Yesterday was intense as it was my last day that I had a hard point dock. Today, I start with working out a better docking situation or go. I have spent hours now trying to predictably park stern to on a finger and even though I can do it nicely 85% of the time when it goes wrong it is almost impossible to recover. It is not safe for me to attempt to do this on a regular basis which means thousands of dollars for a dock I cannot use.

I still have a 3 to 5 degree list but at least the old wood stove is off and we are begining to regain level. Defiance is as ready as I am going to get with the plywood dodger still inn place and still a welcome addition to the vessel. I have made 3 round island runs so far and the difference in the fashionability of the aft deck is quite amazing. Rufus also love the somewhat ugly structure.

Norm is going great guns on his boat and will move his trailer down for the summer which should get a lot done on it fast.

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 10.30 AM EDT Wednesday 2 May 2007 for the period ending at 10.30 AM Thursday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind northeast 10 knots becoming light and variable this afternoon and west 10 early this evening. Wind becoming light and variable Thursday morning. Fair. Waves less than 1 metre. Outlook..Light and variable.

I am back in the Marina again but the dice game is retaining its unreal sense. The docks are not in, but you can count the days to when I must make a decision. Until then, I have a dock I can drive a car up to and need to maximize every second as this heavy stuff is a whole lot harder when you are 400’ out on a dock.

So begins another day in paradise!

Today I must get the wood stove at least rough swapped for the new Dickinson oil unit, and get the wood stove off. The price of fuel is going up like crazy and I am trying to stay in front, but wow. They forecast $1.25 gas this week. Defiance is slowly regaining a functional level of heel. I was down to less than 12” of fuel in the starboard tank yesterday and listing over 10 degrees. It is not the running of the boat that costs diesel it is the heating costs. But then again this is Canada and that is still less than $100 per month for heating oil over the winter.

I am getting pretty good at operating Defiance by myself. Making no mistake just how much have to anticipate and how dire the consequences of a screw up would be. I almost crushed the dinghy day before yesterday and never felt it. If I touch it I sink it, and this was docking with wind practice!

The good news is the fuel system service seems to have worked it’s self out and I have 6 holes working nicely. But what a pain it is bleeding everything on the entire 671 out after a major fuel change. I have also added a new Christmas tree fitting to the 1” raw water inlet so that it can feed both the generator and house pressure water systems.

The cabin roof has a single coat of white and the mounts for the life jacket carrier are mounted. It’s kinda ugly. But super useful and Rufus loves it. Seriously it makes Defiance look like a rough work boat but it works like a darn.

I spent Tuesday night alongside the government dock which was very cool getting unplugged and mobile. It is amazing as you live along like normal and do not even bother to think about discharge and everything is pretty much at its float levels the next day watching TV and using the Espar for heat. This was a pretty good guerilla test. Unfortunately, there was only 8” of water under me and the lake is close to 2’ above datum. It will not be long before I would be hard on the bottom so scratch that concept.