We did our shakedown cruise from Hurst marina to downtown Ottawa. The plan was to travel from Hurst to Hartwell’s lock station, stay overnight, then head downtown the next day. This trip would give us a chance to check out lots of systems, especially our new shifter, as we wanted to identify problems early enough to be able to deal with them while we still have a fixed home base. We were also on a bit of a schedule, since the goal was to dock downtown across from the NAC for Louise to supervise prom.
Louise had to work, so we recruited our friend Clint to serve as crew. He has experience with the boat, as he was part of the “dream team” crew (with my brother Paul) that brought the boat back from Albany last year.
The day started early, Louise and I picked up Clint and we drove out to Hurst, where Louise dropped us off together with some odds and ends to load on the boat. The boat already had lots of stuff in our way, as we had not yet had time to organize and inventory everything. Clint and I removed the old recliner from the boat, and we replaced it with one of the new ones we got on Amazon. Much smaller and lighter, easier to work around on the boat. We then set about cleaning up the salon so we could operate the boat, basically by moving all the stuff below decks. We planned to sort most of it out later.
Corey from the marina stopped by the boat, and we chatted a bit about the davits and dingy. Glad to see the inflation issue we had had been fixed, however the davits were still incomplete, so we removed the dingy and parked it on one of the seadoo docks.
We loaded up and did some inspections, then went to fill the water tanks. Normally this job takes about 20 minutes, but today there was a water pressure issue at the marina and it was trickling out of the hose. We didn’t plan to be gone long, but we were planning on visitors, so I wanted to carry enough water to shower. Long story short it took us over an hour to fill the tanks about half-way. This done, it was time to shove off, and we left the dock, albeit about an hour later than I had wanted.
While the water tank was filling, I passed the time putting things away. When I went to put some things under the sink, I noticed some standing water on the shelf in the cabinet. Leak somewhere. I used my tried-and-true method to find the leak. I wrapped each pipe in paper towel. Later I will see which towel is wet, which will show me where the leak is.
I also did a quick bilge inspection, which is part of my normal start-up routine. Normally our bilges are dry. Today the port bilge has water. Mmmmm. After opening a few compartments, I noticed a trickle of water running beside the hot water tank. Uh-oh. After some more searching, it was obvious we had a leak in the tank. I shut off the feed to the tank and opened a faucet to depressurize the hot water tank. Not much else I could do at this point, so I took some photos of the tank and the surrounding area, as well as a few measurements so I could order a new tank. Unfortunately, it meant I was not going to be showering this trip. Gotta love your own brand!
In the photo above you can see part of the wet stain on the deck under the heater. Looks like the tank has ruptured (you can also see a distortion in the casing side where insulation has been pushed out).
Took my time getting out of the harbour, and did some testing of the new shifter to make sure nothing terrible happened. All good. We survived and then trundled off down the river. No boat traffic, so was an easy cruise. We got through Long Island locks without issue, then on to Black rapids where the fun began.
On the way we passed a group of kids in canoes. One of them gestured for us to blow the horn (train engineer signal) so I hit the switch for the horn. Nothing. Crap, is the switch bad? Clint dug a new one out of spare parts but no joy with that either. OK, we will have to troubleshoot when we stop tonight. in the meantime, I broke out the emergency air horn in case we needed to warn someone of something.
When we were about half-way down the lock, the lockmaster called ahead to Hog’s Back to let them know we were on the way. Instead of giving an ETA, he was told by the lock staff there that the bridge had just failed and could not open. This was about 1 pm. After discussion with the lock staff, we decided it would be a while before the bridge was fixed, and since the bridge would close at 3:30 it likely was in our best interest to stop there for the night. So we went down the lock, exited, turned around and then locked back up. Lots of space on the grey line, so we tied up, got plugged in and relaxed for a bit. Another boat arrived just before closing from the north. They had been trapped in the Hog’s back lock when the bridge broke, and spent the afternoon there. The lock staff had manually opened the bridge for them at the end of the day, and they arrived just at closing time. I guess we could have gotten past at the same time, but Black rapids is a nice place and I had no issues overnighting there.
Once we were docked and set up, Clint and I looked at the horn. Neither switch was working at either helm. I took the back off the horn and jumpered power to it using a multimeter lead from a 12 V source. Horn works. OK, the problem is somewhere in the switches. Testing with the multimeter showed both switches were working. Wires next. by using a test lead hooked to 12 volts, we determined that the wire from the horn to the top-helm switch was fine. Next, we tested the wire from the bottom switch to the horn. Horn blows.
