Saturday, October 27, 2007

Saturday arrived cold and wet with high winds building for the Waupoos Marina crane haul out. This years haul seems cursed as once again thew crane was late and the winds set in with a vengance from the west. Moving the big boats that had been left by their owners last week proved to be step one in the wrangle as manhandling 40 foot boats in 20 knots of wind is fun.

First out was Mike Bolton's Amel which will be my winter mate in the center plaza. The life requires a two part move which is a bit of a Chinese fire drill as the crane repositions. It took all the staff and several of the heavier boaters to keep the Mary B under control during the lift over the hedge, but all went well and the Mary B was s safely put to bed.

Things went well until they came to Faydra the other steel boat in harbour. Not six inches out of the water and Gary had to re rig the crane with a 4 part block and the heavy bottom block. Overall making the watching far more interesting a than many haul outs, and glad that this is not a yacht club with member help.

Sunday, October 28,2007

Mike got serious about water sand blasting his bottom on Sunday. With approximately the same amount of bottom as I have it was an interesting comparison to the dry blasting I am committed to using with Defiance. All kudos to them they worked through the better part of two skids of sand before running out mid afternoon. Interestingly enough the wet blasting uses more sand than the dry high pressure James Boyer, who is the blaster for Defiance uses.

Sunday was cool but dry and I managed to get the frame up for Chenoa's winter cover.

Clyde is becoming a very regular visitor who is never discouraged by my putting him out. So my conundrum of interfering in his life continues. but what can I do I believe in free animals and one thing for certain Clyde is very much his own cat, who is equally busy at home taking care of the Sunnydale work as I often see him hanging around the shop.

After finishing Chenoa I took the Dickinson oil stove apart again to make up a final parts list that I will need to commission the stove in the salon. My Sunday afternoon was rounded out by a visit from Tamarack and AAdelewhich was pretty much centered on Hughy's passing. AFter a day of I watching Mike blast I finally got to fill my water tanks for the last time. For better or worse this is all the water I will have until probably May of 2008.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Marine Forecast issued for Eastern Lake Ontario. Issued: 10.30 AM EDT Monday 29 October 2007 for the period ending at 10.30 AM Tuesday with an outlook for the following 24 hours.
Forecast: ..Small craft wind warning in effect.. Wind southwest 15 to 20 knots increasing to 30 this afternoon then diminishing to west 25 near midnight and to 15 overnight. Fair. Waves 1 metre or less building to near 2 midday and to near 3 this afternoon then lowering to 1 to 2 early Tuesday morning. Outlook..Light westerlies increasing to moderate to strong southwesterlies.

There was a fair frost last night leaving the docks white and the air crisp. It is cool up here in the air in my tree house and it is nice to have the Espar on demand. Mike is back this morning wet blasting and Rufus has hidden in the forepeak to avoid the noise.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Oh dear; I have lost track of time again. I forgot the time shift with shifts. Overall, so far, so good. Defiance is secure, and the working space for the bottom project will be A-OK.

My life for the foreseeable future is all about learning the new work contract and the product line as I go back to earning a living as a “Tech Support”. It is good to keep the old bean active as it assures you that the bio- computer is still computing, and it proves that learning is good. Hah, I have not gone senile completely yet world. The brain is still functioning even if I don't want to spend my days with a 13,000 RPM grinder in my face, or humping a long sanding block by hand, when holding a cup of coffee without dropping it can be a challenge.

It’s OK! I get the message, O fickle finger of fate.

Please excuse me dear reader if the Blogs will take a little different, and less nautical twist here as most of my days are covered by non-disclosure restrictions, so I cannot be posting on the net. For the next six months these Blogs can only chronicle boat stuff. By May of next year, all being equal, Defiance will be ready to launch with a carefully researched and executed .

I have no idea why no one took up the offer to buy Defiance the price was far below my investment. Defiance may be a big old boat. But, there is nothing that is out of control, or pressing that will prevent fifteen or twenty more years of use at he low end. Somewhere in another seven to ten years time it will be time to do this bottom dance again, and to deal with what has top be “dealt with”.

Big Deal!

Defiance is steel, you weld it and re-coat it. There are numerous guidelines as to the process and materials, and welding is not a difficult skill. Thousands of dollars later the best money I have spent was the night welding class at Loyalist College. In any case I invite you to drop by, announced will get you the tour as I progress this phase of steel boat ownership in the live-aboard environment.

This has been a nice morning as I had a chance to do some studding, and then have a cat walk with Rufus . As I did the walk the emptiness struck home. The marina is emptying fast and it will only be weeks until the docks are up and that part of Waupoos Marina’s life wrapped up for another season. So far so good Defiance is proving extremely manageable to heat on the hard. Knowing it will be weeks until I loose all services and am completely stand alone. My heat loss focus is zoned in of that 12 feet of aft cabin space that contains my berth, the galley and the water tanks. Perish be I ever blow it and Defiance goes cold, as to replace the water tanks would be a catastrophic mess up.

Sweetie and Serendipity have abandoned the rusting hulk that they have called home for the past 18 months. Perhaps the owner removed the interior, or who knows but it has fallen out of cat favor and is sporting the desperate measure sign.

Something is wrong in the County. I am worried about all the cats, the coyotes are howling every night and they are very close. I have seen tracks already and know that they are in the marina, but have yet to run into one face to face but I am begining to carry the 10,000,000 candle power light when I go out at night now. There have always been coyotes and even Sebastian our real wolf, but this is different. They are very close, probably in the unharvested corn field, and on the ridge that follows the snowmobile trail along the back of the ridge. I counted three seperate groups this evening.

It is time for me to go so I will update the copy and add the pictures that go with today later. Thursday, November 1, 2007.

Thursday, November 01, 2007 at 21:00 UTC

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 6.30 PM EDT Thursday 1 November 2007 for the period ending at 6.30 PM Friday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind west 20 to 25 knots diminishing to light and variable near midnight then increasing to east 15 Friday morning. Fair. Waves near 1 metre lowering to less than 1 after midnight. Outlook..Light to moderate southeasterlies backing to northerlies.