Getting Close!

The departure date for the first leg of the trip is fast approaching. We will soon be posting our planned itinerary, but for now I thought I'd just bore you with some stuff from recent work on the boat (both Charlotte-Ann and Atlantic Osprey).

First regarding Charlotte-Ann. Last month when I was home I spent a few days up on the boat. No, she's not ready to go yet, but she's getting there! Thankfully Lisa and I learned from our first trip south that we shouldn't expect the boat to be 100% ready, EVER.

I did manage to get some pretty large projects completed, the biggest being the installation of our new engines.

We replaced the 12 year old original Evinrude 9.9's with brand new 2009 Yamaha T9.9's. Unlike the old engines the new ones have power tilt and trim, are lighter, quieter, more fuel efficient and use huge 11-3/4" props. We also replaced the controllers, tachs and start switches, as well as adding hour meters for maintenance purposes.

The other big project was replacement of the doghouse window. Anyone who has been on the boat can attest to how UV damaged it was, nearly impossible to see out it. We had a new window fabricated and Alan helped me install it. What a difference!! It actually makes the boat interior seem bigger.

Other projects included installation of custom made screens and privacy covers, new propane sensors, new batteries and battery monitor, holding tank level sensor (Pooh-Meter), fuel filters , new bottom paint and manual bilge pump. We also replaced the original 3" foam matress in mine and Lisa's cabin with a queen-size 10" Obus Forme memory foam mattress! Very nice!!



There are still a few more projects to do, the largest being the wave slap hull modification that is hopefully underway at this moment (right Dave??).

So things are coming together nicely.

Sounds as if we have the house rented, and much to Lisa's relief we don't have to move all our "stuff" out. We also have a home for Maceo, thanks brother Alan!

Lisa has all the info she needs from the kids teachers so with a little luck, patience and work both kids will return to school in 2010 a little smarter than they are right now.

Now as far as the "other" boat I mentioned, that one is Mark's home away from home, the Atlantic Osprey. I thought I had a nice picture of her, but I was

As most of you know, I am a Superintendent with Oceaneering, the largest ROV (remotely operated vehicle) company in the world. ROV's are those underwater robots that seem to be in the news and on Discovery Channel alot these days.

I am fortunate to work with the most talented, intelligent and good looking bunch of ROV guys in the WORLD!!!!

O.k, sorry, the good looking guys were off working on something else, so you get to look at a picture of this bunch!!

We operate out of St. John's , NL, doing underwater construction and maintenance work for Husky Energy out on the Grand banks. There is a total of 12 of us (1 Supt, 3 Supervisors and 8 Technicians) working 12-hr shifts, 28 days on then 28 days off .

Below is a short video of us recovering one of the ROV's (we have 2 onboard).

If you are curious about what we do, you can always go to www.oceaneering.com

That's all for now.

WONDER WASH!!!!!

O.k, I admit this isn't the most interesting entry, but I (please note, Lisa was an "unwilling" participant in the following pics) wanted to show you our most recent purchase for the trip.

It's called a "Wonder Wash" http://www.laundry-alternative.com/washing.htm

We thought we'd give this a try for those days when we just can't be bothered to jump in the dinghy and find a laundromat.

Our first try was two pairs of Mark's jeans. Following the instructions we added about 12 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of detergent.

An airtight lid gets screwed on the top. Supposedly this increases the air pressure inside (when using warm/hot water), which in turn helps force the detergent into the fabric.

You then crank the handle for a 2-minute wash cycle, attach the drain tube and drain off the dirty water.

We then ran through a "rinse cycle" with a bit more freshwater then removed the jeans to dry them.

Admittedly, not very exciting, but considering the highlight of our last post was our new "Pooh-Meter", things are looking up!

The Winter That Won't End!!!!

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!

It's cold again today. It was cold yesterday , and probably will be tomorrow as well.

Time to turn our thoughts to warmer things, right! Like getting our kiteboarding gear out of the damn furnace room!!!!!

Truth is , the forecast is looking better starting tomorrow, and not a minute too soon.

Our trip plans are slowly getting into gear. The time has passed in it's usual lightning speed, time to really give some thought to both the fun (boat) and mundane (house).

