Waiting For Boat-o

We wait. 

The winds rise and huge, cold raindrops slap at the window behind me. Cats are squirrely. It doesn’t seem as though we’ll ever be on-board the boat. And I can’t wait to launch the new kayak. It’s now the second week of May, we’re in the apartment on Roncesvalles and the Mary Mary is on the hard at Wright’s Marine four hours north; hopefully she’s still sleepy in hibernation and unaware of our neglect. It certainly isn’t intentional. And I guess it’s early yet, but it feels some days as though her haul-out last September was a dozen years ago. What a long cold winter it seemed. 

Our new Scamper 2 Inflatable Kayak super-imposed on a phony BG

Adrian and I have just come back from Halifax where we had a two-week run of my play, Trudeau Stories, at the Neptune Theatre. I’d had visions before we flew out there of a boat tour and maybe a visit to the Coast Guard Station and breezy strolls along the harbour-walk in the spring air. April was supposed to be a lovely time to visit Nova Scotia.   But 2015 was a dastardly winter down east, they were hit time and again with ice and snow storms. Haligonians were pummeled with so much snow that one man said he shoveled 8 hours one day to clear a path from the road to his front door. The snow stood twice his height.  They all seemed pretty exhausted from the endlessness of it, so we couldn’t really complain too much about the greyness and the rain and wind during our visit. The grisliness of it didn’t demand any backbreaking labour, just a hunch in the shoulders when we walked up hill to get to the theatre in the driving rain.

Snow in Halifax - 2015

We did have a couple pockets of sunshine and climbed up Citadel Hill, and we did visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which was very well laid out, with great exhibits on shipwrecks, not only the SS you-know-what, but also the Empress of Ireland where so many more lost their lives; and scores of others from Louisbourg, Sable Island and Halifax Harbour etc.; some detailed Naval histories; beautiful large handmade models of some of the Cunard line and others, stores of ship’s artifacts from the age of sail as well as steam, and some fascinating details about the Halifax Explosion of 1917.  Merlin the Museum Macaw was absolutely beautiful (and he knew it); and we treated ourselves to a couple of glorious visits to the Press Gang Restaurant for oysters, wine and jazz.

Merlin doing his thing

Now we’re trying to decide what boat freezer to buy with some of the proceeds from the play, and--once we decide--how to get it, now that West Marine is closing many stores in Canada. The low Canadian dollar makes this purchase choice tricky too.

I don’t mean to complain, really I don’t.  I just want to be floating.  

Cappie 'floating'

Trip on Three Finger Bay (2014)

Last summer, while adventuring around the Massasauga Provincial Park area, we ended up in Three Finger Bay. Having looked at the real 3 fingers and finding them either unsuitable or occupied we anchored offshore in what could reasonably be called the thumb. As there weren`t many boats around at that time, it didn`t really matter that we were somewhat out in the open because the weather appeared to be cooperating and would do for the near future. 

Map of Three Finger Bay (and thumb)

I had the greatest fishing experience of my life there, actually. After dropping anchor for a bit and going for a swim, I was prone on the deck, enjoying the late afternoon sun, when I spotted a low-riding, heavy-engined fishing runabout manned by two fellows in camouflage gear. They were slowly meandering along the shoreline, casting in occasionally. 

When they got close to the Mary Mary, we exchanged pleasantries and the one guy asked if I had any idea where all the fish had gone. I restrained myself from responding that perhaps, just like themselves, they were all  wearing camouflage too. At any rate, apparently he was used to better luck in these waters. I relayed to him that spotty fishing was all I was used to really and so the boat wandered off.

What the heck, I thinks to meself. I`ll try me luck. 

I grabbed the rod, threaded on a worm and tossed her over. Slowly reeling back in I was gob-smacked to see a giant bass (by my standards, anyway) that was slowly following the dangling bait back to the surface. Stay there, stay there, I exhorted my prey and lowered the line back in. Sure enough, a moment later, a hard hit and I hauled the lunker in. I reckoned him to be about 4 or 5 lbs. 

One of the many beauties, glistening in the sun

As I am wont to do, I screamed for Brooke to come with the net and help me before the fish could flop off. Brooke arrived and straining with the weight, the net came up over the side and onto the deck with struggling Billy. We took pictures, a video, called the National Fishing Association and generally celebrated what was easily the biggest fish I`d ever caught (Other than a Mahi-Mahi in the Pacific Ocean.) We released the trophy back into the water and I settled back to fish some more, not really expecting any further excitement. But no sooner did the line hit the water than, bang, another big hit. I reeled him in, this one only slightly smaller than the last. And again and again the fish came bursting over the side until my arms  were sore from reeling them in. Altogether perhaps 10 or 12 large bass were caught in the space of about 45 minutes. Finally I ran out of bait.

