Bill is Making Progress!!!

See all the red heater hose?  That is just part of what Bill has been up to this past week!  The hose system is pretty well done.  We are waiting on heater units, so when he returns in April they will be installed and all the wiring will have to be run.    I am sure he knows what he is doing, but it is all a mystery to me (Alice)!

The apparatus mounted on the wooden board, left of center is the newheat exchanger that is part of the diesel furnace system Bill has been working on for weeks now.  We look forward to being toasty warm while we are out on anchor, whether it is around Puget Sound, in British Columbia, or in Southeastern Alaska this coming summer.  Our electric heaters do just fine while we are in port, but they are too expensive to try to run while we are traveling.  According to the guidebook, the new furnace system will use only 1/10th of a gallon of diesel an hour once the furnace water has heated up!

Prepping for Alaska~

We arrived in Tacoma on January 26, just in time for the Seattle Boat Show.  Bill was hoping to get a good deal on a diesel furnace for Grey Wolf, as we plan on heading north to Alaska this summer!  No super deals to be had, but we did get the equipment ordered. Our every-present mountain is now really covered with snow, since there was a snowstorm and ice storm just before we arrived!

This diagram shows how the Webasto furnace system works.  We decided to have outlets in the pilot house, the salon, and the stateroom, so it is similar to a central heating system in a house.  The red lines indicate how the hot water will flow from area to area.  Bill is working on installing over 140 feet of heater hose!

On a clear, cold (40) day in February Bill decided it was time to install the hoses that run to the overflow in the recess where our old A/C unit had been.  After a week of rain it was a blessing to be able to go out on top of the boat to take care of that project.  Alice shot this view of our marina from that vantage point.

Busy Bill has been putting in long days with this major project.  In the process he is also saving thousands of dollars!  This photo shows him in the old A/C recess as he checks the heater hoses he had just installed.  Alice is SO proud of him for all the hard work he is putting in~ what a guy!

Another Great Grandchild Arrives!

Travis James Tveito arrived on January 12, 2012, born to J.D. and Michelle Tveito. J.D. is Bill's grandson.  Travis is the first child in this family, so he is going to be 'breaking them in' in the months ahead!  Too bad his grandmother, Jamie, has moved to Arizona... I am sure the freeway will have increased traffic as she visits with this darling little boy in California.