After visiting the Iditarod start in Anchorage last month, I just must see the finish-line (shown here) so I call up my good friend Fred in Haines and we meet in Juneau for an exciting trip to Nome.

With the price of gold skyrocketing, miners are pouring into Nome to dig up the beaches again.  The sand is only 12 feet below the icepack, so people are cutting holes in the ice, donning scuba gear and using big vacuums to harvest what was left behind 110 years ago.  We don’t want to miss out on this fun…..

We must stop over in Anchorage–this is the view out of the top floor of the Captain Cook Hotel–one of the nicest places to stay in Alaska.   Now, this hotel has a wine bar so they must ‘card’ everyone who enters the bar.   Well, Fred, at 60, doesn’t like to be carded so pretty soon the hotel manager comes over and it turns out to be the owner, Wally Hickle Jr.  He turns out to be a nice guy and we have a nice discussion about Alaskan politics.  Fred presents his ID.

Captain Cook sailed all the way to this place in leaky old ships over 200 years ago–this guy had what it takes.  Even Vitus Bering didn’t make it this far.  This view out into Turnagain Arm shows the setting sun in March.

The ice is breaking up in Norton Sound as we fly along.  They have snowmachine races on Norton Sound every year and these machines reach speeds of 120 miles per hour.  There are no polar bears down this far south.

Alaska Airlines just introduced a bunch of these half cargo/half passenger planes.  If you use frequent flyer miles, it’s only 15,000 miles to fly from Petersburg to Nome and back!  Such a deal.  Fred and I get down to business–investigating all the bars in town.  Wyatt Earp opened a bar here in the early last century during the Nome Gold Rush and we’re anxious to visit there.

This isn’t it, but most of the places look like this–little doorways into warm interiors.  Two weeks earlier, this place was packed with Iditarod sight-seers.  You must prepay for one week at the hotel a year in advance if you want to see the finish.  My name’s on the waiting list.

Meet Fritz–one of the dogs that lead the team transporting diphtheria vaccine to Nome in 1925.  His reward was to be stuffed like Roy Roger’s horse and stuck in a plastic box so tourists like me could take pictures.    Hmmmmm.

If you visit Nome, be sure to visit their wonderful museum.  Besides this famous dog and Wyatt Earp, the early polar explorers visited Teller (near Nome) via dirigible.  The Gjoa, Nansen’s first ship, and the first ship ever to traverse the NW passage sailed here in 1906.  His second ship, Fram carried Amundsen to Antarctica.  These were exciting times!

I worked in Nome (also Shishmaref and Elim) about 10 years ago during the Idatarod.  Here is Igloo #1–a new building in town.

Helping dig out from the winter snow at Anvil City Park–it’s about 12F this day.  Gold was discovered by the “Three Lucky Swedes” on Anvil Creek in 1901.  Actually one was Norwegian….  The name “Nome” is debatable–here’s Wiki’s read:

“The origin of the city’s name “Nome” is still under debate. The name may have been given by Nome’s founder, Jafet Lindeberg: within trekking distance of his childhood home in Kvænangen, Norway, there is a Nome valley (Norwegian: Nomedalen).

An alternate theory is that Nome received its name through an error: allegedly when a British cartographer copied an ambiguous annotation made by a British officer on a nautical chart, while on a voyage up the Bering Strait. The officer had written “? Name” next to the unnamed cape. The mapmaker misread the annotation as “C. Nome”, or Cape Nome, and used that name on his own chart;^[1] the city in turn took its name from the cape.”

Local merchants wanted the name Anvil City, but it was the Post Office that refused to change the name.

Two things the locals like the most–drinking and pull tabs.  And this is after they swept up.  This bar has been in continual existence since the original Gold Rush.  An Eskimo woman sitting next to us won $400 and began to tell us her life story–truly riveting for Fred and me.  The Eskimo language and culture is becoming rapidly  extinct.

In normal towns, rednecks have dogs in the back of their pickups.  Not in Nome.  This one will give you a taste  of his antlers if you get too close.

