Monday July 2, 2007

Monday, July 2, 2007

I’m so far behind on my blogging I don’t know where to begin. Frustration City in regards to the motor and all the different opinions on what to do about our motor. We are at Port Credit Yacht Club (PCYC) right now in the boat yard. Doug Ransom on Highlander was very kind to tow us from Lakeshore Yacht Club to PCYC so that we could go into dry dock and repaint the bottom. We had to sandblast the bottom, repaint the green on the hull, paint the bottom with 3 coats of barrier paint and 3 coats of anti-foulant paint. Anth varied the colours so that as it wore off we would know which coat we were down to. This is a pic of Doug towing us. Thank heavens it was a calm day. Thank you Doug!



This is the mobile hoist with slings waiting to pick up our 22 ton boat and carry it. They power sprayed off the algae on the bottom and maneuvered us across the parking lot to our spot and then blocked us up. Two men worked on this while we watched. It always amazes me to see our boat picked out of the water like it’s light as a feather and moved around on land. It looks like a beached whale.

Time to cover the boat with plastic so that when we sandblast it the sand doesn’t go on other boats.
This is Mark from “True North Yacht Detailing” sandblasting the bottom. Anth tried grinding it but, man, what a job. Best to get someone like Mark to sandblast it so that we can get on with the painting.
This is the special hose or attachment so that the water goes through one and the white sand is pulled through the other from the water pressure and then you get sandblasting. It still took about 12 hours to do the bottom but then it was done and Anthony started the base coats and then the anti-foulant and I painted the sign at the bow.



An empty motor room. Hummm. That doesn’t look good. I haven’t told you the motor story yet. This happened the week before… we were on our way to the Hydroplane Club and the oil pump went and then the motor heated up and ……."Turn it off!!!!” Yes, we did but …

Here’s a picture of Charles from E and C Marine squeezing our motor out of the hole in the bottom of the cockpit. Anthony hired a sign crane to lift it onto Charles' truck bed. It weighs 7 or 8 hundred pounds.

The motor being lowered down into the back of Charles’ truck. And off it goes to the motor hospital. Leaving us wondering about the damage, the cost, the time it’ll take to fix it …. MAN ! WHAT DID WE GET OURSELVES INTO?????

Anthony, in the passage way getting the motor ready to be pulled out. It’s not a job for the clean at heart or arms or hands!!

What is this? I’m glad you asked. This is DROUGE or part of a DROUGE! And what is that for? Well, if you’re on the high seas it is used to slow you down and keep you straight. You deploy it from the stern in massive waves, in conditions of massive waves in order to keep the boat stern to the waves, perpendicular to the waves and to keep the boat speed 5 to 6 knots. We purchased the kit from Sail Rite and my Mom stitched the cones together and Anthony braided them on to the ropes. There were three different sized ropes and 152 cones. Anthony felt it would be easier and safer to deploy a limited number of cones at a time rather than the one very large cone which is a different style of drogue.

This is the FIB and paper clip Anthony used to braid the cones onto the rope. It made it a lot easier once he figured out the right tools to use to get the straps through the rope.
This is one section, there are three sections all together.