We Have Ignition…

I know… I know… It has been a while. It’s not like I don’t have anything to say. It’s more likely that I keep planning on writing it tomorrow night…and then tomorrow night… and so on. Eventually you end up finally getting to it a month later.

For this post I will let the photos tell the story.

Ok. Where to begin?

The finishing of the helm was finally started. In this photo it has a coat of fairing compound on it which did a great job of covering up my mistakes. By the way … we hired Andy at the Wiarton marina to do this. I’m not touching it.

Here it is with the first coat of gel coat. The colour isn’t quite right yet.

We decided to wait until the spring to finish off the gel coat because I wanted to get the boat out on the water. Instead we had the electrician come back and install the helm electronics and hardware so the engines could be started.

Since we are holding off on the gel coat we were able to finally bring up the captain seats. We are very happy with how they turned out.

Here is the helm as it looks today. All energized and ready to go.

I am very happy to report that the engines were fired up today and started right away. I wasn’t there unfortunately. Apparently the port engine was louder than the starboard but I won’t think about that right now. Don’t want to spoil this moment.

I am heading up to Wiarton tomorrow to meet up with Jeff. He will be giving me my first lesson on how to dock our boat.

Speaking of Jeff …

Leanne and I met up with him and his wife Cecily when they were docked in Tobermory. They were on the last leg of their 19 day trip around Georgian Bay. I’m not sure if I mentioned it in a previous post but they have the same model and year that we have.

These photos take me back …

Their interior is in a lot better shape than ours was.

We also met Jasper. What a great dog. He definitely feels comfortable on a boat.

Here Leanne and I are waiting in the rain for a takeout sandwich.

Donald and Leanne (remember…my sister-in-law’s name is also Leanne) came to spend some time on the boat with us.

Donald did some work…

…and Leanne took a nap…

Yeah. She’s in there somewhere.

My sister Susan sent us a beautiful quilt for the v-berth.

It has a very cool wavy design in it. We are looking forward to actually using it in September.

I ordered a custom made bbq flipper from Weber Fabricating in St Jacobs.

And we have definitely been using the bbq a lot.

We were also able to test out the bed in the eating area.

We bought a mattress topper from Costco and cut it to size. Works perfectly.

Here are some random photos from over the past few weeks.

Always so happy to have Maddie along.

We made a custom sized hammock for the dinghy as well. My sister Susan made the fabric part of the hammock and Leanne and I made the clew (the string part).

Making the holes with a punch.

And adding the grommets.

The video that we watched to learn how to do it suggested we lay the string out straight so it wouldn’t get tangled. All 140 feet of it.

Here we are working on the clew in the shop.

Here it is on the swim platform.

I am having Weber Fabricating make me a pair of supports for a canopy to go over the hammock. We are hoping to have that ready in a few weeks.

We did actually do a bit of work over the last month. Not much though.

We installed a piece of frosted glass at the opening to the v-berth.

Finished installing the glass in the sliding door.

… and we finally have privacy in the head.

Donald still has to trim out the inside of the door but we are saving these little details until next summer.

The hardware for the strainer on the port engine water intake broke so I had some new ones made up. When you need one it is just as easy to get four.

I also started painting the engine. This is definitely a job you take your time doing.

Tom and Chris came to stay with us for a few nights and we had a great time. Donald and Leanne also joined us for a day.

Both Tom and Donald made use of the hammock.

Although we did have a great time with Tom and Chris we did get our asses kicked at Euchre.

It may look like I’m smiling in this photo but I was hiding a lot of pain. They ended up beating us 13-1.

Not sure if that is even statistically possible. It is mostly a game of luck.

I won’t wait so long until my next post. I promise.

Hopefully tomorrow’s photos will be from on the bay.