08/26 - 08/28 - Cathlamet, WA, Columbia River 2022

I was on the Columbia a week ago for 3 days. Ran from Kalama, (a very nice marina, steep ramp and no washdown or showers but 24 hr restrooms and very clean.

I did chat with a fish counter there, said spring chinook are starting, Steelhead are in, and smelt are overflowing -- as indicated by the prolific fishing birds. WE saw dozens of bald eagles, some osprey, and lots of others. Also, what excited my guests most, the Seal lions. WE saw nearly a pod every mile from Kalama up to Willamette Park, and one of them was WAY TOO close. 3 seconds closer and it would have been a rather big bump, and that would not have been fun.

The fish counter said the Sea lions were still increasing and he had heard of Elephant Seal sightings but he had not seen any personally.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Ok,,, August of 2022 dates still good??
I enjoyed cruising the Columbia River the first time in July 2021.
I cheated !
I was aboard a paddle wheeler... and loved it, the chef's the room service.. but now I want to really enjoy the Columbia... C-Dory style.
What are the temps of the air on this journey in August each year?
 
Byrdman":2pa560kw said:
Ok,,, August of 2022 dates still good??
I enjoyed cruising the Columbia River the first time in July 2021.
I cheated !
I was aboard a paddle wheeler... and loved it, the chef's the room service.. but now I want to really enjoy the Columbia... C-Dory style.
What are the temps of the air on this journey in August each year?
Click to expand...

It all depends on where on the Columbia River you are. East of the Cascades, (HoodRiver and The Dalles) can be well into the 80's plus for high. Lows to 50's over night. West of the Cascades will be cooler, and on the water, more possibilities of fog early in the day.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

JC_Lately_SleepyC_Flat_Blue_070.thumb.jpg
 
Nice.
I have much work to do on Miss B to get her extended liveaboard ready.
My days of ruff'n ended a few decades ago, and these days a few daily creature comforts are mandatory.
Today I have no canvas, no heat, no ac, no shower (yes...I am getting soft), no inverter or gen set.
Some of those can wait...come wont before I travel.
A nice project for the summer!
 
It depends on whether you are trying to talk point to point (ie direct between two VHF stations) or via a repeater site. Repeaters are, for obvious reasons, installed at high points to maximize the line of sight from them across the area they cover. So a lower power 5-watt handheld may hit a repeater and be repeated so that a station further away can pick it up but would not be able to hit that station directly.

The distance a VHF signal can be transmitted is a combination of the height of the transmitter (aerial) and the power of the transmitter. So 25 watts is better than 5 watts which is better than 1 watt. But all will be improved by a higher aerial, however, a higher aerial cannot substitute entirely for power either. A 5-watt handheld does not get 25-watt performance merely by being plugged into a higher aerial, the signal strength is still only 5 watts.

Here's a website that's got all the info (theory) you'd ever want on radio transmission. how it works, why it works, and how to make it work better.

Here are a few other things that'll be of use to you guys, works for most things in radio. https://nrcradio.co.uk/waterproof-walkie-talkies/
1. Height is might, the higher the antenna position on the boat, the farther the reach;
2. Marine VHF works on the line of sight principle;
3. A ground plane and/or a ground strap from the grounded base connector of the antenna and radio to the engine and negative terminal of the battery connector improves performance;
4. Metal rod antennas work better than fiberglass antennas (but of course prone to rusting);
5. Having a common ground strap for all your electronics (GPS, fish/depth finder, Loran) also improves performance and lessens interference.[/url]
 
I hope the family issues are not serious, or at least on the way to a peaceful resolution.

This discussion got pretty quiet. Are there still folks planning to be in Cathlamet next weekend?

We won't be bringing the boat up but would like to drive over Saturday evening if there are friends there.

This year I won't take the boat out of the slip on the weekends because of the craziness down here for the Buoy 10 fishing. It is nuts. I don't even bother trying to fish the river and I don't go down to the boat on the weekends except for a late evening checks. After Labor Day it should get a little less hectic.

So if anyone is still in for this trip, let us know.
 
We drove over to Cathlamet but did not see a C-Dory. The place was pretty busy with a salmon derby going on. And the taco truck was closed. So not a bad weekend to skip I guess.

Here is the lonely C-Brat dock

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A little sad this gathering keeps dying. I signed up in 2020 and was planning to attend when it was cancelled. This year I just had too much stuff going on so I never signed up. I thought maybe I would just swing in and make an appearance, but after Tyboo's post earlier this week it was apparent there weren't going to be many people to meet or boats to look at. :(

Maybe next year...
 
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