Jupiter’s Way

The Adventures of Motor Vessel Jupiter and Her Crew

Spring Planting

The season for seeding seafaring strategies finds Jupiter’s crew in Florida, further removed from Jupiter than possible within the 48 states owing to her berthing in British Columbia. Projects and plans are soon simmering on both sides of the border.

The lines in winter. Jupiter at Philbrooks service dock in January.

Fits + Refits

At twelve years of age, and given the troubles of last year, Jupiter is undergoing a refit of tired and obsolete systems, and gaining upgrades and enhancements—electrical, mechanical and cosmetic.

Daniel, the boat’s appointed Godfather, and one of the crew’s English cousins, is supervising a complex schedule of equipment replacement by top technicians at Philbrook’s Boatyard at Sidney.

The crew, visiting in January, finds the undertaking orderly, well-managed and progressing apace. Weekly calls and written reports telegraph budgets and billings, options and opportunities, questions and answers.

The end of the slipway is in sight.

Daniel and Jesse, steel fabricator, are engineering a novel—and secret—sea-level mounted kayak storage system.

The recently installed 1,000 amp-hour Lithium Ion battery bank, load monitor and inverters are fully in service.

A replacement water maker is commissioned to supply a thirsty Jupiter with 40 gallons per hour of fresh water from the sea.

An additional Garmin display on the flybridge improves navigational functionality.

Bottoms Up

The annual haul-out reminds all that an insidious and unseen commune below the waterline is preparing to ambush best intentions. Barnacles, algae and weeds, like boxcar hobos, find a whistlestop home, but Philbrook’s Pinkertons powerwash hitchhikers and refresh bottom coatings. Drydock efforts often repay a knot or two of boat speed.

Tabula Rasa

The crew is suddenly debating 2024 cruising options—how and why and when to get where?

After six years exploring the northwest waters of Puget Sound, British Columbia and Alaska we reckon there remain manifold tales to tell, scores of outports to visit, hundreds of routes yet to sail, and countless undescribed destinations where our anchor might be cast.

Checking charts, calendars, coast pilots, sailing directions, passage planners, light lists, moon cycles and times of tide and current we find our focus.

Jupiter’s 2024 Logbook, after years on a shelf awaiting its turn, cannot believe that it finds itself open to the first blank page.

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