Three Days in Sheet Harbour Passage

Travelling with the current and ebbing tides along the St Lawrence River, the Gulf and the Northumberland Strait had spoiled us.  We were conditioned to relatively swift passages that were generally made within the ETA’s we had set for ourselves in our sail plans.  And here on the Eastern Shore we were ever hopeful, each time we returned to the boat to move on with the next leg of the journey, that the next piece would follow suit.  So upon our departure from Port Bickerton, on September 24^th,  it was part of our plan to arrive at Sheet Harbour that evening, refuel, and spend the night there.

But that was not to be the case.  We do account for heavier seas, wave height, the Gulf Stream, the tide, departure times, the winds, our distance offshore, the square footage and capacity of our sails, the  engine capability, the weight of the vessel, the sail plan and all the other pieces we need to put together a passage for the day.  Again, ever the optimists, we are always hopeful as we depart.  Because the day had been reported to be one for good weather, we hoped to make our expected knot speed all the way to our destination.  But no day on the water is ever the same and no water movement is ever the same.  And by dusk we had just reached the outer banks of Sheet Harbour Passage.  The darkness approaches quickly at this time of the year and the captain made the decision that we would go into the public wharf at Sheet Harbour Passage.  The channel into Sheet Harbour is 7.5 nautical miles in from the coastline and he knew we would never make that by nightfall. Since the channel, although it is considered to be an easily entered deep water port with a 500 foot common use docking terminal that can handle most ocean going vessels, was unfamiliar to us and still at least a 90 minute run, he decided it was best to call it a day and head in to Sheet Harbour Passage.  The darkness surrounded us quickly but we followed the range marker lights into the harbour entrance where we made a hard 90* turn to port to head into the wharf.  We managed the manoeuvers well in the dark but were unable to locate it.  Our guide identified that there were no services here but the wharf was cement and sound. And we could tell that it was not lit.  Based on our GPS reading and locale identification found on our new hard copy chart, we could tell that the boat was positioned close to where the wharf should be.  We knew the harbour was fairly narrow; we knew we had ample water beneath us from our depth sounder reading; and we knew the harbour was not crowded. The decision was made to drop the hook right there for the night and assess the status in the morning light.

Up on deck the following morning we were both shocked to find that there was no public wharf in the harbour at all.  And it really did not matter since we had spent an amazingly quiet safe night at anchor.  We found that we were anchored off a lovely point about 300 feet from shore.  We learned later that the wharf had been dismantled 10 years prior.  Note to self – remember this – not all chart data is current - make sure to check the Notice to Mariners updates regularly!

However, it was when the captain was doing his daily routine checks in the engine room that morning that I heard his words of dismay.  Since that oil filter leak near Quebec City, the propeller shaft incident and a couple of other near mishaps, the captain regularly performed a more thorough check of all the systems before we depart. And today was no different except for the fact that when he opened the doors to the engine room he saw all the oil splatters over the walls.  After further inspection and removal of a valve cover he determined what the problem was.  A bolt in one of the valves had broken in two and its weakened state was allowing for oil to spray out around it.  It was a specific part. He suspected he would not find a replacement part, save for a Volvo Penta diesel engine supply shop.  The captain removed the part and began the process of determining what his next move would be.  Just as he was about to remove the dinghy to head to shore, a small cape island boat motored toward us on its way out the harbour.  The captain waved at the boat as it neared closer to us and it pulled up along our portside. Keith explained our dilemma to the people on board and inquired about local services.  The captain of the cape islander explained that he and two other fellows aboard were out for an early morning dive for scallops and would be gone for a couple of hours.   He offered his time after the dive to use his welding equipment to try to weld the break to see if that would work.  Two hours later, almost to the minute, the cape islander pulled alongside of our boat, still anchored.  Keith climbed aboard her with the bolt in hand, waved to me and they chugged off to shore. 

Within a few hours the captain was ferried back to our boat by the cape islander.  He boarded with a jerry can of diesel fuel and a repair job done to the bolt.  The cape islander’s captain did weld the break.  One of the two diving buddies headed in to town after the dive and offered Keith a ride to purchase the diesel fuel we required. To eliminate that 15 mile journey in to and out of Sheet Harbour that we needed to make, the captain seized the opportunity.

Things were looking up and it seemed we would be on our way once the repaired bolt was replaced.  The captain inserted the bolt, replaced the valve cover and continued the process of his routine check on the engine.  He noticed that one of the motor mounts was loose and as he attempted to tighten the mount, it snapped off and severed in half.  We spent another half and an hour going through all the nuts and bolts we had aboard to see if we had one that would suffice.  I was sure that we had purchased extra (just in case) but we could not locate one.  So the captain set off in the dinghy for shore. He was going to hike into town to the garage where he bought the fuel to find the bolt he needed.  As he pulled up to the small dock in front of the house on the point, he was met by a woman named Peggy who related to him that everybody in the little community was well aware that we were out there in their harbour.  She was ready to be on her way out lobster fishing with a couple friends but offered him a drive in to town upon her return if he needed it.  Keith appreciated the offer of help but opted to try to hike into town then.         

Within minutes of his walk along the road, another kind fellow stopped to offer a ride.  Upon the retell of his story,  he driver advised him to stop in at the his brother’s home (conveniently  located directly across the road from where he stood) to check out if the brother had any bolts he may need.  Apparently, this man was a retired mechanic who had lots of miscellaneous parts in his home shop.   Within another short period of time, I could hear the swish of the dinghy oars in the water. I watched the captain climb aboard from the dinghy, now safely secured at the port side of Bridlewilde.  He had the parts he needed to fix the problem in hand.