As satisfying as the event had been, I only wished my fellow fishermen had still been around so that I could tell them exactly where the fish had gone to. Under my boat.

The next day we lowered the dinghy and took a ride up in to the northern finger of the bay and visited a small feeder creek that was the bloated with huge algae blooms. We had our Go Pro camera with us in its underwater housing and below is a link  to the video we shot. Enjoy it.

On The Hard... Again

It is November 1^st, 2014 and we just heard the first reports on the radio of snow flurries downtown. Seems a bit early really, but there’ll probably be another warmish spell. There usually is.

Heading past Point Au Baril Lighthouse

Mary Mary is ‘on the hard’ now in Britt, Byng Inlet, Ontario at Wright’s Marine. We finally made it to Britt after being weathered in for a few days and then forced to anchor in Kitsilano Bay, near Pointe Au Baril, waiting for the waves on Georgian Bay to subside and for the wind to give us hope. It did though, finally, and we motored out into the blue and with an off-shore wind and calm waters we made it across the Hang Dog Reef in good time and then navigated the hairpin turn at Hang Dog Channel and entered into some of the best landscape we’ve encountered thus far.

Part of Hang Dog Channel

The waters are fairly shallow through the inside route but the higher water-level overall this year helped us and despite one or two marker surprises (not where they were marked on my two-year old charts) it was uneventful. We passed a pretty large working boat slowly making its way between the islands but not much else, even when we left sheltered waters and made the last 7 mile hop on open water towards Byng Inlet. But the weather was remarkably nice with sun pouring down around and smooth waters. We only passed one other boat, headed in the other direction, in the narrow channel towards Byng. We both slowed down and, ten feet apart or so, had a short, jovial conversation, remarking on the terrific conditions and wishing each other well.

It is an amazing phenomenon of these waters that even when you are several miles out, the water in some places is only 8 or 9 feet deep. Many rock shoals can be seen just a few metres off the beaten track and cormorant and gull inhabited rocks jut out into the air every now and then. But the route is well-maintained and we never really felt threatened. Of course, it would be a lot different in harsher weather when you might be getting pushed around a bit off the line. 

Byng Inlet from the air

But such was not the case for us, fortunately, and even though we had been relatively bored waiting out the weather and a little stressed because our time window had been quickly shrinking, the eventual journey was fascinating. It overwhelmed us with a sense of joy and satisfaction even as we were now realizing just how close the end of the season was getting to be. As we motored the final stretch around the point leading into Byng Inlet, the weather started picking up behind us and we were happy to make the smoother waters of the Inlet itself. We motored the two or three miles down the inlet, eventually arriving at Wright’s Marina where we would be spending the winter.

We were greeted by the owner/manager of the marina, Graham Lacey and given a slip on the eastern dock where a boat had just been taken out. Wright’s is a very easy-going place, professionally run and maintained with the care that only a family-run business can be,  and we were quickly settled in and enjoying the dying rays of the afternoon sun. I was returning to Toronto for work having already ferried the truck up to the marina from Parry Sound (Graham, the owner, had actually given me a ride in his car down to Parry Sound where he lived. It’s about an hour away.) Although we had originally planned for me go and then return for the final haul-out, we decided instead for all of us to go back, cats included, and then Brooke and I would return later to do the painful chore.

Wright's Marina, Byng Inlet

When we returned a few days later, we had three days to do the winterizing, clean out the boat and settle things with the marina. (We actually left a day early because it was becoming demoralizing.) So we began the now-familiar routine of oil-changing and such and on the final day, we travelled over to the gas-dock for a final pump-out and shortly thereafter the big, red hydraulic trailer backed down the ramp and we were hauled out. We have decided this year not to shrink-wrap and instead covered the bright-work on the rails with the old fire-hose linings that we had obtained last year from the Toronto Fire Dept. It had worked extremely well at Sound Boat Works so we are fairly confident we will be okay. It is a little more exposed this year, but the cost, for us, was just too prohibitive.

Now it’s just a simple matter of waiting 6 months for spring.

OMG.

Mary On The Hard

The Water Heater, Part 2: The Insertion

Ah, the day has finally arrived. After a month or so with no hot water, the new water heater is here. It shines and gleams on the galley counter awaiting insertion into its hidey-hole in the engine room. And the weight of the newly acquired 11 gallon, West Marine (made in Taiwan) unit is great. It took two people to get the old heater off the boat. This one I can carry myself with no problem. (Probably because it’s made of tin… very thin stainless steel actually.) To be sure, this unit is on the cheaper end of water heaters but reviews were adequate enough online to reassure. The higher end models were up to a couple of thousand dollars, so the decision was made to go cheaper this time. Watch this space for our own review next year and whether or not you can actually pay less and succeed.

