“Family Ties” Untied!!

I am very happy to say that 370 days after taking possession of our boat she finally left the marina …. under it’s own power … with me in control … and without loss of life or property. It was a great moment.

Our friend Jeff made the trip from Goderich for this auspicious occasion to help hook up the temporary in-hull transducer and to make sure that she actually left the marina without any loss of life and property.

Here he is hooking the transducer up to the chart plotter.

Maddie and her friends Meghan and Justin joined us as well.

Yeah … I’m happy!

Here is the first photo of the marina from our boat.

Since Maddie was along it was a great opportunity for her to start learning about the boat.

We took this opportunity to do a septic tank pump out which would also give me a chance to dock the boat somewhere other than our own slip. It was at this time that I truly realized just how big this boat was.

Then it was off to our permanent slip. Even though we have a pretty wide fairway it seemed pretty narrow to me but I managed to dock her for the second time that day.

This all happened on the Wednesday and so I had to go back home to actually try to do some work before I came back up a couple of days later. I had our very skillful metal fabricator (Donny) make up some brackets that would hold the canopy in place over top of the hammock.

My sister Susan made the actual canopy itself and I added the grommets.

I wanted the canopy to be black to match the bimini that will be made next spring.

In this photo you can see the T that will hold the canopy. Over the winter we will have it painted white to match the rest of the davit.

… and here it is installed on the boat. It works perfectly.

I was also able to glue the d-rings to the side of the dinghy. These are to attach to the davit so we will be able to pull the dinghy on to the swim platform. By the time I am back in Wiarton next weekend I will be able to try it out. The glue had to cure for 6 days.

There is a bit of an amusing story about this particular d-ring. In order to position the patch correctly it is best to trace the outline onto the side of the dinghy so you will know where to sand and then apply the glue.

I was on board when I did this and was leaning over the side with a pencil. I started tracing the circle and then the wind pushed the dinghy toward the dock. Just picture the very pointy end of the pencil touching the dinghy and the other end touching the dock. Yeah … I poked a hole in the side.

It was a very small one but it was a hole nonetheless. Luckily I was able to move the patch over enough to cover the hole. I’m sure it will be fine.

Here is a photo of another panel installed above the eating area.

Donald came up on Sunday for another lesson. This time it was with someone that I met at the marina. The previous weekend, when Tom and Chris were up for the weekend, we were sitting in the cockpit late in the evening when a fishing boat came it to dock a few slips down from us.

The person operating the boat docked it like a pro. After the engines were shut down I went over to the boat and asked the guy if he could teach me to do that. He might have thought I was kidding but I was very serious.

Luckily Cam was from the area and was available for a lesson. It was a great day to be out on the water. Donald had his first experience working with these huge twin inboard engines.

I found out that the davit was dragging a bit because the trim tabs aren’t connected to the helm control yet. I will be hooking it up this weekend which should take care of this.

Here is a photo of us on the boat. Thanks again Shawn.

We were able to get a bit of work done as well. We finally got a couple of the hatch screens delivered to us and installed the one in the v-berth.

We also brought up the mirrored stainless trim for the sliding door area for fitting. The guy that made this works for Anything Stainless from Guelph. Dennis did a great job of measuring and fabricating it. We were only able to install the first of four sections.

Another ceiling panel went up.

I’m heading to the boat this weekend again to do some more ceiling work and am hoping to have another lesson on Sunday.

Until then …