Dad looking out wheelhouse

On one of the calm days.

Where it all happened. Honey Bear

The Honey Bear being moved to Loyals back yard from Kenmore.  This was when it was still being outfitted. He lived in the Burien area.

Going Fishing in Alaska

Going Fishing in Alaska:

'via Blog this'

Introduction

                  NEAR DISASTER FOR LANDLUBBERS

                         GOING FISHING IN ALASKA

       A BAD DAY OF FISHING IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT THE OFFICE

                                    BY

KATHLEEN VERA BROWN GUDGEL



INTRODUCTION BY DOYAL GUDGEL

Someone asked for something personal that might get us better
acquainted. This story might help. My wife Kay kept a diary in 1964
when I helped my brother Loyal, take his newly built boat "Honey Bear"
to the fishing grounds near Ketchikan Alaska. We lived in Seattle,
where our father who was retired, helped Loyal build his 50 foot boat
in his back yard. Dad put two nails or screws in when the plans only
asked for one. Dad said this was one boat he trusted. He also said
there were no square corners on a boat. Dad was a retired
carpenter. He had also been deep sea fishing off the California coast
at Monterey so had some experience with boats. However he had a lot
more before this trip was finished. We all had.

An interesting incident happened during the building when a
pilot in a jetliner would look down and see the progress as the boat was
built. Finally he could not stand it any longer and came over to the
house to see what was going on. Loyal lived near Seatac international
airport.Loyal had been in the Television sales and service business but wanted
a change so sold his business to me and then he embarked on this
fishing venture. A few people have read the story and some suggested she try to get it
published. I'm taking this opportunity to try it out on this audience. Except for 5 or 6 people you are the first to see it. Loyal
has not seen it to this day. This will become obvious as you continue. Our father also came along on the trip. to keep Loyal
company and to help him fish. Kay and I were to come on the maiden voyage and help him get it to Alaska. Then we were to return to
Seattle and resume parenting duties taking over from our oldest son Tom (jr) who was baby sitting his two younger brothers.
Tom turned 17 while we were on the trip. We've asked but never really got an answer
about what went on while we were gone.
   Dad used to sit out on deck on the way up and say that no place in the
world had he seen such tremendous scenery. He was well aware of Yosemite and the Grand Canyon having lived near Yosemite for some time. From Seattle up to Skagway boats take the Inland Passage to escape going out into the ocean. None the less this passage can be wicked for small boats when winds whip up. Passage is sheltered except
for Queen Charlotte Sound which is open to the ocean for 40 or 50 miles. . You will read more about it in the narrative. Lots more.
Tour boats make regular tours in the summer from Vancouver BC. Due to
strange US maritime laws boats built or registered in foreign
countries can not sail between two US ports and pick up passengers.
Although my wife Kay was 4"11 ( now she has shrunk) she is adventurous
and was happy to come along and do the cooking. At least that is the
way it started out. But read on

May 4 Kays diary

Kay with Grand daughter Kristina

Going Fishing in Alaska

Kathleen Vera Brown Gudgel

May 4th at 2:20 PM Loyal Grandpa, and I left the Duwamish River dock headed for Alaska. We had gotten a couple hundred yards out in the River when Dad (Doyal Gudgel) looked down into the engine space at the rear of the boat.  Water was coming in an unused exhaust hole as fast as we were going over it.  Dad yelled at Loyal to stop .  They both got out and  stuffed rags and blankets into the exhaust hole to temporarily plug it up and we went on down the river. Loyal hadn't figured the hole would  become under the water line when under way and we were laden down with hundreds of pounds of canned goods, many tools of every description, even a garden shovel and hoe. Loyal discovered later so the boat sat lower in the water than expected. Note 1

When fueling up they had let air in the line and the engine wouldn't start until 5 PM. So the first night we anchored at Pt Madison off Bainbridge Island. Note 2

About 6PM they noticed water under the floorboards up to the flooring in the bow section. Again we got out the bilge pump and pumped it dry, not knowing where the leak was coming from. Again at 10:30 PM the same bow section was full of water. We pumped it out again through a hose to the kitchen sink and out the boat. When everyone quieted down we heard a trickle of water and traced it to the bow toilet which did not shut off.  The toilet was not put together securely and during one storm our boat rocked so much that the stove which is bolted to the concrete floor rocked so much that the stove started to sway  we had to put out the fire and brace it from each side with a table leaf and pieces of wood.  That scared me. 

The bilge pump in the meantime became stopped up. The oil cook and heating stove does not work well. It has to be  hand fed through a float on the front of the control box on the stove. Not enough fuel gets to it to cook.   This contrary stove caused much trouble during the entire trip and had to be taken apart piece by piece and put together many times. New valves were made leading to the fuel supply. Then we ran out of stove oil and had to siphon out engine diesel fuel for it. Half the time I cooked on a gas burner camp stove until we ran out of fuel for it too.

May 5

Breakfast dishes done by 7:30 AM. Grandpa and I re-arranged fresh food and cans in little used compartments. Ruth, Loyals wife, had already spent several days buying and putting away food behind sliding doors  because they were the only ones that didn't fly open spilling all the contents on the floor as did all the open cupboard doors 


Went to bed early with all my clothes on-very cold. Engine not running smoothly.  Loyal and Doyal worked on the engine for three and a half hours. 
                              May 6
Alarm at 5:30 AM.  I got up at 7:00. We had moved quite a ways by the time I served breakfast while underway. Weather is calm and sunny. Mountains with snow on the left and green land on the right.  I started taking pictures.  

