Directions

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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, September 28, 2012

Another Busy Friday...

Today started early as I re-installed the new controller for the fridge... Whooo-Hooo! it worked!  I payed $150 on Ebay instead of $485 which was wanted at a refrigeration supply house...  On Monday I will meet Derek (my refrigeration guy) after he is done work to re-charge the system and hopefully get that job done for a while....

After that, I took an hour and touched up any area of the topsides (the white part of the boat above the waterline and below the deck) that had a small ding or scratch...  it doesn't look incredible, but it does look OK...  Besides I have invoked a 50 foot rule...  That is, if something looks good from 50 feet then it is "JUST FINE!"

After painting I took some vapor barrier (6 mil. plastic sheeting) and laid out a pattern for the dodger on the dodger frame that Ed and I installed last week...  Over the next week or so I plan to sew the basic dodger then re-fit it before I put on the final hems and zippers....

It took a little while but I think I may have done ok... I guess we will find out for sure after I cut up $80 worth of Sunbrella... By the way, that $80 (for 10 yards) is REALLY cheap... Shelley found a guy in the states who sells off end rolls at half the price of regular Sunbrella, up to $20 a yard.

Around noon, Shelley came by and took me for lunch (Ok, I paid, but she drove)... While we were gone Ed (my father in law) showed up and when we got back he and I tackled a job that I absolutely NEVER wanted to do... As you know if you have been following this blog, I have had all kinds of trouble bleeding the air from the hydraulic steering system. Well today we discovered that the steering ram has a leaky seal.... Holy expensive crap! (I thought)  We really don't have the money to be rebuilding this steering ram....  As we were removing it we figured out that the rudder turns about 20 degrees farther to one side that the other...  This anomaly was not unknown to me, I just never gave it too much thought.

But what we discovered is that at some point in the boats history, the original steering ram was replaced with something too small, so the distance the ram would travel was not enough for a full steering range.  Not only that, the ram was installed in a different place that the original and was causing the 20 degree problem.. AND it was almost IMPOSSIBLE to access.



After we got the leaky ram out, Shelley and I went to Princess Auto (kind of a Disneyland for MacGyver type guys) and found a ram that should work more like what was originally installed on the boat...  Tonight we picked a few more bits and pieces at Home Depot and hopefully later in the day tomorrow I can see if the new contraption will work....

The whole time Ed and I were fighting with the old steering system Shelley loaded my Jeep to the ceiling with stuff from the trailer that we are taking to The Store Mason's annual swap sale and chili cook-off tomorrow in Port Credit, Ontario.  We have rented a table at the sale for $30 and hope to sell a TON of stuff that is left over and replaced on our boat....  If you wanna save TONS of money and get some of my old stuff, PLEASE come by....  I will let you know how we made out tomorrow....

Last note.  We have 2 dinghy's and we would like to sell one of them.... so we have the following for sale:

Bauer 10   Dinghy

Standard Rowboat Pricing:    MSRP $2,300

Specifications:
  L.O.A.  10'1"
  D.W.L  9'3"
  Beam  4'9"
  Draft 4"
  Weight Hull (Approx)  130 lbs
  Height Above D.W.L.  20"
  Capacity  4 Persons or 550 lbs.
   Maximum Capacity  640 lbs.
  Maximum HP  2 HP

MAKE AN OFFER!



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