We had an ample supply of oxygen from four one hundred pound oxygen tanks in the bow and two in the stern in case of an emergency. We had also added an oxygen scrubber system that would turn on automatically if the oxygen level in the cabin got to low. Hiding from pirates was one scenario where we would want to run submerged and foul weather was another. Normally, we would remain on the surface and use our sails for propulsion. With the use of the new oxygen scrubbers and the large oxygen storage tanks, we should be able to remain submerged and comfortable whenever needed. We had rigged the generator air intake and exhaust pipes so they stood three feet above the top of the stern hatch. Since they were over six feet above the deck, we could charge the batteries by simply running with the top of the hatches sticking out of the water. We had rigged snorkel tubes with stainless steel floats on the each pipe to keep water from entering and added shut off valves and drains inside the cabin that we kept shut off except when we needed to run the generators. The new designs would work out very well when we entered the cold North Atlantic Ocean during the cold winter months.
When we arrived at the airport at Oahu, we checked out our rental car and headed towards Jill’s mansion. We had planned to stay in a hotel, but Jill flatly refused to hear another word on the subject and said our room would be ready when we arrived. Jill had said to Becky, “Shelley, my girlfriend, has moved in with me. The four of us will do just fine together.”
When we drove into the driveway at Jill’s home, I saw Shelley waving to us from the upstairs balcony. Within seconds, she met us in the driveway. After the greetings were complete, we carried our luggage up to our room. After we changed our clothes, Shelley drove us to the repair facility. We would ride home with Jill after she got out of work today and then use our own rental car the rest of the time. The owner had told us he should need about ten more days to have the vessel complete. His crew had done in seven weeks what Becky and her helpers had done in thirteen months.
When Shelley took us inside the facility, the owner spotted us and quickly came to greet us. Word of our arrival quickly spread around the building and Jill came to see us when she heard. The owner said, “Becky, Stanley, I need to meet with another customer, but Jill and Shelley will show you around and take you to your new vessel. I hope you are as pleased with the Pacifica-Two as we are. I cannot stop staring at her.”
As we walked into the working area, I spotted our vessel immediately. Her paint scheme matched the colors of the Pacifica, but this vessel sported huge sails that had the name SS Pacifica-Two in black lettering stenciled diagonally on each of them. I knew we had increased the sail size of this vessel, but the sails were massive and the masts were six inches in diameter at the bottom where they telescoped down into the hull. The top of each section had tee handles so we could quickly pull the pins and lower the masts down into the hull. With this vessel we could lower all five of the four-foot sections down into the hull, insert one pin and we were ready to dive. All we had to stow were the sails and rigging and they stowed directly at the bottom of the hatch ladders. We could quickly take down the sails, drop the rigging down into the cabin and begin diving within five minutes time, maybe less.
We had two viewing windows on each side of the hull so we could see outside from inside the cabin, and three in the bow and stern hatch towers. The hatch towers were wedge shaped and would cut through the water much more easily than the oval shaped ones we had installed on the Pacifica. The stern and bow hatch towers had fold down seats so we could sit inside the tower during foul weather or high seas.
As we stood looking at the outside of the hull, I realized there were tie down rings welded to the hull just below the toe kick rails; there were eight on each side. There were also tie down rings welded to the deck at the bow and stern hatches and at the mast posts. The deck was perfectly flat on this vessel, unlike the Pacifica.
The workers were filling the dry dock canal with seawater as we stood looking at our new sailing vessel. Jill said, “When the forty foot deep canal is filled with water, we will submerge the Pacifica-Two and do a static leak test, but that is only for show. You must realize that we X-rayed and tested each weld before the hull was painted. The only thing that the test will reveal is if one of the viewing window or hatch seals is defective.” As we watched, the workers closed the hatch doors and began filling the ballast tanks with water. When the entire vessel was submerged, we did not see any air bubbles coming to the surface and that was a good sign. When they blew the ballast tanks and refloated the Pacifica-Two, they emerged with smiles from ear to ear. As they crawled out of the hatch door, Becky could contain her emotions no longer and began to clap her hands and whistle. The woman could whistle so loud that it hurt everyone’s ears, but they all got a kick out of Becky’s excitement.
