Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 10.30 AM EST Tuesday 23 January 2007 for the period ending At 10.30 AM Wednesday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind southwest 10 to 15 knots increasing to 20 near noon and to 30 this afternoon. Wind veering to west this evening and to northwest 25 after midnight. Scattered flurries becoming isolated after midnight. Local snowsqualls this afternoon and evening. Waves less than 1 metre building to 1 to 2 this morning and to 2 to 3 late this afternoon. Outlook..Moderate northwesterlies veering to light northeasterlies.

The temperature has warmed up overnight and it is only -2°C at this time making the gray day a little easier to take. This Canadian winter solar deprivation is getting to me.

So far the cold is holding and the marina, including all the fresh dug dirt from all the trenching and work are covered with a pristine blanket of white. Lake ice is now solid clear to South Bay with a respectable sheet cradling Defiance. It will not be long before Rufus is back doing ice patrols.

Closing up the shop for the winter has given me some time to focus on Defiance. The graphic right is pretty much the configuration that I want for a Northern cruise. There is no question that spring 2007 will see a fore mast for a wind generator and additional running sail. The aft bridge creates a perfect space and will make working on deck way easier. My next objective is to get Defiance ready to live unplugged without operating a generator which is the current charging method be it primary driven, generator one, or generator 2. Working on the interior and my quest for energy efficiency means the wood stove will go and be replaced with a Dickerson Pacific oil stove which can burn as low as 6,500 BTU's versus the Espar's 45,000 BTU. This will get rid of carrying wood as there is no wood in the Arctic anyway, and begin converting to a one fuel vessel. April will be here all too soon. I am making steady progress on what I consider the cosmetic upgrade and final mechanical revisions.

This bridge deck dodger is a temporary prototype and is within a few curves and gentle angles of how I see arranging deck storage and bridge deck use. The rather blunt forward edge of the dodger port side is complicated by the face the dinghy stows directly in front of the mast port side. I do not want to move the dinghy further forward to minimize the possibility of it taking a blue water waves direct force. If you look at the picture left the aft makes much more sense. On the final there will be double sliding doors opening to at least a 3' wide door into the bridge deck. In summer this would be normally open. The book is rigged as a cargo crane and runs the full length of the aft work areas.

The main cabin roof has a lot of planned storage functions. There is a container for a dozen life jackets (inshore) , a 6 man cannister offshore liferaft on the exposed forward deck. Inside the bridge deck the dive tanks are kept there is a small work area starboard with vise, a cargo winch midships ahead of the mast, and a small dashboard along the port side behind the dinghy making that side more pleasant.Unfortunately because of the dinghy it is not practical to provide a raised companionway hood for access up to the bridge deck.

I am still waiting for an appointment with the orthoepic for a final try at improving my shoulder. Whatever the outcome of this round of health updates I feel a huge amount of pressure to get in one last cruise. The simple fact is I can live for almost as cheap moving as I can tied up near work. I am getting itchy feet.

Today was another medical wait session, but for once Ontario health is at least progressing my ailments. Not really much accomplished on Defiance as it was 16:00 by the time I got back. I did get all the 12V halogen lights that were burnt out replaces and measure up for the "fancy wood" that will form much of my finish trim.