Seems Like A Long Time

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

Sunset at Big Sound