Author: Jeff

I’m in Calgary, flying home to SW Ontario in the morning. 

I don’t usually post about non-boating activities, but wanted to wrap up the boating season.  At this point my plan for next season is to arrive in NS in early April and get back at it.

All went as planned over the past week or so.  I left the boat Friday, arrived in Toronto Sunday, flew to Vancouver Monday, and spent four days driving the Rockies, with overnight stops in Kamloops, Banff, Hinton, and Canmore. 

This has been on my bucket list for a while.  Lots to see in BC, but mountains have always fascinated me.  I’ve visited alpine areas in other places, but not Canada. Now I’ve traveled the highest road in the country, at 2083m.

It was especially nice to spend a couple of days sharing the experience with son Miles and getting caught up with his life.  It’s good to get off the boat.

I felt good leaving Escapade.  Cold weather has descended on NS.  I got out just in time.  All systems are ready for storage.  No shrink wrapping yet, but I’m sure they’ll get to it.  I forgot to take pics. 

A bunch of things are falling into place.  Darrin assures me that there is a qualified welder nearby that can get Tin Lizzie operational.  My plan is now to bring that boat here to Gold River over the winter, and use both boats in Nova Scotia next summer.  That sounds like a ton of fun.  Race boat and RSV.  I need to start making new friends here.  Anyone who wants to do some racing reach out.  And I hope to see lots of visitors on Escapade.

Today I picked up the polypropylene glycol required in my furnace system, and new hose to replace the chafed hose that I discovered a few days ago.  So my plan is to shut down the heat, drain most of the system, replace the damaged hose, fill it up with antifreeze, and turn it back on.  I’m familiar with the whole process having done it 5 years ago.

This is a clear case of my less-than-perfect installation failing prematurely after five years of heavy use.  All fixed with a bit of effort and $400 in materials, but also a major inconvenience and source of concern over the last month.  Lesson learned.  It could have easily been prevented, and detected earlier.

The clock is ticking now.  Tomorrow I finish the winterizing, load up the car, and head for Toronto. The weather’s not looking great, but I’m not too worried about missing my early morning Monday flight out of Pearson at this point.  Smooth sailing.

I really didn’t fully commit to hauling until the very last minute.  Even then, I knew high tide was at ten on Monday, and I planned to dinghy in to their docks around 930 and check in.  I was anchored just a few minutes away.  I knew from previous contacts that leaving a voicemail wasn’t likely to get attention before then.

Darrin the yard manager called me around 800 and woke me from a deep sleep. I’m a night owl.  ‘Get in here!  We want to haul you now!’

So not quite awake, and far from adequately caffeinated, I started the engine, went forward to get the anchor up, came back and got underway, and stopped.  I had run the fuel tank dry.

I’ve been through the routine several times.  Drop anchor, switch tanks, do the bleed thing and get back underway. 

When I got to the marina the crew came out in the cold rain to meet me and take the boat into the lift.  I wasn’t saying no at that point.

As a result of the rush I didn’t get to do a few things like hoisting my dinghy on deck, but I did empty my holding tank in advance.  That’s the biggie.

The other biggie was power.  I arrived with partially charged batteries, and wanted to run my heat for a few days then disappear with a full charge. 

I discovered on haul out that my prop is a little mangled.  I had a pretty good suspicion when I hit bottom on the Saint John River and noticed high fuel consumption coming back to NS.  My furnace started flaming out yesterday ashore and when I checked my second tank it was dry as well.  I really hadn’t been carefully tracking it.  I filled up with 80 litres that I had in Jerry cans.  That’ll keep heat going for a while.

Darrin and the yard crew have easily solved my concerns. They’ll remove the prop and have it serviced locally.  I was trying to make contact with the shrink wrap crew for several days and Darrin helped get us connected and on their list.  My dinghy and outboard are taken care of.

The panic list is over.  I haven’t winterized a boat since 2017, but it’ll come back to me.  Generator, engine, water system, and furnace.  I have a couple of more days to get that done and do some cleaning and organizing.  Tomorrow I’m visiting relatives for dinner.  Packing up my car and leaving by the weekend for Toronto, then on to BC on Monday.

I really like the idea that I can return over the winter if I want.  There won’t be water on the boat, but if I winterize the heating system properly I should be able to connect power to the boat and turn the heat on.  There are washrooms and a shower here that’s open year round.  I’m not sure I want to visit in the dead of winter, but it opens up the option of coming back a few weeks before early launch to do some maintenance/repairs/upgrades.  All good.

The folks here assure me I can keep an eye on things over the winter.  I’m not worried. 

Sorry no pics. I’ll take a few before leaving.

We hauled today at Gold River Marina.  Snow mixed with rain. It’s time.  They’re winding down for the season here.

I dithered for a couple of days, then decided to go ahead with pulling the boat.  I’ll spend a couple of days here winterizing and tidying up, then I’m leaving until April.  I’ll have the boat shrink wrapped.

This weekend I’m heading for Vancouver to do a road trip with Miles through the Rockies.  It’s time for some non-boating adventures.

I like this yard.  Power is available close by, and I can stay aboard while ashore.  Pricing is reasonable, and they have been supportive and flexible.  All good.

There is a little less urgency on this one, but I’ll lay it out.

Some readers may not know, but I have another boat that deserves my attention.  It’s been sitting on its trailer in Guelph since 2019 in the field of shame at my local sailing club.

I’ve really enjoyed my travels in Escapade.  First world problems.  But my issue with the multiple boat program is the cost of having a ready-to-go boat sitting for occasional use.  Getting the sailboat sailing again requires a significant amount of time and effort, and a summer slip costs thousands of dollars.  And I haven’t been thrilled with racing opportunities outside of Toronto, where all costs double and I can’t visit with Escapade. 