So, we had traced the problem to the wire connecting the horn circuit breaker to the switch. Since wire problems are usually connection-related, I went ahead and changed the connectors on the wire, assuming that one of the connectors was bad. Fail. OK, we have a tricky problem. The wire showed 12 volts from the breaker, but if we used it to supply the horn, the horn would not sound. So, the wire carries voltage but cannot carry amps. This is either a bad connector (usually corrosion) or the wire is damaged or corroded somewhere. We just changed the connectors, so the wire itself is bad. So, we just ran a new power wire between the breaker and the switch, horn works great. Problem solved.
While I was walking around I noticed a duck-saving device at the bottom of the lock. Lol. A couple of years ago, someone had the idea that ducklings were being trapped in the locks, and they needed some kind of float device to save them. I guess they pressured upper management long enough that, in order to make the irritant go away, the poobahs mandated that these wooden platforms be put into the lock chambers at some lock stations. The idea is if a duck gets "trapped" in the lock, it can stand on the floating piece of wood and be saved. Hallelujah! This has to be one of the stupidest things I have seen in my travels on the water. Ducks float. The canal has been here since 1832, and the ducks have survived without a floaty! Feel sorry for the lockmasters, who have to go along with this kind of idiocy.
A bit of car shuffle ensued, as Louise had to meet us to take Clint home. I also went with her as we needed to move the boat mattress from the house onto the boat. We had taken it off for the winter so that Louise could make some custom fitted sheets for it. The mattress is an irregular shape to fit in the nose of the boat, and so regular sheets don’t fit well.
We picked up the mattress, along with our kid’s old wagon to help transport. Worked great to shlep it to the boat from the parking lot. A bit of pushing, shoving and encouraging words and the mattress was in place. Too bad we forgot to bring any sheets. We improvised using what we had (towels) and had a good sleep.
One incident happened in the evening though. Three teenagers came by and were fishing from the dock for a while. All of a sudden, we feel someone has boarded the boat! I went out back and yelled at the kid who was on the swim platform “what the frack?” He looked at me and said he just wanted to climb up top and look at the upper deck of the boat. I told him to get the frack off the boat and stay off stuff that doesn’t belong to him. Had to tell him twice! The three kids then moved to a different part of the dock. We have been boating on the Rideau about 14 years now, and this is the first time some idiot has boarded the boat (when we were on it). Anyway, other than that, no drama for the rest of the evening.
Morning was nice, we had lots of goslings visit us while we enjoyed our coffee.
I left early to pick up Clint, then Louise left and took the car to work. Eventually the lock master arrived to tell us that the bridge at Hog’s back was still broken with no ETA. We decided to just stay where we were, as we had shore power and were in a nice place. I took the time to adjust the throttle cable. Although the engine shifted well, it seemed a bit rougher than normal, so I suspected that the idle speed was a bit fast. Sure enough, the cable was a bit tight. I loosened the end connecter two turns and the idle speed went down to minimum, and the engine now shifted normally. Sweet.
Clint and I then set about emptying some rubbermaids and putting things into inventory. A couple of hours later, we had 6 or 7 empty containers to offload, and much more space inside the boat. Plus, now we could find more things. I also followed up on our cupboard leak, and discovered, using my paper towel detectors, a slow drip from one of the fittings connecting to the faucet. Eighth of a turn on the fitting with a wrench and no more leak.
After lunch we checked in on the bridge and learned that they did not expect it to be fixed that day, so we did some more boat chores. I wanted to install a safety mesh for our cat on the upper deck, so we started in on that. We got the first zip-tie in place when the other lockmaster came by and said the bridge was now fixed. So, we stopped what we were doing and told him we were going to leave in about 15 minutes, and he went off to fill the lock.
We locked through with no trouble, and got through the next two locks, but there was not enough time to make it downtown before the Pretoria bridge closed for the night, so we stopped at the bottom of Hartwell’s lock for the night.
After a fun conversation with Ross the lockmaster, we set off in the car to take Clint home, then got some dinner at Lone Star, before returning to the boat. We loaded on a bunch more stuff, then turned in early for a very restful night.
Morning-time and the need for coffee is great. I tried to turn on the generator to make coffee and breakfast. Nothing. Check in the lazarette using the on-engine starter, just the solenoid clicking sound. Dead battery. Get out the multimeter, 10.6 volts. Yup, she’s dead.
When we bought the boat in Albany, I had replaced the house and starter batteries, but did not replace the genny battery. It still worked, and the marina I was at did not supply a brand I liked. So, I only bought what was needed at the time. At least we got a season out of the existing one.
Turns out Total Battery has an outlet about 10 minutes from the lock station. I took out the corpse and used our new dolly to take it to the car as Louise was going to get a new battery before going to work. The plan was for her to bring the battery to the boat tonight at the NAC, but her route to work took her past the lock station so she dropped off the new battery on her way to work.
Dropped it in, hooked it up and the genny fired right up. Now I could have coffee and breakfast.
Had some company while I was drinking my coffee. Small bird (a tree or barn swallow) landed a few feet away on the dingy davit and we both hung out enjoying the morning. Then he shat on my swim platform and flew off.