Of  course, I can’t resist playing (and completely dismantling) this old piano–I’ll bet Wyatt Earp played this one too.  Fred listens politely in the lobby of the Nugget Hotel.  Stay tuned!

It’s time to warm up again–February is always a good time to consider alternative lifestyles in Hawaii and our good friends in Kona invite us down.   There is now a direct Alaska Air flight from B’ham to Hono-town (hate this place) but we hop over to Kauai, pour a couple Pina Coladas and begin to unwind…..ahhhh!  feel the ocean breeze?

First stop–Waimea Canyon, Kauai.  One good thing about living in a rain forest here in Alaska is you’re used to rain–and rain it did.  Kauai hold the planet’s record for rain at over 400″ but at least the waterfalls run.  Grand Canyon of Hawaii???… not even close, but it is beautiful.  We discover a nearby CCC camp and visit there and even make a donation for their restoration.  Visit our new website here to find out about this place.

I take surfing lessons from one of the best……   No wipe-outs for me!

Over on the Beeg Island, Kilauea is still erupting.  Can you imagine, after publishing our Hawaii poster two years ago, this volcano re-erupted and last year we sold over 800 posters compared to about 10 the year before!  Pele’s still happy and so is Ranger Doug.

Here is a typical Kona sunset, filtered through volcanic smog or vog…..

All this vog makes my head spin but I find relief in these pills, or are they suppositories–yikes!  There is so much fufu on these islands.  We visit the Avocado Festival where a silent auction lists custom “Light Infusions,”  at $350 each–or two for $750….later changed to $700, the correct amount.  And get a load of this scam:

I don’t mean to mock religion (OK, I do)……so we tour  a 600+ acre paradise where 23 monks (ex-California hippies) live tax-free and the land was donated by the state!  I’m OK with all their messages (I even wore a sarong for three hours because they didn’t like my knobby, sunburnt & bare knees!), but do they really need a multi-million dollar hand carved granite tax-free temple too?  I say tax all religions.  Read more here.

Then, there is the average Joe on the street–actually, this guy was very nice and let me take his picture.  He ran a piercing shop and tattoo parlor in Hilo.  Now, I attended about 10 years of college before I could pierce anyone (I’m a dentist as you know) and I never could figure out why and how these businesses can possibly be legal….  Time to head back home to sanity….

All flights directly from Hawaii to Anchorage were fully booked so we ferry back to Petersburg and immediately fly to Anchorage to view one of the last great races on this planet–the Iditarod.  Man, was I blown away by the crowds and commercialism.  Not sure this is any more sane than Hawaii really.

People are now ‘training’ 365 days a year for this and spending tons of money doing it.  The top winner so far (this was the 40th anniversary) is Jeff King at over $750,000.   With incredible lightweight sleds and top-science dogfood (12,000 calories/day/dog), this race has been pared down to just under 9 days.  The original “Great Race of Mercy” in 1925 took only five and a half days, but began from Nanana; 674 miles from Nome–today’s race is 1049 miles.  Follow the race here.

Here is Lance Mackey, who won both the Iditarod (four times) and Yukon Quest in the same year and is a heavy favorite this year although the competition is fierce with 67 teams entered.  Over 1000 dogs will run.

And everyone dresses up–Alaska style…..

Move over Pamplona–here is the queuing up for the “Running of the Reindeer.”  Never seen such pandemonium, drunkards, and tattoos since my college days.   Oh, their ‘Queen of this Madness’ was none other than Bristol Palin (white coat).  Pity the poor reindeer.

Here is Martina and friends where we watch the Fur Auction–now this is not for the squeamish.  I doubt PETA was invited.

What with all this global warming, animals are turning in their fur coats by the hundreds and this is where you can buy one.  One wolf fur went for $500; bobcats about $100; beaver about $50.  Actually, fur is quite simply the best insulation there is for ultra cold weather.  I’ve picked up several items from native Alaskans in many of the villages during my travels.

