An Introduction

We thought you might like to know who you're reading about: this is Northern, as we found her.  As previously mentioned, she was built in 1927 on the Puget Sound and fished actively until about eight years ago (with a short break while being rebuilt after that consuming fire in 1931).  She had one owner for about 40 years, and in the last 10 years has been bounced around a bit, not doing a whole lot of anything.

Northern's decks forward of the wheelhouse

This is inside the 'bait shed', the ugly aluminum structure on either side of the wheelhouse.  It kept the elements off the fishermen who were baiting the longlines.  It's an eyesore and is going away (eventually)

Her beautiful wheel (complete with cigarette burns!), and our 15% functional radar.  The wheel is functional, but she is more easily steered by a jog stick just out of view that moves the rudder via hydraulics.  The joystick on the console to the right is the throttle (wide open--8 to 9 knots, baby!!)

This is the captain's cabin, just aft of the wheelhouse.  It is very tiny and smells odd.  Eventually, we'll tidy up all the wayward cables in here and knock out the wall between it and the wheelhouse so the skipper can sit more comfortably and chat with passengers.  Also it is the only space on the boat with windows right now....

If you have a 100 ton boat (even before 70 tons of halibut comes on board), you're going to want a stout anchor chain

Hydraulic pump, in every little boy's favorite color: caterpillar yellow.  There are three of them, which means we have more hydraulic power than we know what to do with (addendum: Eli is sure he could figure out something to do with it)

This is the main hold amidships

Also the main hold; to the left is the insulated plywood box that held tons of ice and halibut--we're currently ripping it out so we can build in a living space instead.  Because everyone has asked: no, it does not smell like fish down here

The aft hold, which still has the refrigeration system in it--needs to go also, and will eventually be a workshop and storage space

This is a gurdy, basically a giant hydraulic winch.  Fishing lines were strung between the two horizontal plates and cranked aboard slowly, while fish were yanked off the hooks.  It's for sale if you want one

Looking aft from the step up to the foredeck

This is the inside of the main fish hold--they used the aluminum plates to partition the space off into pens to keep the load organized and balanced.  That blast freezer in the middle of the photo is now gone--actually, everything in the photo is now gone because Eli is an animal and there is nothing to do in Montesano

The stern, with tender above

The ladder down into the foc'sle, where the crew quarters were.  The old ice box on the right doesn't work unfortunately

Junk all now removed, but this is the old diesel stove used for cooking and heat; sink is to the left

The boat runs on 32 and 12V power; we will eventually be adding 110 to make living aboard easier but some of the systems will remain.  This is in the captain's cabin; please take a moment to appreciate the lovely shade of sea foam green

Northern

I like this photo because you can really see her sailing ship origins; Northern is built along the lines of the old sailing schooners, so she has the rounded hull and full heavy keel.  Her masts are for fishing rigging and not propulsion sails, but the foremast did have a stabilization sail that ran along the boom.  We hope to restore that eventually

The crew quarters; remember this space includes the stove and the ice box and housed six smelly dudes and is probably smaller than your dining room

There she is again!  Won't it look so much better without that bait shed?

When you're buying a boat, part of the appraisal process is hauling it out of the water to inspect the hull and propellers for any defects.  This is sort of a big deal with giant old wooden boats.  Here Northern is headed for dry dock, and already on the hard is her sister ship Grant

Single screw 56 inch propeller

The guy on the right is close to six feet; Northern's draft (her depth under the water line) is about nine feet

This is the engine coolant system; antifreeze in the pipes is circulated from the engine to the outside of the hull to be cooled by the seawater.  The metal block below it is called a zinc, which is a sacrificial block of metal designed to protect other, more important metals on the boat from degradation in saltwater (there is a small electrical current generated when the boat is in water which can damage metals)

The dark stripe down the port bow is the anchor guard--this is an extra layer of ironwood over the hull to protect it from the 210 pound anchor as it bumps up and down.  These planks can be easily replaced when needed, and ironwood (as the name might suggest) is pretty tough

About to head back in the water

Powerhouse: the engine room and the 343 Caterpillar diesel 6 cylinder--relatively fuel efficient at 6 gallons per hour going 7-8 knots

Tucked back in at the dock after her biggest day in quite some time