It is another fabulous morning the light skin of ice glistens in the morning sun. I realize this is another month almost gone and I have only begun to work on Defiance. I must decide today on ho much of the bridge deck to cut away and what to do about the foremast wind generation.

As always during the Marine Ontario spring revival you go from doing nothing to full bore overnight. The familiar faces have reappeared and boats are appearing from beneath their covers. It will not be long now before summer is here.

I spent yesterday on Defiance and today I will try to get a couple of hours work in at the shop today cleaning up ET. I will however not risk taking the car in again for a while. Yesterday I picked up my new foremast. It was brisk and I managed to drive in, or perhaps I should say slip slide into the shop but came close to getting stuck. It is time to start work on ET and the dory so I will be hoofing it for a while.

Thursday was good; I managed to get a starting mooring plan for summer 2007 clear and continued to work on Defiance as the shop is still too wet. I expect it will need another 3 day of good weather to be able to drive in. Driving in would be handy as I have my tool boxes to take back and it is a long walk from the road.

I settled down and finished the foremast prototyle and have the component templates and materials ready for a trip to a TIG shop. However as I got into rebuilding and modifing the mast I moved the project back on the TO DO list as even with my salvage parts it will still be another $400 for TIG welding, rigging and fittings before I can put it up. With 30 days to go I do not have the time and money. Instead I will concentrate on tidying up the existing bridge deck with the expectation of spending the summer at anchor.

Defiance Preparedness:

Thirty days to go. I have a huge list of to dos. Long term Defiance is coming along with the foremast concept moving along on schedule. I now have a temporary tabernacle that will suffice while I work out the rigging and fabricate the real foremast tabernacle.

How to deal with mounting the tabernacle which is tricky as since there is a wood interior meaning you cannot just dive in and weld it to the roof as you could were it not for the wood interior. On the other hand this trying to renovate while you live in the place is a pain. I need to spend a full winter season working only, not living on the boat.

• Foremast:
•    weld holes – heavy chg. wires - Wind generator mount – Radar mount – tabernacle- turnbuckles – wire - swages
• Bilge check and deodorize Check if new fuel/water filter is in
• Install new F/W filter in place of CAV
• 83Liters fuel starboard tank
• Battery check Check epoxy supplies
• Glue helm flooring down
• Aft cabin flooring install Fix galley sink leak
• Inspect HN79 starter & ring gear
• Commission generator
• Commission HN 79 primary
•     Oil test
•     Fuel test
• Who has underwater camera so I can do hull inspection from deck