All this madness makes me thirsty and one of the best places to ‘cut the dust’ is Club Paris in downtown Anchorage–all the festivities you just witnessed are right smack dab downtown (4th Avenue)  and so is this watering hole (actually on 5th).  They serve probably the best steak I’ve ever eaten.  One thing about Anchorage is it’s a fun town to visit, especially when you live in South Kupreanof.   Stay tuned…..

Drunk History: The South Pole from sandwichgirl on Vimeo.

As many of my loyal followers know, Martina and I spent the summer 2004/5 season in Antarctica (visit our posts beginning here).  This year is the 100th anniversary of the race to the South Pole by Amundsen and Scott.  Here is a spoof video made by some of the people we worked with 6 years ago (Ben and Sandwich are two).  To those who have a passion for Antarctica history or have visited there, I think you will enjoy.  Here is the direct Vimeo link:  http://vimeo.com/35084075

Remember the rowboat race this summer?  Of course you do.  Well, I foolishly purchased three half-completed Norwegian faerings (traditional rowboats) last year and it’s time to get down to business and fix these up.  You can see  one of three faerings just beyond the Onkel Ole (blue boat).

Here is the sail that came with the boats–also one square traditional sail.  This is a dipping lug.  With this sail and the half finished hulls, our local shipwrights and I begin to piece together the missing parts…..

The above photo is the second hull filled with all sorts of sailing stuff–masts, yards, rudder parts, and what is normally regarded as ‘furniture.’   All the lighter wood is yellow cedar and represents our continuation of this project, started by a Port Townsend boat building school about 10 years ago.

These seats fit passively over the thwarts and are carved on the underside as to placement…..

We’ve three boats, with four oars each so Petersburg’s premier shipwright Andy cuts out these 13′ masterpieces and begins to shape them perfectly.  Andy is the “Stradivari of spruce.”

Here is Andy storing the masts and oars he’s built– what craftsmanship!

Remember Michael from this past summer’s Katahdin refit?   Here he and I are forging nails, rivets and roves out of iron to fasten the rest of these faerings.  Ho ho ho!

Here are the nails, rivets and roves…..

And here I’m backing the rivet while Michael peens the rove into place–drawing the plank into the frame.  We make many sizes–some 2-3″ which fasten the thwarts as well–making this faering sturdy enough for coastal plundering.

Here’s the rudder design and execution–all hand forged.  The gudgeon is designed to slip down on the long pintle while underway.  The top of the pintel is visible above the waterline and is  a perfect curve so the rudder  can be removed/engaged while converting from sail to rowing.  Another elegant Norwegian design!

Many of the fasteners are not iron, but oak tree-nails or “trunnels” as they are pronounced.  Here, Andy is hand carving slightly tapered (at the head) oak drifts that are driven through the hull into frames and then wedged on the opposite side.  This is all that holds them and when they are wet, they swell slightly making the faering stronger.  Most ships in the early viking age and beyond were entirely fastened with such “trunnels.”  OK–time for launch….

Only one leak–we left out a nail but a quick knife sharpened plug and it’s good to go.

I’m ready to leave the dock like a fearless Viking on the maiden voyage.   This boat is very ‘tender’ meaning it’s tippy.  I clearly need more ballast especially if I’m going to sail this.  Here’s a movie of the maiden voyage:

Here is the faering’s new home–The South Kupreanof Yacht Club located here at Totland.  This is the newest addition of our fleet of 13 boats!  Can’t wait to rig her sails and pillage and plunder the coast like a good Norwegian…..  Stay tuned.

Before leaving  Orlando, we got clobbered with a big rainstorm which dumped 15″ of rain on our tails as we fled north.

Only in Photoshop can you make a big storm cloud look like a nuclear explosion.  It’s time to drive north!

Before we  enter the Parkway, we visit one of our poster sites:  Fort Marion as it was called in the 30s when the WPA poster was created–using the British name.  Today it is  PC correct as Castillo de San Marcos:

Here’s the 30s poster–a beautiful poster design.  There is a shortage of eastern park WPA poster designs so this is indeed a rare poster, yet this park won’t sell it–but Ranger Doug does right here.

Martina with canon–not the camera…..  Incredible history here!

