Tag Archives: travel

Wi-Fi Again

Posted on by
Reply
WiFi equipment in hanging locker

We decided to relocate our boat’s Wi-Fi equipment again, and put both the bridge and the router in the forward hanging locker.

We thought we had our boat system Wi-Fi working great until we came back from our week-long cruise in early July. When we reconnected everything, we experienced all kinds of problems…from slow response, to no response, to intermittent ability to connect to the Internet. Once again, we were back to the debugging stage, trying to find the source of the problems.

We contacted our Wi-Fi provider, Beacon Wi-Fi (formerly BroadbandXpress – BBX), and we learned they are replacing equipment at various places in their coverage area. Their technicians were able to reboot us a couple of times, which helped briefly, but we found that some of the problem areas were in our boat’s Internet system, as we continued to have inconsistent and slow response times.

Jim started taking out various parts of the system he set up earlier this year. He took the Apple AirPort Extreme (our router) and the AIR802 AP-G250 (our bridge) out of the area below the drawers, thinking it might be getting too hot in that small space. He also disconnected our exterior antenna (AIR802 ANMA2412 Marine Wi-Fi Antenna). Then we decided to locate the router and bridge in the forward hanging locker again, where there is more air space around the equipment, and it’s easier to see indicator lights and reboot if we need to.

WiFi equipment in hanging locker close-up

A close-up view of the Wi-Fi equipment in the forward hanging locker…the larger white box on the bottom is the Apple AirPort Extreme, and the smaller blue-and-white box on top at the right is the AIR802 bridge.

In addition, we got a longer Ethernet cable, so some of the splices used in the previous setup could be removed. Yesterday Jim ran the cable through the engine room (so we have a “clean” installation in our main cabin), put the equipment in the hanging locker, and reconnected the system to the exterior antenna. Voila! Things seem to be working again. We still have to permanently mount the equipment, and we’re hoping that the system will remain stable after that.

Bend to Anacortes

Posted on by
Reply
Heading north on US-97 north of Madras

We found a brief dry period on our way north on US-97 north of Madras.

Rosie in the car

Rosie curled up in the kitty cup for some of the drive.

Wind turbines in the Gorge

Hundreds of wind turbines line the horizon looking toward the Columbia River Gorge.

Columbia River Gorge looking east

Columbia River Gorge at Biggs Junction looking east

Vineyards at Maryhill Winery, Goldendale, WA

Vineyards at Maryhill Winery, Goldendale, WA

Wind turbines line the highway in Goldendale

Wind turbines line the highway in Goldendale

Toppenish, WA, looking east from U.S. 97

Toppenish, WA, looking east from U.S. 97

Mickey in the car

Mickey’s turn to ride in the kitty cup

Stormy sky near Snoqualmie Pass

Storm clouds build near Snoqualmie Pass

Blue sky and a nice sunset approaching Interstate 5

Blue sky and a nice sunset are a welcome change as we approach the junction of I-405 and I-5

Phoenix at Anacortes Marina

In our slip in Anacortes Marina the next day, Phoenix looks great in the setting sun.

Time to head to the boat! It’s about a 9-hour drive from our house in Bend to our boat in Anacortes if we drive north through Yakima and then west over Snoqualmie Pass. We prefer going that way because we can avoid heavy truck traffic and backups on I-5, so that’s the way we came this time.

We tried to get on the road early in the day, but, as usual, it took longer than we expected to get the car loaded and close up the house, so we didn’t actually leave until 1 PM. The late start meant that our arrival in Anacortes was later than we’d like. Fortunately at this time of the year the days are long enough that it’s light until almost 10 PM, so it wasn’t completely dark when we got to the marina.

It was a stormy weather day for our drive. It was raining and hailing in Bend as we loaded the last of our stuff into the car, and we had a mixture of rain and sun for the entire drive. The worst part was from Snoqualmie Pass to Issaquah, where we encountered rain that was heavy enough to pool up on the road and cause some hydroplaning.

As we headed north through Kirkland on 405, the skies were clearing, and by the time we reached Everett and points north, we had clear skies. When we arrived at our marina, we felt lucky to arrive at high tide, making it easier to carry our things down the dock ramp to the boat.

Superwinch arrives!

Posted on by
Reply
Jim unpacking the Superwinch and battery charger

Jim unpacking the Superwinch and battery charger

We now have gathered all the piece parts for replacing our manual dinghy-lifting winch with a new electric version. The Superwinch and battery charger that we ordered from Amazon arrived this week, and Jim bought the Optima battery at a local Bend auto supply store.

Superwinch package

Superwinch package

We hooked up everything in our garage in a test mode to check that it works. It does! Now we can pack it up to take it to the boat next week when we head up to Anacortes. After we get settled on the boat, we will tackle the actual project of installing the new winch system.

Superwinch and charger

Superwinch and charger

Testing the Superwinch, battery, and battery charger

Testing the Superwinch, battery, and battery charger

Blog posts from 2011 added

Posted on by
Reply
Claydon Bay 2011

One of my favorite photos from 2011: a quiet, calm evening at our anchorage in Claydon Bay, B.C.

I got brave yesterday and decided to go ahead and click the import function in WordPress to import the posts from our 2011 blog from Blogger into this new site. Looks like everything came in…but some revisions to the formatting will be needed. Some of the text formatting isn’t right and the photos all came in at a smaller size than I want! I will work on revising those previous posts, as time permits.

I’m getting closer to getting the theme and formatting set up on this new site. There still may be some changes, but I’m getting more comfortable with how it looks now and have given the site link to some of our friends. I’ve been able to get a few photos added and am working on adding more content.

Marine Servicenter called today to tell us they will be hauling out our boat by the end of this week, and plan to have her back in our slip by the middle of next week…in time to be ready for us when we get to Anacortes.