Jill invited us aboard, but Becky hesitated. She finally climbed up the ladder and stood at the top step. The lead engineer walked past Becky and stepped out onto the deck of the vessel. He turned and faced Becky as he said, “This vessel is under my watch until she is christened under her licensed name and turned over to your command. Until then, I assume responsibility for this vessel and those who are invited aboard.” I saw Becky’s eyes light up. She squared off her shoulders, faced the man and said, “Captain, permission to come aboard?” He reached out his hand and said, “Mrs. Becky, may I welcome you to this newly assembled vessel. Please join me as my guest until such time as this vessel is christened.”
Becky stepped onto the deck, then kneeled down and rubbed her hands on the freshly painted hull. When she stood up, the captain took her hand in his and said, “Mrs. Becky, may I show you around my vessel. Please feel free to give me your thoughts and comments as we tour.” He picked up a notebook and pen and walked the entire hull with Becky. Then they climbed down into the cabin and he showed her every detail of the vessels construction. He explained anything not drawn on the original design drawings that Becky had sent him, and explained the changes in detail. He made notes as they talked. They soon climbed back up onto the deck and I heard Becky comment, “The cabin is empty right now, but soon Stanley and I will fill her with the creature comforts that will make her feel like home” The tour then continued on the outside of the vessel. The propeller shafts and seals were in place, but there were no propellers installed. Becky and I would perform that task when we arrived in San Francisco.
Becky motioned for me to join her on the deck. I followed procedure and requested permission to board from the current captain, and then joined Becky. She took me down into the cabin and we inspected the design changes we had asked for. Becky showed me one hull section that remained opened so I could see the plastic ballast tanks and the piping. On the original vessel, Becky had created a four inch deep hollow space between the outside and inside hull walls that was inaccessible, but on this vessel, the inside hull was fastened in place with screws and the panels could be removed for repairs and corrosion inspections as might be needed. The new design was much more user friendly than Becky’s first design. The engineer had also added removable sand filters on the water lines that fed the ballast tanks. We had always been concerned about sand and debris getting inside the ballast tank sections of the Pacifica, but with this design, the filters would capture the sand before it could enter the nylon tanks and piping. Cleaning of the filters would simply require us to close the valves and unbolt the canister lids.
The lead engineer scheduled a test of the ballast tanks and piping for later in the day. He wanted to pressurize the system to 180 PSI (the manufacturers safe operating design pressure) to insure we remained dry at 300 feet below the surface. He wanted no one inside the vessel during the test in case a ballast tank exploded. A stream of water at 150 PSI could easily kill a human, or sever a limb. However, we realized that once the workers fastened the interior hull sections back into place, we would not have to worry about that problem. The hull was six inches thick where the ballast tanks were located. Becky had discovered before we sent the drawings to Oahu that w
e needed more ballast tank capacity to overcome the larger interior capacity. If she had not increased the amount of water we could take aboard in the ballast tanks, we might have only been able to dive a hundred feet, if that. With this current design, we would be able to settle the vessel down to 300 feet below the surface with little effort.
We went to lunch with the lead engineer and one of the draftsmen. They took us to a Chinese restaurant where they served sushi. Becky and I had no qualms about eating raw fish, but we were concerned about what species we were eating. They also served cooked food so we tried some sushi that our hosts recommended, and then ate chicken fried rice, egg foo young and orange chicken to go with it. We had an incredible lunch and returned ninety minutes later. I spoke to the owner when we walked back into the shop and told him Becky and I would not make it a habit of taking his workers on such long lunches in the future. He laughed and said, “I pay my employees to interact with our customers. When they are working with a customer, they have no set rules to follow; I simply expect them to use good judgment. I am positive that the men you went out to lunch with work many more hours then appear on their time cards, I trust both of them to provide our customers with the finest care.”