We lumber our way northward stopping at campgrounds on our way up Appalachia.  Here “Ranger Doug” can’t resist playing ranger again–he’s interviewing the modern camper replete with fifth wheel, piggy-backed “Smart Car” towed by a big-rig.

Above is the location of our 75th anniversary Blue Ridge Parkway poster….

….and below is our poster design:

Appalachia….truly a relaxed way of life.

Hiking trail with autumn colors….

Martina models in a neighboring Airstream–art-westeaux.  Never seen such an interior complete with a mounted bull’s head…..

every campground has it’s unique visitors….

This is Mabry Mill–quite a scenic stop and quite functional with a river driven waterwheel.  Essentially, this was the source of power for 200 years, before electricity.  This mill still grinds flour which is for sale.

We drive out the north end of Blue Ridge Parkway shortly after and skirt a storm in Shenandoah arriving in Washington DC for a 1/2 hour meeting with the Director of the National Park Service, Jon Jarvis.  My mission is to host an exhibition of all original WPA national park posters for the 2016 NPS Centennial at the Smithsonian–we have now found 13 of 16 known originals.  And Jon is certainly enthusiastic about my mission.

Since finding one castaway poster in 1973, I’ve republished the historical set of 16 parks plus contemporary designs for those parks that didn’t subscribe to the WPA’s federal poster project.  We now publish over 35 park designs and have  sold over 100,000 reproductions of this fabulous poster collection.  Our goal is to hang a WPA poster in every home in America.

Here Martina and I have finally arrived in Paterson N.J. the location of America’s newest National Park, just signed into law by President Obama–Paterson Falls National Park.   PFNP is located just 17 miles west of New York City at the site of a 77′ high/300′ wide falls that powered America’s first industrial town.

Founded by Alexander Hamilton, Geo. Washington’s Secretary of Treasury, he realized the industrial opportunity here as opposed to relying on the British.  General Washington camped on the fall’s edge during the Revolutionary War….  Quite interesting.

This hydro power allowed the Colt Firearms factory to be located here–also most of the American railroad rolling stock including the engines for the construction of the Panama Canal.

This park will take several years to mature with restoration and interpretation of many buildings and manufacturing plants.

Keep your eye on this place.

We keep driving north to Mystic Seaport, Connecticut.

With about 500-600 restored wooden boats!  Seattle has how many?  Maybe a dozen.  The Wawona was just chainsawed up before risking sinking in South Lake Union….  Shame on the NW Seaport for 40 years of supervised neglect!   Here’s how Mystic restores vessels:

This is a 6 year $8.2M restoration of the last whaling vessel left.  As a former board member of the Virginia Five,  I was proud!

OK–time to store our trailer (near Boston) and jump on an Amtrak train for a relaxed trip to Seattle–just barely beating a huge snowstorm in the NE.  Here we pose beside the modern “Bambi” airstreams and the larger goliaths.  I’ll stick with our 13′ footer….

Enroute across the Northern US, this photo was taken at sunset near Au Claire, Wisconsin where my great grandparents immigrated from Norway–no wonder they later moved to Bellingham!

And this was probably the very same train they rode on….   Minot ND.

Incredibly, we have no photos of our ferry trip from Bellingham to Petersburg–perhaps it’s too mundane for us after dozens of transits.  We arrive late at night to find our home (here, our garden fence) smothered in snow and 41F inside!  Time to fire up our masonry heater and move back in!  Stay tuned.

Every year, we host a Rainforest Festival here in Petersburg and one of the events this year was a tour by Breakaway Adventure Tours of the Le Conte Glacier which is a tidal glacier.  To get you oriented here’s a NE Google view–the yellow line is the Canadian border and beyond that, the Stikine River.  Also visit this site hosted on pbase by John Scurlock.

Icebergs can be seen here in this digital photograph–and many of them make it past our house about 25 miles distant in the Wrangell Narrows.  I lassoed one last year and dragged it up our beach for free ice.  And the Petersburg fishing industry in the past century used this as a source for ice for the fishpacking industry.

