Avatarnotthemovie

Saturday, August 4, 2012

On the road again...

Fri, Aug 3: Picked up our mast braces from Community Sailing Center, kissed the boy goodbye, and headed north for Rouses Point. Gaines Marina says they can unstep the mast tomorrow. Nice following wind, but we motor sailed with the main to give the engine a workout. It performed beautifully. This will be my last reference to the engine as I don't want to jinx it. Arrived 4 PM and figured we better get started. Removed the sails and headed into town for dinner. Unfortunately, Rouses Point can't seem to support a real sit down restaurant. Ended up having sandwiches and salad at the local deli, which were surprisingly very good.

Another boating season, another engine theory...

Thur, Aug 2: Mechanic showed about 10:30. Very nice guy. I showed him the Tartan fix and he zeroed in on the diesel vent line. He found two low spots in the line and said he wanted to route the hose lower than Tartan's suggested route. When he disconnected the line, two cups of diesel flowed out of it. "That could be a real issue." He rerouted the vent line, checked the rest of the system and discovered the smaller fuel line from the tank to the engine. "Hmm.... I think this line might be part of the problem too." After checking the Volvo spec it was indeed smaller than spec minimum diameter. So....he undid the fix the guy at Toronto did last year.
Gassed up before we left. All day long there had been a lineup at this gas dock reminiscent of Gordon's at Gan. When we pulled up we saw why. Non ethanol gas and offroad diesel for $3.67 a gallon. Filled her up and motored back to Burlington without as much as a hiccup, but we all know what evil lurks..
Had one last dinner with Colin at the Farm House Restaurant. Excellent food all from local farms.

We're off to see the wizard....

Wed, Aug 1: Headed to Point Bay Marina. Nice place except a little exposed to South winds. "Mechanic will be there sometime after 8 tomorrow morning.
Around cocktail hour some folks strolled by and stopped to chat. "Just getting our boat fix." Turns out they live in Tuscon half the year and have a catamaran in the Carribean they live on the other half. It started to rain so we invited them on board and we ended up having cocktails and apps with them. They gave us their card (I guess I need to break down and have some made) and said to let them know if we're ever thinking of visiting the Carib again.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Vermontreal (part deux)

So another French guy pulls up in his dinghy. He says, " Do you know that your boat name in French means.."She said no?" At which point Grace pops her head into the cockpit. "Mon Dieu! I did not expect to see a female on board!"

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Vermontreal (Colin's term)

Like we experience the invasion of the French Navy's motorized division in the islands, the wind driven group shows up here. It is absolutely astounding to sit here and watch the unending parade of Bennetaus with an occasional Janneau thrown in.
Some things are universal. A couple of nights ago. we were in a very close moorage. The French sailboat beside us had his mast down which made him even more of a hazard. In the middle of the night Grace awoke to find his mast antenna sticking into our cockpit. After several attempts to shove him away he finally woke up. The subsequent conversation went something like this:

French Guy: "Allo?"

Grace: "We are very.close together."

French Guy: "Yes, ze moorings are very tight."

Grace: "There's no wind, so we are all in different directions."

French Guy: "Yes, we need some wind."

At which point he disappeared below and promptly went back to sleep.

Trouble in Paradise

Tues 7/31: We were going to be on our way north by now. but Avatar's engine gremlin has returned. On the way to Valcour it shut down and we couldn't. get it started for 30 minutes.
We took it to the local Tartan dealer yesterday. He said it looked like we had done Tartan's suggested fuel tank vent line reroute correctly.
Because of the low water levels the local repair shops are swamped replacing props and stern drives. We found a Volvo Penta guy 10 miles south of here, but he can't look at it until Thursday. Not necessarily a totally bad thing as it blew a steady 15-20 k last night, and neither of us slept very well.