:D Let’s try this again.
After a very long time Dream Catcher is finally home in Alaska. Here is the Reader’s Digest version of how we got her from the Daigle Welding and Marine in Campbell River British Columbia to her slip in Seward Alaska.
Arrived at Campbell River for the acceptance inspection on Monday April 28th; accepted the boat and then drove her to Seattle by way of Friday Harbor WA and Sydney BC (300 Mi); went through the locks at Lake Washington and docked her at a boat yard in Seattle; had her pulled out of the water and loaded on to the custom built Rolls Axle trailer that I had previously shipped to my friends house near Seattle; set the tongue weight; washed and cleaned her and loaded a bunch of “Stuff” for the trip north; had her moved to Tacoma where she was loaded on to a TOTE (Totem Ocean Express) ship for the trip to Alaska; she picked up a good scrape on the Port side (which would have severely damaged a NON ALLOY boat) on the trip up; picked her up in Anchorage and pulled her to the local Suzuki dealer for the 20 hour service and to resolve an oil leak in the Port engine; moved her to the house where we started outfitting and loading her; had to wait until after the Memorial Day weekend to move her to Seward due to oversize movement restrictions; pulled her to Seward and put her in her slip; the weather was Sh**y and I came down with the crud I picked up from the grandkids; I got better then my wife came down with the same stuff so we came home without taking her out; have visitors coming in from the Wash DC area tomorrow so I don’t know when we will finally get to take her out – but at least she is home. We have lots to learn about her systems and electronics.
From the short time we have spent on the boat she is designed beautifully, built very well, is very quite (In fact she is as quiet or quieter than my wife’s Audi) and rides and handles like a dream. Right out of the box she cruises at 27 to 29 Kts @ 4200 RPM, at WOT she does about 48Kts; mileage on the trip down from CR to Seattle was about 1.6 MPG. I expect this to increase one I get some time on the engines and do some prop and engine height work.
Jettywolf and you other flatlanders – as you can see in the pictures we have a few hills or mountains (depends on your perspective) here in Alaska. The trip from my house to Seward was 150 miles on mostly two lane windy roads (Don’t’ have any Interstates in Alaska) with a few mountain thrown in for good luck. More on the trailer set up later but she towed beautifully, straight, no sway, smooth breaking and very comfortable for such a big load. Averaged 7.4 MPG for the 150 Mi to Seward– which ain’t bad considering the size and the mountains. Trailer boats are a little different up here in Alaska!!!
I have lots of pictures which I will be posting over the summer so I will just include a few from the trip to Seward. If you have any questions I will try and answer them as quickly as I can. I have owned glass boats in the past and all I can say is Alloy/Aluminum/Plate/Tin boats are the answer for me!
Thanks for the interest in the Dream Catcher.
SB
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