Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 1:06 PM EDT Monday 20 August 2007 for the period ending at 10.30 AM Tuesday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind east 15 to 20 knots veering to southeast near midnight. Fair. Waves near 1 metre. Outlook..Moderate southeasterlies.

DEAN is going to kick Charlie's butt. The thing is headed straight for Belize as a category 5.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

It is now three days since the weather turned here and the days of shorts are numbered. The wind has stayed north and east bringing wet cool weather. Defiance has now gone to cool mode and there is thermostat heat on in the aft cabin much of the time. Mornings are getting downright brisk with the sun not arriving until 07:00 and single digit temperatures. The winds have been howling for days and all but a few boaters have gone home leaving the Marina quiet.

I am concerned for my friend Charlie in Belize. Dean is hitting Chetamal Mexico straight on. What a shame as last year they had just about finished major road and infrastructure work. Now Dean hits with 300K winds. Charlie too is in big trouble the shrimp farm is only 8’ above sea level with one edge touching the ocean. He tells me flooding is the real problem and I suspect Belize City is going to take a pretty bad pounding in the next 24 hours.

I start my day with feeding the wild cats and visitors. Clyde seems to like to visit the boatyard pride and I would swear is sweet on Sweetie. I have never seen her be this friendly with another kitty with the exception of Serendipity her mom. Perhaps it is a good thing as Clyde defiantly is taking his responsibility as alpha male seriously and is usually not far from the other two. He is a delightful cat who lives accross the road in the insulated milk house with his own kitty bed, free access to cat food soft and dry and companionship 4-6 hours a day! It is reported he only just started to wander since his soul mate Polly got hit on the road about 3 weeks ago which is probably why he seeks other cat company

With the return of cool weather it all leaves me wondering why I bothered to remove the winter dodger this spring. It seems that I pulled it off May 10 and here it is August 21 three months for what? I know it is because it was temporary and made the entire boat look like a tramp, but it worked so well! In the future, everything after the haul out.

Monday was road trip day to Kingston as it is time to come to grips with this haul out. I have booked crane time and the end of the month is Haul Out day. I am no where near ready, let alone ready to move with new permanent belts to obtain with a full time commitment to Chenoa. Once I leave I have a suspicion that my slip will be taken and my time at Waupoos over, or at least the Marina part of it. The mooring is still a base and a hard point if the Hurricane tails lash Ontario like every other year.

Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 10.30 AM EDT Tuesday 21 August 2007 for the period ending at 10.30 AM Wednesday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: ..Small craft wind warning in effect.. Wind southeast 15 to 20 knots increasing to 20 this afternoon then diminishing to 15 after midnight. Patchy drizzle this morning then fair. Chance of a shower overnight. Waves 1 to 2 meters lowering to near 1 overnight. Outlook..Moderate southeasterlies diminishing to moderate then veering to southerlies.

I got a couple of hours in on Chenoa and then made the trip to Whitby to find a correct “A” belt for the new water pump, freeing up the emergency adjustable one.

Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Wednesday 22 August 2007 for the period ending at 3.00 AM Thursday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: ..Small craft wind warning in effect.. Wind southeast 20 knots diminishing to 15 early this morning and to light near noon. Patchy drizzle and mist dissipating this morning. Isolated showers with risk of a thunderstorm developing early this evening. Waves 1 to 2 metres lowering to near 1 overnight. Outlook..Light to moderate southeasterlies veering to strong southwesterlies.

It is raining and chilly with overcast skies. I got more information on Kingston and the winter today, everything up in the air again. Just for once I would like the future to play out according to long term plans and follow discussions begun in the spring. I am beginning to loose faith in living aboard in cities or towns. In theory I have had this winter set up since the spring but who knows.

Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Thursday 23 August 2007 for the period ending at 3.00 AM Friday with an outlook for the following 24 hours.
Forecast: Wind southeast 15 knots diminishing to light and variable this evening then increasing to southwest 15 near midnight. Fair. Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms developing this morning. Waves less than 1 metre. Outlook..Moderate to strong southwesterlies.

I have neglected the Blog this week as once again the world did some last minute changing as I move into winter considerations. The weather has been humid and it it were not for the wind hot. I have been keeping busy trying to figure out the haul out while making progress on Chenoa. The week comes to an end with a new plan in place.

This is a week around the marina and still waiting for the Skiff to be picked up. The marina is empty now, as if someone turned a switch. Once you pass August 15 the people just go away. There may be one or two transients but that is it except for the normal denizens of the marina. Dingo and all the cats get along well and Clyde love to hang out with everyone. On the other hand it is good as he seems to have respect for cars down pat and I am sure he is extremely safe crossing the corn field to home.

Friday, August 24

This is Cedar Skiff delivery day! Things went as planned and Wilf picked up the lovely craft early afternoon.

Saturday, August 25

This was the day for the final test of the latest round of final engine checks before putting it to bed for the winter as this year I will decommission completely. The weather was windy and even though there were few people around I did not feel like the problems of returning to the slip in 25 knots of wind. I am far too close to a safe winter with no stress from worrying about the ice.

The test was a total success and I identified the last remaining oil drip, and from a 671 chasing drips is a known pastime. The culprit once again was sourced in McKitteric engineering in as much as the oil line for the air compressor has hose to copper fittings that feel all wrong and do not feel right when you try to tighten them. THe cure is easy and only involves replacing the fittings to the copper with correct hydraulic line and adaptors.

I did a full 60 minute run up with the entire engine swathed in paper towel (quite safe as the engine runs cool) and Defiance in gear. I obtained full operating temperature under what I would consider a mid cruse RPM. The new water pump works marvelously and all the belts run true. After shut down and giving the engine 2 hours to drain the oil back to the pan (another little 42 liter capacity trick) there was no appreciable oil loss although there were indicators that showed a faulty line hose joint to the air compressor.

August 29, 2007

This is going to be one of the hottest days of the year which will make a nice change for my haul-out head. I update the Blogs tied to the gas dock waiting for the crane to arrive. I know that in a few months I will be going stir crazy seeing Defiance on the hard, but it leave me free to get done a lot of things I want to do with no time pressure. I have my head around comming out and now look forward to getting set up to being work on the annalis phase of the project.