martin_weller

So the past few weeks I have been anchored outside my dad's place. Been tinkering with some odd jobs and giving the boat and each compartment a good cleaning out and organization. But it was time to do some sailing. So last friday, my dad joined me on the boat and we took off for a 45 mile sail east to Liscombe Lodge. It's a fancy lodge and resort where people can rent cabins and the food is supposed to be top notch. We figured we'd sail on over there and buy each other a birthday dinner since both our birthdays happened recently. The wind was more on our back and not strong enough to propel us just under sail alone and able to make a day time arrival, so we motored with the sails up, making good time. It was good nice sunny weather, and was a nice sail over there. We arrived around 6:30 p.m., changed into our going out clothes and went ashore for dinner.

After spending $100 for dinner and a bottle of wine, i have to say that neither of us were impressed with the food. I had the "famous" planked salmon, which i found the portion half of what i expected, the rice was hard, the carrots and asparagus undercooked. My dad's fish and chips where over cooked and over priced and the wine tasted skunky. Could have been a bad wine selection, not the restaurants fault but the food was a disappointment. After dinner we walked around and after seeing what the lodge had to offer we decided that we would just leave in the morning and sail back home. There was always the option of continuing sailing east along the coast but there isn't major towns there, and we were looking for something to do, somewhere with a night life.

So in the morning we took off heading back towards home. Of course as soon as we came out of the river from the lodge and into the atlantic, the seas and winds were both against us. We started off sailing under a reefed mainsail and forward sail, but still only able to make 2-3 knots beating into the seas. In order to make any progress we had to sail about 40 degrees off our desired course, which meant that we would be zigzagging the whole way back home against the wind and seas. where it only took us 10 hours to get to liscombe lodge, it was going to take us 15 hours to get home. We thought that by perhaps just taking down the sail and motoring straight to our destination, that we would gain some time. Instead the wind was blowing 20 knots (23 mph), the seas 3 feet. We were hardly making any headway at all. So we raised the mainsail and motor sailed, zigzagging into the wind to get to sheet harbour. Sheet harbour is the town and actual harbour before we get back to our house. We figure we'd anchor right at the town, row ashore for dinner, and then take our time getting home tomorrow. We didn't end up getting to sheet harbour until after 8 p.m. and were anchoring with our headlights on in the dark around 9. But once sheltered from the land, the wind died off and we had a nice meal ashore, and a welcomed sleep onboard after a hard and tiring day.

The next day we woke up and rowed ashore once more for breakfast. The town was dead given that it was a sunday. and nothing is open on sundays. Getting out of the dinghy going for breakfast, my phone fell out of my pocket and into the slimy, stinky, salt water of the harbour. my heart sank. I fished it out with the oars from the dinghy, but the phone i'm sure is dead. I used that for my internet, to get weather, tide information, facebook, hotmail... everything!! So that was a downer for the morning.

We raised anchor shortly after noon, and after motoring out of the harbour and back into the atlantic we found ourselves confronted with the same conditions as the other day. the wind and seas were once again coming from the very direction we wanted to go. so again we motor sailed beating into the wind, inching our way forward to our final destination. The wind wasn't as fierce as it was yesterday so we made a bit better time today. But wearing pants and sweatshirts covered in our rain gear, i also was wearing a winter hat and my insulated gloves to keep warm. Perhaps a sign that the sailing season in nearing a close? We didn't have much ground to cover, only about 20 miles today, so instead of zigzagging our way along the coast, we were able to just do one long leg, then tack right into the harbour. Once again, after getting some shelter from the land, the winds died down and it was more of a pleasant day. Instead of anchoring in the same spot as i was in before, we went further in the bay to seek some more shelter from the winds blowing out of the south. we inched our way along the banks taking sounding with my depth finder making sure if i anchored i would have enough water on all sides of me if the tide were to go out. We found a spot closer to shore and anchored there. It would cut my rowing time in half, and also get me more out of the winds that would blow.

