We just made this purchas for $299 Canadian. Haven't fired it up yet, it is too cold to be mucking about outside. No snow yet but it is cold. Thats all ffffolks.

A winter project!

I am going to make lazy jacks. I bought the blocks, the lines all I'm waiting for is the chandlery to get in some small cleats...

We might get a roller furling set up for $250, sail included. The father of a good friend might be getting a new set, he said he will install it too!! Can't beat that!

Toronto International Boat Show

W finally got to the boat show on its last day. Now the cheapness in me comes out:

Parking) $12
Admission) $15 x 2 = $30
Binoculars:) $89
Captains hat) $10
Crew hat (pink) ) $10
Pleasure Craft Operating Card) $60
Water & soda pop) $8
Smoked meat sandwich) $10

So for $229 we had a good day. I love my hat, it looks like the Skippers on Gilligans Island...lol The guys at the marina are going to get a kick out of it. My new binoculars are phenomenal too. What a difference in optics from a really, really cheap pair (Which we got at a yard sale years ago) and these.

My wife bought herself a bright pink crew hat. She looks adorable and sexy in any hat.

The black listings are acceptable expenses. The place has to make money. period.

The yellow listing is good in theory, but man oh man, make it challenging. Make an applicant study for it at the very least! What it amounts to is a boating tax, pure and simple. The hardest part about the exam was trying to make out the hand drawn pictures that you had to choose from.

For example, in one question there was 6 drawings and you had to choose the 4 that would require assistance. Drawing 1 was a boat with wavy gunnel's, #2 was, I don't know, a picture of a divers down flag, # 3 was a person in an inflatable life raft, another was of a person holding on a flare. There were more but you get the point. Most were straight forward but the boat and flare pictures were a bloody mess, I truly did not have a notion of what they were representing. I guessed and got it right though. What I didn't get right was a question on gross weight allowed on the boat, I put the entire boat its equipment and the passengers and their gear, while I believe the correct answer was just the passengers and their gear! I am guessing as they don't tell you what you got wrong nor the correct answer.

The red lists just disgusted me. We will picnic next year.

We saw a good friend, Martin, who is an assistant manager at our favorite chandler's, (That is a boat store Kat). We learned on face book later on from his lovely wife,Sue, that his assistant locked the keys in the stores van...

We looked at new boats and were amazed.

We looked at Zodiacs and were astounded at the prices. There was one zodiac about 30' long with two (2) 300 HP Yamahas on the back. Now get this, it had a smaller Zodiac on davits (a small crane) on its bow (front end). The wife was amazed, she didn't know they could breed....lol But for a mere $130,000.oo they could keep it.

What is a baby zodiac called? A calf? Pup? Cub? Any zoologists out there?

Good time, though I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and a severely runny nose...

A continuation of the last post...

Forget that last boat. What a nightmare inside and below. I have stated before that all I need is a sound hull, a few sails and a semi-reliable motor and I'll be happy.

Well, there is a saying in the sailing world, and I don't mean to offend any God fearing folks,(I mean you Kat).

The saying is this:"You want to make God laugh...tell Him your plans!"

Yes the hull was sound, yes, it had a motor, and I didn't look at the sails. The motor stopped me. It was electric. It ran off a 'Made in South Korea' generator set. It pushed the boat along at 3 knots!!!! 3 knots? Currents are stronger than that! Hell, a good head wind would be the most humiliating thing that could happen to me!

Picture this; My captains hat pulled low down on my face, so low there is just a hint of a dangerous glint from my eyes, my billowing white shirt open to the navel, my Charlton Heston chin thrust defiantly forward and the dock getting smaller and smaller and the wind over powers that limp electrical drive....

Now where is the glory in that?

Lets not mention the wiring, oh the wiring...then there was the panelling. Panelling on a boat?

Damn, the beast was lovely from the outside, old school lines, not like today's cookie cutter boats. That boat frightened me. Well back to looking....LOL.....Allan

We are interested...

Here is a beautiful character boat that just came up for sale and is stored not 300 metres from our boat. I don't know where she hails from but my wife found it and we visited it Boxing Day.

One of a kind, steel, (very important...lol), $35,000 Canadian. 36' long, (11' longer than our training boat), and did I mention it is steel?

Externally there is some cosmetic work and if and when we get serious there will be a thorough inspection done using a surveyor!

What the wife and I require is a sound hull, a fair motor and a couple of working sails and six years to play and modify until I reach the big 55 and quit working for the 'Man'....lol

I feel bad, it was their dream but for health issues and I want it for less than 35 grand. Maybe I could throw in our little wee boat too?

The wife is in contact with him via e-mails and she'll get some interior shots soon.

I love dreams, don't you? Especially when they are actually within your grasp.

Allan

Out board overhaul

Here are seven (7) photos of our outboard (Or a 'Kicker' as they are known as in sailing circles). It is a 1986 Johnson Evinrude Yachtwin 9.9 hp.

Here is the work required:

1) Change oil in lower unit.

2) Change seals in lower unit

3) Change impeller (Yearly routine)

4) Epoxy the pit marks on casing, fair the work and paint.
5) change spark plugs and spark plug wires.

The top photo shows the power head resting on a shelf, I just have to change the plugs and wires. Very simple. My wife removed the plugs herself because she wanted to know how to it. She now knows.

The second photo shows the disassembled water pump, what you see here is the impeller and base plate. Very dirty.

Third and fourth photos shows the lower unit wedged in my vise. I squeezed it between two pieces of 2 x 4s because of the odd shape and size of the lower end. Also I used wood because I did not want to damage the relatively soft, (compared to the jaws of the vise), aluminum body.

The last three shots are of the intermediate, or middle piece. This section connects the power head, (or motor), to the lower end, (gear box and propeller). You can see the epoxy on the casing. My next step is to sand it down, then prime and paint it. I want to see how this turns out before I tackle the other two pieces.

My manual is my bible for this project. I have wrote on the inside cover the year, make model and serial number for ease of ordering parts.

Now for ordering, you can order them from pert near any marinas engine shop. Whether you get them in a timely manner is another matter. At our first marina in St. Catharines Ontario we would order parts and wait weeks for a delivery. We then found Forans Marina near Stoney Creek and found Lucy, a very nice and knowledgeable shop keeper. Place an order and get it in three days. Tops. Sadly it is a bit out of the way for us but we'll live with that.

That's all for now. Hoping to show and update in a few weeks.....Allan

Surprise, here is an entry NOT about a sail boat! Shown here is my best friend, Doug, and his new to him Formula Thunderbird 25.5. He just purchased it from an American and we are storing it in Paris Ontario. Look at his grin, that is the proverbial 'Cat that swallowed the canary' grin. In the navy it would have been calleda 'Shit eating grin', but as we are among polite company the first saying is the one we are using. To be fair to this blog, Doug owns a beautiful Spencer 46 and an Albacor. He has had three other sailboats prior. This powerboat is a detour off his usual purchases for sure. Now I'm going to add another picture and see what it does to the layout.

The other picture is the engine, a small block Chevy, I think. I am not a big engine gear head so I'm not sure. Needless to say I was a bit shocked to see it in the back of the delivery truck instead of being mounted in the boat. It is now resting in the boat.

Future work includes a paint job and some trim replacement. Looks like fun.