The sun was lowering in the sky and I knew that even with the motor mount reinstalled that it would be too late for us to depart from the anchorage.  We would be remaining there for another night.  We had the provisions on board that we needed, even a movie to watch on the laptop if we so chose. It would not be a problem for me to spend another day on Bridlewilde without going ashore.   The captain leaned over the engine, as I had seen him do so many times before, and tightened in the new motor mount and nut. 

With the motor mount secured and the oil checked and refilled, all was back in order again.  The captain scrubbed down the engine and the engine room to clear it of any oily residue.  We keep both a green biodegradable soap and baby shampoo aboard for cleaning purposes such as this.  When we had the oil filter problem in Quebec, the mechanic we used there to help repair it, provided us with a huge amount of thick filter cloths that are used in the cleanup of oil spills. We had extra aboard for the captain’s use as well.  All residue and waste from any of our engine room cleanup flows directly into the bilge. We are conscious that our bilge waste release impacts upon the sea as little as it possibly can so we also use a biodegradable bilge cleaner that is poured into the bilge to help .

I was below in the cabin as the captain went up to the cockpit to start the engine to make sure the oil was no longer spraying around the valve cover.  The engine room doors open inward to our cabin so we have a full view of the engine and good access to work on it. I was below to watch for a spray.
The captain turned over the engine, it engaged and at the same time it engaged it started on fire.   I was watching closely to see if the oil sprayed and it did not. But all the electrical wires all the way down from the ignition were melting and smoking and the engine quit.  Once the fire and smoke cleared it was quite clear which wires were damaged.  Because I was specifically watching for an oil spray I could see what wires had been badly burned and from where.  The captain attempted to start the engine again and again and it was dead.  There was no power to it whatsoever.   He came back down to the cabin to survey this new dilemma.  We determined that it was not a wet wire that caused the fire but the grounding of one live wire as it grazed against another piece of the engine. The mechanic at Waupoos had told us that he had disconnected an engine oil light sensor because the light was non-existent on our engine. The mechanic said that it was not required and it was this wire that we determined was left live where it was disconnected.  We were unaware that the live end had not been taped or wrapped and when the captain leaned over the engine to secure the motor mount, we surmised, that he must have jarred the wire so that its bare end moved just enough to touch the motor somewhere. Then when the captain engaged the key to start the motor the wire grounded, burned the wire casings, melted some of the wires and out went the electrical components of the ignition.  There was nothing more we could do but take a break from this. This mess required some thought and that was going to take some time.

The captain had a restless night. He went to bed thinking this may be the end of our journey but he said nothing to me about this.  I went to bed thinking that with time the captain would have this figured out, he would fix it and we would be on our way.  I was oblivious to the fact that he was not a miracle worker.  But in the morning the captain had a neew plan and right after coffee he put me to work re stringing wire while he began rebuilding wire.  We had sufficient extra electrical spare parts, shrink wrap, components, and wire aboard.  He knew that we must restring the new wire to replace the damage wire the full length from the ignition to the engine, re wrap them, re mount them under the upper edge of the lazarettos to be fed back through the bulkhead into the engine room.   We did that, he connected new ends to the wire ends and the shrink wrap, and reconnected all the new wire to the ignition components to the ignition.   He tried to start the engine and still everything was dead. The captain’s brow wrinkled and he stopped working. He needed a break and space and he knew it.  I heard him switch on the bilge pump to clear it (as he does every day) while he waited for the water to boil to make more coffee. After his coffee the captain went back up the steps,  out of the companion way, into the cockpit and as he was about to go over the side of the boat into the dinghy again I heard that familiar “Oh my God “ he lets out when he is in distress.  I jumped up the companionway to see what was up this time and as soon as I got there I couldn’t help but start to laugh.  I was laughing so much that the captain started to laugh as well. What more could we do but laugh?  What more could go wrong?  The captain had gone up to go aboard the dinghy to head over to Peggy’s to check out her phone directory. He needed to talk with someone who knew about this wiring issue and he suspected he would find an ad for someone in the directory.  But as he was about to go over the side of the boat and into the dinghy he was shocked by what he saw.  He had forgotten that the dinghy was tied to the side of our boat rather than its usual place at the stern.  The bilge through hull exited the hull just above where the dinghy was secured to the boat.  And the entire bilge residue had dumped squarely into the center of the dinghy when he had pushed the activation switch.

Two hours later we had that mess cleaned up and shortly after that the captain returned from his trip ashore with a new sense of reassurance and a new plan. 

 To activate our ignition the key is turned and then a starter button switch is depressed to engage the motor.  The man the captain talked with on his quest to find someone with electrical know how, suggested he attempt a bypass between the key and the starter button switch because one or the other may be the damaged component.  He would have to test this to find out which of the two was damaged.  With perseverance and the process of elimination the captain learned what had to take place to re –route the wires to make it work.  He disconnected the starter button , rerouted the wiring directly from the key to the motor, and again attempted to start the motor.  It engaged and purred along as though nothing was ever wrong.  He is amazing, this captain of the SV Bridlewilde.    

We had been so busy with the repairs to the boat that we hardly had to time to notice how pretty this little harbour really was. I was never ashore here so I do not have photos from that perspective but I can tell you that I enjoyed the quiet, the clean clear air and it seemed as though I could almost see every star in the sky.   By the time I had time to think about it all, the sun was beginning to set.  We knew we were spending another night here at anchor.  We went to bed exhausted wondering what more this little harbour and the morrow was about to bring.