Outboard Trawler Build - Lots of News! -

It has been four exciting days. After launching the boat on Tuesday, we needed to remove all of our 'boat building' paraphernalia; the cradle, the stairs and platform, lawn chairs, ladder, the plywood and lumber, the table saw, the miter saw and the aluminum mast.

So we rented a truck for Wednesday, dismantled the cradle and loaded all the stuff into the truck.

We brought it all home and now there's no room for our car in the garage, ha ha.

We drove the car back to Iroquois Wednesday afternoon, packed the boat and spent our first night aboard.

We had arranged with MikeBro to send us text updates of the weather forecast and it was most helpful knowing what to expect. Thanks Mike!

To take advantage of the early morning calm on Thursday, we let go the lines at 07:40 AM and sailed away from Iroquois Marine Services.

We shared the piloting.

Our boat slips through the water quite nicely, leaving very little wake and she's very quiet for a power cruiser.

We watched a bald eagle fly from this channel buoy nest as we approached.

By 11:00 AM, we were closing in on Johnstown, where we had arranged to tie up for the night.

The international bridge, Johnstown.

My former work colleague, our friend Ron (you remember him as the producer of our 'Long Reach Atlantic Crossing Video') had volunteered to drive out from Brossard to film our arrival at Johnstown with his drone camera. Read more about that in the next blog.

We spent a couple of hours chatting over lunch and Ron graciously accepted to drop me back at Iroquois on his way home. . . . to pick up the car. . . Thanks Ron! Then he offered to drive me to Brockville to drop off the car and bring me back to the marina at Johnstown. But he had done enough, I declined his offer.

Donna and I settled in for the afternoon.

I filled the gas tank and we went back to the Bridgeview Restaurant for supper.

After supper, on our way out of the restaurant, Donna bumped into Karen and George as they were setting up for an 'Open Mic' event. They we knew we played at 'Sam's Open Mic' and they asked us if we wanted to participate. We needed to get a few things done in the boat before sundown so we couldn't stay long but we had our instruments in the boat so we joined in. . . . and . . . Dave and Tina were there! . . . and Steve Bell showed up!

We played:

• Stolen Car

• They Call Me Hank

• Magnolia

We slept well. The bunk is really comfortable.

This morning (Friday) was another beauty! We settled with Matt at the marina office and left the harbour at 8:25 AM.

The boat ran well and, with the gentle breeze right on our nose, we never got a whiff of exhaust smell.

We had planned to stay the night in Prescott but we were there within an hour so we changed our plans and pressed on.

It was a hot day on land. I think it hit 28C with a humidex of 30C. On the water though, we froze. We both had long pants and sweaters on. Our hands froze and our feet froze. We kept the forward hatch open and the breeze off the water (remember, it's not quite the middle of May) brought in fresh, cold, invigorating air.

Before too long, we could see the 'Tall Ships Landing' highrise in Brockville (that little dot just over the bow).

We passed a small island that was covered with cormorants and seagulls. The noise was surprisingly loud.

As we approached the yacht club, we could hear the steeple bells chiming noon. We tied up at 12:10PM.

The motor ran without a hiccough. She seems most comfortable at about 2500 RPM and used about 2 liters per hour.

We ran the chartplotter and depth sounder off the house battery and it seems the motor's little alternator, running through the automatic charging relay, kept it and the starting battery fully charged throughout the trip.

The solar panel kept the bow thruster battery full as well and, with the weight we had put up forward and Donna standing at the point of the bow, we used the thruster entering the slip at the club.

The trip felt like a long, relaxing vacation.

Tonight as I write this, after almost four years of boat construction, I feel that warm glow of someone who has just closed the page on a memorable chapter of his life.

Or maybe it is just the wine.....

Thanks for reading our blog.

---