There’s another Canadian wildfire conspiring to make it difficult to get the boat done! More about that later. In the meantime we have been getting ready for our next trip up to the boat in Alexandria Bay. We are planning to bring her back to Long Island late July or early August. But before that I have a work list of smaller projects to cross off, including getting the GPS back working, replacing the thermostat in the refrigerator and replacing both faucet cartridges in the galley and head.
The GPS failed to get a fix last time I used it, not a good thing to happen in a new and very rocky area. It may be a simple repair though. I found out by searching online that the antenna has a small battery in it that retains the memory and works to get a fix. So I now have the correct battery in my toolbox to install when we go up. Along with installing the new battery I obtained an update card for the Raymarine E-120 MFD and that will allow me to run more detailed charts.
The refrigerator thermostat appears to have gone off the rails also. The refrigerator works fine, too fine in fact. The survey showed an orange stain below the control knob but the unit cooled with no problems. Except it never shut off and froze whatever was in there in short order. We found that one after sleeping overnight the first time and finding everything in there frozen when we wanted to have breakfast.
The head faucet started leaking last time up also, so a new cartridge was ordered after I hunted down the manufacturer. The galley faucet is getting a new cartridge also, not because it leaks but because I can’t move the lever at all. It is locked up solid. It was very convenient for me that both faucets are from the same maker and I ordered them as soon as we got home. The transom shower also leaked but it was an easy repair with an O-ring from the hardware store.
One problem I had to solve was visibility. The combination of a rear set helm, a large bow area and a significant bow rise while getting up on plane makes seeing in front of the boat harder than our last boat. To help overcome this I constructed a platform that raises the helm area five inches. That should be enough to let me and anyone else at the controls get a good look closer in when up and running.
I wanted something that looked good and was sturdy and portable. I found a piece of laminated teak, one inch thick by thirty-six inches long by sixteen inches wide at Lowes. Together with a one inch by four inch by six foot piece of maple I had what I needed to create my vision, for better vision!
I cut a one inch forty five at each corner, and used my router to round over the edge. I used the maple to make a sturdy frame underneath with two ends and a center “spine” to tie it all together. Two and a half inch stainless steel screws were countersunk into the teak and then I plugged the holes with teak plugs epoxied in place. Once they were sanded down I gave the teak three coats of teak oil. That oil really brought out the character of the teak and gave it a nice hue. The finishing touch was four little rubber feet installed on the frame to keep it from marring the deck or slipping out from under me.
After I finished that project I got a call from John at Miller Place Upholstery that my cockpit bolsters were ready for me to pick up. Perfect. I went and got them and have to say that even the side nobody will ever see was finished better than the factory originals.
It took me over an hour to get all of this plus food and suitcases loaded into my truck to bring up to the boat. In a way I am lucky the seat bottom and back cushions will not be ready until next week because there is no way to fit it all!
Now what about all that smoke? After packing the truck on Tuesday we got up Wednesday morning to catch the ten o’clock ferry out of Port Jefferson. Nice and easy way to beat the city traffic. Run up Route eight to Interstate ninety to Interstate eighty-one North and six hours later (give or take) and we are on Wellesley Island at the marina. Except when I looked at the weather report Wednesday morning there was an air quality alert for the Northeast. The area I live in on Long Island had an air quality number in the “unhealthy” range, predicted to go up. In Alexandria Bay the morning number was almost three hundred, just below the “hazardous “ range. Those numbers went higher during the day and did settle down into the “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy” range in the evening. They were predicted to go up again the next day before dissipating over the next few days.
It was suggested that people stay indoors, and we took that advice and stayed home for a few days to let it clear. The boat will be there, and we want to enjoy it!