So all in all it was a good weekend. I learned more about the abilities of the boat, my motor and sails in conditions we haven't had to face that often before. It would have been nice to have traveled all the way to liscombe lodge and had a dinner worth bragging about, but i guess sometimes it's about the travel and not the destination. So this weekend we logged another 130 miles of water under the keel. Perhaps next weekend we can sail into halifax and party along the waterfront...

so i finished helping my friends install their floating dock. had a big party the next weekend to celebrate summer and friends and the dock and everything and it was great! Continued doing minor work on the boat as it sat in bedford basin. My big anchor that i ordered finally came in to the marine store, so i went and picked that up and started working on installing a bow roller to house the anchor on deck. I found a place that sold me a foot long block of 2x4 inch piece of teak that i needed to have for support of the bow roller. It took some planning on shaping that down to the right size, shape and angle, but i think i have finally got it. In the meantime, i sailed the boat out of bedford and back to my dad's place. My dad joined me for the trip. Sailing alone it would have taken 18 hours, motoring would have taken around 13 hours... but with the combined power of both, we managed to average around 6-7 knots, and made the trip in 10 hours! We anchored in the bay by my fathers house, close to our neighbours mooring that we still hadn't found yet. With the power of my new Rocna anchor, (rated for a boat bigger then mine) 20 feet of heavy chain, good holding ground in the bay and a semi protected area from the winds, anchoring should be ok.

For the next week i stayed on my boat... rowing the half mile to my dad's place to replenish the supply of ice i needed for my food stash. I replaced the septic tank itself. Although last month i installed the macerator and redid all the plumbing for the septic system, i was still detecting an odour and determined that it was the tank itself; as it aged, the plastic allowing the odours to seep through. this of course was again no small task, but with the advice from scott, and others, refitting the hoses over the barbs worked a lot easier with hot water and some detergent and lube to slide those hoses back on the new tank. now that job is done and no more dealing with crap! hopefully anyway for awhile.

My dad made a box with a pane of glass on the bottom that we could tow behind our dinghy and look in the water. it's like a giant set of goggles but without sticking your face in the water. The purpose was to find the mooring that was supposed to be on the bottom somewhere. However after searching for hours in calm water and low tide... we found nothing. the bottom is covered in what some call delta mud. mud or dirt that comes from river run offs. it's fine and sticky. good holding ground but you drop something in the mud and it gets settled quickly. so we think the mooring is just buried in the mud, and nothing would be showing above the surface of the bottom. So the search is over. the anchor is holding well, so it will have to do for now.

We felt the effects of Hurricane Irene as it passed by. The boat was still on anchor and they were predicting up to 50 knot winds. So my dad came out to the boat with me and we rode out the storm. We had a few back up plans in case the anchor would drag. There was mooring that our neighbour wasn't using at the time that we would have drifted back on, and a protected bay 900 feet away that we could have slipped into. Also we could have just sailed away an hove to and rode out the storm if we had to. But as it turned out, we didn't get the forecasted winds, and the highest we got was around 20 knot sustained winds, gusts not exceeding 30 knots. (40-60 kph or 24-36 mph) So all was well. Hopefully others who were effected by the hurricane was as lucky as we were up here and did not suffer to much damage.

Now the next few days the winds are light, so relaxing days on the boat and ashore.

Again i'm tardy in updating... i guess i've been putting it off until i got to a real computer instead of my phone. I bought a canadian phone so it's cheaper for me to talk up here, but it's touch screen and i'm still getting the hang of the text writing on it. too many mistakes and takes too long to write everything i need to write.

so. i'm done with the macerator/sanitation project. thanks scott for the advice. i always learn these things too late! but i'm looking forward now to the next project to hopefully apply that knowledge. I'm excited to see how well it works. After fighting and sanding down every barb on those hose fittings, it would be a relief to just soak them in hot water and slip them on. Since you've mentioned that, i've brought it up to other people around the marina and they use the same or similar technique. So thanks again. I should ask around before i get frustrated i guess!

I also installed two 12V cigarette lighter style plugs on the starboard side of the boat and mounted two fans. one socket and fan is in the master bedroom forward, and the other is in the main saloon. It's great. now when i'm sleeping i can charge my phone without a 20 foot extension running through the middle of the boat. Since most of the time, unless i'm plugged into shore power, i'm on a 12V system, so the traditional plug outlets don't work. So mounting two more cigarette plugs through out the boat really helps out with versatility when powering my systems. I have portable speakers, and other electronics that i can charge with those cigarette lighter plugs and to get them away from the main door and from the open elements will provide useful. And now i have two fans to keep it cool in the summer! Although as projects go, i have to say it was a chore to run the wires. All the wires are hidden and i'm trying to run them through wire channels that already have many wires in them. When i first got the boat and tried running wire through one of these channels i ended up pushing too hard with my make shift wire push rod and took the coating of one of the wires that runs my navigation lights, so required me to do some extra wiring repair. I was more careful this time around, but doing the job all myself, it was a lot of running into the cabin and then outside and INTO one of the cockpit lockers, and then back to the cabin inside.... lots of running. but it got done and another few things checked off on the "to do work list". next up is a fuse block to replace my organized but clustered electronic wiring and fuses.

