Yay, another post!

It has been brought to my attention that it has been far too long since my last blog post. What can I say as an excuse other than I much prefer working outside and helping with Benno’s boat work than sitting behind the computer screen. 

So even though sometimes it felt like working inside of an oven, Benno made lots of progress inside our little trawler named Albatross. We didn’t like the interior layout the boat came with, so we are trying to improve it with our own design and work with what is given and can’t be changed. There are hardly any straight walls so even making a cabinet has many challenges. 

I snatched one of Benno’s worksheets from the wastebasket to show you the measurements he calculated for creating templates before cutting the actual marine plywood for the cabinet, also for making the wall panels and ceiling.

And here are the photos of that cabinet. Inside there are two layers of shelves that can be removed, and a coat rack for pants to hang up. We used a Kreg Pocket-Hole jig that inspired Benno from a picture in Jim and Barb's Adventures blog a while ago when they were building a cabinet with drawers. He loves that jig and even I was using the jig for drilling holes in the wood framing for easy assembling. Easy peasy!  (Not that I will take over the build :-) After the framing was installed in place I crawled into the cabinet to paint the walls and I put a couple of paint coats on the shelves inside the garage before assembling those in the boat. 

There were many more drawings to create templates for the ceiling panels that gave Benno a headache for sure as those were even more complicated. All looks good now.

While on a parts run at the beginning of the month, Benno found himself stuck in a traffic jam. Leamington hosted again the annual “Hogs for Hospice” and there must have been well over 1,500 motorcycles taking a round trip from Seacliff Park to Point Peele National Park. It sure was a site to see. The lucky raffle ticket winner won just shy of $450,000.

The arial photo is from The Southpoint Sun Newspaper

The flowers in my garden are doing great with the hot temps and a few good rain showers we have had. I am still at war with whatever cat is using my front berm as her/his litter box and planted today a couple more flowers in it so to eliminate any available space for doing her/his business in there. We’ll see how that works.

Our son and grandson spent again a weekend with us. We really enjoyed their visit and wish our teenage granddaughters would find something of interest here too so we could entertain the whole family. 

Speaking of visits, our neighbours hosted their extended family over the long weekend and there were seven tents pitched on their lawn. It looked like a fun event for all.  

On my sidebar under “blogs we follow” I have added Möbius World that some of our readers might enjoy following up with as well. Wayne and Christine are converting a Horton Ambulance vehicle into what I believe will be an amazing RV to tour the world by land. Enjoy the read as well check out their previous yacht and Christine's website with reference to her published books, all of which I highly recommend.

Thanks everyone for your visit. Wishing all of you a great summer!

More boat work

 Did I say we were done with the bathroom or wet bath (called the “Head”) in the boat? Well, it turned out there were more tasks we had to do to finally close the door.

Reggy and Elsa enjoying lazing on the deck

After painting the wall (behind it are the electrical hookups etc) opposite of the sink with an oil based paint, the floor looked kind of shabby. Benno sanded it and filled previous holes with epoxy. The previous paint was epoxy based so that was what we had to purchase to apply on top. It needed four coats with a day of drying time in-between coats. There was a wooden corner cover that hides the water hoses to the shower and I had it painted with the oil based paint. Benno thought it might look better with the epoxy paint to match the rest. However, applying the epoxy over oil did not go well and it bubbled up. That turned into another four days of paint coats :-(  Then Benno decided to cut, router and sand strips of teak wood to screw and glue onto the step in the bathroom to avoid slipping on that now shiny painted floor when taking a soapy shower. After all that a few seams got GE Silicone sealer for water proofing. Finally done with that, I hung the shower curtain (temporarily to see how it fits) and Benno hung a full length mirror on the door. But I’m sure we are done now with this part of the boat!!

In the meantime the awkward hanging locker in front of the V-berth (forward bed) got removed and we are working on a new design. Benno installed a shorter bulkhead (wall) and covered it with the panelling we have. Also the side walls of the V-berth are being covered and that takes a while to do as he has to make a template for each section before cutting the odd shapes. He finished the bow (front) part already, including replacing the faulty anchor winch with a new Lewmar Pro Series.  Pictures of the interior forward cabin will be posted when we have more to show. Oh, and before I forget, we got a new anchor, a 15kg Rocna, that will be our main anchor and be mounted on the bow roller.

