When it rains it pours. New muffler last week. Now have to pull the transmission this week and get it taken care of once and for all, as it still is not maintaining oil pressure properly. I hope my customers can bear with us. So, returning to town after a short trip.
Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115
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Caught a half dozen large king salmon fishing 4 am to 9 pm. Kelp everywhere, and hard to keep it off the trolling wire. Never seen so much in this area. My old standby spoons – #7 Mother of Pearl Canadian Wonder, have caught no fish lately. I’ve been using a much smaller spoon behind a flasher, and these seem to be catching a good percentage of the fish. Very fish weather today – overcast and flat calm. It rained a little last night as well. No fish this morning, so moving to the other side to try there.
Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115
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The welders at Simpco did a great job, and it took less than an hour to install the new muffler. I bought 150 gallons of fuel, took on about a ton and a half of ice, and was on my way aat 1:30pm. Transmission still seems to be running a little hotter than normal, but within book tolerances.
Mark Stopha
F/V Dutch Master
Alaska Wild Salmon Co
4455 N Douglas Hwy
Juneau, Alaska 99801
907-463-3115
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Sometimes you think things can’t get any worse…and then they do. It took us about 6 hours to pull the transmission, then 6 hours to get it back on after it was repaired. I was covered in oil, tired, but relieved we were finally going to get fishing again…until my mechanic called. He asked if I had already put the tranny back on, and I knew that wasn’t a good question. He found a part in the parts washer his mechanic had not seen come off when it went in the parts washer, and said the tranny had to come back off to put on the part.
Luckily, I only had to take off the rear of the tranny, which took about an hour, and then about 30 minutes to put it back on. I took the boat for a quick spin around the block, and so far so good. Hope to leave tomorrow – we’ll be the better part of June just filling orders we have, but having our fish in demand is a good thing, too.
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Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
F/V Dutch Master
Hook and Line Fresh, Frozen, and Smoked Wild Salmon
Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com
Looks like the transmission needs to be rebuilt, so we are out of commission for several days. I’ve gone through and fixed other issues on the boat – broken water pump for the sink and unworking anchor light. Just hope we can get parts here in a timely manner and that my mechanic has time to put the transmission back in order.
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Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
F/V Dutch Master
Hook and Line Fresh, Frozen, and Smoked Wild Salmon
Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com
Another day of trial and tribulation for the Dutch Master. Spent all day doing my first ever removal of a transmission. Lots of bolts in places I can’t even see to remove in cramped quarters of my engine compartment. To top it off, as I was applying pressure to a bolt with the wrench, when it gave way, my hand flew past the tag end of a hose clamp, which promptly cut a 3 inch long gash in the meat of my right palm. I thought it was stitches and out of commission to finish removal of the transmission or to fish, as I need my right hand to gaff fish aboard. Luckily, if you can call it that, the gash was in the deep skin part of the palm just above the wrist, and barely bled and little pain. My friend doused it with rubbing alcohol, we put on a pad, some gauze, taped it up, and I slipped on a rubber glove and finished getting the tranny out. I hope my mechanic finds a clear issue when he dismantles it tomorrow so we know what the problem is and that it will be fixed through repair. Otherwise, all this work and pain and suffering could be for nothing if there’s no clear breakage inside the unit. Just hope to get back out fishing by the end of the week, as the fish are starting to show and every day on the beach now is a day of work lost that I can’t make up.
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Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
F/V Dutch Master
Hook and Line Fresh, Frozen, and Smoked Wild Salmon
Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com
