Work has resumed here at our house and boat

 After three and a half months of doing nothing while we were enjoying Florida, it’s back to work.

Mostly though, it’s Benno who is doing most of it and as an electro mechanical technician he is at his element while it is electrical, mechanical or hydraulically related. The boat, which is a work in progress, was also meant as a hobby for Benno in addition to enjoying it on the water when finally completed.

The hydraulic pump, lines, hookups etc. behind the wall

We came home with several items purchased down south that were next in line to be installed. A major item, also cost wise was the Simrad Autopilot, integrated to the GPS system. You just got to have an autopilot, otherwise you’d be hand steering the whole time you are underway. So this installation took some time. Of course the finished bathroom (head compartment) where behind the wall are all the electrical hookups and hydraulic steering lines, which we had last year replaced, got dismantled again :-( for the extended work. The Autopilot came with an electric hydraulic pump which had to be spliced into the hydraulic steering lines as well. Glad we had not primed the hydraulic with the special hydraulic oil last year, this would be a mess now.

Benno is mixing the Epoxy for the box he made

The box needed several coats of paint

The actual Display unit went onto the dashboard, but I convinced Benno to make a nice wooden box for it to match the looks of the engine panel box. Also the unit would have stuck through the ceiling of the bathroom and that solved the problem.

The Autopilot unit installed in the box and hooked up

The autopilot is ready to work

A switch to turn on the power to the autopilot

While filling the hydraulic lines with Seastar hydraulic oil that runs from the steering wheel pump to the electric auto pilot pump further on to the steering cylinder that turns the rudder from port to starboard, Benno needed my help in the aft compartment under the cockpit to help bleeding the lines while he filled the oil in and turned the steering wheel. A cramped position for sure but easy to do.

The hydraulic lines to be blead of bubbles

But I’m not crawling in all cubbyholes, there is the one where the house lithium batteries will be installed. I show you the area so you get an idea where he sticks his head and arms in to make the electrical connections that feed the main cabin and galley.

This is the cubbyhole and around to the left Benno gets to twist his limbs in :-)

Just a few days ago I cut the grass, but you wouldn’t know it as it has already grown so much again. Back into the saddle of the John Deere. The spring flowers are all starting to bloom and the weeding can begin. Just what I have been looking forward to :-)

Oh, something I found interesting, a marine item came shipped in this plastic bag. Read the descriptions!

Lots more updates to come for the boat as it is all in progress. Stay tuned.

Thanks for your visit.

It’s so good to be home again

 We were so happy to pull into our driveway yesterday afternoon. This year’s travel from the south took us longer than we had planned. Everyone must know of the big rain storm that crossed the United States causing floods in many areas that also seemed to never end. 

We left the RV Park in Florida on Tuesday April 1st and had good weather. In the evening we parked for the night at the Valdosta, Georgia, Camping World Store’s parking lot. They allow overnight parking and we have been there before so knew it would be a good place to stay. For part of the evening we ran the air-conditioning to keep the travel trailer cool enough so we could sleep as it was still 30C outside at 9 p.m.

Camping World store in Georgia

The rest areas were busy most of the time

The next day’s travel was equally good. As usual we make pit stops to stretch our legs and of course the fill-up stops for fuel keep us delayed a bit. In the late afternoon the I-75 got heavily congested and instead of crawling on, we just pulled off the highway to the Bass Pro Shop that looked very inviting across the highway in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There are lots of parking spaces available and in short order several other RVs pulled in keeping us company. There was a good breeze blowing and we decided to sleep with the windows open. Big mistake! In the early morning it became so humid with a heavy fog outside and because the blinds were up the bright light bothered me from the parking lot as well as some music that played somewhere all night long. 

Bass Pro Shop, Tennessee

So far we had been travelling behind the weather front but knew that we would probably catch up to it the next day. Hoping the weather would move ahead of us we left the parking lot a bit later than we normally do in the morning so we could stay behind the rain. However, eventually we caught up to it in Kentucky. We had stopped for lunch in Williamsburg Kentucky and treated us with a chicken burger at the Burger King there before moving on. 

Lunch break from Burger King at shared parking lot with Walmart

The mountains held onto the clouds and rain and the driving became dreadful with a horrendous amounts of water gushing from the sky. We did not want to drive in that! I’m glad Benno has nerves as steel but it was the kind of nail biting drive when you cannot see the car in front of you in mountain terrain with steep incline roads. There were tons of bad accidents on both sides of the highway, never saw so many blue flashing lights before on a trip. Benno said we have to get quickly off this damn highway, this is hell and high water! We took refuge at the side of the parking lot of a Walmart Superstore in Berea, Kentucky and just sat in our truck as the rain came down in buckets. It was actually a good spot and we considered of staying the night until I looked up and saw the sign at the light pole next to us saying no overnight trailers.  Well, just around the corner was a Cracker Barrel Restaurant that has trailer parking, but we found that we did not fit into their too short trailer parking lots. Some Motorhomes were already getting comfy there.

With no place to stay, we reluctantly got back onto the I-75 in the rain. The next 50 miles were terrible, but we knew we could park at the Camping World store in Georgetown, Kentucky that is just off the I-75 (we’ve been there before) and that is where we went and were able to finally relax for the evening. However, because of the heavy rain we could not run the generator, so no TV watching. It poured all overnight into the morning.  The weather radar showed a clear spot from 8 a.m. to midday along I-75 towards Cincinnati, Ohio and we made a run for it. Wow, we made it ahead of the storm and it stayed dry and became sunny for most of the afternoon drive, but the temperature kept dropping. 

We are making a run for Cincinnati

Surprisingly there was hardly any car traffic at the border control. Of course the other side was packed with transport trucks. The customs attendant was super friendly and to our surprise we did not have to pay any taxes for our purchases. :-) What a nice welcome to Canada!

Driving over the Ambassador bridge into Canada

From the border crossing to our home it was only another 45km/30 miles, but having outrun the weather for several hours we wasted no time to unload and unpack as much as we were able to before collapsing in our chairs yesterday evening to finally put our feet up. Today it is raining here and the temperature is only 9C/49F back to sweaters, I guess.

Thank you Linda, our RV neighbour, for your goodby gift of a little elephant that was to keep us safe and sound during our travels.

So the only mishap this trip was a broken coffee carafe. At every trip so far I have been sticking this Krupps coffeemaker carafe into the cupboard for safe keeping during our travel so it won’t hop out of the coffeemaker. However, mysteriously the cupboard door opened this time and the glass carafe and a package of crackers ended up on the floor. There were a million tiny sharp glass pieces all over the floor and carpet. You would assume those glass carafe pots would be made from tempered glass, but I guess not.  Oh well, it’s time I shop for a new coffeemaker.

Thanks for following along.