The in-between times

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.