July 23, 2014
As bloggers, Brooke and I are not what you might call…
prolific. But it has been quite a while since we have updated this blog, even
longer than our usual hiatus sparked by the winter and for that, kind readers,
(if indeed you still exist) we apologize. Still, it is summer now (kind of… the
temperatures and rain have been more spring-like than summerish), mid-July in
fact, and this will be the first posting we have made since February.
Season 2014 began for us when we launched after wintering on
the hard at Sound Boat Works in Parry Sound. The boat has wintered well,
despite not having been shrink-wrapped like last year, and when I first traveled up from Toronto to inspect her, I was happy to find not too many
wintery tamperings.
I spent a rainy few days by myself doing some early
maintenance and then we came back with the cats to launch on May 26. We had
some worrisome issues to face from the previous season… Our generator, despite having been fitted with
a new regulator, was only putting out 102 volts after measuring at the point
where it joins up to the main electrical panel. The unit sits awkwardly at the
back of our engine room and getting it out to insert the regulator had been
hellish. The thought of disconnecting everything and levering it out again was
pretty daunting. And our AC system, which had been rattling badly since
sometime in 2007 while in New York during one of the hottest summers on record,
had completely given up this year with a whirring, clanking cacophony of
grinding metal and screws. We had pulled out the main blower and attempted to
fix what I have since learned is called a Faragas Wheel (a drum of fan blades)
but found that fixing it with equipment on board was problematic, okay…
impossible, despite our best efforts.
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| A 'Faragas' Wheel |
But we have since managed to rectify these issues. I
received info from the generator manufacturer (Next Generation) that the
aforementioned, poorly-located regulator has a tiny plastic screw that can be
used to adjust the voltage output. Brooke, using a pointy, metal, dental tool
and a mirror, managed to squirrel under the unit somehow and poke the tool into
the plastic screw and turn it while I monitored the change in output. We
managed to get it to 119.2 volts after several tries. Success! I think it now
works better than it ever has.
The AC system was more of a cost than a struggle. I decided
to bite the bullet and purchase a whole blower assembly from a local provider.
Expensive but effective, we installed the new blower successfully and this
piece of equipment now works well. Of course, now we need hot weather to go
with it.
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| A Good Sign |
As I write this we are at anchor off Elizabeth Island in
Parry Sound. It is in the teens, temperature-wise. We arrived yesterday in a
little cove we know of, thanks to our friends the Kehms, but spent a rocky
night as the wind grew to 20 km and clocked around to hit the cove at its one
vulnerable opening. Fortunately the fetch is short across this part of the
sound so it was tolerable. Except that the dingy was still in the water and
started to buck about during the night. Fearing that we may lose the motor off
the back, we went out at 3 a.m. and hoisted The Cockleshell (so named by the
previous owner as a sidebar to the boat name, Mary Mary) aboard under the
spreader light. Actually, the work gave us something to do as we were just lying
there anyway, wide awake, listening to the wind groan and the waves chortle
alongside and wondering if the short rode we had out would hold. We also have
concerns about the integrity of this older rope rode and probably should have
deployed the chain instead. It did hold in the end and now, in the early
afternoon of the following day, the wind is starting to abate and should be
down to reasonable levels around 6 p.m. Already, the white-caps on the sound
are gone.
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| Touching up the trim at anchor |
Mostly, so far this summer, we have had very peaceful,
secluded anchorages around the area including up in Massassauga Provincial Park.
The temperatures have been unseasonably cool and the winds probably average.
Water levels have been up this year, mostly because of the amount of ice
generated in the great Lakes this past winter. It is a welcome respite compared
to the dangerously low levels of last year. It seems it probably won’t last
though, as downward trends are predicted to continue next year.
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| Having a fire at Wilcox Bay |
Parry Sound, the town has been good to us so far. We took up
a permanent (seasonal) slip at Big Sound Marina as an option in case we can’t
continue our circumnavigation of the Great Loop this year because of my work
situation. It is under new management and our shore-side slip includes free parking
and free pump-outs for the season. This latter perk being a selling point for
us as the average pump-out now sits around $35 and for those of us who anchor
out a lot, this can get prohibitive. Why the government doesn’t subsidize this I
don’t understand. The high prices (necessitated, apparently, by the costs to
the marinas and towns of having their big tanks emptied) just encourage people
to let the contents of their waste-tanks out into the lakes. Mind you, this current
government seems hell-bent on reducing the budgets of everything connected to
the environment, so it comes as little surprise that they wouldn’t think of
helping out in this way. By contrast, we found the prices in the US much more
reasonable and, in some cases, even free!
Parry Sound (hometown to Bobby Orr, as you might know) has
most amenities that you would expect from a mid-size Ontario town and includes a
pretty amazing theatre down by its waterfront that houses touring companies of
various shows.
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| The King of Parry Sound |
Canada day was a treat as we had front-row seats for the
fire-works at our marina that sits just across from the main town pier. The
marina was jammed as you might expect, but of the larger boats that come here,
we are the only seasonal slip holders that I know of. Maybe it’s the bears. A
young bear came down to the marina the other day while I was away in the city.
Brooke took pictures as it tried to make its way down on to the dock. But the
creaking boards and waves spooked it and it ran off.
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| Bear on the dock! |
We have had a couple of fun wild-life adventures lately and
just the other day, at an anchorage called Little C Cove, we watched a family
of minks cavorting over the rocks. It is very satisfying to see and realize
that some aspects of the live world are still relatively okay. It is one of my
favourite experiences in boating.
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| Police cordon off the town as news of the baby bear spreads! |
As I mentioned, I will have to be traveling back and forth
to Toronto every couple of weeks or so to record the animation series that I do
voices on. (Camp Lakebottom and Trucktown, if you have kids.)This means that we
probably won’t be able to go far afield until September at least. Still, that
is our favourite month for boating anyway; less boats on the water and
generally fine temperatures. We might get up as far as Killarney if we can find
somewhere to winter up there. Then it’s a matter of logistics as we try to
ferry our vehicle around through the kindness of friends and family and local
buses.
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| Storm approaching Big Sound Marina |
Well, that’s about it to report for now. The boat is running
well (you can picture me now, rapping my knuckles on the wooden desk), the cats
are healthy and just now beginning to really acclimatize to life at sea and the
weather might just be getting ready to turn the corner.
Can’t wait to get visiting new places further north though.
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| Sunset at Big Sound |
