wilma to hear about your travels.

Best wishes,
Jim