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.

Project 2 - Solar: 2016 Update

The batteries and solar worked great throughout the summer of 2015, we never plugged in to shore power just like on old Trekker, all was good.  Then we went out for a cruise in mid September and had the pleasure of usually crowded anchorages all to ourselves!  After two nights and one partly cloudy day  at anchor we woke up to house batteries reading 10.9 volts, which is effectively dead. This didn't make any sense to me as the only serious electrical draw we have on the boat is the refrigerator, which draws an average of 2 amps per hour.  Lights are all LED (and we use them as though they are incandescent), we turn off instruments, didn't watch the TV ... you get the picture. In fact, we baby the batteries, only using our electric winches when the engine is running and generally being anal about taking care of them. So, if the batteries were 320 Ah, and we had been sitting for 40 hours using, to be conservative, 4 amps per hour we should only have used 160 Ah. And that was assuming no solar charging, and we knew there had been some.  So, on went the engine, we charged up and because I was now nervous about being caught out with no electricity, motored home.  We spent the balance of our vacation at the dock and prepared for, and hauled out a day early.  I completely disconnected the batteries for the winter. Pat Sturgeon came up and checked them with a cranking battery tester and declared them to be fine, and season done, I spent the winter trying to figure out why they appeared to be dead that morning!

In the spring I had Brian and Mike Kelly of Bayland Enterprises check the batteries with their deep cycle battery tester, and sure enough, one had only 105 Ah and the other 93 Ah.  

I spoke to Pat and we decided I would take the batteries back to Ontario Battery, that is a Victron dealer and they would check them too.  They got nearly the same results, so new batteries were in order.  Pat very kindly agreed to split them with me and we decided to get two more as well since we had decided we need more freezer space which would effectively double our draw.

We ordered and installed 4 new 165 Ah Victron AGM batteries and wired them up with the help of Mike Kelly at Bayland. While he was at it, I had Mike give the electrical system a "once over" and he was satisfied with the system architecture. He couldn't identify anything in particular that would have caused the early demise of our original batteries.  Pat Sturgeon helped with sleuthing a potential cause, and about all we were able to come up with was that the batteries were manufactured in the fall of 2013, sat in stock at Hanse for 6 months until they were installed in our boat early 2014, shipped to Canada,  and used to demo the boat for the summer.  We're not sure how well they were maintained at Hanse before they were installed, and I expect they were used hard on the boat to demonstrate the electric winches, the windlass etc. during the summer prior to our taking ownership.

I was still concerned that we hadn't found a clear cause for the original batteries being pooched.  After much internet research, apart from deciding that batteries and electrical systems are more of a black art than science, I learned that AGM batteries do not take well to being overcharged.  I decided that there was a chance that the batteries were being overcharged by our 115 amp alternator, since it seems to charge at 14.1V whether or not they were fully charged (which they usually are, being connected to solar). Victron states that the float voltage for the batteries is 13.5 to 13.8V.  At the same time I realized that we do not have a smart regulator like we did on old Trekker.

Mike at Bayland recommended a Sterling Alternator to Battery charger, which in addition to maintaining the float voltage at the recommended level also includes a "boost" function which is supposed to increase the amps going into the batteries and recharge them faster than the alternator can on its own. It also includes an alternator temperature sensor, which I thought would be a good idea, since our battery bank is really too large for the size of the alternator. 

The alternator to battery charger seemed to work well until  we went on holiday and started to discharge the battery bank to about 70% at which point, after 20 minutes it would trip due to excessive alternator temperature, supposedly greater than 90 degrees celsius. As a result we were losing the "boost" function, although it still maintained the absorption and float voltages at the correct values.  I bought an infra-red thermal gun and checked the alternator and found that it was getting nowhere near to 90C (65 was more like it), so now we had another puzzle to figure out.  It turned out that the alternator is mounted on a bracket which comes off the exhaust manifold, which is where Mike had installed the temperature sensor, so he moved it to another mounting point, and we'll see how it goes this summer.

Project 6 - Full Cockpit Enclosure

Trekker was fitted with a dodger, bimini and "deflectors" as Pat Sturgeon referred to them when we bought her.  

Dodger, bimini & deflectors

For cruising Georgian Bay it's necessary to have a full enclosure with screens if one wants to sit in the cockpit at night and not get eaten alive by mosquitos. Our full cockpit enclosure keeps the rain and bugs out just like it is supposed to. Thank goodness because this was the most annoying of the projects to complete. 

Completed full enclosure

I've been told that if you can't say something nice about someone, then don't say anything at all.  So I won't, except to say I wish I had sought a few quotes for the canvas and that I had read the Google reviews before ordering the canvas from Island Canvas.