Locked and Loaded!

I'm breathing much more easily this week.  Thanks to Nadil at N.M. Marine Services, our projects are done!  

Travel Berkey and stand

The AIS is working (you can find Trekker on www.marinetraffic.com), Go Free wireless control for the chart plotter is working, solar panels are working, cabin fans are installed, exhaust fans for the fridge and freezer are installed, head hoses replaced, jacklines made, the third reefing line installed and tubular fender boards fabricated.  Doug at Klacko Marine fabricated a handhold and socket for the swim platform which Nadil installed to make coming up the swim ladder and disembarking from the dinghy easier (read more graceful)!  

We also bought a Travel Berkey water purifier and was very fortunate to find, at the last minute, Novatek Welding in Cambridge, Ontario to fabricate a stand to mount it on the galley bulkhead. Thanks Mike!

We have charts and cruising guides, lots of safety equipment and on and on. Everything is checked off on our many lists ... hope we didn't forget to list anything!  

We have most of our clothes aboard and Karen has most of the non-perishable food aboard.  The wine cellar and liquor locker are stocked too!  

Time to get going!

Boat Time, Boat Projects and Boat Dollars

We have been very busy getting ALL our projects  out of the way before we go. Time is quickly passing by ... less than two weeks before we cast off.
Some of the main projects have been: add another solar panel (done), add AIS (automatic identification system which lets us see other boats and them see us - nearly done), add a handhold railing on the swim platform (nearly done), add cabin and fridge/freezer fans (done), and replace a couple of head (bathroom) hoses (almost done).
I have discovered during these projects that anything that you think can be done quickly and easily will not be. We call it "boat time". So if you think a fan will take an hour to install ... in boat time it can easily triple. Nothing on a boat is easy to do as you are working in small spaces with limited access to it. Very frustrating and difficult!
But as we learned yesterday, staying calm and working together actually works. We were moving around some mattresses for the aft cabin when it was discovered that the zipper on one of them had split near the end of it. So we tried to unzip it, and in doing so broke off the tab on the zipper. At the very end of the zipper, of course.  So with four hands and lots of patience and teamwork we slowly and carefully re-zipped it. Only to discover the zipper was double ended !! Duh! I guess we should have looked before we started!
And nothing on or for a boat comes cheap. A set of custom made sheets for our V-berth, which I tried to make myself and discovered is not an easy task, will cost us many times a regular set of sheets (well worth it I say)! Boat dollars we call it.

So now we are moving aboard and slowly making it our home away from home. Clothing is being moved on in batches (what to bring?? Warm clothes, cool clothes, fancy clothes, hats, coats). We have bought a whole stack of used DVD box sets of shows that we can watch along the way as we really are not sure what kind of TV reception we will get with our little "rabbit ears". And I have collected a bin full of knitting projects to do along the way. Orders are accepted!!

The galley is slowly coming together. We bought some stacking drawers and made a row of them in the "garage" which has given us more storage space. Not shown in the photo are the straps we installed to keep them in place.  Plus I ordered extra Tupperware for all my staples and feel quite organized now.

Storage drawers in the garage

Tupperware cupboards

 I bought all new spices and found a super place to store them, cool, dark and the perfect height. The cupboard they are in used to hold a garbage can, a complete waste of space as far as I was concerned, so our "handyman and jack-of-all trades" Nadil built me two amazing pull out drawers in that space for added storage. The garbage can is in now in the garage.

Top drawer

Lower door was for garbage

Spices at back

I have discovered living on a boat makes you extremely organized and I  can now look at a space and go "a-ha" this will fit here, or I can put that there. My shoes are another issue. A girl needs as many shoes as possible. So I took a shelf between my bed and wardrobe and made a little area for shoes. So clever!

We are starting to feel like we are (almost) ready to go.
Now starts the hardest part. I'm not looking forward to saying "see ya soon" to all my friends and family. But we will be back in October to celebrate my nephew's wedding which will be here before we know it.
Our adventures will soon begin .... one day at a time.

Six Weeks to Go!

C minus six weeks.... (C=Cast off!)

