Florida

Yesterday we arrived at the Lakeport RV Park in Moore Haven Florida. It is in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee. 

Back home we had enjoyed some pretty nice days for December that felt more like spring time. Even some shrubs started budding out and the daffodils in my garden had already shot out of the ground. However, cold arctic air was in the forecast which made us decide to leave a day ahead of our scheduled departure. Every year before we leave the house we turn off the water supply to the house, drain the hot water tank and the pipes. It’s a bit of a pain to do on the morning of the departure day, but it got done.

We had no issues at the border to the USA or driving on the roads other than that it was cold, around -7C/19F and sometimes a bit bumpy (potholes). Our first night we stayed at a Super Walmart parking lot in Franklin, Ohio. The temps dropped to -9C/15F and our furnace in the travel trailer ran nonstop all night long.

The temps stayed mostly that cold all the next travel day and night. However, for the following night we booked a spot at the KOA Holiday RV Resort in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Our electric heater was no match for those temps and we needed the furnace again which unfortunately stopped working sometime in the early morning hours when we ran out of propane. We (Benno in his pjs) then switched over to the other full tank. Because of the cold temperatures we had not put any water in our travel trailer tanks but carried some bottled water and we used windshield fluid to flush the toilet. The shower facilities at the KOA were neat and clean.

Day three on the road we made it to the Camping World store and parking lot right on the I-75 in Valdosta, Georgia, which is a few miles from the Florida border. It still hadn’t warmed up enough to do without the furnace to keep us warm, but it didn’t have to run nonstop.

The route we took was from Detroit, Michigan all the way down the I-75 to Florida junction I-75 and I-10. The I-10 east brought us to Jacksonville and there we used the I-95 south that brought us close to the road which lead to our Florida destination on Lake Okeechobee.

So finally, yesterday in the late afternoon, just when a heavy cloud emptied its contents above us, we arrived at our site and Benno had again the fun job of hooking everything up in the rain! Today it is 28C/82F sunny and breezy and as per weather forecast will be so for the next week or more. 

If you are wondering why we left so late in the year to come down for our winter vacation, the reason was that we got to meet Elyse, the youngest member to the family at my sister's house near Toronto. My nephew, his wife and their 5 month old daughter had flown in to Toronto from Edmonton, Alberta on December 4th to show her off to family and friends. She sure is a sweet and pretty little girl.

Tomorrow we take a trip into the city of Okeechobee to purchase a new shower head hose, because ours jumped off the hook in the shower stall on route and busted a fitting. 

Thanks for dropping in and I’ll let you know how things progress here in sunny Florida.

What a relief

 Do you sometimes think you might have forgotten something? Last week after we had gotten to bed and were ready to drift off, I mentioned that the night temperature was forecasted to drop to -3C/26F. We then both remembered that we had not shut off the water supply to the outside water and power post to avoid it freezing up. So if the neighbours wondered what I was doing outside in my pjs with a flashlight, I opened the faucet so the water could reverse into a bucket. That was after Benno had crawled down into the crawlspace under the house to shut off the water to the post. 

Btw, our furnace is installed in the crawlspace and it is heated, carpeted and cozy down there. 

So we are crossing things off the to do list as we are nearing our departure date for Florida. Furnace and humidifier filters for the furnace were on the list. Our local Canadian Tire store carries the size and brands we need. It’s a great store and I think most Canadians like shopping there. 9v batteries for the smoke detector in the travel trailer as well for the outside thermometer and windshield washer fluid also landed in the shopping cart. With that done and antifreeze fluid added to the water circuit, the travel trailer is ready for me to fill it up with all that we want to take with us. It looks like we will have some mild temps next week and I will do that chore then.

Early morning on November 21st

If you’ve been watching TV you might have seen that the northern parts of Ontario got dumped with a huge amount of snow and more is predicted. Down here we had a little dusting of snow on November 21st and it lasted only until noon. So we are still enjoying the looks of green grass and dry roads. We thought the shrink-wrap guys were done for the year as we had heard nothing further and we had given up waiting. It was disappointing for sure so on Monday Benno started to duck tape up all the hatches and openings on the boat that still need work to keep any snow or rain out. In the evening we got an email that the crew would come out on Tuesday (yesterday) morning to shrink-wrap the boat. And they did! 

