Marina Moorings, Port of Skagit

The guest docks are full most nights this week. We have seen visitors from all over the area and up and down the west coast. We had three larger vessels that came up from Portland and they reported the ocean journey was really nice, with mild weather and relatively calm seas. This, while one of our other regular visitors is held up in southern California due to storms through Oregon and northern California! Hard to believe sometimes how varied the ocean can be.

We have had four nights this summer with every spot in the RV park full. This is something to see! It is a great, laid-back atmosphere over there. Everyone is generally in a good mood and does their best to be positive with their neighbors, which makes it fun to host. We have had several guests extend their stays to avoid forest fires and we are hopeful this is very short term.

Safety and Maintenance: Sacrificial anodes – these are important pieces of equipment that frequently need more attention than they get. They are often referred to as “zincs,” even though there are several metals that can be used. They are designed to be used up, so replacing them should be an expected part of any vessel’s maintenance routine.

The issue is that any two different metals in a conductive environment make a battery and one will give up electrons to the other. Salt water is a good conductor and all boats have some exposed metal parts made up of stainless and regular steel, bronze and aluminum (for example, a bronze propeller on a stainless steel prop shaft). Zinc will give up electrons more readily than any of the rest, so the zinc is sacrificed to keep the rest of the metal parts intact. If zincs are compromised, the rest of the boat’s metal parts will start to give up electrons and this can eat away at metal parts until they fail.

Needless to say, this can be really bad. Make sure your vessel is getting zincs checked at least every year and replaced as needed.

Thank you to everyone who supported the Car and Boat Show! We were very pleased with how the show turned out. It is great to have the marina be such a core part of the La Conner community.

See you on the Channel!

— Chris Omdal, harbormaster