Toronto

The Toronto Boat show was a success. We talked to a lot of knowledgeable people about different items we have on the boat or will have on the boat soon. Lewmar was one of the best. Those guys answered a lot of questions about our new windlass and about the type of chain and rope. Second would be Raymarine, for the E80 package that we have so many questions about, followed by Atkins & Hoyle (Arch system) who we have talked to before about building our arch. They are a family business out of Canada and have made a custom arch system for one of Kasidah’s sister ships.
We managed to sneak in a seminar with Wally Moran, his lecture was on “The Intercoastal waterways”. The room was full and a lot of people had to sit on the floor. It was interesting that a lot of the things he talked about we have done or been in the situation before so we felt more like the old salty sitting there instead of the newbie not knowing what was ahead of us.
It is very cold here right now so we have been making list, fixing things and spending money….
I took the Lewmar winches apart and did a full cleaning on them. They had so much hardened grease and dirt in them that gas was the only way to clean them (Thanks Schyler). We are going to make a fake anchor locker in the basement and play around with the windlass to see what type a room we need for it. We are hoping to split the locker so we can add a second one for the backup anchor and rode.
Our table is heading to Wally’s today to have a piece cut out to make more room for our knees when we go to sit down.
We have been finding some great deals online lately and some we should wait till we leave but at the price we are finding we can’t pass them up. I just purchased a watermaker from a guy on Ebay which is what we wanted, it draws only 4 amp, so our batteries can handle it and by getting the smaller unit we will have plenty of nooks to install it. Also the service parts on it will be cheaper than a bigger model. Jon had originally thought the bigger the better, but when we talked to a distributor at the boat show he had a lot to say about the smaller one and with just the two of us on the boat what he said made a lot of sense. The watermaker also came with supplies and repair parts for cruising and a new handheld small watermaker for the ditch bag. Jill left yesterday for Mississippi to visit with Amy before she heads back to school and yes I count my blessing all the time. She was in the air when that plane went down in the Hudson river. I got a hold of her has soon as she had landed and she had heard that it happened and said to herself “Mom will be calling real soon”….

Happy New Years 2009

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends!
Jon and I have been busy with family since before Christmas and some of them are still here. The Holidays went by fast but we did get to see everyone and enjoy it. Jon’s whole family came up for the Christmas weekend and we managed to find sleeping spots all over the house for them (house is pretty empty). They brought so much food we could not eat it all. On Saturday Jeremy’s family came to see him and Amy, so we had a huge Christmas dinner for both families. Jon and Jill rolled their famous Martha Stuart Turkey which was delicious. Kathy and Betty made cookies and Bob made ribs.
We managed to get to the boat during the week and took off the winches so we can clean them and check them over. We also measured the deck so we could order a windlass(done) and checked the holding tank one more time before sending it out to have a new one made, we wanted to have a monitoring system and did not know if one would fit because it fits pretty snug under the floor. It looks like we will be ordering the fireboy unit which has 4 readings and no moving parts. The other thing we wanted to look into was a new propane sensor which looks like fireboy will be getting more for our money with the unit also. Jon is looking into putting the propane tanks into their own lockers that sit under the wheel just for added safety, so that’s something else we will need to research before long.
We are heading to Toronto on Friday for the boat show and hope to come home with some more ideas and maybe some boating goodies so we will let you know when we return how victorious we were….

New Projects

Jon has been very busy with the business, so I guess that’s a good thing right now since a lot of people are slowing down. We have been to the boat a few times and have our projects all picked out, we have even started some.
Jon’s list consist of finishing the floor and having the new holding tank made with a monitoring gauge in it, rebedding and adding some tie-downs at the bow so we can tie the dinghy bag down, rebedding the grounding plate which had started to leak in the fall and redoing the propane locker altogether. My list consist of insulating the walls in V berth, removing headliner in the V berth and main cabin and replacing them with something new and adding insulation at the some point in time. We also have hired an old friend of ours, Wally, to do our woodwork; which this project may run into spring and summer. This should be fun since HE will be doing the wood work and we will just be the helpers(woodwork: bookshelves, microwave shelf, a couple cabinets and additional storage bin).
We do plan on being the first boat in the water come spring..unless we sell the HOUSE then that’s a whole different story.
We heard from our friends Dick and Ann on S/V Grey Hound and it sounds like they are having an exciting voyage, they are in Florida on the ICW right now(wish we could be there). If you want to read about their adventures click on their blog at the left on our main page.

More work....

Jon spent last weekend at the boat doing fiberglass work and framing for the new tanks. we decided to put a bladder in for the water which is a 42 gallons but if we are lucky will be able to fill it 3/4 full. The holding tank will be sent out to have the same shape as whats there now. We will have access covers to both tanks so if we need to inspect them or need to run some wires or hoses that wont be a problem in the future.
I called Jon on Saturday around noon and he sounded like he had been tipping the bottle a little but he said he had one beer. So I asked him what he was working on and he took a moment and tried to tell me about the fiberglass work and he just did not sound right, so I told him to take a walk and air out the boat better. When I got off the phone I called Amy and asked if she would call him and talk to him for awhile and to let me know if she thought he was alright. well she called back and said he sounded googly and that she convinced him to get off the boat which at that time he realized just how stoned he was. He will ventilate a lot more after this I'm sure......
Hobie is the marina guard cat and now that the place is quiet he hopes for people to show up so he can keep them company and guard them ...... He climbs up the 12 ft ladder and manages to get in under the boat cover when Jon comes up, so Jon always shares his dinner with him.

Winter projects have begun....and so has the snow

The first project of the winter is to remove the main water tank, which was leaking and holding tank, which had to be repaired when we bought Kasidah but only as a temporary fix till we could replace it. FIRST PROJECT DONE...that was fast. Jon spent the weekend up at the boat cutting and removing the floor because the water tank was put in first when the boat was built and then the floor with no access to it (I guess they thought it would last forever), The tank was so wide that Jon had to cut it in half to get it out the companionway door. Next on the list is to rebuild the floor supports, replace old water tank with a 42 gallon flexible water bladder which has been purchased and will arrive in time for this weekend. we will take the holding tank to a guy who can make a new one out of steenless steel and at that time have a guage installed so we can stop guess at just how full the crapper is. Jon will replace the floor with marine plywood for now with access lids but we will wait till later to replace the floor itself because we are just not sure of what we want and I like having a rug under my feet so that will be fine till we decide.
Snow came early at our house and with it ice and 40 mph winds. We lost a couple trees including a huge apple tree which was full of apples over our driveway so that will be my project next week. Of course we had a couple that were suppose to look at the house from out of town today so thats not going to happen. Oh Well.......