Directions

Our latest entry always comes up first...

Click this link if you want to start at the beginning of our trip from
South Carolina (where we bought the boat) to Lake Ontario Click this link:

If you want to see the story of our 2 1/2 year project getting
Blowin' Bubbles ready for our life on board click here:
FIRST "REFIT" BLOG ENTRY - March 2011

If you want to start at the beginning of our trip:
START OF TRIP - July 2014
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Friday, April 27, 2012

Another Busy Friday...

 Today I worked on the boat alone... A long day but pretty successful over-all...  I started by vacuuming for about an hour and a half.  Yesterday we bought a new shop-vac because we needed to pick up a bunch of sanding dust and our old ones quit working...  Once I got all  main cabin cleaned up I painted the ceiling and the front dash under the windows...  It looks pretty good but it will need one more coat.

After painting I worked for a few hours in the trailer figuring out what needs to go back on the boat...  As I was going through some of the plastic bins I found a nest of mice who have eaten through my BRAND NEW JIB SHEETS!  They couldn't have eaten the old ones... NOOOOO... they had to eat the brand new ones... grrrrr... Oh well, we will find some new ones when we can,

I have now hung the lines on nails on the walls of the trailer until I can get them back on the boat.  I have also now got a bunch of stuff organized to go back on the boat the next time I get a chance.

On Tuesday, a man from K-W Glass will be coming by to re-seal the hatches that are leaking....



When I got home Shelley made supper then we went out to buy material for new curtains for the main salon.  She and Kelly chose some beautiful material.  When we got home we cut out and hemmed them and the will go in when the painting is finished...  A really good day...

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Main Salon Ceiling... Sanded

I have to say that keeping your arms up for 3 hours is VERY painful. That said, I got the ceiling all sanded... it looks so good I think we can just paint it and it will be done...  On a sad note, I found out today that whatever was used to seal the new hatches isn't working because every hatch leaked last night in the rain... I contacted the glass company so I hope they get it straightened out soon...


A big thanks to our friend Mike who gave us 100' of galvanized chain....  WOW!
I also got the wireless internet router hooked up and working... So now when we are in the vicinity of internet we will have access to it...

Friday, April 20, 2012

A Real Full Day....

Today I went to the boat early thinking I would spend an hour cleaning up the last of the of the main salon then get to work sanding the ceiling.... The best laid plans.... I spent almost 8 hours organizing the main salon and putting tools and parts away... In the end I only got about 1/4 of the ceiling done.  I did however, get all of the stuff that has been laying around the boat organized and put away...  I also got my fishing rod holders attached to the ceiling in the mid-ship bunk cabin...  They are now out of the way but easy to get to and someone can still sleep on the top bunk and not hit the rods...













All the junk is gone, but the deck needs some serious washing!  I also found oil leaking out of the windlass so I replaced the seal on the site glass and all is well... I just have to figure out what kind of oil goes into the windlass....




Notice on the wheel I have installed the remote control for the Raymarine C95 Chartplotter...  Now I can use my iPad as a second monitor and I have some control with this Bluetooth device...




The workshop in the focile is looking great!  And there still seems to be room for more stuff....




Sanding the ceiling is hard on the arms but it is going to go fairly smoothly...  Slow, but smooth...



The other day Shelley and I went to our mailbox and picked up our new chart plotter and radar unit... Wow! pretty fancy stuff... As soon as the last cable arrives I can get it all hooked up and tested....


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, April 14, 2012

STUFF DELIVERED!

Wow... 2 posts in one day...  But here is the great news....  After supper tonight I was feeling sore and sorry for myself as Shelley was at work and Kelly was out with a new boy who is sniffing around her....  Thus not a very happy camper...  Anyway, I was just getting ready to lay down and watch some TV when I wondered what my neighbour and friend, Clayton was up to...  I phoned and it turned out he wasn't doing anything and yes, he would be happy to help me take our mattresses and stuff out to the boat....