Here is a link to a speech Delaney gave to her Grade 3 Class about going away on the boat for a year. She is a little embarrassed about the way she ended it, so please feel free to leave a comment letting her know how good a job she did (thanks, The parents).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEhV9knMkL4

The spare room is slowly filling up with "boat stuff".

A few dollars spent at IKEA (storage solutions for the kid's cabins, galley stuff etc...) and don't forget the Boatshow back in January (Sham Wows!!!), new masks and snorkels, remote VHF mic, sailing gloves and Pooh-Meter!!

Yeh, I am really excited about the Pooh-Meter!!

Spend any amount of time on a boat (especially with 2 young kids) and you will gain an appreciation for efficient waste disposal.

"Engines, anchoring and head (bathroom)" are three of our main priorities. A close fourth is keeping the beer cold, but I'll save that one for a later post.

Last Fall I did a rebuild of our head. The toilet was removed, cleaned and serviced (yes, they require service). All of the hoses were replaced. The holding tank was removed, and you can never get "every last drop" out of a tank that is installed. It was emptied, scrubbed, flushed and disinfected (sorry, no pics). I also added a macerator pump so that when we are in areas where it's legal (Atlantic Ocean, parts of the Bahamas) we can directly discharge overboard rather than into the holding tank.

As you can see from the above pic, our raritan PH2 head suffered a knockdown in the basement. Thankfully I can buy just a new bowl, but it's costing us over $200!!! That's just for the bowl!

Anyway, back to the Pooh-Meter. We bought a really slick little unit that will tell us exactly how full the holding tank is. Kinda hard for someone to appreciate how nice this will be (actually a real luxury) until you have had to deal with an overflowing holding tank and not a Pump-out station within a day's sail!!

Other gobs of money being sunk into the boat this past week include:

- VHF radio and antennae

- laptop (Sorry Cheryl, it's a Dell!!)

-manual bilge pump

-digital battery monitor

-hand-operated washing machine (more on this when it arrives and we can try it out)

-replacement windshield

Future posts will give an update on all the other things we are doing to get the boat ready.

That's all for now.

Repeat after me, "Summer, Summer, Summer, SUMMERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

If that doesn't work, please check out the link below (check it out regardless). Mark's cousin Colin and his family have just moved to Oman, and it's stinkin' hot there!

http://www.travelpod.com/members/themitchells

Hasta luego,

Mark and the crew of "Charlotte-Ann".

1000 Islands 2008

Once again we returned to the 1000 Islands, but this time with our Gemini catamaran. We spent a total of 24 days on the boat, although the trip was divided into what seemed like two different trips.
For the first 5 days we were joined by Uncle Alan and Spencer. Instead of heading straight to the 1000 Islands , we went in the opposite direction towards Lake Ontario. We were headed for Sandbanks Provincial Park, Alan and I secretly hoping to get some kiteboarding sessions in as well.
Our first night out of Bath we stayed anchored off of Waupos Island. It was a little dark and grey, but we all had fun towing the kids behind the dinghy on Alan's Jimmy Lewis surfboard.

The next day we were off to Sandbanks. We anchored off the main beach and all went swimming.

Later that day we went through the (shallow) channel at Wellington, making our way to West Lake to an anchorage at the base of the sandbanks. The water is quite shallow throughout this area, not many sailboats get in. We love our Gemini!!!

Our days were spent swimming, wakeboarding and playing on the sand dunes. Nights were filled with board games and Jiffy Pop!!!! After five days it was time for Alan and Spencer to go home. We returned to Bath, then just the four of us made our way east to the 1000 Islands.

Our first stop was Beaurivage Island, the same place we stayed in 2005. After a few days of swimming and exploring with the dinghy, we made our way to Thwartway Island where we were to spend the next 13 days.

Once again our days were pretty laidback. We did alot of snorkeling and swimming, as well as teaching both kids to wakeboard behind the dinghy.

If you would like to watch a 4-minute video of this trip that contains clips and pics, please go to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN_Zze7xunc

Still haven't had enough??? Here's a link to more still pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23776466@N04/sets/72157610129599651/show/

Bringing "Charlotte-Ann" Home

So the deal was finalized in October of 2006. We were the proud owners of a 1996 Gemini 105M (hull #519).