one day i sailed about 2 hours to halifax and met my good friend craig and his friend, and we sailed back to bedford, another 2 hours, and then i drove them home. there actually wasn't much wind but it was a lot of fun. The next day we did a repeat event, this time with craig's friend, that's a girl, on board. I prepared a light evening snack... it consisted of 5 different cheeses, 3 different bottles of wine, 3 types of smoked salmon, 3 different crackers, cream cheese spread, pickles, bread, hummus, chips... it was great! we munched on some, but not all of it. The wind was up that day, and sailing was great! I actually had the full main sail up, and unrolled the forward sail, and when we went around a small island, the wind rolled off the island and we caught a gust that pushed us over to about 40 degrees on our side! I just aimed her into the wind and slacked out the sails to allow the wind to escape more, and we were fine. But i think my guests were a bit, well, surprised. haha. it was fun.

But i'm having a blast! it's been a great balance between work on the boat, time with my friends in the city, and with my dad. I've been getting a lot done on the boat, and off the boat. It's been wonderful.

this weekend i'm helping my friends install a floating dock in their backyard. should be fun. beer, bbq, manly stuff. :)

that's it for now. anyone wants to contact me or phone me, just email me at martin-weller@hotmail.com and i'll give you my details.

hope everyone is enjoying the summer!!

so today was spent running around trying to find parts for the new septic tank system i intend to put in on the boat. the new system will run directly to the holding tank from the toilet, and then from the tank you will have a y-valve giving you the option of sucking it out at a marina or pumping it over the side with my new macerator (a pump that chops up your waste and sucks it over board).

I spent most of the day driving around. i'm still learning where everything is around here. and one place didn't have it so i went to another, and on and on. luckly i found everything i needed. Well except a new anchor i was going to buy. there is only one dealer in atlantic canada i think and they were supposed to have them in this week, now it's looking like the end of the month! but that's another project, (unless someone wants to send me a 10 kg (22 pound) rocna anchor?) so back to the septic tank system...

The system will have all new plumbing, and tubing. I thought this was going to be easy... at least not as difficult as it turned out to be!! the new 1.5 inch hose that i got, isn't as flexible as the old one so i had a heck of a time fitting it over the barbs on the flange. i ended up filing off the whole lip on the flange and making it smooth, and still had to soak everything in silicone spray to force it together. to fit two hoses over the flanges on the holding tank took me 5 hours. after that it went a bit smoother. the y-valve fittings and actually all the other fittings had smooth flanges, so i didn't have to file them down. But after working on it for 7 hours, not including all the driving around shopping and gathering the parts, i'm calling it a day. tomorrow it's finishing up the plumbing, wire the pump to the battery, and give her a test. i can't wait. the freedom to pump when i want to. that will save money. in the long run. i was actually surprised (kinda... everything in the marine field is expensive) but i was about $100 over the budget i was expecting. but i got top of the line stuff that will last 20 years if maintained...so it's worth it in my opinion. to coin the phrase from hardez commercials; "if you're gunna go... go all out!"

anyway, so it's coming up to 0ne a.m. and i'm going to bed. it will probably take 10 minutes to clear a spot to sleep, but it will be worth it. a long day today...

So I just realized that i haven't updated this in awhile. So much for keeping up on it! haha. So the boat went in the water about 2 weeks ago. Things went well. The outboard didn't start right away, but after an hour cleaning it up and checking things over, I got it working. Dad helped me rig the stanchions and wind generator and many other jobs that had to be done. Then he left and went back home while i stayed on the boat. Bad weather kept me in Chester for the weekend, but on monday, the 27th of June, I took off in the wee mornin at 0500 and got underway bound for Bedford Basin, Near halifax. The engine died on me three times in the first hour and with no wind, sailing wasn't an option. noticed the oil was a bit low, so i added some oil and took it slow, and she ran well after that. It took about 14 hours to reach bedford, that was about 58 miles away. I motor sailed many of the hours but arriving in halifax the wind picked up and I sailed into halifax on sail alone.