The following morning, Becky and I talked to Jill and asked if there was a place nearby where we could store the items we purchased for our trip home. She talked to the owner and discussed our request with him. He and a couple of his workers cleared a small room of what he called junk. He laughed when the room was clean and said, “I need to learn to throw stuff away instead of saving things that will never be used. We threw everything in that room into our dumpsters. I should have done that many months ago when Jill asked if she could have the room for her office. I guess I will give her the room now that it is empty. I will ask my contractor to put in new lights and give her an early Christmas present for all her hard work. Jill began working with me when I first opened this company, shortly after we both completed our doctorates at the same college. We have been friends for many years.” Becky and I watched Jill blush over her bosses words.
Becky and I began locating the supplies and groceries we would need to outfit and stock the SS Pacifica-Two for our trip home. We purchased only the essentials, like a commode, cleaning supplies, lanterns, camp stoves and fuel, and anything else that we would need to be comfortable on the trip home. We purchased two twin sized four inch thick foam mattress to use for beds, and some sheets, pillows, and blankets. Becky did the calculations and decided we should be able to make 120 miles per day with this vessel, especially with the wind to our stern. The vessel was longer, wider and more stable than the Pacifica, and we figured we could ride out most storms that we encountered on our trip home without submerging.
***
As I walked out of the shower one morning, I heard Becky giggling with Susanne and Charlie on her cell phone. I heard her tell Susanne that she would like to fly Charlie to Oahu and have him travel home with us, but she was concerned over placing a child on a newly built and untested vessel. She told Susanne that she would take them on a trip up the coast when we got back to San Francisco. When the phone call was over, Becky snuggled up in my arms and said, “You have a following, Stanley. Charlie misses you and he would like to be here with us, but I am frightened for his safety until we have proven this vessel. You and I are capable of dealing with whatever catastrophe might arise, but a young boy might not fair so well.” I listened to Becky’s words and said, “Becky, I fully agree with you. We will invite Charlie to help us outfit the Pacifica-Two once we are home and spend a few nights out on the sea after we are certain the Pacifica-Two is seaworthy. I would not want to have the dolphins sing over Charlie’s departed soul.” Becky flinched in my arms over my words, but she now realized how strongly I felt about having a child with us on this shakedown run.
The owner of the repair facility told us that his staff was confident they would have the Pacifica-Two ready so we could begin loading our personal belongings into the cabin on Thursday morning. We hoped to take the vessel out for a shakedown run on Friday morning. Becky kissed me hard on the lips and said, “Stanley, we are not ready yet. We must find a dinghy.” I laughed and said, “Sorry Captain, I did not realize we had missed something as important as a dinghy.” I saw the owner smile over Becky’s comment and I asked him where we could purchase one. He said, “There is a large marina about three miles from here that should have what you want. I will call them and check for you.” As he walked away, Becky wiped her eyes and said, “I feel stupid, but I cannot keep my emotions under control today.”
The following morning, a truck pulled into the delivery area and unloaded an inflatable dinghy and two oars. I signed for the order and moved the box into the storage area with a hand truck. I opened the box and found a full carton of extra Co2 cartridges and an instruction sheet. I put everything back into the box and closed the storage room door.
When I returned to the work area, Becky and the head engineer were standing on the deck of the Pacifica-Two. I watched Becky pull the cork on a bottle of champagne and then pour two small glasses of the beverage. They both sipped a little and then Becky spoke the words she wanted to say to christen the Pacifica-Two. The lead engineer turned over the vessel to Becky and announced her as owner and captain of the SS Pacifica-Two. I giggled over their formality, but understood that Becky’s Father had engrained sailing tradition into her soul. I suspected that the lead engineer had also grown up around the sea, as he seemed equally versed in tradition.