We’ve had record rainfall this August–I measured about 25 inches over a 30 day period and officially in town about 18 inches fell during this month.  Of course, the rivers ran wild and waterfalls were abundant–this is the approach into Le Conte Bay.

This berg is grounded at the entrance of the bay where fjords are shallower.  This is because the ice (which reached the entrance up until about 250 years ago) released their rocky contents when spreading out into Frederick Sound.  Today, this glacier is backed up about four miles.

This is a side canyon with Castle Mountain in the distance.  These peaks we see due east from our house; they have been honed sharp by glacial action over the millennia.

As we enter closer to the source, we encounter hundreds of harbor seals.  Sometimes Orcas will hunt in here–a captive meal of sorts.

And here’s the glacial face with a huge serac breaking off.   We are parked about 1/4 mile away so the sound arrives late–which is equivalent to dynamite!   A gleeful passenger raises his hands in excitement!

And here’s the consequence–a small tsunami–this one about 15′ tall and surging towards us–what excitement!  This glacier extends down below sea level to bedrock; here about 700′ so when submerged bergs break off–they’re launched into the air with no warning or sound.   This is indeed a wild place!

Glacier ice is not white, nor clear, but absorbs and reflects many spectra resulting in many beautiful colors.  I call this the Horsehead Iceberg–what a beautiful trip!  Come up for our Rainforest Festival next year.

So as not to let down our most ardent fans–here is the next chapter in the refit of this 112 year old tug….

OK–we’ve painted the upper and lower house, plus hauled out on the marine rail and cleaned & painted the hull.   So I’m now turning to the interior machinery–so put on your overalls and enter the the engine room by clicking the above link…..

OK–you’ve seen the engine running but it wasn’t that simple.   After four years of sitting at the dock, all this beast did was to hiss and spit rust and water from everywhere–and at 250 lbs starting pressure this is a lot of hissing.  The engineering is a snake-pit of pipes, tubes, valves,  etc.   Below is the control part of the engine which can either be started from the bridge, back (‘Texas’) deck or right here with the manual over-ride.

Part of the problem was this air valve which pumps air in the 7th cylinder–at the very top of the photo above and stores it in two huge air receivers for future starts.    This is critical–as this engine lacks a transmission and clutch–it is a direct reverse–meaning that in order to back down the boat, I have to shut down the engine, shift the cam and restart–all within a second–and then power in the opposite direction.  This means bringing the entire crankshaft, rods, pistons,  main shaft and propeller (many tons) to a complete stop, then moving the cam 2″ and restarting everything in the opposite direction.  This takes a lot of air.    So all valves must function.  This how I found one when I took it apart:

This is the valve responsible to supply air into the receivers and reaches several hundred degrees in temperature and is under a constant 250 lbs. pressure.

This is the “seventh” cylinder all rebuilt including the valve pictured above.  It is powered by the main engine to pump air–which is needed for restarting the engine.  On top are two triangular valve housings–letting air in (green piping on  right) and out (yellow piping on left–to be stored for the next start).  The blue pipe is water coolant.

Here are two open bays showing the camshaft–each supplying the needs of a piston–which is 10″ in diameter and weighs 250 lbs. each.  The head is about 400 lbs, and a piston rod is about 200 lbs.  This is a lot of mass to turn and reverse direction.

Each bay exhibits four cams and each cam has two lobe strategies for running in both directions.   No clutch, no transmission…..very simple.  Moving the cam engages the second set of lobes and the timing is now directed to a reverse start and the engine runs the opposite direction.  The cams (in order from left to right here) are 1. fuel, 2. intake valve, 3. air start, and 4. exhaust valve.

This engine was built in 1944 by Washington Iron Works and is a model 6-R-13 (6 cylinders, 13″ stroke and right hand).  In dual engine applications, these engines were cast as mirror opposites so an engineer could tend to both from a center isle-way.  In the Katahdin, it is a single engine but this was built as the port engine for the USS Glassford, a ship that was never built as WWII was winding down at that time.

Washington Iron Works built thousands of engines for 101 years in Seattle (where the two sports stadiums now exist).  Only eight Washingtons are still powering vessels.  Here’s the engine when it was built in 1944–still in the factory.   It has powered three other boats including the Foss 15 which spent a lot of time here in Alaska.

