A familiar Port Angeles Harbor vessel came out of the water last week for her semiannual maintenance.
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive, hauled out the Puget Sound Pilots boat Juan de Fuca.
The 74-foot boat is undergoing her semiannual out-of-service period for review of critical systems, including her twin 900-horsepower marine diesel engines and Hamilton water jet drives.
Additionally, the pilot boat, known for her international-orange cabin, is receiving a fresh coat of bottom paint, and personnel will power-buff and wax the boat.
The Juan de Fuca and her sister vessel, Puget Sound, were built in 1999 by the Nordlund Boat Co. of Tacoma and are the only two pilot boats the Tacoma yacht-maker has built.
Both transport pilots to and from large ships plying the difficult waters between Port Angeles and Puget Sound.
Navy tug
Platypus also has a small Navy tug in one of its satellite buildings. It looks suspiciously like a log bronc.
The vessel known only as LT 2 is used in Everett to move various Navy assets around as needed.
I understand LT 2 is to be sandblasted and painted, including the engine room and bilges.
Platypus also has been tasked with designing and installing a locking device for the shaft, apparently to keep it in place when it’s being towed to minimize drag.
Buy/sell a boat
The seventh annual For Sale By Owner and Marina Swap Meet at Port Ludlow Marina will be held this coming weekend.
If you are in the market to buy or sell a boat — from a cabin cruiser to a dinghy — or boating equipment and sundries, then Port Ludlow Marina may just be the place to go Saturday and next Sunday.
Admittance to the show is free.
There is a $15 participation fee for a 10-foot-square booth with a picnic table; a $25 participation fee for all trailered boats, including a barbecue lunch Saturday; and a $50 participation fee for all boats in the water, including two nights’ moorage and the barbecue lunch Saturday.
Boats will be on display at the marina’s guest dock and in the parking lot from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to noon Sunday, April 19.
I’m told that the show isn’t open to brokers, but even if your boat is listed with a broker, you are welcome to bring it and show it yourself.
Boat owners are expected to be at their boats throughout the show to answer any questions.
For more information and to register, visit www.portludlowassociates.com.
Adventurer to speak
The next installment of Wooden Boat Wednesday at Port Townsend’s Northwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation will happen Wednesday when Erden Eruc discusses his solo circumnavigation by human power that took 5 years and 11 days.
On July 10, 2007, Eruc left Bodega Bay, Calif., by rowing his boat and did not return there until July 21, 2012.
In the meantime, he accumulated a plethora of records including becoming first person to have rowed three oceans and the first person to have crossed the Indian Ocean mainland to mainland.
During his epic journey, Erden also took time to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with his 78-year-old father.
Wooden Boat Wednesday is a free event that begins at noon and typically lasts for 90 minutes at the beautiful Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St. in Port Townsend.
Harbor watch
During a Thursday fueling in Port Angeles Harbor, Tesoro Petroleum provided bunkers to the anchored British Councillor, a 755-foot LPG carrier that is flagged in Britain.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts and boat yards.
Items and questions involving boating, marina and industrial activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
