North Harbour via Cape Scott

Today is the day. The rounding of the dreaded Cape Scott. Well not so much. Neptune has been kind to us the previous two times we rounded the Cape and today he outdid himself. Winds were never more than 5 knots, usually less than 3 and the seas rippled.

As we did the previous two roundings, we chose the Tatnall Reefs route which lets you avoid the Nahwitti Bar and time your arrival at Cape Scott for slack. We were off bright and early, none of the other boats in Bull Harbour were moving when we left and we never spotted them on AIS.

Flat seas are always nice. In addition to the ride, the visibility for spotting critters is vastly improved. Sea otters are easy to see as they lay on their backs and give you the “look” as you pass them by. The whales were all fishing shallow waters which meant no flukes as they gently dove. If it were not for the flat conditions, I don’t know if we would have seen them at all.

As the conditions were “perfect” there is not much to report. We saw only small fishing boats and no other recreational vessels.

an ideal rounding of Cape Scott

Boat chores filled the day are we traded off the helm in two-hour shifts. Though the ride was stellar, we were happy to see Quatsino Lighthouse as we rounded into the Sound. There was a large Canadian Coast Guard Ship, the Sir Wilfred Grenfell anchored off the lighthouse – she’s a patrol vessel built in 1987 and is 225 feet long. Also a welcome sight!

Sir Wilfred Grenfell

North Harbour is not much more than a place behind a small island, but it provides protection from the Pacific and is only three miles inland after you round Cape Perkins. We’ve never been alone here in the past but this year we have it all to ourselves.

north harbour anchorage

Winter Harbour is only a two-mile dinghy ride from North Harbour. There you find the Outpost store, open only in the afternoons, which has a reasonable selection of provisions (mostly packaged/canned) and an outstanding offering of anything having to do with fishing. Why? Winter Harbour is a destination fishing spot given its easy access to prime locations for salmon and halibut.

Given we had such a peaceful rounding of Cape Scott, we were more than ready for take the dinghy over to the Outpost. As I brought the dinghy up on plane enroute to Winter Harbour, my right foot reported it was getting wet.

 “RED ALERT, FULL STOP!”

No, I did not leave the drain plug out of the dinghy. (Karen’s first question) What’s happening? Nothing at slow speed. But once up to speed again, we see water intruding where the dinghy pontoon and the aluminum hull meet. We do a 180 and return to OceanFlyer slowly as we monitor the issue.

After getting the dinghy up and floating on the Steelhead davit at my eye level, I could see that we had a one-foot area where the bond between the pontoon Hypalon and the hull was broken. In the center 3 inches, I could poke my finger through and see that there was a clear path for water to intrude.

We’re going to need some better glue

After looking up repair options online thanks to Starlink and reaching out to my Bellingham buddies s well as aone other friend who had just replaced his pontoons last winter, I developed a plan for repair. We were determined not to be without the dinghy for the rest of the trip.

The Hypalon contact cement in my dinghy repair kit was approaching 5 years old and was rather gelatinous. Also, trying to use contact cement where you first need to keep the two surfaces apart as you apply the cement and as it dries to a tacky surface just wasn’t practical.

One of the internet postings talking about successfully using West System G-Poxy. I am very familiar with that product and have had great success in other applications. As a bonus, I just replaced my supply with new product this Spring, so I knew the epoxy was fresh.

I used the coarse sandpaper that came with the dinghy repair kit to prep the aluminum and the Hypalon, then cleaned the surface with acetone to remove sanding particles and grease.

After applying a generous amount of G-Poxy and squeezing it into every part of the delamination, I covered it with the Gorilla tape to hold everything in place while the epoxy set. The instruction recommends waiting 24 hours before “hard use” if curing at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. As the ambient temperature is not getting out of the low 60’s, I applied heat with my heat gun every hour or so. I also planned to wait 48 hours instead of 24 just to make certain the epoxy has time to fully cure.

Fingers crossed, we settled in to stream TV via our newest friend, Starlink, and had a peaceful evening.

Easy dinner after a long day

North Harbour Senset