First, putting Cat Tales to bed. Some might wonder about the hole we found in the boat that would not stop weeping salt water. The crack went through over 5 mm of hard fibreglass, and allowed the salt to permeate a large area of the PVC foam on the inside. I cut a 30 mm x 30 mm square of the outside skin and removed it to expose the foam. We attempted to vacuum the water out of it, and indeed got about 200 ml of water out. I drilled holes around this square, and found no water, which doesn’t mean there was none. Water would come, so the path could easily have been missed.
I got a lot of advice from passers-by, as we were in a high traffic area of the yard; and indeed, I was happy for it. The solution we chose, was not provided, however. Because of the high humidity and constant rain, we decided to repair the patch on the outside, and drilled holes on the inside of the repair, exposing the foam to the air conditioned side of the hull. We’re pleased with ourselves. In November, we’ll patch the internal holes and think no more about it.
The rest of the decommissioning of Cat Tales went smoothly though was still lots of hard work, and we boarded the plane with only one oversight. Dawn left some French cheeses in the closed refrigerator, cheeses she intended to smuggle back to Canada. A few notes back to friends in the yard fixed that, and the door was left open and the friends were richer for the cheese.
Over the last ten nights, we slept in 8 different beds, which tells our story:
1. Cat Tales;
2. Lorna and Brian’s spare room, London suburbs;
3. Valerie’s spare room, close to downtown London;
4. The v-berth of a 25’ C&C sailboat at the Kettle Creek Marina, Port Stanley, Lake Erie;
5. A Port Stanley cottage belonging to our friends Linda and Garry Graham, of the sailing vessel July Indian;
6. Spare room of Mississauga Maritime Net controller Don Demeza (and wife June) in Belleville, Ontario;
7. Econolodge Hotel, east of Quebec City
8. Home at Grand Lake.
Besides mentioning the accommodations, we had great times with these people, Dawn’s niece Kendra and her husband Steve, Brian’s mother Shirley, the friends at the Kettle Creek Marina, the sailors of the Port Stanley Power and Sail Squadron, and others. We also got hosted for lunch in Montreal by Ham Radio friend Marty Hornstein and his wife Pesel. It was really great to visit with both Don and Marty, and talk about the Mississauga Maritime Net and the characters we share it with.
Don Demeza in his Ham Radio shack in the basement in Belleville. Laurie has spoken with him for the past 7 years and finally got to meet him!
Here are Don, June and their borrowed dog Merlin from their neighbors house. They get all the benefits of a pet without owning it! Great visit and accommodations!
Here are Marty and his lovely wife, Pesel in Montreal. Just like the situation with Don, Laurie has enjoyed talking to Marty on the Ham Radio for the past 7 years. They took us to lunch and we were able to chat in person. It's great to be able to finally put faces to these voices we hear every morning at 8:30! While we were in the French islands, Laurie often asked Marty to help him with certain words or phrases he needed to get by.
We had two little stops for tourism as well: Under advice from Don Demeza, we stopped in Trenton and toured the Air Force Museum. Thoughts went to my father and how much I would have enjoyed touring this amazing place with him. We also were able to copy pages out of a most complete book of WW2 Air Force fatalities; and walked away with information on my uncle Charles Douglas who died in Burma, and my uncle Kenneth Corbett who died on a training mission in Canada.
Here are some pictures of our side trip.
The second stop was of the falls and gorge at Grand Falls. Although all the falls we hike to in the Caribbean are wonderful sights, these falls are really something – and to think that was the first time I had bothered to see these, less than 3 hours from my home!
So, now here we are at home, with its rainy, cold weather, shoes and socks, household chores, dry skin, piles of mail with bills and tax information, necessary highways, dental and medical appointments. Still, we are already enjoying the break from boat chores and salt, friends and relatives we were missing, television (until we can’t stand the commercials), showers and flush toilets, being able to take 12 steps without falling into the sea, cool nights that allow blankets and cuddling, the tremendous selections in grocery stores, and watching the gentler seasons arrive and roll by.
The cottage is in fine shape, and didn’t seem to need much dusting, and we’re putting into priority the chores to enjoy the next 6 months.
Thanks for spending your time on our winter blog, and we’ll start up again soon, or at least by November.