BTW, everyone asks me where I get parts–I’ve a 40′ steel container with two other engines all broken down.  The Katahdin engine will run forever.

OK–here are all the moving parts exposed which require oiling every two hours times six cylinders.  All the pushrods are exposed on the outside of this engine, unlike the modern automobile engine.  The four functions that run this engine (see above) are:  Bendex (fuel) injectors, intake valve, air start valve, and exhaust–see cam description above.  Everything moves when this puppy lights off.  OK–here we go:

and….

After three days of fiddling around with all these controls, I finally found the shifting problem–I’d inadvertently positioned a brass disc in the selector valve backwards–no air, no shift.  This has been corrected so it’s time for dock trials, then sea trials….Stay tuned……

Now it’s time to haul the Katahdin out of the water and clean the hull.  I have to tow her with our skiff and can do this only at high slack.  Problem is, that everyone else moves around at high slack–including this skiff, two seaplanes, a fuel barge and a ferry so it’s a crowded harbor.  The current is still running about half a knot and we bounce around until we can get a line on the dock at the marine rail.

Then we hand pull all 120 tons into the cradle….

Once we get her wedged in and blocked, the rail hauls us out slowly to reveal quite a mess on the hull–the result of five years of procrastination.  Actually, we’ve devoted all our time to the restoration of 10 buildings at Totland but now it’s time to catch up.

Yikes!

Double Yikes!  Look at this mess–even starfish!  This is Marine Biology 101!  Time to get out the scrapers and pressure washers….

No wonder I couldn’t steer!

All the growth was removed by hand, then pressure washed.  In all there were 25 wheelbarrow loads of this stuff.

Then we get out the tools of the trade–caulking mallets and irons….

With the help of a local shipwright, I first reef the seams that are questionable, cleaning them before threading first cotton followed by oakum (hemp and pine tar).   Then the seams are painted and then cemented with hydraulic cement. We spend two days cleaning up seams, plugs, etc. before the two coats of bottom paint just prior to launch.

Here are a couple of  seams ready for touch-up.  The hull is now spotless.

The wheel is polished and zincs are welded in place.  Ready for launch–Click  here for the the video of us sliding down the rail and  here to see us drift out off the rail.

Meanwhile the bears move in without an invitation.  Here, mom checks out our barbeque.  Fortunately, we didn’t have any fish on it.  This bear has been making the rounds along the Narrows and seems quite agressive….

….with a cub in tow.

Kupreanof prayer flags….  Looks like we’ll need to post a Katahdin III.  Stay tuned!

This is what 10 years in Alaska will do to a boat.  Actually, it’s about 6 years–the amount of time we have spent rebuilding our homestead across the Narrows.  Now it’s time to turn our attention back to the Katahdin–my first home here in Alaska.  The “Kat” was built in 1899 and has all the associated problems with an old wooden boat–you can read more about her in my new “Pages” section directly above the “Archives” in the right sidebar.    So it’s time to roll up my sleeves….and hire a couple of hardworking youngsters.

Michael is an excellent shipwright and loves old wooden boat projects.  Here we’re digging out rot from the bottom course of the bulwarks.  We discovered this by using a pressure washer!  Not a good sign–probably some of the Mt. Saint Helens blowdown in the 1980s.  This area was logged after too many years which yielded a lot of poor quality boat lumber.  And this is not an easy place to get to.  We’ll slide in a new piece from both sides bolting them horizontally to the existing vertical lag screws–it will be yellow cedar.

Here, Michael installs new siding in the pilothouse–also yellow cedar.  He milled this up with a 3 degree bevel so it follows the curve of the house.  In all, he replaced about 10 pieces here.  Check out the yacht in the background–there are two of these traveling around together–some sort of British flag.  There goes the neighborhood!

I’m lucky to also find Leland, who boasts from Florida.  He’s a faux-painter–that is, he paints things to look old or to ‘disappear’ and all kinds of special effects.  He’s hard working also and loves his craft (or art).   Here’s the results of his magic–it’s a brand new house!

