La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

With the completion of the Swinomish Yacht Club's kick-off of the boating season, the marina is getting ready to have many more visiting boaters. We are seeing significantly higher activity at the guest docks and the key weekends throughout the summer are filling up with reservations already. We also have 10 yacht clubs signed up to visit over the summer. They are able to reserve sections of the docks so their groups can be moored together. These are great activities which bring lots of people to La Conner shops and restaurants and are a lot of fun for all involved.

Last week I mentioned that the vessel maintenance companies I see here at the marina are really looking busy and that led me to thinking about some key maintenance items. I was speaking with one of our tenants, a very experienced boater with years of experience both in- and off-shore and he told me his boat was getting repowered. I asked why, as I had thought it was in Bristol condition and he told me his anti-siphon valve had failed and his engine room had flooded.

If you do not know what an anti-siphon valve is and you have an inboard engine, you should get it checked. Make sure the valve is free to operate and isn't encrusted with salt, that it is installed far enough above the waterline and (sailboats especially) account for heel in this measurement. Professional Boatbuilder magazine has an article that talks about this at http://www.proboat.com/2017/06/andisiphon-valves/.

These items are little discussed but are important. It is always amazing to me that water can siphon in through a stopped pump and flow through an engine, but that is the case and that is precisely what an anti-siphon valve will prevent.

As we get ready for our busy season, a shout out to our maintenance team, who spent countless hours this winter limbing trees, cutting back brush and generally sprucing up the marina grounds. They are a fantastic team and although there isn't a lot of glory in pulling the weeds out of the RV hook up spots, they do not complain and dig right in. They also perform lots of technical work as well, such as the no-notice replacement of the power cable on D dock, which was accomplished with almost no interruption of service. This is a great example of the value they provide the marina.

See you on the Channel!