Back On The Water!

We are in the water and the Ontario government has finally allowed marinas to open. There is still a ways to go before this pandemic is fully behind us but it feels like life is starting to return to normal.

I spent some time in the shop this past week working on the framework for the bow canopy. Originally the plan was to have CYT make something for the bow but they are too busy and will just be able to get the bimini done.

YouTube to the rescue.

I watched enough videos to convince myself that I could do it. It really is amazing what misplaced confidence can do.

I set up the unfinished lounge chairs and started adding the fittings and the straight tubing. For now I have just screwed them on but will bolt them on once I am done the chairs.

I’m using pull pins instead of the set screws that come with the fittings. I’m only guessing but I can only imagine that it might be a bit more difficult assembling (or disassembling) this frame in the wind and sun using set screws and an allen key.

I had to guess at how much spring back there would be when I bent the tubing. It wants to straighten out after it is bent and so you have to bend it past the curve you want so that it settles back to fit your template.

It is basically trial and error.

I made up some plywood templates and fastened to them a piece of plywood.

The one template was the exact curve I needed. The other had a tighter radius. I would use the first one to get it close and then use the second one to fine tune the curve. It was surprisingly easy to get it to match the template (and by match I mean very close).

The first one was easy. The second, third, and fourth were the challenge. I had to make sure I did the same thing to each of the other tubes. The next step was to bring this to Wiarton to get it fitted to the bow. More on that a bit later in this post.

I also spent several hours sanding the transom caps. From 320 grit up to 3000. My hands were numb.

I took a drive to Wiarton on my own last week to work on the helm electronics so that they would be ready for the electrician. Truthfully I also wanted to be on the water again.

It was a really nice day.

I took the smaller of the two transom caps to see how the colour match looked. I realize that, since the caps were actually finished, this was a bit late but it was still worth it.

Yeah … I’m happy with how they turned out.

I also installed the shower doors. Just have to clean the smudges and they will look almost professional.

The re-wiring of the helm took a long time. The labelling was a bit overwhelming but I think I got it right. The electrician who did the original work was on site today to go over it and I haven’t any bad news yet.

I then started on the gauges. Although they had a lot less wiring they were awkward to get to. I had to reach through the original helm to get to them.

The work was all above my head and I had work with tiny little brass washers and tiny little washers so I inevitably dropped a few. The selfie option on the phone came in very handy when trying to locate them.

Almost done …

Sunday was boat day so and it was time to take everything along. Thanks to Tom and Chris the dinghy looked like new. They are just now finding out that this has to be done every year.

Saturday I loaded everything into the trailer and on Sunday Donald and I were joined in Wiarton by my brother in law Giles and my neighbour Casey. Basically we had to get all of this …

… unloaded in Wiarton ….

It was great to have the extra help.

Since we still have the old bimini in place (with lots of holes and no sides) we found some water in the midship bilge so Casey was given the task to get rid of it. Currently there is no power to the boat (there are some electrical issues that will have been taken care of today) so he had to get rid of the water the old fashioned way.

This was all from the rain. I was very happy to see that there was very little water in the engine room and most likely this would have been from the rain as well.

The seats and cushions went back in. These will now stay on the boat. The reason we took them out was so they wouldn’t get dirty from the body work completed over the winter.

The curved backrest in the corner was too difficult to fasten from the back so we ended up having to be glued in place. This is definitely staying.

Then it was on to the transom caps. These we were able to fasten from underneath but we also glued them down.

I think it really finishes it off very nicely.

Just trying to imagine how she is going to look in about 3 weeks with a new bimini.

Then it was on to the main event.

Fitting the lounge chairs and canopy frame,

Since the bow is curved the first thing we had to do was “level” the chairs and since there is no such thing as level on a boat we used a long straight edge stretched across both loungers.

I will now add legs to the side and bevel the bottoms to match the angle of the bow.

This is the beginning of our bow relaxation zone. Just needed the added touch of a cushion…

We will be tying off the canopy side rails to the safety rails and this canopy will only be used when at anchor or at a marina.

Another great boat day. Hopefully this type of boat day will end soon and will be replaced by boating days … weekends …. weeks …. months????