Finally in the water

After 2 months of project work with the boat out of the water, we were finally able to launch Wild Horses…almost 10 days ago.  Why the delay in writing about it?  Well, it has been, without a doubt, the busiest of times for us.  Ontario’s latest lockdown had pushed all of our major events into the same week.  The closing date of my parents’ house + boat launch + the permanent move onto the boat = long days and lots of driving between Trenton (where the house is) and Bath (where the boat is) and lots of packing and unpacking.
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Here are the highlights of our past few weeks of chaos…

• The final emptying of my parents’ house.  Many days of packing and organizing.
• Moving onto the boat.  Every trip to the boat was a car load, half of which was project material and the other half was our stuff (kitchen, towels, bedding…you get it)
• Installing the new solar panels at the stern of the boat.  About 5 metres in the air, balanced on ladders, reaching to place, drill, and secure each panel.

On her tippy toes and at the top of a ladder, Victoria is installing the second of five new solar panels.

Mike drilling the screw holes in the solar panels. It was definitely a custom install!

• Building a new sub floor for the mini lazarette in our swim platform.  This was time consuming but gave us a dry locker (precious storage!) and a chance to use expanding foam and fibreglass for the first time.  

• Repairing a crack in the fibreglass under our anchor windlass.  This little preventative maintenance took some time as Mike had to Dremel out the fibreglass, let the wood core completely dry and then make the area strong and sturdy with epoxy and fibreglass.

The crack in our anchor locker, drilled out and ready for epoxy.

Mike hard at work in the anchor locker.

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• Installing the new lithium batteries and alternator.  This was a roller coaster journey between “uh oh, this isn’t good” and “holy toledo, it works” 

Our new lithium batteries getting loaded up to the stern of our boat. Each weighs 130 lbs - a little much for walking up a ladder by hand!

The batteries sitting in the salon, waiting for installation.

• Many, many other projects too numerous to mention

​Oh, and launch.  This went smooth as silk.  The yard crew at Loyalist Cove are amazing and easily hoisted Wild Horses out of her steel cradle and into the water.  Mike did a quick check for leaks (there were none) and then we were off to a temporary slip at Loyalist Cove for a few days.  While our original plan was to launch Wild Horses and then leave immediately for our permanent slip at Trident Yacht Club, we had to scrap that plan due to the Ontario lockdown.  Trident Yacht Club wasn’t going to have our docks in place until after the closing date of my parents’ house.  Four days of homelessness?  Loyalist Cove to the rescue.  They were fabulous about letting us stay (free of charge) at one of their few slips that can accommodate our size of boat.  Now it is lots of unpacking, organizing and ruthless downsizing as we try to fit our land life back into boat life.  We are now living on the boat for the foreseeable future!

Wild Horses in the morning, docked at Loyalist Cove