What? 6 weeks? Really ... how did that happen? Time is quickly whizzing by as we get ourselves ready for our great sailing adventure.

Reality really set in when Hugh semi-retired May 1st. Now we can run around getting things organized, together! Its like everyday is a Saturday ... I guess that's what retirement life is all about! I think I like it!

Items on our many lists are quickly getting checked off ... new wills, check! New glasses and sunglasses, check! New iPhone (7 plus which is "water-resistant!!), check!! We have ordered  a new custom fit sheet set which is very exciting. I did try to make my own sheets from a regular sheet set but, wow, that is a hard job. They will work but in an emergency only!! I'm also gathering knitting projects to do along the way. I am an avid knitter and hate to sit and do nothing, and I have a feeling I will have some spare time as we travel.  Let me know if you need me to make anything 😊 Its all coming together.

I am slowly getting my head wrapped around provisioning the boat. I decided that I need to stock my galley pretty much the same as my kitchen at home. Makes sense, right? So I am going through all my cupboards and making lists of things I use all the time ... spices, staples, condiments, oils / vinegars etc. Some things I will bring from home and some things I will buy new.  I am also looking at all my Tupperware to store it all in and will order more containers. Everything needs to go into Tupperware or Ziplocs to protect it from the moisture on the water. I will be bringing a ton of Ziplocs with me! I'm feeling calmer about provisioning.

There are piles of "stuff" all over the house that need to go up to the boat. It always amazes me how we can take up so much and it somehow disappears into the boat. We bought a set of stacking drawers that we will be putting in our spare aft cabin (the "garage") for extra storage room. We'll see if everything we take on board this year disappears!

We are  slowly putting the boat back together after the winter and we finally spent two nights on board. They were a  little chilly!

The Main Salon

Our Cozy Cabin

Thank goodness for our fireplace to keep us warm!  

Time is quickly flying by and we want to see as many friends and family as we can, one more time, before we go. My mom is coming to terms with the fact that I am gong to be away for 10 months. I bought a  map of the Eastern USA and put it on a cork board with our route marked on it so she can follow us as we go.  The good news is we can talk/facetime/and text as much as we want along the way.  Isn't new technology wonderful?! When Hugh's parents did this trip in 1980, apart from the Super 8 movies, we hardly ever heard from them ..."no news is good news" was their motto! Plus, we will be home in October to attend my nephew's wedding and celebrate my "big" birthday!

Its all very exciting and scary at the same time. Exciting as its a huge adventure that we have been talking about since we met. We will see lots of amazing places along the way and meet people from all over the world. Besides, spending the winter in the  Bahamas sounds pretty good to me!
Scary because  I'm afraid of lots of things ... thunderstorms and lightning, big winds and waves, missing my family and friends ... you get the picture!! I guess its the unknown that is scary.

But we can do this ... One day at a time ...

Launch Day!

Central Ontario's weather has been nasty this spring.  Record amounts of rain and well below average temperatures.  



In spite of the weather I got that last of the preparations below the waterline done on Monday. 


Wednesday May 3, launch day, turned out to be a beautiful cool but clear day.  We arrived at the boat about an hour before scheduled launch.  

The marina kindly raised us in the slings so we could paint under the cradle bunks and then she headed for the water.

Trekker splashed down around noon to begin an exciting year!

Spring Preparations

Our list of preparations below the waterline for launch include antifouling on the bottom, saildrive and propeller and new zincs.  As usual, I've learned quite a bit researching paint and zincs.

Regarding bottom paint, we need to put on paint that is compatible with the existing paint, or remove the existing paint.  Pat Sturgeon, the dealer we bought the boat from told me he had put Interlux Fiberglass Bottomkote on which, according to the Interlux compatibility chart was compatible with all their paints with a light sanding.  