Yay the the guys are here to wrap the boat

They know exactly what to do first and then

All teamwork

That is a lot of shrink-wrap

One of the guys is using the torch, the other pulls the plastic

The door gets installed

All done

Well, that is a relief so now we know the boat will stay dry during the winter and hopefully beyond.  Since my last blog post Benno ran wires and installed electrical outlets in the galley. Additionally the fridge and gas cooktop were permanently hooked up. He also finished making the face frame of the galley cabinets in his garage as it got too chilly outside to cut the wood. After the install and plugging of the screw holes I put a couple of coats of varnish on them. We are using for all the trim, doors and cabinet facing the tropical Sapele, a mahogany style looking wood. Next spring we can concentrate on the walls, doors and a drawer before ordering a counter top. I’m looking forward to that.

The glue in the framing needs drying

It does get dusty in there even with the vac

Thanks for dropping in again and until next time, have a great week

So far so good

That phrase is in regard to our weather, but it is also in reference to the progress on our boat project. Today we are enjoying sunshine with 13C/55F temps. There are still some flowers hanging on in my garden and this year I have decided not to cut everything down but to provide the bugs and crawly creatures some shelter in my flower beds and habitat in the accumulated leaf litter around our property.

The boat is still uncovered, although we had booked the shrink-wrap guys at the beginning of October. There must be a lot of business for them as they have had no time for us yet. But time is running out soon. This year we have made a reservation in Lakeport (Okeechobee), Florida to stay for the winter months. It is further south than our previous stays, but will give us the opportunity to explore marine related businesses and perhaps even snoop around at some boat salvage yards and marinas. Benno has a list of items he wants to explore further, we still need a propeller and we want to drive to Miami in February for the boat show. It will be shorter drive time.

Only people with boat building experience will know how much technical stuff is involved before furniture will be made and installed. I’m so glad Benno is doing that kind of work and challenge and turned into a cabinet maker. But he tells me that he is not hot on woodwork and cabinetry is not his dream job, however I’m happy with the outcome. We are working on the galley (kitchen) and space is at a premium, so we try to make the best of it. 

The three burner propane gas cooktop will be sitting incorporated in the “Corian” countertop. The new gas line and hose are already hooked up to the new Composite Propane Tank that is stored outside in a vented locker.  Benno made a “King StarBoard” panel onto where he mounted the propane regulator, shut off solenoid, pressure manometer and it can be lifted out of the locker when the propane bottle needs refilling.  Underneath the cooktop sits the 12 Volt electrical refrigerator that is also wired up. To the left of the cooktop sits a sink that has a foldable tap inside and comes with a Shapiri cutting board to cover it up and to provide extra workspace. There is lots of room in the cabinets underneath and behind to take advantage of every possible space for me to store whatever I will figure out. Of course we will not be able to finish the galley before we leave for our winter vacation, but I’m looking already forward to next spring!

There are 2 propane lockers and each will have a tank

The left cabinet side from the fridge and stovetop

the right side of the fridge and stovetop, all work in progress

varnishing the shelfs

A view of the sink with the swivel tap raised

View of the tap lowered

photo from Wayfair of the sink with cover

So that is what happened in a nutshell. Lots of small things were going on but not worth mentioning. You may have heard about the Canadian Postal Workers strike at the moment and that is another thing we have to deal with if we want to have our mail forwarded while being away. On the positive side, Elsa and Reggie got their rabies shots and health certificates done. All I have to do now is to log onto the website for the Dog Import Form and fill it out before we cross the border. Just one more requirement no one wants or needs.

Elsa and Reggie at the veterinarian

I pray and hope we will have no frosty nights or days before we leave so Benno doesn’t have to winterize the travel trailer, as I don’t care for the taste or smell of the pink Antifreeze solution in our tanks that seems to linger for days even after flushing them with fresh water.

Before we say goodbye to Canada I will probably squeeze in another update. Thanks for dropping by!

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians

 I hope everyone will celebrate this day healthy and happy and to say thanks for the things that they are grateful for, no matter what will be served for dinner. Over the years I have prepared several turkeys as a way of tradition for this day, but in recent years I have not. Our son is hosting a family get-together (we were invited) and a large butterball turkey will feed everyone. 

Reggy and Elsa also are wishing you a happy Thanksgiving

At this time of year many folks think, or are preparing to leave for their annual trips down south. However, with the two recent hurricanes, many vacation and RV Park destinations in Florida might not be readily available. Benno had been looking forward to visiting the annual Miami boat show in February. It’s several months off, so we’ll see if this will happen. But as he does every year, Benno did grease the wheel hub bearings of our travel trailer on the sunny and warm Thursday last week and gave the whole rig on Friday a good major wash and wax down from top to bottom. So if we wanted to, we would be ready to take off now.

