Today's weather forecast for Cambridge Bay:
Blizzard ending late in the afternoon then clearing. Blowing snow with near zero visibility at times in the morning and afternoon. Wind north 70 km/h gusting to 90 diminishing to 40 gusting to 60 late in the afternoon. Temperature falling to minus 28 in the afternoon. Wind chill minus 48.
Wind speeds in km/h sound so much worse. The forecasted 70-90 km/h is about 38-50 knots, not insignificant, but, no worse than we experienced in August at Dundas Harbour. The difference this time is a lot of snow blowing around pushed by very cold winds. At least dragging anchor won't be an issue! We're solidly ensconced in the ice now. During the first few weeks of freeze-up we were still experiencing significant movement up and down with the tide. Large cracks and upwellings of water were appearing in the ice beside the boat. Now, the movement is almost imperceptible, but, we can still feel and hear it. There are occasional loud reports of crunching, cracking ice along the hull. G. has been busy at work cutting snow blocks to use as insulation around the outside of the hull. This, along with snow on the decks, seems to have made a significant difference to warmth aboard and we are still very comfortable. The snow is so dry and compact it can be cut with a saw almost like polystyrene.
At the end of November, the Polar Night will arrive. The sun will disappear below the horizon and not rise again until January 11. The shorter days we are now experiencing are conducive for catching up on various classics on the reading list, like Moby Dick. It's amazing how, almost 200 years later, life aboard can be much the same. Melville writes how '"...the carpenter of the Pequod was singularly efficient in those thousand nameless mechanical emergencies continually recurring in a large ship, upon a three or four years' voyage, in uncivilized and far-distant seas." Although we've not had to repair any "sprung spars", manufacture any whale bone artificial legs, or, install "new tree-nails in the side planks", we've had our share of mechanical problems.
We knew we weren't going to be able to support running water throughout the winter, but, we'd been hopeful to at least maintain it through October. The first blizzard, in mid-October, brought temperatures of -24C and quickly put an end to our hopes. The water pipes run along the underside of the deck and although the deck was insulated above and below, the pipes flash-froze overnight. A few days later when they thawed, there were a couple of significant leaks. No point in trying to fix them now, we'll wait until spring. The only issue is that we need water pressure to top up the heating boiler. Without appropriate shut-off valves available in the system, we quickly have to come up with a solution to pressurize part of the system to ensure we don't lose our radiator heating. We're also hopeful we'll be able to rig up some kind of pump to get water out of the tanks. We have over 6,000 litres onboard, but, right now we can't access it and are lugging water jugs from the town supply.
Our other issue is electrical. As I have mentioned previously, the project's plan was to have shore power as the primary power and heat source for TP (Tandberg Polar) with the three onboard generators as backup. We've been unable to get shore power hooked up due to a combination of problems. Basically, the boat expects 3phase, 50Hz. The supply is 1phase, 60Hz. The 50/60 Hz problem (and 110v/230v) is the basic European vs. North American electrical issue and there are units available that will do the conversion. The 3phase/1 phase difference is the bigger issue. There are also units available for that, but, they are very pricey, very large and very heavy. Even if we order one, it would probably take months to get here and have to be air-freighted in at great expense. Nobody's sure it would even do the job. There isn't a lot of specialized electrical expertise in town. This week we're hoping to get a better assessment of the requirements and options. In the meantime, we're running on the air-cooled generator installed on deck. It has shut itself down twice already. Once, before we'd set up a regular filter change schedule, due to a clogged fuel filter and the other due to some unknown issue with the plug/power cord resolved by switching cords. The two backup generators are water-cooled. For the moment, they are ok, but, when the ice reaches two metres thick in March, water-cooling will no longer be an option. If no solution is found, we will then be relying 100% on one generator. Not a good scenario at all...
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