scubaman
Well-Known Member
To maintain some geographical balance on the cruise reports, I thought I’d post a few pics from our first proper boat trip of the season.
First off, the boat was relaunched just after mid April when the ice from the lakes melted. I had carried out all external work (antifoul, polishing) in the shed during the spring, but I spent the weekend following the launch servicing the engines and cleaning up the interior to make the boat ready for the family.
Following weekend was spent afloat but stationary in the marina, as the weather was rubbish, and I still had a few items on the to-do list.
Pictures here are from our third weekend on the boat, when we did our first proper trip out and decided to visit the local yacht clubs base on a nearby island.
It being very early into the season, there was only one other boat as we entered the marina.
The base is at a very well sheltered bay and the facilities consist of two saunas and the main ‘club house’ which has a lot of character and was brought into the island some time back in the 50’s.
Our fellow boaters left the following morning so we had the place to ourselves for a while.
Weather was improving so we had a long stroll in the forest, after which sauna was well deserved. Spring is a lovely time of the year anywhere, but the long winter really makes one appreciate the return of life into the forests and lakes.
View from the steps of the sauna. Water was freezing.
Later in the day we were joined by two other boats but it still wasn’t too busy
.
We also had some nautical traditions to follow. As I mentioned on an another thread, I had a small accident earlier while removing the macerator pump. I had left the seacock open as it didn’t occur to me that the pump was below the waterline. Re-attaching the gushing hose back into the pump took slightly longer than was neccessary, so there was a bit of a mess to take care of. During the clean-up -operation I discovered a British coin in the bilges and thought it was probably put there during construction for good luck. To make things worse, I put it into the bucket for later cleaning but managed to loose it somewhere along the way.
Fortunately, I had a five pence coin back at home and thought it would be prudent to try to make things right again, so my daughter got do to the honours of putting the new coin back into the now fresh bilges. Maybe the coin was originally just lost there unintentionally when the holding tank was retrofitted, but I hope Poseidon et al are satisfied all the same
.
Overall, a nice weekend albeit a bit cold still. Looking forward to more. Thanks.
First off, the boat was relaunched just after mid April when the ice from the lakes melted. I had carried out all external work (antifoul, polishing) in the shed during the spring, but I spent the weekend following the launch servicing the engines and cleaning up the interior to make the boat ready for the family.
Following weekend was spent afloat but stationary in the marina, as the weather was rubbish, and I still had a few items on the to-do list.
Pictures here are from our third weekend on the boat, when we did our first proper trip out and decided to visit the local yacht clubs base on a nearby island.
It being very early into the season, there was only one other boat as we entered the marina.
The base is at a very well sheltered bay and the facilities consist of two saunas and the main ‘club house’ which has a lot of character and was brought into the island some time back in the 50’s.
Our fellow boaters left the following morning so we had the place to ourselves for a while.
Weather was improving so we had a long stroll in the forest, after which sauna was well deserved. Spring is a lovely time of the year anywhere, but the long winter really makes one appreciate the return of life into the forests and lakes.
View from the steps of the sauna. Water was freezing.
Later in the day we were joined by two other boats but it still wasn’t too busy
We also had some nautical traditions to follow. As I mentioned on an another thread, I had a small accident earlier while removing the macerator pump. I had left the seacock open as it didn’t occur to me that the pump was below the waterline. Re-attaching the gushing hose back into the pump took slightly longer than was neccessary, so there was a bit of a mess to take care of. During the clean-up -operation I discovered a British coin in the bilges and thought it was probably put there during construction for good luck. To make things worse, I put it into the bucket for later cleaning but managed to loose it somewhere along the way.
Fortunately, I had a five pence coin back at home and thought it would be prudent to try to make things right again, so my daughter got do to the honours of putting the new coin back into the now fresh bilges. Maybe the coin was originally just lost there unintentionally when the holding tank was retrofitted, but I hope Poseidon et al are satisfied all the same
Overall, a nice weekend albeit a bit cold still. Looking forward to more. Thanks.
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