The Steamboating Forum

During the pandemic, we moved to Lopez Island, Washington - about 1000 miles north of our previous home base in Menlo Park, California. During the pandemic and since then, SL Otter has been hiding out under shelter next to our house in CA. This past Christmas we managed to drive our truck down to pick up Otter. First step in getting Otter ready to move was to evict the squirrels which had taken up residence under the floor boards. What a mess! A large trash can full of acorns, wood pieces, torn up ropes for nest materials, and of course droppings later, we managed to scrub the bilges with Murphy's oil soap and restore a more reasonable smell. I had decided to renew the running gear on the the trailer, since it had been sitting for years and I was completely uninterested in tire/bearing trouble on the drive north. With new wheels & tires, bearings and hubs, and another good scrubbing on the outside of the boat, we headed north. The trip was without incident, thankfully, and the mild winter weather over the mountain passes made things simpler. An evening ferry ride later, we managed to reach our house, and this weekend I used our little Kubota to squeeze Otter under shelter before it rained again.
There is a bunch more work to do, of course, to get her ready for steaming... I'll post about those projects as they happen.

Welcome home Otter!
And such a nice place to live, surrounded by other steam boaters too!
Your work cleaning up Otter was significant. Yuk!
Look so much better now.
RussN

We now have five steam boats on an island with a little over 3000 year round residents. 3156 people as of the 2020 census. Steam boats were not on the census questionaire! Unfair!

Mike

Lopez Mike wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:40 am We now have five steam boats on an island with a little over 3000 year round residents. 3156 people as of the 2020 census. Steam boats were not on the census questionaire! Unfair!

Mike

Right now, of course, all of them are at least partially disassembled or needing work, but that's the way of it w/ steam boats.

RNoe wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:03 am Welcome home Otter!
And such a nice place to live, surrounded by other steam boaters too!
Your work cleaning up Otter was significant. Yuk!
Look so much better now.

Thanks Russ! It was quite the project to fit into the holidays, but it all worked out.

= Bart