We Broke a Winch.
Yup. That happened. But hey—what’s an adventure without a little drama?
On our way to Haida Gwaii, we set out early hoping to sail the full 80 miles before dark. After a quick motor out of the bay (charging batteries, making water, and checking off our checklist), the breeze filled in like it read the forecast. Northerlies—perfect reaching conditions. The engine was off, the Watt & Sea hydro-generator was humming happily, and we were underway with hot coffee and breakfast. Life was good.
At some point we tucked a reef into the main. Our newly rigged cockpit-led reefing system with the electric winch was working like a dream. Shoutout to Northwest Rigging for the redesign—moving the winch from that awkward mast-mounted spot to the cabin top made reefing safer and smoother. During the refit, volunteer Steve even crafted a beautiful wood trim box to house the motor and wiring. It looked like art and worked like a charm… The modification worked perfect, until it didn’t.
During that reef, the winch tore clean off its base. No one got hurt, and nothing technically “broke”—turns out the old aluminum base (a remnant from when the winch lived up forward) had been tapped with helicoils that finally gave up. We added it to the “next anchorage” repair list.
The Repair:
Once anchored, Tim (our alumni-turned-lab-tech), Mark, and I dove in. We pulled the trim box, lifted the winch (which was basically already off), and realized we could fix it better than new. We replaced the old helicoils with through-deck bolts and washers. Stronger, simpler, and we had all the parts onboard. Win!
Heater Headaches: The Hose Debacle
Spoiler: Wrong size hose.
Our ITR Hurricane diesel heater had just 1100 hours—barely broken in. Thad, an SVC Marine Tech grad and current ITR-certified technician, did the 1000-hour service during the refit. All good there. But we knew the exhaust system would need reworking—it came with a storm plug and was too low for rough weather.
Enter Joe Miller (SVC Instructor Extraordinaire), who confirmed with ITR that we could upgrade the exhaust routing with more bends and higher exit points—safer for underway use.
We ordered parts (including 7 feet of exhaust hose), but they didn’t arrive before launch. Grace’s dad helped us out by delivering them to Victoria on his way through. I finally tackled the job in Port Hardy. Tools ready, camera rolling…
And—yup. Wrong. Size. Hose.
The exhaust hose was too small. Quick email to ITR and a new one was shipped to Juneau. This was our last shot before crossing the Gulf of Alaska—1,000+ NM of open ocean, so no room for error.
The Fix:
The correct hose arrived in Auk Bay. Between provisioning runs to Fred Meyer and Costco, I knocked out the upgrade in under two hours
(a boat project record?!). The exhaust now sits high and dry, no plug needed, and we’ve got peace of mind heading into big seas.
Autopilot Chaos: Attack of the Vacuum Cleaner
We’d had a few odd autopilot moments early on—rare hiccups we chalked up to currents. But then things got weirder. The B&G Network Pilot had worked great in sea trials and came with a backup compass. I had swapped over to it as part of troubleshooting, and all seemed good until… one day it sent us hard to port. Then, just for fun, hard to starboard. Time to investigate.
Tim and Mark dug in. Tim’s SVC training kicked in: “What changed? When does it fail? Where’s the compass?” Then, the lightbulb moment. The DeWalt vacuum—a favorite crew tool—had been temporarily moved... right next to the compass.
Sure enough, that magnetic motor was throwing the compass readings off by 180 degrees. We were literally steering by vacuum interference. Moved the vac, problem solved. No new parts required, just better stowage. Whew!
Up Next:
We took on fuel in Juneau and have been tracking every drop. Next report will feature actual fuel and water consumption stats for One Ocean. Until then, we’re enjoying a rare moment where everything’s working (fingers crossed), prepping for our Gulf of Alaska passage.
Cheers,
Mike