Voyaging From Alaska to Mexico Aboard the Beneteau 47.7 ‘Iwa’
In this month’s Changes, Robert and Heid Rivard share Part 1 of their voyage from Juneau, AK, to Cabo San Lucas, MX, aboard their Beneteau 47.7, Iwa.
We spent winter 2023–24 in Auke Bay (Statter Harbor), a little north of Juneau, Alaska — and got exactly what we were looking for: cold temps and snow, lots of it. We tied up our dock lines in September and didn’t untie them again until we left in April 2024. We spent the winter hooked up to 30-amp shore power, running two small heaters, one in the forward head and one in the aft lazarette, to keep the water lines from freezing. But our main heating source was our Refleks diesel drip heater. Through the winter we burned a total of 215 gallons of diesel, filling the day tank by jerry jugs every few days.
Besides cold temps, we also battled humidity and ran a dehumidifier nonstop, emptying 2–3 gallons of water per day. Over those eight months we shut the heater off only three times for cleaning. The diesel stove kept the cabin tolerable, never warm, but comfortable enough. We would keep it on medium to high during the day, keeping our main saloon around 62°F, with much colder temps on the floor. We would then turn it down at night to save fuel, sleeping under a heavy down blanket, bringing the cabin temp down to around 40. In the mornings, whoever was up first would turn up the heater, throw the kettle on top for coffee, then climb back under the covers. Merino wool thermals and thick down got us through the cold spells.
Although it was very cold, the winter snows started rather slowly. We ended up getting our first blizzard around Thanksgiving, then a long dry spell through December. Toward the end of January and early February, we got hit with back-to-back multi-day storms, which dropped around six feet of snow over two weeks. We would shovel the boat three to four times a day, starting right after morning coffee. We’d allow the snow to pile to the level of the lifelines before getting out with a combination of a shovel and broom to clear it.
Outside temps would routinely stay below freezing. During a couple of cold snaps, temps would drop below 10, but luckily we never saw below zero. Most of the winter consisted of short days, with the winter solstice seeing only six-and-a-half hours of sun above the horizon. In reality, our being surrounded by mountains, the sun would only peek out around 11 a.m. and go back into hiding by 2 p.m. That’s if there were no clouds, which was not often.
