Eagle Harbor to Port Townsend | Alternator Trouble and Friends

July 20th 2024

After a couple of nice days in Eagle Harbor visiting friends and picking up a few last minute items (and a couple unexpected gems) from The Chandlery at Winslow Wharf I headed north to Port Townsend on another nice warm day. On the trip north up Puget Sound I crossed paths with the Adventuress under full sail crossing from Shilshole west bound on an easy beam reach under a light breeze.

In an annoying repeat from a previous trip north my alternator has failed. There were signs on the way over to Bainbridge Island but I thought it was just a bad volt meter. This is all too familiar because this same failure happened the trip before last to Canada. However, I am on my way to visit the same friends that helped save that other vacation a few years back by fixing the alternator. So I’ve been tied up in Port Townsend for a few days but after help from these generous friends I should be back on track. I like it here is PT. Might be a nice place to retire.

Update on the alternator (7/24): So far the new to me alternator has been performing well. The Balmer regulator was programmed down to 50% as this alternator is far more than is needed for the battery bank and I also wanted to reduce the strain on my water pump. Excellent advice from my friend Dan!