Month: May 2016

We finally got moved into our floating home called Pachina Mia, and have been slowly bringing her back from ‘on-the-hard’ hell. Mast went up without too much drama, and then we scooted off (in the car … boo-hoo) to Ottawa to spend Mother’s Day with my mom and sis. A few good dinners out and we were back to Belleville to carry on the work.

Boat systems have been coming back online, mostly without many hitches. Propane (stove/oven and BBQ) worked great right off. We have water (although Ann still won’t drink it yet), and the fridge/freezer is doing fine. Bilge pumps are pumping, and electrically everything is working well — all except the spreader lights which have a mysterious voltage drop in the line; probably due to them being nearly severed when the mast went up. Minor issue…

Sails are rigged, windvane is mostly installed, anchor and nav lights are functioning. The major remaining issues are finishing the radar and solar installation AND getting the engine running smoothly. Dave, our mechanic, was down and we got her running with a shot of ether. But she’s blowing blueish smoke, and is running rough. We did an oil change, and will probably reset the valves. Dave is investigating some other possibilities. Doesn’t seem to be a major problem.

When we hoisted the mast we chose to leave off our masthead wind instruments. They are delicate and would likely have been damaged by the crane’s cable. This meant one of us had to climb to the very top of our 45′ mast (which puts it about 50′ above the water) and somehow manage to install these things. Ann lost the fight, so I got to go up 😉

But Ann got her revenge the next day by climbing nearly as high to install the lazyjacks. Crazy woman!

Life at Stillwater Basin Marina is feeling quite comfortable. We’ve settled into a routine of lazy breakfasts, followed by a few hours of hard work, followed by yummy suppers cooked on board washed down with good beer or cheap wine. Ah the life…

One other major accomplishment was the installation of June’s/Mom’s space-church painting. It took Ann a few days to get up the gumption to drill holes in the frame and bulkhead, but she did it, and the painting looks great! Now there will be a little bit of Juney with us wherever we go.

The new owners of the marina are treating us well. They have an incredibly cute four-year-old daughter named Maddy who has been entertaining us with her questions, and her general joy of the world. She owns a cat Smokey has also adopted us, and is now so comfortable that he jumps on our boat uninvited, and sometimes even curls up on a settee to go to sleep.

 

 

If we can get the engine sorted, and finish a few more projects, AND declutter the boat, then we should be ready to get off the dock in a couple of weeks. Sheesh, this relaxing life is sure hard at times 😉

Addendum: As one of the few live-a-boards at the marina we get exposed to the full breadth of the joys of water life. A few nights ago I heard the SCCCRRRRRAPPE, BANG! CRASH!! SPLASH. I bolted upright in bed (while Ann keeps snoring away 😉 ) thinking something disastrous had happened to our boat, or someone nearby. But hearing no yelling or gurgling, I soon fell back asleep. The next morning I awoke to see the marina owner and others fishing something big out of the basin right next to our boat. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about what happened, but lets just say Ann and I and a few others spent the next couple hours fishing something out of the water that didn’t belong there.

And then just yesterday a neighbour boat owner knocks on our hull and asks me to come over to look at something. He points across the marina to a small boat and asks: “Should it be that low in the water?” I look closely, and quickly agree it looks low. So we go over and yes indeed, she’s sinking! No one knows who the owner is, it is locked, with no manual bilge pump visible. I go off and find some people. We cut the lock off, and see the cabin is 1/2 full of water. Find a pump. Boat saved!

Yup … always fun around here.

Where has the month gone… We moved into our rented room and began working on the boat. The first few days were spent hiding from winter weather, and mostly staring at our toes. There was so much to do to get our new home all ship-shape once again. Sure made me long for our days on the road, when the biggest problem we faced was where to pitch our tent next.

After a few days of dazed panic we finally got focused on getting the boat ready for launch. We cleared the deck, and got the winter cover off. Unlike the previous year when it tore in half, this year it suffered only a few small chafe holes. All in all the boat seems to have weathered well.

Sadly, the engine would not start on its own. Our mechanic, who is also an avid vinyl collector and is now the owner of Ann’s old turntable, managed to get it running with a shot of ether. His theory is it just needs to run in the water for a while to blow out any airlocks in the fuel. We’ll get to that soon… In the meantime, launch day came, and (mostly) successfully went:

 

Launch and haul are done using a crane here at Stillwater Marina. The Big Boats day was first, and we are definitely one of those. When it came our time we rigged the slings and got everyone lined up to help steady Pachina Mia as she was lifted. Just as she was coming off the cradle someone yells: “The crane is tipping! THE CRANE IS TIPPING!!!!”

Our boat weighs 15 tons

All’s well than ends well. The crane did not tip over, and our boat made it to the water with only a few extra dings in its hull. One of the crane’s stabilizing pads did lift four or five feet of the ground though. Oh, give me a travel lift any day.

With the boat in the water, and with confirmation she was only sinking slowly, we settled in to daily work life bringing Pachina back to life. My focus was mostly the mast while Ann spent her time trying to make the boat livable. I’m installing a radar antenna up the mast, which involves drilling big holes and running long lengths of cable through the centre of the stick.

As with most things in life, I really have no idea what I’m doing. So needless to say, the whole radar project has been quite nerve-wracking. But with much guidance, some luck, a bit of tenacity, and big power tools, I managed to drill the holes and run all the wires. The radar should be mounted soon. Next steps will be putting big holes in our boat … but that will come later.

Boat work has been stressful, but fun. But our new home life here in Belleville has been wonderful. Our host Marvin Tucker has been just great to us. We both feel right at home. Although we only rented a room (at an excellent price!), Marvin has basically given us the use of the entire house. This includes enjoying the house cat, PITA (Pain In The Ass). She’s well named, because she likes to steal your place in bed.

Marvin rents through AirBnB. If you’re in need of a room for a night or longer in Belleville, you can’t do better than staying here.

We also discovered we’re all complete Mac-heads. Morning breakfast often looked like an ad for Apple.

Along with working on the boat, Ann booked herself into a motorcycle course at the local college so she can get her full (M)motorcycle license. After driving nearly 20,000 km over the past seven months she figured she was ready. The fateful weekend came, and She Passed. Not only passed, but passed with the best score her instructor has ever given out in 12 years. That’s my Annnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! We went out and celebrated at a local pub:

                    

Today we move out of Marvin’s and into our floating home. The mast is scheduled for stepping this weekend. After that we’ll rig the boat, and hopefully get the engine working. Still aiming for Newfoundland, and still have no idea what to do with car, motorcycles or winter living. But we’ll figure it out … eventually.