The new, 11 gal. water heater ready to go

Getting the unit up and running will require the following steps:

• Secure the unit into place between the starboard engine and the hull. (This gives some concern as the unit has two mounts protruding from underneath that can’t be removed and replaced; one of which arrived out of the box bent.)
• Prepare new water pipe and attach same to the unit. (We will be replacing the old ‘tap’ style shutoff valve at the same time, so we will have to go through the usual difficulties when replacing plumbing in this Singapore-built boat with its whacky fittings sizes.
• Attach the electrics.
• Remove the old heater-hose from beneath the stringers and replace it with new, modern hose to run coolant from the engine to the unit’s heat exchanger for heating water while underway.
• Test the results.

The first part of the mission went well as the lighter weight made manipulating the thing much easier. The mounts didn’t turn out to be a problem but I still had to remove two of the 6-volt batteries from the house bank again. It didn’t take long to get it in its space from that point, with Brooke jostling it for position as I held it up. It sure looked nice and shiny in there. (Compared to the rusting bulk of the already forgotten tub that it was replacing…)

The unit in place

Unfortunately, because of space restrictions, the rest of the installation basically fell on the Bosun with me standing by to hand tools and wires and cutting pipe as required. After some discussion about to where to run all the new white PEX pipes, Brooke attached them with Sharkbite connectors and elbows. 

Tiny Brooke in a tiny place

The electrics were a bit of a puzzle as all three wires that extruded from the running tube were black with stranded copper wire. We had marked these as they had been on the old unit but now we were finding it hard to determine which the negative was and which the ground wire. The three wires were labelled 34, 01 and 02. It seemed fairly obvious that the 34 wire was the power and that was confirmed at the panel with the multi-meter. I found that there were several other 01 and 02 wires coming up in other places, servicing other appliances and lights and such. Best possible guess was that 01 was the negative and 02 was the ground. This proved to be the case. 

Attaching the electrics

With all the attachments in place and tools out of the hold, testing began. First we tested the plumbing by filling the tank, turning on the new valve and letting trapped air out of the lines. Success… No leaks. Or so it seemed at the time.

Having tested this we made the final commitment to turn on the hot water heater at the AC panel and after an impatient 20 minutes or so turned on the hot water tap and, lo, hot water came splashing out.

When we went back down to do one last inspection, Brooke found, disturbingly, that there was a water leak coming from under the unit; in exactly the same position that the leak had occurred in the old heater. Was there a gremlin down there poking holes in our heaters? Well, of course, this turned out to be co-incidence in the end and not, in fact, a gremlin. (I later found out that gremlins are entirely mythical. Which would explain the absolute failure of my homemade gremlin traps.)

This gremlin trap (upon which I based my own version) turned out to be a hoax.

There was a leak though. The hot water out connection was sending a steady stream of water down through the housing and through the electric panel! The unit was quickly turned off and the leaking connector fixed by undoing it, replacing the pipe thread sealant and replacing it with a robust turning of the wrench. No more leak.

Brooke's fine connecting job

Brooke was the first to experiment with the wonders of the new heater by having a shower. The ooh’s and ah’s emanating from the stateroom gave signal that the job had been completed successfully.

Next we turned our attention to the heat exchanger connection. We had made the decision to use new heater-hose instead of the continuing to rely on the now 35 year-old rigid pipes that came with the boat. Although the old pipe didn’t seem to be compromised too much, it seemed like the best idea. This we did with two, 6-foot lengths of pre-cut Goodyear heater-hose. Because the engine had half-inch outlets for these hoses and the new heater had 5/8” outlet/inlets, we had to use two different size hoses and join them up. I suspect that this wouldn’t be recommended but there was little choice really. At any rate all of our joints seem to be holding well; barb connectors with clamps. Then we connected the hoses to the engine with a jug standing by for spillage and a quick turn-over system that involved quickly removing the hose and covering the exposed outlet with a finger while sticking the hose into the spill jug. This we accomplished with a minimum of mess. After connecting the new hoses to the engine we topped off the coolant and, using the relief valve, bled the system of air.

Next we had to test the validity of our coolant hose connections. We started the starboard engine with fingers-crossed (the resulting mess from a faulty hose would be very ugly). It seemed to be holding well. We let the engine reach running temperature to be sure of the integrity of the hose and it passed off well. Later, after our next short journey, we found that the heat-exchanger was working well, too.

This was another case of finding that by using our knowledge of the boat and our experience (which is always increasing), that we could save a lot of money and get great satisfaction out of doing jobs like this ourselves; especially when the results are so palpable.

Happy 'cause we're clean... now let's go wash the cat!