We decided to name our new boat "Charlotte-Ann" as a thank-you to our mothers (Charlotte Biggar and Ann MacLean).

The following spring it was time to bring "Charlotte-Ann" home. She was lying in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, which meant we had about a 500 mile delivery trip ahead of us.

The first leg of the trip involved a days' travel past Sandy Hook up into New York Harbour. From there it was about 160 miles up the Hudson River to Castleton-on-the-Hudson. This is a small boat club on the Hudson that has a do-it -yourself mast crane (you need to take the mast down in order to transit the Erie Canal. For this trip I secured the help of Jorge and Julio (brother Alan and brother-in-law Jim). The guys somehow arrived in New Jersey under the impression that this was going to be a pleasure cruise?!?! Within 30 minutes of arriving they had brushes in hand and were hard at it applying a coat of bottom paint.

For the next 4 days we had a great trip, with alot of laughs, working our way up the river.

We had a couple of amazing nights anchored along the Hudson (only possible due to our shallow draft), a fun night at a latin nightclub in New Jersey, and a near collison with a downbound freighter (Uhhh Mark, is that coming our way???).










Here is proof of just how hard the guys had it during the trip!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23776466@N04/3060045485/

Once we got to Castleton-on the-Hudson, poor Jim thought he had died and went to heaven when the barkeeper told him large cups of Coors Lite were only $1.50!!!! I had visions of him calling Karen.

"Honey, I just found the perfect spot for a summer vacation!! Waterfront, close to shopping, nice weather and cheap beer!!!!"

One last bit of work out of the guys, get the mast back up, then wait for Lisa and the kids to arrive.

With Jim and Alan now on their way home with our car, it was time for Lisa and the kids to join the boat as we started our transit across New York State to Lake Erie and eventually home to Port Colborne.

See the link for the Erie Canal. http://www.nyscanals.gov/

We spent about 8 days travelling through the canal which includes 34 locks and quite a few bridges. Some days were longer than others, but we also took time out for stops, including 2 days at Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake.

Keeping the kids busy can sometimes be a chore , thankfully there are usually enough things on the go to keep them occupied. One of the things we regularly do are knot tying lessons (along with other boat responsibilities for the kids). This link will take you to a lesson given by Delaney on tying a bowline knot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx2KPCQ_dmg

After completing our run on the canal, we arrived in Lackawana, New York. Here we had to put the mast back up, and the following is some video of Mitchell having fun (and worrying Lisa to death!!). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF_zzrYN2Ao

For more pics of the delivery trip please go to the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23776466@N04/sets/72157609643772706/show/

BUYING OUR CATAMARAN OR "WE CAN AFFORD IT, RIGHT LISA !?!?"!

So we always knew that Delmitch was our "transition" boat, a stopover on the way to purchasing our next cruising boat.

Even before we bought Delmitch in 2003, I was busy trying to decide on what our next boat would be.

When I had access to the internet, the majority of my time was spent surfing the internet version of a boating porn site, otherwise known as http://www.yachtworld.com/ . If you are looking for a boat, sail or power, $2000 - $20,000,000 , this is the site you want to look at.

When I first started "looking" at boats, the Canadian dollar was around $0.65 to the US dollar. There are a limited number of crusing boats available in Canada/Ontario, and they usually go for a premium, so I was looking mostly at boats in the States, typically Florida and Maryland, the two largest markets for used boats. In reality, with the exchange rate what it was, our chances of being able to afford a boat were pretty slim, but that wasn't enough to deter me!!!

"Look at this one Lisa!".

"Now this is a beauty ,dontcha think Lisa ??".

"I think we'll end up with a Morgan Classic ".

"I think we'll end up with a CSY44".

"I think we'll end up with a Beneteau 38".

Everytime I came home from work poor Lisa was dragged down to the basement so I could show her the "boat I have decided we will go with".

Sorry Lisa!!

Anyway, after about 2 years of this I read about a 34' catamaran called a Gemini105. Hmm, never really considered a catamaran before??

The more I read and researched, the more I liked.

