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Santa spotted in Picton. A green Christmas Christmas eve in Waupoos 2006.

The rain has stopped and a warm sun is bathing Waupoos in soft glow. A brisk breeze is comming in from the SW accross Smiths Bay but we are behind enough of the break wall there is almost no motion. It saddens me to think that I will soon have to give up this life due to old injuries. Finally, I have found the perfect blend of space and its use making Defiance about perfect. Josh Darn that fickle fate of old age. Boat repair was going so well. But my body gave up when it came to sanding "ET" big time. But I must not ignore the warning signs that the next failure of my body could easily leave me badly crippled to where the multiple levels of space and the physical nature of general live aboard life are beyond my ability. As of now Defiance must begin to look for a new captain and I accept there will not be that last magnificant voyage.

The boom tent is standing up well and quite waterproof enough for the job as all I expect is. The insulation on the deck works like mad and has cut the maintenance heat for the aft cabin by another 1/3. It is not perfectly dry, but Defiance can be ready to move in less than an hour if pressed. Entering the boat through the sheltered semi dry space is extremely handy where living aboard as it creates a garage like place to put stuff.

Most important. All the Defiance's winter covers and panels can be stowed on deck.
One competent caprain can move the entire encampment to another location by yourself!!!

Rufus absolutely loves the new bridge deck arrangement and spends far more time aboard than prior years. The closed part of the bridge deck is without question his lair and even better where he now brings his kills, which beats the salon. He makes his rounds of his kingdom which is pretty extensive and returns to do his I'm home cat thing.

As of 2006 Hydro is costing many live aboard boaters more than their winter dockage fees! I have now finished the spec and supply for using the yet unmounted foremast for the wind generator.

Insulation and winter heating is all important as Stillwater basin in Belleville is now charging $0.25 per kilowatt hour, Bluffers park is charging a Flatt rate of $50.00 per AMP of service. I know many people in the Greater Toronto Area that have to pay for 60 AMPS of electric.In spite of the warm weather I have been using the Espar more than prior years and have the energy consumption weell ballanced. I know I am burning an average of 20 amps per hour with a low when I am not aboard of 15 amps. Noting that not many winter live aboards boats of 42' in length make it on 25 amps service.

Defiance works near perfect and is amazingly economical.

Saturday the 23 dawned overcast and rainy with the island shrouded in mist and +4°C. then for a short while the sun popped it's head out and the day was quite wonderful for a while.It has been the better part of a month since I spent a full cat walk with Rufus. Now the docks are out all the cats are in their element with a huge maze to use. There is a small pack of the Waupoos wolf/coyote's wandered through the other night and I ran in a nice fat red fox the other night. Given my druthers, I would take the wildlife for neighbors before the July August crowds.

The rain has stopped, gave a glimpse of the sun, and has turned back to rain again today. Whatever the case Christmas in the County will be green for 2006 and snow shovels will be silent. This will be one of those remembered Holiday Seasons as change is knocking at he door. I have now come down from the ceiling and am accepting that this is it I can do no more big boat repairs to make a living, the body is making very loud warning signs and I am going to have to do a major rethink of the game plan like it or not.

Defiance is now entering the 4th winter since the beginning or the transformation and all the new systems are well into their service cycle and overall this is a dream. Maintenance and reliability of Defiance's systems is remarkable and predictable. No fuss or muss the stuff just works. Sure hair causes heck with tub drains and bulbs burn out. But as far as the primary new living systems go the batteries maintain perfectly with very limited maintenance.

As I near a personal turning point I am clear on the plan as to where Defiance should go for 100% independent cruising. For colder weather it would be nice to have a passive source of heat in the aft cabin that did not require circulating pumps and a 50,000 BTU burner as most of the time a fairly small cabin heat would keep it warm enough. Until now the problem is wind generation is the most bang for the buck as far as power generation this far north. But Defiance is fully powered and one of the popular 400-watt units just is not going to cut it.

The good news for "off the grid living" is that Defiance has compliant battery banks, monitoring and switching equipment already in place. To hook in a 1 K wind generator is a pretty simple task with not too much in the way of additional equipment cost beyond wire and fittings, which is no small task as I figure the 24 V system, cost close to $9.000 to $10,000 to build to date.

The wild cats, Sweety the black and white one and Serindipidy the grey & white (mom)are both doing well. They chose and I enhanced with a bit of insulation and a nice duvet their residence in the carrige. Sweety has gone pretty wild but still like to sit on my lap and eat her breckfast.