The stairs and rails will be last.

Same treatment below on the main deck.  This tarp I had made years ago has now paid for itself in maintenance saved.  The decks, cap-rails and doors are spared from the vicissitudes of the Alaskan rainforest.  I used varnish on these doors and like all outdoor varnishing, it ultimately fails.  I’ll remove each door one at a time (there are 7 double doors and three full doors) and refinish them with Sikken Cetol.  I use this on all the cap rails, rub rails and the lazarette cover and it is great stuff!

The main mast has rotted out at the base and top–it was installed last in 1982 or so in Seattle.  It is 9″ in diameter and 27 feet tall.  I want to extend it four more feet so I need a pretty sizable tree.  Here I’m measuring with a caliper and this one looks right.  It’s spruce which grows very straight–but the trade-off is it’s also susceptible to rot–oh well, the last one made it almost 30 years.

Earlier in the week  about a hundred yards away on our creek we spot a mamma bear and her cub.  So we look over both shoulders before we begin our ‘logging.’

After laboriously dragging this out of the woods with my tractor and two strong helpers, I peel it and then drag it back into the net shed to dry for a year.   Whew!

Part II will be the hull.   The shipyard has reopened under new ownership and I’m scheduled in a couple weeks.  I’ll redo a lot of the previous work and the hull will be like the pilothouse.  Stay tuned!

Our last major project is to rebuild our net shed; aka warehouse; aka barn.  It’s pretty tired and probably dates to the the founding of Petersburg in 1910.  It was once a gaff-hook factory.   It’s 20′ X 40′ and two levels built on creosoted piers with the tidal edge at the 14′ level, more or less. As you recall (those of you who are fascinated with this blog) we rebuilt the dock two years ago so now it’s time to reclaim the visible structure–our net shed.

In the early days, everyone in Alaska fishing towns had a net shed–to dry and maintain their nets and to store essential fishing equipment. Remember, everything then was made of wood or natural fibers. Today, most of the net sheds have crumbled to the beach and been reclaimed by mother-nature…..with a few exceptions….and we’re lucky to have one.

The SE corner is the weather-ward side of this warehouse and the ledger has severely decayed so I need to raise the second level flooring which rests on this critical beam. Not an easy task. My neighbor has a 6″ X 6″ X 25′ beam which handily slips into this space……..

I’ve jacked up the second story here and removed the rotted 20′ section using a ‘ship-splice.’

Here I’ve winched up the end of the beam (note the splice already cut) and opened up the siding (to be replaced) to slide in this 6″ X 6″  beam.

Working alone, I build a tripod support and winch it in with a come-along.  I made a ‘tray’ platform so I could roll small pieces of pipe to reduce friction when it slides in–worked perfectly!

Slick!

And the splice fits perfectly!  Two large bolts complete the integrity to the building.  Braces are removed and the second floor joists now rest on solid wood and about 3″ higher.

Now that the beam is in place, I order up some yellow cedar from Prince of Wales Island (still no mills in Petersburg) and tow it down the Wrangell Narrows about 2 miles–it’s a free ride with an ebb tide….

This is about 2000 board feet of yellow cedar at $1.20/ft–we support our local mills.  I managed to refloat this pile on the 4am high tide and drag it right to the dock saving me lots of work.  These are 1 X 10′s, 2 X 8′s, and 2 X 6′s which we’ll use for boardwalk ramps, raised garden beds and board/battens for the netshed.

After dragging in the lumber, look what floats by–an errant iceberg from the nearby Le Conte glacier.  I run and grab a couple ice screws and some rope and after another hour, have this sitting right in front of the house–refrigeration for a week or two….until another higher tide takes it.   But first, this thing almost dragged me backwards out into Frederick Sound–a funny site at 5am.  This is about 8′ tall!

After all this monkey-business, it’s a rest on our newly built (red cedar) porch swing.  Note the Garden Gate Trellis beyond.  We’re ready for summer–time to sit down and watch the critters:

Our third bear so far…..stay tuned.