At the Toronto boat show we decided to go with Micron CSC which is supposed to have "excellent" antifouling properties.  So this past weekend, armed with drywall sanding handles and mesh and a pressure washer we went at the bottom to give it a light sanding.  Problem was, the paint was not a hard paint, but rather very soft.  Not Fiberglass Bottomkote?  I dug around the Interlux website and learned that in addition to Fiberglass Bottomkote they make Bottomkote XXX and Fiberglass Bottomkote ACT both of which are soft paints.  Fiberglass Bottomkote ACT is also compatible with other Interlux products with a light sanding, but Bottomkote XXX isn't compatible with anything other than itself, and oddly enough is also their least expensive paint for "the cost conscious boat owner". I emailed Pat Sunday morning with my dilemma and to his credit he got right back saying that he uses either Bottomkote XXX or Trilux II.  Trilux II is also a hard paint, so that pretty well settled it.  We either had to remove all the paint or just go ahead and recoat with Bottomkote XXX.  Stripping wasn't something we looked forward to, so I rationalized that Bottomkote XXX has "good" antifouling properties, and we don't plan to be sitting still too long, so hopefully it will do the job.  Thankfully Hindson marina had a couple of gallons so we got them and put the first coat on Sunday.  Then I realized that Bottomkote XXX has an "immersion" time of 48 hours to 5 days depending on which Interlux document one reads.  So if we were to put the second coat on Monday, it would be nine days until we immersed it on our launch day of May 3 ... so decided instead to wait until this coming weekend to get us within 5 days. Monday was then dedicated to washing and waxing the hull.

On the saildrive and prop, copper based antifouling paints cannot be used because they cause corrosion of the underlying metal. Trilux II is suitable but needs to be applied over a good primer.  Interlux recommended Interprotect 2000 epoxy primer and 2 or more coats of Trilux II.  We also got the Interprotect on this past weekend.

So the plan was to go up Saturday and Sunday to put another coat of Bottomkote XXX on and a couple of coats of Trilux II on the saildrive.  I have the prop at home and have been preparing it this week.  Unfortunately spring does not appear to have fully sprung because the forecast for the coming weekend is a high of 6 Celsius.  Not only cool to work in but the data sheets for Bottomkote XXX and Trilux II say the ambient temperature and substrate temperature need to be at least 10 Celsius!  Touching base with Interlux technical support, Dale told me that the paints might not adhere to the first coat and might not cure at all. So I've decided to take advantage of the warm weather forecast tomorrow to get the second coat of Bottomkote XXX on and the first coat of Trilux II on the saildrive.  Monday is supposed to be in the teens too, so that will have to be when we put the second coat on the saildrive.

With regard to zincs, I've learned that in fresh water the sacrificial anodes should be magnesium rather than zinc.  We have a bolt on hull anode to which all the through hulls are connected, a ring on the saildrive and a couple of "buttons" on the Flexofold two blade prop.  So next question was what material were the existing zincs?  After all, it's a German boat ... would they put different sacrificial anodes on for Great Lakes bound boats?  Zinc weighs twice what magnesium does for the same volume so based on product data on line I was able to determine that in fact all the sacrificial anodes were Zinc not magnesium.  Hanse owners take note!  They all have a calcium coating on them which means that they are not doing their job ... glad I figured this out fairly early on.  Handy hint ... CLR does a great job dissolving the calcium!  So I have spares now, except for the Flexofold but I think I will just clean up the existing ones and leave them on.

So that is it below the waterline.  More on this year's projects in other posts.

Preparing ... Preparing

As you have read from Hugh's recent post he has been busily getting us ready for our upcoming (and coming quickly) voyage. His job has been the "technical" side of things ... thankfully, as I really have little or no knowledge of  "all that works with motors".

So my job is home comforts and  provisioning.  But right now I feel  my main job is being Hugh's "sounding board".

Every night he comes home with a new idea, new research or new item he has found or ordered "for the boat". We eat, drink, sleep, walk and talk sailing all the time right now! Its a little overwhelming ... but I think it is helping us get mentally prepared for this journey.

I now know more about engines, alternators, holding and water tanks, solar panels and batteries than I  care to admit. We know that when sailors get together the women usually talk about food and and the men almost always talk batteries ... Hugh jokes that I will be able to hold my own among the men's conversation!!!

