Planning a trip up the inside passage to Alaska

[NiceAft]

She's a MacGregor, after all. Play the pipes man!

Love it

A good post.

[LordElsinore]

She's a MacGregor, after all. Play the pipes man!

I will say that I've never been a huge fan of bag pipe music nor of heavy metal music....but when you put the two together, something magical happens:

[NiceAft]

Try Rufus Harley. Known for playing Jazz and blues bagpipes


I can see that blasting from speakers.

[ris]

Mike aka Chinook took his 26 X from I think Washington state up to Alaska. Cannot remember where his website is located. Might find it here under posts by Chinook.

[Be Free]

It used to be here: https://chinook.cecka.us/

I'm getting an error when I try it right now. Let's hope it a temporary problem.

[LordElsinore]

One item crossed off on the check list: Got my (international) MSSI number from the FCC and programmed it into my VHF/AIS. Crazy that you only get one shot at entering that in and you have to send it to the factory to get reset if you put it in wrong. At least it made me enter it twice and review it again before it accepted it.

I also finished wiring up all the cables (and making them pretty) that allow my Suzuki DF60A to speak with the NMEA 2000 network so that all the engine data shows up on the chartplotter. That was pretty cool! Can't wait for next season when I can see that in action on the water.

Downloaded charts (PDFs) of the areas I'm planning on going so I can get familiar with how to read them

[NiceAft]

It used to be here: https://chinook.cecka.us/

I'm getting an error when I try it right now. Let's hope it a temporary problem.

To connect to Chinook, try this for e-mail or Private Message.

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1324

[C Buchs]

I didn't see it posted in this thread and you probably know, but connecting with the MacGregor Yacht Club of B.C. would definitely be helpful. I just joined while on a chartered trip in the San Jauns and the Gulf Islands. I'm definitely taking my up there!

Jeff

[OverEasy]

Hi LordElsinore

I also finished wiring up all the cables (and making them pretty) that allow my Suzuki DF60A to speak with the NMEA 2000 network so that all the engine data shows up on the chartplotter. That was pretty cool! Can't wait for next season when I can see that in action on the Chartplotter.

This is a topic of interest to many of us with Suzuki Engines and Chartplotters.
Maybe you could post about your process and experience in accomplishment of this effort?

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[LordElsinore]

Yeah absolutely. I can post what I bought and the YouTube tutorial video I followed too. I’ll do it as a new post soon.

I should also post about my experience replacing the vapor separator tank earlier this year too when I discovered my DF60A was leaking fuel out into the water

[LordElsinore]

This is a topic of interest to many of us with Suzuki Engines and Chartplotters.
Maybe you could post about your process and experience in accomplishment of this effort?

I've posted it here: https://macgregorsailors.com/forum/view ... hp?t=29778

Thanks
Mike

[Highlander]

Mike aka Chinook took his 26 X from I think Washington state up to Alaska. Cannot remember where his website is located. Might find it here under posts by Chinook.

Yes he did & he's done the inside passage more than once so he,s got to b one of the most knowledgeable guys on here to seek advise from on that trip . I know someone on a 26X & 26M also came back down the west coast side which can b a pretty dangerous trip if u r not carefully monitoring weather & tides & tides surges the guy,s in the X & M were accompanied by bigger boats I do believe ! . Chinook was thinking of doing the round trip & down the west coast side a couple of yrs ago , but I don,t know how far he got as weather can ruin the best laid out plans , I,ve read of guys coming down the west coast side on bigger boats & running into sudden severe weather & having to seek shelter in a harbour & another crew had to ride out a storm for 4-5 hrs before reaching a safe harbour they all flew home & returned later when time & weather allowed to retrieve their boats , another crew on a bigger sail boat lots more experience rode it out all the way back to Victoria but they were still beat up & exhausted by that time , nothing worse than trying to beat a weather window .
Chinook posted that scheduled trip on here as he was hoping to find if some other guy,s wanted to do the same trip at the same time "Flotilla" & meet other Mac guy,s on their passage , Unfortunately I could,nt go as I had to fly back to Toronto to look after my two grankids for three month while my youngets daughter was recovering from hip surgery , then Leon flew up from San Fran & we helped Geoff deliver his new to him 32 ft sail boat from lake Huron down thru the great lakes to Toronto Lake Ontario took us about 6 days . so buy the time I got back their was no way I had time to get organised for that trip , but Chinook had done all his home work marked out all the safe harbours & anchorages down the west coast side incase of any bad mishaps , emg. or weather situation .
the ferries r getting old & seem to b breaking down a lot these days plus since covid when the ferries where half shut down due to travel restrictions they lost a lot of crew members who went off onto the ocean freighters & making more money so not coming back so lots of cancelations due to crew shortages & they r finding it hard to get experienced crew now & training new people takes yrs . Washington,s ferries r even in far worse shape as they r even older sadly , some of the new ferrie,s they bought & being built in places like Hungary or other eastern euro countries were not built to spec or meet our specs so as soon as they r delivered they spend 6 months here in dry dock being retro fitted Victoria bought a new $90 million swing bridge from china 3 yrs later when it arrived it had to b shipped back as the steel was not up to spec so ended up costing $130 million LOL so u git what U pay for as they say ,
the ferry cost me $250. u pay buy the foot I have a ford crew cab so I was around 53 to 55ft likely a lot more money now !

When I crossed northern Ontario & thru the Prairie,s & over the Rockie,s I came across lots of gas stations that had closed like an hr or two early due to lack of bussiness I,d heard about this so I always carried a 5 gallon container of gas in the back of the trk if not I,d have run out at least 3 times due to early gas station closures but then again it was last wk in Sept.
I,d planned on driving 12hrs a day as I had my summer tires on for maximum fuel mileage as I wanted to beat the snow tire & snow chain requirements the following wk , but due traffic delays due to accidents , road work or bridge closures down to one lane I ended up driving 14 to 16hrs some days , but after almost hitting a big black bear one night & a moose the following night I decided no more night driving & added an extra day to my trip , which resulted in me driving down the rockie,s in freezing rain ice covered roads trying to keep me from going over 15km/h in first gear

FYI u r not allowed to take full portable gas containers on the ferries including ur boat portable tanks & if u have propane tanks u r designated to a hazmat area which I found totaly stupid as I had mobile homes beside me on board which had propane tanks on board ?

Any ways enough of my ranting lol , sorry for responding sooner to ur E/M as I had family visiting

[LordElsinore]

Wow...sounds a bit intimidating between the icy weather, the bears and moose, the lack of gas, broken ferries and bridges. I'm a little depressed now

When you say "down the west coast side", do you mean out in the open ocean off the west coast instead of sticking to the more protected waters of the inside passage?

[Highlander]

Wow...sounds a bit intimidating between the icy weather, the bears and moose, the lack of gas, broken ferries and bridges. I'm a little depressed now

When you say "down the west coast side", do you mean out in the open ocean off the west coast instead of sticking to the more protected waters of the inside passage?

Yes down the west coast side of Vancouver Island is open Ocean , the inside passage is the protected East coast side of the Island but still demands respect it can get rough even enough to even cancel the big ferrie,s so u just have to watch ur weather window,s & b aware , but the few mac guy,s on here who have actually done the trip r the one's who can give u the best advise & help for planning ur trip , Chinook would likely be able to tell u the best time to go to avoid the worst fog , here,s the link of Chinook,s last planned trip I believe , so lots of reading for u & some good advise from his planning
viewtopic.php?p=322823#p322823
J

[Highlander]

Now this guy was a very lucky man not so much for the other guy sadly tho !

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/m ... 8421&ei=15

Now u can see what I was talking about

J