But, Benno is not the one to sit idle and keeps working on our project, the refit of “Albatross” and I help as much I can do. The master bedroom (haha), our forward V- berth cabin is done now with a few minor things that are up to me. Like finishing up the covers for the mattresses and a coat of paint on the shelves under the berth. If you have never done woodwork on a boat, you will have no idea how time consuming and difficult it can be. This is to say, Benno has been busy, but it takes time to show results.  I am happy that he has moved on now to the main cabin where my galley (kitchen) and the settee (seating area) will be. 

Our boat is covered with shrink-wrap to keep the dirt, rain and snow off and out of the boat. We have a zipper door to get in, but that door which is attached to a separate piece of shrink-wrap, is getting loose. As well  the shrink-wrap has already too many patches that don’t hold together anymore. We think it will not survive another winter and strong winds, so we have booked the mobile crew that does this kind of work to come and replace the whole cover and to make a new door. Hopefully it will happen before the weather deteriorates as these guys are busy.  

What else is new? We hosted my sister and brother-in-law who live 3-1/2 driving hours away in the suburbs of Toronto. Their visits are always filled with fun and laughter and I wish they were more frequent. Sadly I learned of the passing of a cousin that not long ago I had reconnected with after we lost contact for so many years. 

I leave you now with some photos of the forward cabin that got done just recently. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrate it and everyone thanks for dropping in.

Things of interest and boat interior progress

 Today it’s raining and quite wet outside. We haven’t had any rain for over a month, I think, so it’s welcome.  It inspires me to sit down and tell you about the last 10 days since my last blog post.

I promised more photos of the ongoing refit of our pocket trawler “Albatross” and I will post some at the end of this post. There is steady progress, but between kick-off time of epoxy, drying time of varnish, paint or the cutting of wood, completed sections ready for showing seem to take a while. So not to tire you out with that exclusively here are some photos I took of other subjects.

Photo taken with my iPone

Every so often on a Sunday morning in the summer there is a powered parachute flying above the shores of Lake Erie. It must be the same woman who has been doing it for years! The last time this happened I got my camera out and captured the approaching pilot. I had to be quick though, it was coming up rather quickly and disappeared just as fast. What a fun experience this must be to look below and view everything like through a bird’s eye.

Here she comes

And before you know it, she is gone

Goodbye

On the same day I spotted 8 hawks cruising together overhead, this one came close

Capturing objects of interest I just happen to come across is not always easy for me. Usually I have two leashes in my hands with two doggies pulling me along or I’m driving and can’t stop. However, I can entertain you with the cormorants having a morning meeting on a log that I photographed while driving over a bridge across from the Wheatley harbour. I thought they looked funny and since there was no traffic I stopped briefly and took a photo with my phone through the window of my truck. 

That is the best I could do with my iPhone through the truck window

Don’t you think that his mushroom growing out of a tree branch, I noticed while walking my dogs, is pretty to look at? And for more cuteness, this little bird kept watching me from the bird house above while I was picking cherry tomatoes below in my garden. I thought nesting time was over but it seems the birds like to hang out in them all the time.

Finally, what you all have been waiting for, more boat project photos.

Benno is cutting the moldings to assemble the door frames. 

The doors are drying. Three sides of the frame were epoxied together and laid out to dry overnight. Two equal insert panels were glued together with spray adhesive. After drying the three fame pieces the double insert got slid in and the top frame piece is then epoxied on to the frame to make it a complete door.

Oops, for lack of space on the workbench, Benno placed the insert panels on the shrub outside the garage and then sprayed 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive onto the back of the panels, it looks like the frosting on a cake or snow, I was a little ticked off. 

Once you sprayed the glue and attached the panels, do not try to rearrange or take them off, this glue sticks like sh.t!!

After installation of the trim, the screws are hidden with plugs. Those plugs are epoxied into the holes and when dry are cut off flush with his Dremel Oscillating tool where the space allowed him to, otherwise by hand with a Japanese Pull Saw. Benno then sanded the trim smooth and it got revarnished by me and rubbed down with oil and steel wool.

Here I am laying beads of caulking along the frame of the counter. Hard on my hands as it does not flow easily, but I am not a sissy!

Benno is inserting the solid surface counter top onto the just caulked frame to glue the top into place. It is also held on two sides by trim.

Counter top is in and the new lamp is installed. On the left is the new 120 volt breaker panel with AC Volt and Ampere Meter. Our 12 volt panel is up in the wheelhouse.

Frames for the doors are done and holes are plugged.

Trim is finished and the upper two doors are fitted including door knobs.

Close up of finished upper part of the cabinet.

You can see the doors are hinged and are magnet-spring closed/opened on the upper and lower frame.

The other doors for the lower part of the cabinet are in various stages of drying time and will be installed in the next couple of days.

Thanks everyone for dropping in and taking an interest in the progress of redoing the interior of Albatross.