So we loaded up his pickup truck with the 3 mattresses, the freezer and the washing machine and off we went to the boat....

I had assumed that we would have to trim the mattresses to make them fit so I brought a big electric carving knife with us....  when we put them in we found that they fit PERFECTLY!!!  no trimming needed... and everything looks GREAT!

What an awesome day!






On the way home I realized that we could actually get the boat finished in the next month or so and that we "could" put it back in the water this year...  The down side to all of that is that we would then have to come up with dock fees and storage fees to the tune of almost $6000 per year for 2 years...  Then another $4000 to get the boat back to the lake...  We will really have to think about this one...  If we leave everything at the farm till next spring we will save the $6000 for dockage and storage for this year....  that is a pretty hefty pile of money...  Something to think about....

Midship Cabin.... DONE!!!

That's right....  The midship cabin is now completely finished!!! The next time we go to the boat we can bring the mattresses....




 I also finished grouting the fwd shower and finished the fwd head... 


I also re-installed the new compressor. When I get the generator exhaust fixed I will fire up the new compressor and see how it performs...



All in all, a GREAT couple of days work on the boat....

Friday, April 13, 2012

Aft Cabin.....DONE!!!!!!

Finally after more than one year there is something on this boat COMPLETELY FINISHED!!!!!  Yes, that right, Ed and I put the last of the aft cabin back together today....




In the next few day I hope we can get the new mattress out of our living room and into the aft cabin....  I also hope I can get the midship cabin done so I can get those mattresses out there too....

After Ed left at 1pm, I got half of the shower grouted before I ran out of grout....  I will have to get some more tomorrow.... then I got a bunch more little wiring jobs finished up...  About 6pm, my back gave out and I gave up for the night... Tomorrow I hope I can get a little more done...

Also today another friend from church dropped by and is going to get me prices on spare engine parts for our Perkins diesel engine...  I hope that we can afford to carry a bunch of spare parts....  I went through a box labeled "engine parts" with him and found a fuel pump, a water pump, a fuel injector and a few other miscellaneous odds and ends....   Who knew I had these parts??

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Little Progress Today....

Today I had a few hours between work and a funeral and the sun was shining, so I went to the boat and got a few little jobs off the list... First, I glued the tile down in the new shower stall and tomorrow, if it is warm enough, I will grout it and get one step closer to that head (bathroom) finished...




I also temporarily installed the pod that will house the Radar/GPS equipment at the aft helm... The wiring goes down the tube on the helm and will go along the ceiling of the aft cabin in the channel that I hope to install tomorrow.









The pod will also hold a 12 volt socket so we can plug things like a spotlight in if we need it. I also wired the helm pedestal with the extension mic/vhf plug and installed the wire that will light the compass.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Getting Ready For Radar....

Last year we found an instrument pod at a consignment store in Wickford Connecticut... Today we found a way to get it ready to hold our new Raymarine GPS and radar unit....

We will also install our helm VHF and an accessory plug.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter Sunday Painting....

After church today, Shelley and I got the rest of the aft cabin painted... It doesn't look incredible, but at least it looks CLEAN....
We scraped the rest of the foam backing off the walls and painted the interior of the cupboards in the aft cabin and head....  We also painted the bed.



Saturday, April 7, 2012

Ceilings are looking GREAT!!!!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!
Our brother-in-law Denis came all the way down from Sudbury today to install the headliner material in the 2 mid-ship cabins and the aft cabin.... WOW! does it look great.  My father-in-law was also there to help, so the work went really quick....  Now we can trim the area out and add the wiring channel to the Centre of the ceiling in the aft cabin and then get those rooms DONE!





Next Friday, Ed and I will tackle those jobs...

Over the last week whenever I have had a few minutes I have been plugging away at re-installing the main traveller.  I am happy to say that it is now DONE!



I also got  the compressor removed and I am going to switch it out for the other one that I bought....

Ever so slowly things are beginning to come back together...  And the weather is warming up which really helps....