Cooked beans with salt pork. Had lots of advice by people on how to do it. If they wanted home cooking they should have stayed home.  The fresh water pump doesn't work so we are using sea water for dishes, bath and hand washing with hand soap. Everything is sooty and grimy black. It gets cold here when the oil stove doesn't work and that's most of the time.


Boat died in the water several times today. Loyal finally looked at the oil in the engine.  It badly damaged the engine because of a leak in the engine casing.  From then on the engine used about 10 quarts of oil a day. 


During spare time I embroider pillow cases. (Finished one and a half on the trip.)

Next May 7. 

Seymour Narrows. Ripple Rock. Out of control.

In a day or two. When I get around to it.  

Note 1.  The original plans called for the exhaust to go out the rear of the boat.  Instead Loyal made it go up through the deck.  Unloaded it was above the water line.  He planned to fix it later.  

2 Just across the bay at an adjacent island.

 3 An added 10,000 pounds of ballast plus provisioning the boat put the toilet under water line.  As it was not tightly sealed it began to leak.  This is one way for a boat to disappear without a trace.  We would have been in our bunks with no way to escape if it had sunk suddenly while we were asleep. Puget Sound is several hundred feet deep here.   Ruth, Loyals wife, I don't think ever went out with Loyal again after their sinking off Vashon island. In fact he almost drowned us with the same boat in Useless Bay the day before.

My nautical experience consisted of two trips across the Atlantic.  Across on the Queen Elizabeth with 16,000 others and back on the troopship SS McAndrew.

  

Seymour Narrows, Ripple Rock May 7

Alarm 4:35 AM. Headed for dangerous Seymour Narrows and what used to be Ripple Rock before the Canadians blew it  up by one million pounds of TNT a couple years ago.  It's just a sea of frothy whirlpools in every direction and one wave meeting another boiling churning water in all directions. (Note 4) At 5:15 Doyal yelled for Grandpa and I to get up and out of bed as fast as we could.  The boat was out of control.  The boat was running  completely out of control.  It was impossible to shift to another gear and the engine could not be shut off.  Loyal scrambled down to the engine and worked around some relays and finally the engine died. We would have gone up on the bank of one side of the channel if we hadn't stopped. That would have ended it for all of us and the boat. This time was that the electricity had failed (the cable fell off the battery terminal Doyal ) and as the boat is electrically controlled nothing could shut the  engine off or steer it.  They temporarily repaired it with two spare batteries. 
It is so rough we had to put out the stove fire and not cook or keep warm. (in Queen Charlotte Sound)  Everything came out of the Cupboards.  You stand up holding onto anything steady with your feet three feel apart.  Most of the time. 
Note 4. We were off Vancouver Island.  It was dark and we could not see how close we were to the rocky shore. At Seymour Narrows you must go at ebb or flood tide.

Next May 8

Queen Charlotte Sound, Seasickness, Cooking in Seawater, Taking shelter behind ans Island, Steering problems

  Explanation 1.  Loyal had the attitude that it will be fixed right the second time.  That is the reason the battery cable just fell off the terminal. When he installed it he probably didn't have the right tool with him to tighten it up.  Same with lots of the problems that came up

Queen Charlotte Sound Friday May 8

Queen Charlotte Sound

Friday.  Awake before dawn every day. I add another item or two of clothes. Long johns, stretch pants, or ski pants plus quilted insulated sports jackets, and pants plus 2 wool sweaters. (Note 5) Hat and gloves for out on deck if it gets calm  enough to stand out there and watch the porpoise. They are pretty with white strips around their middle and tail edge. 
They leap in front of the boat and dive under the bow as you move along.


Queen Charlotte Sound.  Very rough.  I get seasick one day. The only time of the trip. Loyal said soda crackers and peanut butter were good  for seasickness.  So I did. 


Every time anything goes wrong or breaks Loyal always asks Doyal what he should do.  Or what suggestions he has on how to fix it. Same way with reading charts and following the compass. Loyal did not have the boat finished at all when we left.   He thought he and Grandpa could work on it at Ketchikan. or after fishing or something. Loyal also did not know much about navigation or following  the compass. He took a course in navigation once at the YMCA and reads yachting magazines about nice places to go sailing. This round bottom boat is a motor sailor not a fish boat, not an ocean going vessel. It doesn't have nearly enough ballast to keep it from acting like a cork. One boat builder who has seen it said it would capsize easily and we came close to it. Now to go on.


We cook boiled new potatoes  and carrots in sea water as it is just salty enough.  Very good. Very good meals. When the oven heated up enough we had cornbread or Bisquick. 


During this day, Friday,  the boat had troubles twice. The steering mechanism came apart and this meant stops in rough water to fix it. By now the main toilet seat is broken off and they store it in a cupboard below. Nuts!

Note 5.  A real teddy bear

Next  May 9

Finlayson Channel, Cold, Tolmie Channel. Mothers day.  Coffee makes in 1 hour.