-34' long (not bad when you consider docking is paid by the lineal foot)

-14' beam (not excessive, so shouldn't be an issue with regards to docking or hauling)

- 18" draft with boards up (shoal draft, something we came to appreciate with the Macgregor)

- 2 double aft cabins plus a queen master cabin (kids get their own cabins, I WANT THIS BOAT!!!!).

Unfortunately, at the time and based on the exchange rate (very rare to find a Gemini in Canada), the cheapest Geminis I could find ran between $110,000USD-$130,000USD.

Wayyyy too much for our budget!!

So I kept researching Geminis, going on the Forums, Googling and trying to learn as much as I could about them. After much more research, a strange calm came over me (and oddly enough over Lisa as well). I (we) had found the boat I (we) wanted!! I had finally narrowed my search, found a boat that fit our needs exactly and could stop dragging Lisa down to the basement.

The only think left was to actually get aboard one, and we were fortunate to get a tour of a 1998 Gemini while we were anchored in the North Channel.

Of course we still couldn't afford one, but hopefully that would change soon.

Then the USD started to tank against the Canadian dollar!!!

The search was on, but of course now not only had I decided I wanted a Gemini, I wanted one with outboard engines.

A brief summary on the Gemini105M.

- Performance Crusing Inc (http://www.performancecruising.com/) build only 2 models of boats.

- In 1996 they started production of the gemini 105M, an updated version of the Gemini 3400 (which was based on the 3100 and before that the 3000)

- From 1996 to 1998 twin outboards or a single outboard were options, in addition to a diesel with out drive leg.

The biggest complaint I have heard about the Geminis is the Sillette out drive leg (the Westerbeke engine is fine). I decided I wanted the simplicity (and redundency) of twin outboard engines, so that's what I was looking for.

One night while searching on Yachtworld, I came across a 1996 105M for sale in New Jersey (closer than Florida, easy to get back to Ontario), and she was equipped with twin Evinrude outboards!!!!

Under the guise of getting away from the kids for a weekend, I convinced Lisa to take a drive to New Jersey with me. We made arrangements with the broker and went to have a look.

"Indulgent Wife" (yes, we changed the name!!!) had been little used, but also somewhat neglected for a couple of years. She was pretty basic as far as gear was concerned, and the asking price reflected this fact (sort of, they were still asking too much).

After a bit of back and forth we settled on a price. We knew we would want to replace the engines before heading south, but felt that we basically had a solid boat that admittedly needed a few upgrades and came away satisfied with the deal.

1000 Islands 2005 & The North Channel 2006

The first extended trip the kids did on Delmitch was 14 days in the 1000 Islands. For those of you not familiar with the area, the 1000 Islands area is located just east of Kingston, Ontario. The islands are actually on the St. Lawrence River.

http://www.visit1000islands.com/

The trip started with us trailering Delmitch to a marina in Bath , just west of Kingston.

Dave and Michelle Hinton, friends of our's from our liveaboard days in Stoney Creek own Loyalist Cove Marina . http://www.loyalistcovemarina.com/

We launched the boat from LCM and motored our way to the start of our vacation.

Apart from sailing, we spent our days swimming , exploring different islands and basically just enjoying the warm, clean water and great scenery.

If you go to the attached link you will find a slideshow of pics from that trip :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23776466@N04/sets/72157609631952759/show/

During this trip we managed to hook-up with some more sailing friends, Terry, Joy and Olivia Webster on board their CS36 Merlin "Ambassador". This was Terry's introduction to staying "on the hook", and by all accounts he loved it (Terry is a very experienced racer, we're getting him used to the slower, cruising side of sailboats!).

The following summer, 2006, we once again headed off for a family sailing adventure on Delmitch. This time we were off to the North Channel on Lake Huron. This involved a drive up the Bruce Penninsula (with a stop at a fishing camp in Wiarton now owned by our old cruising friends Terry, Kim and Bryn) to Tobermory. We then boarded the ferry "Chi-Chemaun" for the trip to Manitoulin Island. Once on the island we drove to a small town called Kagawan where we launched "Delmitch" and began a 15 -day trip.

Below you will find links to a photo slideshow .http://www.flickr.com/photos/23776466@N04/sets/72157609654327658/show/

Video of Mitchell after picking some blueberries on South Benjamin Island. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5T4gmyEn-o