We are following a few blogs of friends from our sailing club, or boats we have found on line, that are doing the exact same thing right now that we hope to do later this year and next. I have also discovered a FaceBook page called "Women Who Sail" (WWS) , which is a group of amazing women from all over the world who post questions and answers. Some are pretty hard core ... but they all give me inspiration that I too can do this amazing adventure, and that I am not alone with my fears and questions.




















On the home comfort front I have been collecting items for the boat to make it feel like our "home away from home". With my basic sewing skills I have sewn two comforters, one for our bunk and also for the aft cabin. We also have started collecting pillow cases from different travels to make the cockpit and settee down below more cosy.

On our recent trip to Mexico we bought a blanket that  I hope will be multi-purpose ... warmth, beach blanket, cover for leather settees, extra blankets for guest ... etc ... etc.  Every time I see something that would be good "for the boat" I buy it and put it in our boat cupboard in the basement. I'm sure there will be a few forgotten surprises when we start going through it in the spring!!

My biggest job is provisioning. I have been reading, reading and reading all sorts of websites, blogs and magazines about how to cook on board.  I know, I know, everyone eats everywhere. I've been told that many times. And I also know that we have never starved while cruising Georgian Bay. So I will stock up the boat before launch to resemble my home kitchen and then I'm sure I will find a store or two along the way to get supplies  ;)

And I have started practicing some recipes at home for boat cooking, including with a pressure cooker that I received for Christmas, and my first attempt at using it was quite a success! Today I am baking bread ...

It's all very exciting and overwhelming at the same time ... but in truth I can't wait to get going!!

Countdown to Casting Off!

It's 2017 which means we only have a few months until we cast off on our voyage south!

We have several lists of things we need to do before we leave.

One list is equipment, mostly safety related such as lifejackets that meet offshore requirements, a lifesling, danbuoy, different types of flares and a DSC enabled handheld VHF.  

We went to the Toronto International Boat Show and got much of the equipment on our list, (and more) and were pleasantly surprised (having gone out for quotes in advance) to find that the prices at Fogh Boat Supplies at the show were really competitive!

I've also got my spares list for the engine which consists mostly of regular maintenance items like filters, belts, impellers, and zincs however we've also decided on a replacement alternator since I think it is too small for the size of our battery bank meaning we'll likely be working it hard.

I've ordered a working jib from Greg Bratkiw at Evolution Sails in Toronto and am getting a third set of reef points in the main. It's probably overkill for getting to our first goal, the Bahamas, but if we like the lifestyle, we'll be prepared for going farther!

We're also going to get a Honda EU2000i generator for charging redundancy.

And, we need to get cruising guides and charts for our route.

Our second list is the last of the boat projects that includes a second 250W solar panel, AIS, cabin fans, replacing the pump and hose to the Hanse holding tank, a bumper on the stem to protect against anchor dings, a handrail on the swim platform to help with coming up the ladder and disembarking from the dinghy and running a third reefing line.

Trekker's mast is theoretically 64'4" above the water, not including, I expect, the instruments, antenna and Windex. This spring I need to measure it exactly.  The ICW fixed bridges are nominally 65' but many tell us that there are a couple of 62 footers at mean high-high tide.  That means we will either have to go offshore to get around them or heel the boat to get under them.  There are some great Youtube videos showing boats being heeled to get under a bridge including Prestissimo owned by Joseph Huberman.  Prestissimo has very similar dimensions to Trekker and Joseph reports that he has transited the ICW for years heeling the boat with a 1.5 cubic metre water bag made of nylon pack fabric. Joseph sent me a photo of his bag and a description and recommended I try making the bag out of a heavy duty polyethylene tarp. So, I have my design complete and one quote, and plan to get another, and go to production! Hanse has very kindly included the stability curve for the boat on its website.  If I've interpreted it correctly, and done my sums properly, 733 kg at 5 metres from the centreline should heel us 18.2 degrees, which should reduce our height to 62 feet. 

Our last list is administrative items like getting our OHIP exemption for a year, renewing our NEXUS cards, travel health insurance and getting a marine mobile radio station for the VHF that we need for international travel, and arranging for a cruising license.

It all seems a little daunting at the moment, but I'm sure we'll get most of it done.