My time aboard Narwhal reminded me again of how much I enjoy sailboat racing.  The racing around here is good, and Tin Lizzie would fit in nicely.  I’d be happy to upgrade my membership at BBYC and make it my home club.  My uncle’s farm is not far away for off-season storage.  I’ve made a tentative plan to bring the boat to the farm over the winter.

In the spring, I have two major choices:

  A) harden up Escapade a bit and head for Newfoundland and Labrador

  B) stay in NS with Escapade and do lots of sailing with Tin Lizzie. 

This decision is made harder by the fact that my experience this summer was pretty optimal, from my point of view.  Show up for an event, meet the boat and crew, and go racing.  Being the boat owner is the hard part.  For me the obvious solution is some sort of syndicate or partnership.

Whatever happens, I need to do something with Tin Lizzie.  Use it or let it go.

The furnace is fixed.  Yay!  That was causing me a lot of angst.  I found a chafed hose way out of sight that was draining into the bilge.

I had a visit with the yard folks yesterday.  The more time I spend there the more I like the place.

I have option A, which is to haul Monday, winterize and shrink wrap the boat, and come back in late April and launch.  The yard doesn’t operate outside that range.  The boat doesn’t need to be hauled for maintenance. 

Option B is getting back to what I had in mind a month ago.  Keeping the boat in the water and heated through the winter.  There are varying degrees of hardening vs using (home vs boat), but those are details.

My biggest concern with option B is that I want the ability to disappear for weeks at a time.  But my brief chat with the Alderney Marina guy made me think that maybe that could be possible.  I’ve put out a request for another discussion.

I’m really not anxious to abandon the boat for 5 months.  A bit of bad weather shouldn’t force me off.  That’s part of my use case requirements.

I just dropped anchor in Gold River.  It’s 5 am and below freezing.  Slippery on deck, but comfy inside.

I did a driving tour of the yards I was thinking of for hauling Escapade.  Gold River Marina was the clear favourite.  I’ve never been there. 

They have a hard stop date of the end of November, so I started to look for a weather window to get down there from Bedford.  Thursday and Friday looked fine.  I booked the haul for Monday.

My furnace has been losing fluid for a while.  I fixed one known leak in August, and thought I was done.  But the leak has accelerated as I’ve been using the furnace.  I’ve been through all the obvious possibilities, and have been feeding it with fresh water regularly.  My plan is to remove it for detailed inspection and service when I haul.

Wednesday afternoon I headed in to Armdale with the intent of meeting a friend.  I ran out of water at anchor, and couldn’t feed the furnace so slept in the cold. 

Thursday I filled up with water at RNSYS, tried unsuccessfully to get the furnace to restart, and retreated to downtown Halifax for a meal out and some pondering.  By evening I had the furnace running by bypassing the low water alarm switch.

Feeling like maybe I’m on borrowed time with heat, I high tailed it here.  Maybe I’ll get hauled today.

I did get a call from Alderney Marina in Dartmouth on Wednesday.  I had identified that place as pretty much what I was looking for originally and called a while ago.  I might have considered it with more time to prepare.  Maybe next year.

Nothing in the photo album, and dark outside.  I will take some photos of the boat yard and haul out. It’s a delightful place.  They use a marine railroad with adjustable straps.  Quite ingenious.

I realize that it’s been a month since my last post.  I  didn’t mean for it to be that long, but not much has changed.

Escapade hasn’t moved much.  I raced on Narwhal for the Danginn Cup.  Lots of excitement, with a most enjoyable rum-fueled afterparty.  Tradition has the winner filling the trophy with rum and sharing amongst the competitors.  There was some initial confusion over the winner. Not us. In any case the trophy was topped up numerous times.

I put the boat on a mooring and took off for Ontario for a couple of weeks.  I’m back now pretty much where I left off, with winter coming.

So, winter plans?  I have a couple of weeks booked in March to tour the Norwegian coast.  December with family in Ontario.  January and February are open.

I gave some thought to actively cruising over the winter, but the only nearby place I’m excited to go is Newfoundland, and that’s in the wrong direction in January. 

So far the default is to haul and store Escapade in a few weeks and go ashore for a few months.  Sensible, but a little painful.  I’m putting it off.

Recent pics. I’m surprised RoRo vessels don’t capsize more often.   The last pic is of five cruise ships in Halifax.  I think some of them were there for storm avoidance.

The headline photo is my friend Andrew stopping by to say hello on his way back from the office.  He and I worked together here as tender operators almost 50 years ago.  Time flies.  He’s got a fully restored 20′ Boston Whaler.  A classic.

I arrived in Bedford yesterday.  Spent a few days in Lunenburg and Mahone Bay then came around in more brilliant weather.

I had made tentative plans to keep Escapade at AYC for the winter, but popped in and was told they have very few live aboard slips, and none are available.  So much for that plan.  I’d like to keep the boat safe afloat and operational, and come and go over the winter, staying aboard when here.  That may be harder than I thought it would be.

In the meantime, I have few immediate plans.  Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, getting my car from Saint John, and racing here next weekend.  That’s enough for now.

It’s hard to believe it’s October.  I’m a few miles offshore, beelining down the coast with a following breeze and current.  Sunny and warm.  It doesn’t get much better.

I’ve covered this shoreline pretty thoroughly during other trips.  Today I’ll get into the LaHave Islands, or maybe go on to Lunenburg.

Yesterday I left Yarmouth in sunny calm and had favourable currents out to Cape Sable, then rounded at slack tide.  I stopped in Port Latour for the night, and came out about 1000 today to catch the tide change.  Smooth sailing.