As I sat in my chair watching the ceremonies, a man in uniform stepped up beside me and said, “I was asked to stop by to inspect and license a newly built vessel named the SS Pacifica-Two, it looks as if I have found her.” I stood up, introduced myself, and then escorted the man up onto the ladder leading to the deck of Becky’s vessel. She looked at us, smiled and walked up to the man. She introduced herself and said, “You must be with the Coast Guard?” The man smiled and said, “Permission to come aboard, Captain?” Becky welcomed him onto the deck of the Pacifica-Two and the inspections began. The lead engineer did most of the talking, since he was in charge of the vessel’s assembly. It only took about an hour before the Captain had inspected and approved everything including the fire extinguishers. This company knew what equipment they needed to install on each of the vessels they built and the inspection went like clockwork.
Now that Becky was captain of the Pacifica-Two and the legal paperwork was complete, Becky met with the owners and began inspecting and signing each of the invoices in the stack of sixty-two. The documents showed every component of the vessels build and their employees had carefully recorded each labor hour. The price for the SS Pacifica-Two was just shy of $186,000.00 U.S. Dollars.
The owners took Becky to their bank and the bank manager assisted them in the money transfer from the San Francisco based bank that Becky had used for many years. Within an hour, the owner stamped the invoice, paid in full.
The following morning, we began loading our stuff into the cabin of the Pacifica-Two. The staff helped us and soon we had almost everything set up. We had purchased a ship to shore radio and the radio technicians planned to install and test it around noon. When that last item was complete, we could move the Pacifica-Two out into the sea and begin a shakedown run. One of the carpenters had built us a small table to mount Grandfather’s compass into so it would have a safe place for the trip home. We had brought our handheld GPS units with us and we planned to use them along with the new sextant we had purchased for navigation. Becky had ordered navigational maps for our trip home and the carpenters had built us a small table for the maps.
When we woke up in our bedroom on Friday morning, it was raining. The skies were dark and it looked to be a horrible day for sailing. Becky looked me in the eyes and said, “If we are going to do a shakedown of the Pacifica-Two, foul weather is the best time to do it.” I agreed with her reasoning and we packed our duffle bags and headed downstairs for breakfast. As we ate, Jill began t
o cry over our departure. Shelley tried to comfort her, but she acted as if she was about to lose two old friends. Shelley said, “We could call the car rental and have them pick up your rental car. Then we could take you to the harbor in the Pacifica to pick up your new vessel.” I saw a smile cross Jill’s face and she looked at Becky and asked, “Would you mind if we took you to the repair facility?” Becky and Jill began crying in each other’s arms, but they soon calmed their emotions as we packed up and headed down to the harbor to board the Pacifica.
As we stepped aboard the Pacifica again, it seemed we were home again. Hundreds of old memories surfaced as we raised the anchor and set the sails. As Jill and Becky navigated out of the harbor and out into deep water, we could see people staring at the silly submersible with sails gliding across the surface of the ocean. It seemed to do the girls good to sail to the repair facility. They seemed to have calmed their emotions considerably by the time we arrived two hours later. Jill maneuvered the Pacifica into the empty dry dock beside the Pacifica-Two so we could compare the two vessels. Even though the paint scheme was identical, the vessels looked much different sitting beside each other. The new Pacifica-Two was longer, wider, and looked sleeker in the water than the round configuration of the Pacifica. Her sails were also much larger and taller.
Chapter 22 – The Shakedown Run
As we said goodbye to the staff for a few hours, the tugboat hooked up and began moving us out into the deep water of the harbor. As we slowly moved along behind the tug, we discussed our decision to have this vessel built by professionals instead of trying to do it ourselves. We both realized that we would still be back in San Francisco sweating over the welding of the hull, instead of being here with a tugboat moving us out to sea for a shakedown run. Becky put her arm around my waist and said, “I am very pleased with our decision. We will have plenty of work to do to this vessel once we arrive in San Francisco. I am considering hiring the carpenters from the marina to do the woodwork for us, instead of trying to do it all ourselves. What are your thoughts about my suggestion, Stanley?”
SS Pacifica Page 27