Dear Editor: So ... after waiting five years for a haulout, TaaDaa! Sitka has a haulout! Yay!
Except, we’re not allowed to use it. (Older wooden boat, not practically insurable). Off to Wrangell we go. Fun trip. Some anxiety, but ... oh wow, was it worth it! The yard in Wrangell is amazing – clean, lots of power, helpful and knowledgable staff, extremely competent lift operators (thanks, JC and Joe). And, get this, there’s two five-star hardware stores. One right across the street and one a block away. There’s two great grocery stores within a block of the yard; laundry and showers (clean and cheap) right across the street. One of the best shipwrights in Southeast Alaska (thanks, Michael Nurco).
The Wrangell yard even has covered areas for your boat and welders and mechanics and electric gurus – on and on and on – it was like going to the Magic Kingdom for boats – wow! Not trying to disparage the Sitka yard, but it’s gonna be an awful long time before Sitka even comes close to what Wrangell has now. So if you’re in the same boat as us and you aren’t allowed to use the Sitka yard, the Wrangell option is worth the trip.
Mark and Denise Klingler,
F/V Puffin, Sitka