The last week i've been living on the boat, with the exception of a few days I was with my friend craig on the shore where we did a bit of recording of some songs we had written. I've started doing some work on the boat. I bought a new VHF radio that i tied to my GPS. So now in distress with the push of a button my boat info and GPS coordinates will get sent to all the ships around. Also it had AIS built in, so i can see all the merchant ships in the area and call them by name on the radio if they get to close. Right now i'm in the process of redoing my septic system, installing a macerator so i can dump my waste whenever i want to (in accordance with USCG regulations). The way it was set up was i had to go to a marina to use their pump out. There are only 3-5 places in atlantic canada that offer this, and the closest one is here in dartmouth charge $17. For my small - around 10 gallon - holding tank, this it too much to pay. So it was time to evolve.

There has been many other issues that have evolved and needed attention, but i won't mention every one. Hopefully a neighbour near my dad's will allow me to use his mooring in front of his house that is in rowing distance from my dad's place. then i will have a cheap place to stay and start working on the wood work down below.

Well that's it for now. Thanks for reading!

So yesterday, my dad and I drove down to Yarmouth to talk to the customs office to come clean about my boat, and to discuss our options. I decided to pay the taxes on the boat and land it here in Canada, so now the boat can stay here with no time limit!! It didn't cost that much, so I am very happy now that there is no worry to get the boat out of the country.

After Yarmouth we drove over to Chester where my boat was put up for the winter. The boat looked great! Dad did a great job tarping it last year and everything was as he left it. Inside was good. The bags that suck up moisture that he hung had worked and the boat smelled fresh and there was no dampness inside. The only "damage" that may have happened was some blistering on the hull where the tarp was pressed up against it. I don't know if it was a result of trapped moisture, or heat from the sun, but we'll see now that the tarps are off, if they will dry up and go way or if they are here to stay. Either way, not a big deal. Painting the hull is on my list of things to do at some point, either professionally or by myself.

We just got the tarps off and did an inspection, we didn't do any work on the boat. There are still many other boats in the yard, one that is kinda in front of mine. I need to figure out when it can be put in the water and then it would only take a day to get it ready to get in the water, and then I'll sail it closer to home and do the work on it there.

Don't know my plans for the summer, where i'll be sailing or when, but I'll let you know as soon as I know.

well it's been forever since i have written in here, and i hope to update this more and more as the summer goes along. I did get a job on board the ship LIBERTY PROMISE, which was basically a 12 story parking garage floating on the water. We carried military vehicles and other new and used cars from the states over to the persian gulf and other areas. I worked there for 8 months, and now am taking a well deserved break. I was able to spend a few weeks in MN with my mother and friends, saw my brother, his wife and my new niece (who just turned one a few weeks ago) over in calgary, alberta and now i am in nova scotia with my dad, where my boat is still up on land from the winter. So there are a lot of factors involved in which will determine what my plans will be for the summer, but hopefully it will involve a lot of sailing with myself and some friends up or down the coast. I will try updating this more as the boat get prepped for water and once the keel gets wet. Not sure who is still monitoring this as it's been nearly a year since it's been updated, but I'll try to do better as I start having more information to post. Hope every one else is having a good summer. my email address again is martin-weller@hotmail.com or my cell phone is 612-229-6479

hope to hear from you!

Well, the boat is up and tarped and i'm down in houston looking for a job. It's day 3 and things are slow, but hopefully this week things will pick up.