So my hubby spends most days in or around the boat while I run the house and outside chores. On Saturday before the long weekend I was going to wash a load of laundry when after filling the machine  the door would not close on my Bosch washing machine. Well, it turned out the electrical magnetic lock was busted. I guess after probably a thousand plus times of opening and closing it was time to go on the fritz. Of course it had to happen on a weekend, right. Thanks to YouTube we (Benno) learned how to remove the broken part, find it on the internet and found who sold the original manufactured part for us to get it. It involved a trip, but we had a trip already planned for boat parts etc. the following week, so it was basically on the way. Reinstalling the new door lock turned out to be a bit more complicated I presume than taking it out as I heard some expletives coming from the laundry room while Benno was working on it. All done now and several loads of laundry finished. 

Although it gets pretty hot in our area most days, we are enjoying this summer weather. Of course having central air-conditioning and a Dyson fan running in the boat helps. Hoping you are all well and make the most of this time of year, I thank you for dropping in again. Until next time.

June happenings

 So you are wondering what has happened in our lives since I last wrote. I sanded and stained the deck again this year which really needed it. The garden is a constant, but I think the garden soil I had purchased on a special deal is not of a good deal quality and all potted veggies and flowers could do a lot better. The zucchini have not produced and I see only male flowers on them, so no good. We had a couple of frosty nights and some geraniums suffered and shrunk. And to top it off, we had a hail storm that lasted over half an hour where it pelted down on our poor shrubs. The hail pellets stayed on the ground for a few hours afterward would you believe it. And uptown they didn’t even have rain, only we down here got punished.

The hail just kept coming

yes, the plants suffered under this torment

Even the birds looked for shelter wherever they could

Someone has to do it!

Progress on the boat is ongoing, some ceiling panels were installed, bathroom walls were painted, a new bathroom vent that runs on 12V and solar got put in. The shower mixer and shower head were hooked up and the floor is currently being worked on. 

Also Albatross has a hydraulic steering system like most boats. This system was manufactured in Australia and is actually a well known quality brand. However here in Canada and in the USA it is lacking a spare parts supply. In the future we would like to add a hydraulic autopilot that can steer the boat to a GPS waypoint that we pre programmed. But, to our dismay, our hydraulic system had a pressure leak which spilled some hydraulic fluid at a non accessible location. Using his flashlight Benno located the leak on a coupling between two hydraulic Nylon high pressure tubing pieces from the steering pump to the rudder cylinder. To fix that we had to pull out the hydraulic tubing line but after inspection we decided to replace both lines und use fitting and tubing from the American Seastar Steering System that is widely available throughout North America. That will simplify the installation of the Autopilot as well.

a bit cramped access under the cockpit

The leaking culprit: A coupling

If you look at the width of the compression rings:
top=small, middle=bigger, bottom= nice large size
top: is the leaking hardware store unit
middle: the Australian Hydrive original which is okay
bottom: the new American SeaStar unit

Once we had pulled out the old hydraulic tubing and Benno found the culprit of a leaking coupling, he noticed that the compression rings were not Australian or American types, but probably came from a hardware store that supplies airlines for compressors and it could not handle the steering fluid pressure. When the new hydraulic tubing and associated fittings from Seastar arrived, I gave Benno a hand to feed the new lines in, which was a finicky job.

feeding the stiff and coiled hydraulic lines

This is the tool to cut the hydraulic Nylon tubing

Last Saturday we participated in the town-wide Yard Sale. We had quite a pile of accumulated stuff. Most people sold from their yards and garages, but we are more remote located and likely would have not too many people come out. We asked to set up on a vacant land in town where the Mennonites had set up several tables and they also had hot dogs on a grill for sale. Turned out we made a good choice and are happy that almost everything we had was sold.

We are supposed to have some hot weather coming our way, so boat related work will have to be done in the early morning hours before the heat in the boat starts baking us. 

Hoping everyone is having a great summer. Thanks for dropping in again.

