Sunday 2nd September 2012 - report from Gibsons over Labour Day weekend...
Photos of the seal mother and pup on rocks near to 'Nereida' at the dock in Canoe Cove..
and also a photo showing why the genoa tracks had to be lifted and re-bedded - leaks galore showing on inside of coachroof....!
Went walking and blackberry picking around friends' place here on Sunday - beautiful sunny weather continues - lovely!
Thinking work would be more advanced than it's turned out to be, I'd decided to take a couple of days off from boatwork to see friends on the mainland - ferry from Schwartz Bay (close to Canoe Cove) across Strait of Georgia to Tsawwassen, then bus into Vancouver, with changeover at old Hotel Vancouver (impressive foyer and restaurant/lounge areas) to get final bus over to N. Vancouver across the high First Narrows bridge towards the second ferry of the day over to Gibsons from Horseshoe Bay - lovely views over the water with lots of islands nearby and mountains in the distance.
On the way through N. Vancouver, caught up with John Curry of Hydrovane, to discuss installation on 'Nereida', and had coffee with friends both there and, later, at Horseshoe Bay - good to catch up with people I've not seen for 3-4 years!
Before leaving Canoe Cove, Lance (of Trotac) came by with a plankton filter and holder and a newly-serviced watermaker motor - now working fine, although the pump that had been with it was badly corroded by seawater .... so I've a new one now in my spares, to go with the motor. The watermaker has two pumps, optionally with one or both working in line, so with one new motor and pump, new hoses in place and fresh filters, it should be good. Lance gave me a lift to the ferry terminal and picked up sails to take to 'Carlotta' - a boat taking part in the Victoria Classic Boat Festival this weekend and headed to Pt Townsend on Tuesday, so delivering the sails to the Hasse loft for repair.
The liferaft was taken in to Victoria by Glenn and delivered to the freight office for transport to a service centre in Richmond, Surrey (in B.C., not England!)
Work on deck is virtually complete - the poles are both better and working well - hoisting the large one, in particular, will be a great deal easier than it has been up to now. The gas locker's propane tank stowage is waiting to be finished but that has been looked at in detail so shouldn't take much longer to do and then the lids need a water-tight seal around their underside.
Down below, there's still a lot more to be done than I'd expected by this point in time - watermaker, new batteries & battery box positioning are all waiting to be finished with, along with leaking chain plates and windlass to be re-caulked.
Once all that work is completed there are plenty of other, smaller jobs needing to be done - including tidying up so I can decide where/how to stow certain items. Provisioning needs quite a bit of thought still and other jobs are sure to turn up.
I'm giving a talk at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival on Friday and Saturday (7/8th Sept) and then flying to the UK the following week to see family and for the Southampton Boat Show - hoping also to get some items repaired while there and other items bought to bring back out to 'Nereida' that can't be sourced here.