Goodbye Wiarton, our home for the last 16 weeks

Sunday 7^th July 2019

We finally cast off the lines and set sail to start our voyage taking the scenic route, the  long way home.

It had been a bit of a whirlwind in the last few days getting the solar panels up on the back of the boat, getting them wired in, provisioning and saying our goodbyes.

When we returned from our 11- day shakedown sail we were expecting the frame for the solar panels to be ready to fit and wire up.

But the arch that had been made for us was a disaster, it had been constructed out of 316 grade stainless steel which was what we wanted - but it was unpolished….. we couldn’t believe it, it was as rough as and not only had the guy used the wrong steel, he had changed the design it was completely different to the design drawing Craig had supplied him, and his workmanship was very rough, totally unacceptable.  FYI unpolished stainless steel is not rust resistant, polished is.  On the lakes they can get away with using the lower grades and unpolished but as soon as you get into saltwater it’s a different story.  Even if the frame had been perfect it was no good in the wrong grade of stainless steel.  We were devastated, Craig went into meltdown for a few hours.

The wiring for the solar panels was always going to be done by Craig so he sat down with pen and paper to see if he could fashion something himself and attach it to the existing frame that holds the davits (where we store the dingy).  

We walked up to a workshop we had passed every day on our way from Todd and Heathers to the Marina ”Grey Bruce Upholstery” where they manufacture and repair marine canvas and upholstery. We walked in and met Peppy, Craig explained what he wanted to do and Peppy said “I can help you” – and he did.  Peppy opened drawers and cupboards and showed Craig what he had available and what he could order in and what he had in his second hand box too. Craig hatched a plan and ordered in the parts.

Meet Peppy

We sourced the steel poles from Grey Bruce Upholstery, the four corners were ordered in through the Marina shop, Craig had to cut the poles to size.  

 

At the same time we started talking to Matt and Julia on their boat Sea Jay, a young couple who had recently resigned from their jobs, sold their house packed everything up and moved what was left into storage at  Matts parents’ house they are planning to take at least a year and sail to the Bahamas.  Matt was in IT so Craig was picking his brains with our AIS and connection problems, as it turns out Matt is also a bit of an electronics wizz so he was able to help Craig get it clear in his head what he had to do with the solar panels. He gave some great suggestions on securing the panels, the wiring and the connection of the panels to our internal batteries.  

Julia was really sweet and invited me to go with her in the car to Owen Sound to do some shopping.  On the way I picked her brains with questions on travel sickness medications and we discussed storage solutions, their boat is 30 foot so everything has to have a place and there is no room for anything you don’t need.  I showed her the wholesalers that we had previously shopped at with Todd.  We went to the LCBO The Liquor Canada Booze Outlet, in Canada there are no independent bottle shops only Government Controlled Liquor Outlets, its interesting they do carry Australian wine but mostly the cheaper brands like YellowTail,  Lindemans and Wolf Blass and they are more expensive than home, but what they do have are cheap Chilean, French and South African selections.  There are some lovely Canadian wines around the $10-$15 range too.  Canadians are into their craft beer just like in Australia.

 

Craig has in his hand a slab of UHMW plastic (Ultra High Molecular) a super high strength plastic.  it’s an offcut  that Matt had had picked up for his own use but was happy to give Craig more than half for our project.  It was cut to size and helped to raise the Solar panel frame up off the existing frame.

Craig's makeshift workshop

The solar panels are running 3 together linked up separately on each side we had to drill a hole on each side of the hull to get the cords inside, No One Likes Drilling Holes in their Hull !!

Craig had to spend a couple of days standing in the back lockers, we have one on each side at the very back of the boat next to the swim ladder. He had to climb in and out and twist himself around to reach the wiring, in the middle of this Sue (Bill and Sue) stopped by with a knee brace for Craig, Craig’s knee had been hurting and Sue has the same knee issues as Craig and she had used this type of brace, the brace has lateral support with a metal swivel and this helps keeps the knee in the correct position he had been suffering since installing the watermaker after climbing into small spaces and having to twist his body trying to get things into place and tightening the nuts and bolts. The brace worked a treat I will just have to make sure Craig wears it.  

In the process of putting the frame together we met Jay from the motorboat next door to us on the dock, he started chatting to Craig, we hadn’t really met him and Corrie other than to say hello. Turns out they have the same dream and were so intrigued by us and what we are doing they would love to sail away too with their 3 children the youngest being 6yrs.  Jay was full of questions and spent a lot of his time with Craig in the last few days we were in Wiarton.

Jay was amazing he organised for 3 of his staff to come down to the Marina to help us lift the frame with the solar panels attached onto the back of the boat. We would never have been able to do it so smoothly without their help. 2 of the guys are Mexican employed by Jay on his tree growing nursery in Sauble Beach.

We had to keep the cardboard over the solar panels so that they were not collecting charge while we were working on them.

Jay and Corrie were there to wave us off at the dock and he used his jet ski following us out down Colpoys bay and took some great photos.

I just need to say again how nice Canadians are, we had so many visitors on our last few days all bearing gifts and good wishes. Doug and Midge with a hand made timber sign wishing us good sailing.  Bruce and Patti with wine and a beautiful 100% linen tea towel with the red Canadian emblem, Bruce also handed down 2 of his ski fleecies one for each of us, a green one for Craig and a red one for me and they both fit perfectly. 

Jay and Corrie what can I say, tea towels, oven mitts, a bottle of tequila and Aloe Vera plant and even a planter full of herbs off their own boat, we couldn’t actually take the herb planter as it’s a pottery one and a bit dangerous on a yacht I would have loved the fresh herbs.

Peppy called in a number of times to see how we were going and to supervise, with Jays help.

He gifted me a book from his childhood called "Paddle to the Sea" a story written and illustrated in 1941 by Holling Clancy Holling, it is a Canadian classic it tells the story of the journey of a handcrafted canoe (made by an Indian child) that went from lake to lake and out to the sea.  He said the book was a favourite of his as a child and he could never throw it out but it seemed like an appropriate gift and he wanted me to have it.

It took a few days for me to realise that I did not have to replicate with my own gift these gorgeous people wanted nothing in return just for us to travel safely taking a part of them with us.

I also have to mention all the friendly people we met at the Marina, here we are having a Canada Day drink with just a few  of the lovely people we met. 

Todd and Heather were AMAZING I cant believe we lived with them for so long and we are still really good friends, they had a night around the fire pit for us to say Bon Voyage to all the lovely people we had met through them, they lent us their car again to do one last grocery shop and to buy beer.  Thank goodness I did struggle carrying the last box of bottles back to the boat it was a buy two deal so we were carrying a box each.  Then on the last morning they dropped off a Care Package… Craig is in fudge heaven and I have used my mug everyday.

 

 I’m sure we will meet again in some exotic location.

One more thing I want to say after our stay in Wiarton Ontatio Canada -  It is awe inspiring the change from winter to spring

And when the tulips are finished flowering the Poppies open up

Poppies on steroids