No need for a snowblower right now

Well, this month has been great so far and we have been super busy. My complaint about the rain must have been heard, because we have been blessed with sunshine and really nice temperatures thereafter. Of course the pesky small fish or May flies came out, but other than leaving a tiny green smudge wherever they landed, they are harmless, don’t sting and die off a couple of days later. We don’t have black flies down here in southern Ontario and I have not seen many mosquitoes, so we can sit out on our deck in the afternoons enjoying the weather.

Poppies starting to bloom

The lawn cutting kept me occupied more than I wanted, but the grass has slowed down growing this last week. While cutting I came across a bunch of dried clippings piled on the lawn. Upon investigation and a peak underneath, I saw it was a rabbit nest doug out into a slope just as I suspected. Only two little bunnies were snuggled inside. I left it alone and cut around it. Late at night we saw mama Rabbit come to the nest to nurse her offspring.

Rabbit Nest

A couple of little bunnies

I checked daily to make sure they were tended to. One morning about three weeks later the nest was empty but, huddled underneath my (Veronica Whitewater flowering bush) sat one little frightened bunny. It was also there the next morning. Since then there have been no sightings of any rabbits.

I am too frightened to come out

Again as in previous years I have planted a few veggies into pots and placed them along the back wall of the garage. They get full sun there and are a bit protected from rain. Hopefully they will produce a good harvest. As to the perennials, I have to wait a bit longer for them to show their flowers, but annuals are doing fine.

A gift from my sis

On Mother’s Day my sister thought it would be a good idea to spend it together so she and her husband came for a visit. We both baked cakes that you cannot purchase anywhere here to share and I got gifted a handmade stepping stone that my sister made with inlayed stained glass in the form of a turtle. She is so talented and you should see her other creations!

Plum butter twist coffee cake from my sis

Haselnut Marzipan Torte

Salmon Wellington dinner

And finally, Benno has been busy too. He fixed the damage on our travel trailer that we received when the tire exploded. I made him take my John Deere lawnmower apart to have the blades sharpened and to adjust the steering. Of course he is busy with the boat also but for all those projects he has going I will add them to another blog post as they need explaining. 

Not an easy fix, but he did it

Can't see a diddle thing now

Wishing everyone a nice and relaxing weekend. Thanks for dropping in.

Small accomplishment

Another week flew by before we knew it. Thankfully it did not rain as much as predicted but enough to make the ground very soggy. Every step towards Benno’s shed and the boat was squishy squashy and I had to wear my rubber boots all week to keep my socks dry. Benno almost had to wear his diving gear to get to the boat. HaHa! I wasn’t sure if and when I could cut the grass again as it grew like crazy. Yesterday, Saturday, I trimmed the worst and longest and then finally cut with the John Deere. Benno helped and pushed the Husqvarna but got stuck a few times even with the blade raised. Well, I show you the two bags of cuttings I raked up afterwards. They weigh a ton!

We made a trip to Home Depot in Windsor to purchase another set of LED shop lights for the garage. The additional lighting sure helps when Benno has to do the lumber cutting inside. He cut the mahogany wood to make a cabinet door frame with a slot to hold an insert to blend in with the bathroom paneling. We had decided to use the same material for the insert as the wall panels and glue two pieces together so the inside of the door looks like the outside. 

The drying time for the epoxy glue used in the frame is a day, then the insert goes in and another day of drying for the top part. Also the varnishing for each side took a day between drying. We realized we should have looked for the hinges, door knob and locking mechanism while we were in Windsor, so had to make another trip, this time to Lee Valley Tools where we found what we needed.

After installing the door Benno cut another small piece of wood for the angled gap above the door. (There are so many angles and odd shapes in the boat, but he has to work with what we have.) In the end, I think it looks pretty good and is functional and much better than what it was when we got the boat. So now he can concentrate on other areas in the boat while we are waiting for some parts from Amazon.

My garden is waking up and it’s exciting to see what has survived our last winter with the yo-yo temperatures. My two Purpleleaf Sand Cherry trees at the corner berms are in full bloom. They seem to be happy about all that rain.

So that is it for my little update for today. Thanks for dropping in.