(Almost) Launch Preparations

As of this past weekend (May 1), we are finally able to go back to the boat to begin work on getting ready to launch.  

Ontario’s latest restrictions to tame the 3rd wave of Covid were announced mid-April and both Loyalist Cove Marina (where Wild Horses is stored) and Trident Yacht Club (where our summer dock sits) sent out advisories that they were closed to the public and to members.  That meant absolutely no on-the-boat work could be done.  We didn’t sit on our laurels though!  During the last two weeks we have been finishing off a few administrative tasks needed for international travel by boat.

• Extended our boat insurance for sailing as far south as 9° N latitude.  That includes Grenada (at 12° N) where we will be spending the 2022 hurricane season.

• Put together our customs document kit for international travel, including Ocean’s pet passport.  This is really just a paperwork extravaganza.  Crew lists, registrations, ownerships, licenses, hurricane plans, proof of vaccinations, and insurance, insurance, insurance.  Lots of insurance.  Applications for cruising permits and pet import permits will also need to be done once we are closer to our departure date.

• Ordered the new alternator and regulator for our engine.  Because we are moving to lithium batteries, we have to add a regulator to the alternator to prevent the alternator from over heating.  Also, to complement the new regulator, we decided to give our engine charging system a bit of a boost by replacing our 2002 50-amp alternator with a 2021 100-amp alternator.  If we have to run our engine, we might as well give our batteries a good charge!

Our Westerbeke engine with its current 2002 alternator in the top left of the picture

• Oh yeah, our new bow thruster propeller arrived by US postal service.  As you can expect, this little to-do item comes with a back story.  Last Spring, we removed our two bow thruster propellers in order to give them (and their housing) a proper cleaning and to add some necessary anti-fouling paint.  It all went great…..or so we thought.  Hauling out the boat last Fall, we were suddenly minus one propeller.  Huh?  Not sure when or where the prop was lost but what we are sure about is that it was likely a failure with the locking screw we reinstalled (yes, only one screw holds the prop in place!).  Sigh, another unplanned gift to Lake Ontario.  Thankfully, Wild Horses functioned great with only one prop in place in the conditions we were in last summer.  But we still wanted our second prop.  Finding the one that would fit Wild Horses was a bit of a challenge but we found a great prop store in the US that ships to Canada and ta-daaa!  It arrived yesterday.  

Looking at our one remaining propeller in our bow thruster housing

Our new replacement propeller, freshly delivered and ready to be installed

The good news this past week has been the clarification from the Ontario government that boat owners can go to their boats to complete any maintenance or launch prep work.  This is being done with lots of restrictions to keep us all safe, including allowing access to the yard by appointment only in order to limit the number of people.
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Since we are now able to go to the boat and do some launch prep, we are switching from administrative and research mode to “let’s get some stuff done” mode.  The next week looks like it will be sunny and warm which means we can really dive into our above-deck launch prep work.  Besides waxing and applying anti-fouling, we have a few things to install including the new PlasDECK inserts (read: fake wood) for the swim platform.  Lots to do but thrilled to be back at the boat and making progress!

Taking the winter cover off Wild Horses

Ah, some of us can't wait for swimming season to start!