So the boat is up on dry land, and tarp-ed for the winter. It's sad to see it so early in the season, but I have to return to work. I ended up putting the boat up in chester, nova scotia. I wanted to put the boat up down the street at the closest marina to my house, but they required insurance on the boat. I didn't want to go through the time, money and hassle of getting a survey done, then paying $500 or whatever insurance cost, so I just found a different marina. It was a 17 hour sail from where the boat was to Chester. I did it on my own, it was great. The tiller pilot handled well under sail, even with an 8 knot wind pushing us along under full sail at 4-5 knots, heeled over 15-20 degrees. I arrived into Chester about 0100 in the morning. They hauled the boat that morning about 11 am. After all the systems were winterized, the wind generator down, everything taken off the boat that needed to come off - it was getting late, and the bugs came out. The mosquito's were insane!! Made working very difficult. It was a rush to get all the tarps on and secured before dark, and we wanted to get everything done that day so we wouldn't need to come back. But the tape wasn't sticking because of the evening dew, so at some point my dad will need to return and finish up the last of it. So that's it. I sailed 628 some miles this season. I wish I would have sailed more, or been able to get more work done on the boat, but there is always next year right? So now I'll be flying down to Houston to look for a job in the union hall and hopefully get a good ship to work on.

So the last few weeks, I've just been hanging out at my Dad's house. I went into the city once with the car to visit my friends for a few days. They had multiple people and their kids staying in their house visiting, so I thought it would be fun to take them all sailing. So the next friday I loaded up the boat which is still on the mooring down the street from my Dad's house, and took off bound for Halifax. Unfortunately there was thick fog with less then a 1/4 mile visibility for just about the whole way. But finally around 1730 the fog cleared, the wind picked up and I was able to raise some sail. When I arrived at the dartmouth ferry terminal where we stayed for free on the floating dock, it was no longer there. It was Natal day in Halifax celebrating it's 115th birthday, and there were fireworks in the harbour that night, so maybe they were using the dock for that. So I went over to Dartmouth Yacht Club and picked up a mooring for the night.

In the morning I moved the boat to Bedford Basin Yacht Club and got a nice spot on the dock. I rewired some of my electronics and got the tiller pilot steering towards a waypoint via my chart plotter. That was a big accomplishment. I pulled my out board motor out of the water and scrapped off all the fuzz and growth that had started on it. It looks brand new again! That night my friends came down and we went out on the boat to see the fireworks. We had 4 adults and 4 kids onboard. That was crazy!! We got a late start so didn't make it all the way up to where the fireworks were being lit off, but we got close enough to see them, and I think everyone had fun.

The next day was a beautiful and perfect day for a sail, and I couldn't get any of my friends out there with me. So I went alone. I sailed for about 4 hours, tacking up the harbour against the wind under full sail. It was great. Normally when we're sailing we're on long legs and haven't really needed to make rapid sail changes. So it was a lot of fun to be able to tack by myself. Sailing back down wind was fun to, I went wing and wing with the sails (main sail on one side, the fwd sail on the other side) for a while, but found I could make more speed and distance if I tacked down wind. So it was great. I wished my friends could have gone but I was glad to be out there on my own. I made it ashore to go over to my friends house just in time for lobster dinner! yummy!!

The next day I got two friends and 2 kids to come with me sailing. It was about the same conditions as the day before, perfect. Actually the winds were blowing a little bit harder, which was good,I could make more speed sailing closer into the wind, so I didn't need to tack as often to get up the harbour. They were new to sailing, so I didn't push her too hard, and kept the boat more on an even keel. I had them help out when I tacked, they handled the lines, the kids steered. It was a great day.

The next few days were rainy so I spent those days with my friends at their house. We went go-carting, and mini golfing and hung out with the kids. So many kids!!! At one point there was 6 adults and 7 kids (ages 2-12) staying there. But through all the chaos, it was still fun.

Saturday I headed back to my dad's on the boat. I left the yacht club at 0600, and it was Chilly, with no wind. Later on in the afternoon the sun came out and I was able to suntan and enjoy the afternoon. The tiller pilot worked great. I didn't have to touch it all all. It steered within a 100 feet of the charted course for the 10 mile leg, and when it needed a course change I just hit one button and it steered the new course. It was great! The wind picked up and for the last 4 hours of the trip I was able to sail. However the tiller pilot wasn't fast enough to react when the wind was from behind. It would eventually fix itself, but not after swinging 40 degrees to one side and then back. So it was all in hand steering then. I called my dad on the handheld VHF to meet me when I got in and one the mooring and he picked my stuff up and rowed me it. It took 11 hours.

So now here again the boat sits on the mooring... I think I will just put the boat up for the winter in the marina on jack stands. We've looked into building a cradle but the costs and the time to make it, just doesn't seem to be any benefit over hauling in it the marina.

So that's it for now. Soon I'll have to go back to work... :(