They (whoever “they” are) say that slow and steady wins the race. If that’s true I think we have a good shot at winning this one. We haven’t done a lot in the way of work on the boat in a long time but that is going to change. It has to or else this project will never be completed.

We have certainly enjoyed our time on the boat this summer which kind of takes away from the incentive to actually do work. Now that the colder weather has arrived I have turned my focus back to what needs to be done and have made a long list of projects to be worked on over the winter.

The marina will be taking care of some of the things on the list (and it’s a long one) like the installation of the bow thrusters, finishing the gelcoat on the helm, gelcoat repairs to the exterior of the boat, getting the trim tabs working and installing and extra set of tabs, and installing the windlass.

Having said all of this we actually have done somethings on the boat over the last 3 weeks.

We installed two more of the mirrored stainless panels on the sliding door to the lower berth. The final one on the backside of the actual door will be a little trickier to put on and are hoping to get to that one next weekend.

We also now have doors in the lower salon.

… and a door on the small cabinet that will be the access to the bow thruster motor.

One of the things I wanted to get done was cut an access in one of the cabinets in the galley so that I can see if there was any water trapped below. I could see every other part of the hull except for a section on the starboard side. I was very sure there was some water down there since we have a small leak in the bulkhead in the galley.

So I cut it out.

… and there was no water. I was happy to see that but am now wondering where that water is???

Donald quickly made up a removable bottom shelf which I put in this weekend.

Since the helm still has to be finished this weekend I removed most of the electronics and gauges being extremely careful to label all of the wires. I also took a photo of the backs of the gauges so I can reinstall them in the spring.

The switches on the lower left are way more complicated so I figured I would get to those next weekend. The techs at the marina will remove the steering wheel, gear/throttle controls and the ignition switches after they haul her out. It would make it pretty difficult to get her over to the lift without them … plus I don’t have a clue how to do it.

We also took the dinghy back to St Jacobs so that I can clean it. I’m pretty sure it isn’t free to store it at the marina so it will be worth it to keep bringing it back and forth every year. This way I get to visit it everyday…

The battery was dead and needs to be replaced which meant the bilge pump wasn’t working. Last weekend we arrived at the marina to see about 7″ of water in the bottom of the dinghy.

This is what happened over the last 3 weeks.

Jim and Sue came to take a ride on the boat. It was a gorgeous day.

They are the only ones in my family that have any real boating experience. It was a little windy when we were docking but I managed to bring her in without damage to our property or my ego. It still chokes me up a bit thinking that my big brother was impressed with how I handled the boat….

Erin and Giles came to Wiarton a few hours after Jim and Sue left … so we went out again. It was great getting the docking practice in.

It looks like they caught the boating bug because they are now in the market for one. Apparently there is a shortage of used boats now. I heard the same thing about kayaks, jet skis, bikes and even trampolines.

Leanne and I also managed to get one more dinghy ride in before we took it out of the water.

The following weekend we were lucky enough to get another visit from my father. Susan and Juanita drove him up for the weekend. My nephew Matthew came up as well. Just like his last visit my father stayed in a local hotel. It looked like we wouldn’t be able to go out because the wind was too strong but it settled down in the afternoon.

I had a copy of the Canadian Yacht magazine with our story in it. I’m pretty sure that he has already read it a dozen times on line but somehow reading it from the actual magazine was different.

We also had a little present for him.

So out we went and he once again took over the controls … he had the proper hat so why not?

Luckily Matthew was on board to take this shot …

The following weekend we were very fortunate to get a visit from our little friend William. Since he is only 5 he was forced to take his Dad along.

On the way to Wiarton they happened to pass a construction site and a tractor dealership. William loves anything to do with tractors.

… and he knows everything there is to know about them.

Even though it was a cool day we did get to take another short trip out.

It was great to find out that our mid-berth passed the test as a great place for a 5 year old to sleep.

The cloud cover broke enough for Jason to take the opportunity to do a little stargazing.

We did actually find Jason useful. I finally broke down and bought one digital controller for the salon air conditioner. I didn’t want to commit to two yet as they are a bit pricey.

Here is the Marine Air controller that I bought. It works perfectly so I guess I can get the second one in the spring.

We have now spent our last weekend together on the boat for this season. I will be heading up next weekend to do some work and then she will be coming out of the water at some point soon afterwards.

I will continue to update the blog every few weeks all winter in case any of you are interested. The plan is to stockpile pieces that we will install in April before she goes back in the water. It will be here before I know it.