Outboard Trawler Build Update

July 4th, 2023

Family Gathering:

Donna and I drove out to New Brunswick last week. Michael drove out too. He didn't come with us because we don't do the trip in one shot anymore. We stay over in Montmagny going and coming.

Montmagny is where one can catch a ferry to L'isle aux Grues.

There was a lot happening out in NB. Some happy things and some sad. Donna and her three sisters went through all the stuff in Mrs. B's house (which she abandoned eight years ago) and got rid of most of it.

Also, Donna's Mom was buried on Friday, June 30th (the day she would have turned 96).

We stayed in St Louis de Kent, sharing a two-bedroom cabin with Michael at the L'Ancrage B&B, situated on the Kouchibouguac River. In the photo below, that's a big Acadian flag about a kilometer away.

After the burial there was a very pleasant family gathering at Scott's house and we met with:

Pat and Les and their granddaughter Amira (all in from BC)

Chris and Brian

Chris' son, Scott and his daughter Megan

Chris' son Jason and his partner Carrie

Barb and Tim

Barb's daughter Jenn, her husband Ryan and their children; Auston, Katie, Devon, Alyssa and Jaxon.

And Michael, of course.

Boat Work:

Yes, we are still at it.

Donna is working on the window frame varnish. Forward windows all done!

She did all the 'notches' separately. Notice the grey paint on the plywood inside the window frame. Looks great!

Here's the port side window frame in the main cabin, all finished.

Donna's a great worker but she has a strong union that insists she take a break once in a while.

When we got back home Sunday afternoon, I went down to check on the boat and to make a template for a side wall in the new locker located under the helm station. This will keep things in the new locker compartment from falling into the bilge.

Yesterday I glued it in place.

Today, I cut out a floor hatch in the large floor panel. I left it about 5" back from the forward bulkhead because we plan to install a wide book rack there for charts and guide books.

There is a surprising amount of storage space in our new locker. In a pinch, I think we could probably fit two small refugees in there :)

Yesterday was foggy in the morning. Look at that! You can hardly see the boats on the other side of the little harbour.

The wind this morning was 0 Km/hr, gusting to 0 km/hr.

We took Helen Back over to Smith's Island where we docked opposite Dean and Brenda and their trawler.

That's not a shower cap on Helen Back. That's the top of another boat in the distance .

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