Just as I was finishing my coffee, got a text from Clint. He was at Dow’s lake, waiting for me to pick him up. Turns out it was easy for him to park there, and so I got underway, and stopped by the pavilion to do a touch-and-go to get Clint on board. Was amazed to see how empty the docks were at Dow’s, normally it is full this time of year. Even the regulars were not there yet.
So off we trundle to Pretoria bridge. We passed through without incident and docked downtown right in front of the NAC.
You can see us behind the tour boat (red boat on the left). The boat right in front of us is a Doral Prestancia, which is the exact model of boat we had before getting the Mainship. Bit of a size upgrade.
Amazed to see how empty the docks were. We had a conversation with the lockmaster, who figured that the Carillon closure was to blame. I expect the herd will come thundering through once it is opened.
Spent the day doing some boat chores, including the installation of a back-splash on the counter. This is something we had seen on a similar mainship (Miss K). They put it in place to prevent stuff from falling off the counter, and to separate the helm and coffee area. Great idea. We have been constantly moving stuff in this area as we need free space when underway for the helm seat and nav gear (binoculars etc.), but when docked it tended to fill up with odds and ends, and stuff often got shoved off. I had fabricated the backsplash in my workshop over the winter from solid cherry, based on measurements taken in the fall, and now was time to install.
When I made it, I deliberately over-sized the components so we could scribe it to fit the boat. This operation took about 2 hours for 3 cuts and 3 screws (measure 10 times, test fit 10 times, cut or drill once), but very happy with the results. Originally I was just going to hold in place with minimum sized screws, but Clint pointed out that it was in a place that people would naturally grab it for support during rough weather, and he insisted we use big-assed screws to hold in place. Really glad we did and he was totally right, and the install is mucho-solid. Like other new pieces I have made for the boat, the wood will darken over the summer and should match the existing cabinets by August. In the photo below you can also see the new VHF radio is installed (the cord on the old one dry rotted and it was cheaper to just replace the whole unit). I had to make a backer plate to cover the old hole, which is the same batch of cherry used for the backsplash.
Tonight was prom night, which was the reason for our trip. Louise's school’s prom was being held at the NAC, so we were “right-there” in a primo spot. Louise had invited other teachers from her school to drop in for a visit after prom, and over the course of the evening we had many visitors to the boat. What a great evening. About 12 staff members sat on board for a couple of hours at various times, and chatted and had some docktails for the ‘after prom’. There was a steady flow of visitors arriving and departing until after midnight. Our visitors were surprised at the amount of space we have, knowing we will be living on the boat while doing the loop for the next year.
The amount of space improved greatly when we swapped out the old recliner chairs for the Thomas Payne RV Euro recliner. The old ones were super comfortable, but the fabric was worn out, and the chairs were a little big for the space. The new ones are comfortable, light weight, and have a small foot print. Much more practical for the boat. We also picked up some small area rugs at the boat show to protect the floors. At some point however, I will have to make some kind of hold-down system for these as they are light enough to slide around in rough weather.
Old and busted.
New hotness.
We are using the new chairs at home since all our other furniture has been given to family. Above you can see that Eevee got there first, so I had to sit on the floor.
This night picture is courtesy of Ann Marie - a colleague/friend of Louise's. It was taken from the balcony of the NAC at prom. Shows how cool our spot was for the evening.
We both slept like the dead, then woke up early, had a nice relaxing breakfast and got the boat ready to get underway. With prom over, it was time to return to Hurst and we were going to be working on the house for the next week or so. One of the projects I had done this spring was to install an AIS unit on the boat. This is a box which receives GPS position information from other boats, and transmits our location to other boats. It is a safety feature that we installed primarily for encounters with commercial shipping. This will allow us to see boats or ships that are approaching us and will alert us if there is a risk of collision. It also identifies the name of the boat, which is useful info to have if calling them on the VHF radio. At the same time, it makes it easier for large ships to see us. Anyway, I needed to test the unit to see if all was functioning. When we got to downtown Ottawa, I checked Marine Traffic (this website tracks and displays the positions of all ships world-wide) and found that our location was picked up and displayed on the system. OK the box is transmitting normally. On the return trip to Hurst, we picked up AIS signals from one or two other boats, and so I could confirm that we were receiving. Unfortunately, only one GPS monitor was displaying the information, for some reason the other unit was not reading from the network. Add this to the list of things to check.
We got back to Hurst fairly late in the day, as I had to go very slow through a couple of legs. Lots of paddle boards, canoes, kayaks and even some dragon boats on the river. With such a large boat I need to keep her below hull-speed so we make a minimum wake. We also had a few wake boats towing tubes full of kids, and I needed to stay well out of their way.
Now to fix all the issues we found….
