Author Archives: Wally

Sunday September 3 and Monday September 4

Our adventure in France has finally begun!

Hotel Audran, Paris – 48°53′6″ N 2°20′10″ E

For several years Catherine & I had talked about doing some road traveling & canal cruising in France but the pandemic had forced us into a long delay.

With Covid-19 finally in the rear view mirror we started making plans last fall. Early in December we shared our thoughts with our longtime friends Bruce & Barb from Winnipeg & asked them if they would like to join us for a wee cruise. They had spent time with us on Santosha on the Rideau Canal so they were “on board” right away to join us in France & we started the process of transitioning from an idea to a solid plan.

After considering a lot of cruising options we finally settled on a 1-week self driving charter boat cruise on a portion of the Canal du Midi – beginning in Argens (near Carcassonne) & ending in Lattes (near Montpellier). Our adventure would begin with a meetup with Bruce & Barb in Paris.

On September 3 we departed from London airport on an Air Canada flight to Toronto & then connected with a direct flight to Paris. We were a bit concerned about making our connection but we had a 3 hour layover in Toronto so what could go wrong?.

Our flight from London departed on time & we found our next departure gate in Toronto with plenty of time to spare. With less than an hour to go before boarding time Air Canada announced that there would be a short delay while some unscheduled maintenance was done to the plane. A forty-five minute delay extended another 90 minutes and then was extended for another 90 minutes. Then, after finally boarding the plane we were delayed another 90 minutes while Air Canada sorted out a luggage problem! This was not a good start to our adventure but at least we didn’t miss our plane!

We finally arrived in Paris on Monday afternoon local time – almost 6 hours later than our original plan. We had no energy left so we went to our hotel in the Mont Martre area of Paris & tried to sleep off our jet lag. Tomorrow we meet up with Bruce & Barb & do some exploring in Mont Martre.

Another Adventure Is Coming Soon

Ahoy!

It’s been a long time since my last blog post about a travel adventure. Covid-19 has kept Catherine & I on a short leash for the past few years but we can’t complain because we have stayed healthy throughout the pandemic.

The wait is almost over. Soon we will be embarking on a new adventure and there will even be a boat involved!

Watch for more blog posts coming early in September.

Au revoir mes amis! (destination hint😊)

A New Boating Chapter

Well, it’s hard to believe, but another boat has found its way into my life! What a surprise, eh!
A little over a month ago my nephew Scott contacted me and asked for some advice about buying a small sailboat. I was more than happy to oblige.
This past summer Scott, his wife Janice and three of their boys enrolled in sailing school in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. They enjoyed it so much that they decided to buy a small boat that would suit their family for day sailing and maybe even an overnight trip or two.
Scott and I both searched the internet for potential boats. Many were considered, but as it turned out the “best” one turned out to be one of the first ones he looked at and it was located right in St. Andrews!
“Enhydra” is a 26 foot Westerly Centaur ketch rig with bilge keels. She was built in 1978. This is a very popular style boat in the UK as a lot of folks there are coastal sailors. The bilge keel design allows the boat to be moored in areas with a large tidal range and it sits upright after the tidewaters recede.

The boat in this photo is not Enhydra – but it shows a good view of the Westerly Centaur twin bilge keel configuration – no jackstands or cradles required 🙂

Enhydra was an important part of the previous owner’s life for 35 years. Scott and I were fortunate enough to get out for a sail with him last week. It was a beautiful day to be out on Passamaquoddy Bay with just enough wind to allow Enhydra to show us what she could do. That was all the convincing we needed!

There were almost 2,500 Westerly Centaurs (26′) built between 1969 and 1984. As far as we know less than two dozen were set up as ketch rigs – the vast majority were sloops but the boat interior remained the same regardless of the sail configuration. 
This boat has been very well cared for and maintained. The interior is quite large for a boat that is only 26′ in length. I will post more details about the boat on the website over the next few days.

There is generous headroom throughout. A comfortable v-berth in the foward cabin. In between the v-berth and galley is a private head to port and wet locker to starboard.

The galley/settee area has lots of space and seating. The settee bench and table also converts to a berth, plus there are two more quarter berths aft of the galley (under the cockpit).
Lots of room on board for everyone & hopefully Uncle Wally too.

 

The End Of Another Chapter

42°57′0″ N  81°14′57″ W

Well, another chapter in our lives is coming to an end… we have sold Santosha.

Putting Santosha up for sale was not an easy decision. We really love this boat and had a lot of great adventures with her. But since this past spring a number of things in our lives have changed and we came to realize that we simply cannot do it all. Most significantly, we moved out of the apartment that we had been living in for the past seven years and bought a new-to-us house. As long as Covid-19 is around we have decided that we would like to spend more time closer to home.

Does this mean that our days on the water are over? Absolutely not! . There are lots of boats available to charter. Long before the Covid-19 outbreak happened we were planning to charter a boat in France for a week or two to cruise some of the canals there. Those plans have been delayed for a year but hopefully by the fall of 2021 we can make that happen.

Much closer to home, I have managed to find a way to stay connected to the water. Our new home has a small fish pond in the backyard. I was surprised by how much I enjoy looking after it and figure that I can really get into this hobby.

And when I say get into it – I really mean get into it 🙂

Stay tuned to find out where this goes…

Back to Santosha… Once everyone realized that Covid-19 was going to be around for a while, many people decided that stay-cations were a lot more appealing. Cottage rentals, boat and trailer sales had really taken off so we thought that this would be a good time to put Santosha on the market and see what interest there might be in her.

Jay, my fiberglass contractor finished re-doing Santosha’s bottom on a Sunday afternoon. He called me and emailed several photos of the completed work. On Monday morning I posted a “For Sale” ad on the internet and several people went to see her that same day. By Tuesday noon I had reached a deal in principle with prospective buyers from the Ottawa area. Santosha is looking really good since her refit but I never expected that interest in her would be so high.

The new owners are really nice people and very excited to take Santosha on lots of adventures of their own. I will help them launch the boat in the spring and spend some time showing them “the ropes”.

What’s next for Catherine and I? As the Jimmy Buffet song goes – only time will tell!

Cheers and stay safe and healthy!

New Ceiling in Forward Cabin

44°55′7″ N 75°50′5″ W

When we bought Santosha in 2017 I noticed that there was some water damage to the port-side of the ceiling in the forward cabin (photo below).

The visible damaged spot was relatively small, only about a foot square but it was very noticeable and was going to be difficult to repair because the vinyl material had “shrunk” and could not be stretched back into place. In addition the plywood base it was adhered to was badly delaminated.

Upon closer inspection I determined that the damage had occurred because the gasket in the ceiling hatch had shifted out of place and water leaked in during heavy rains and/or when someone was over-enthusiastic when washing the forward deck with a hose.

To prevent any further damage Catherine made a waterproof vinyl cover for the hatch that securely fastens to the deck with dome snaps. It is several inches wider than the hatch on all sides so it provides lots of protection when it is in place. I also repaired the gasket on the underside of the hatch. No more leaks – even in the heaviest rains.

I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about ways to make a decent-looking repair to the ceiling but couldn’t come up with any worthwhile ideas. So I chose to ignore the “scar” on the ceiling because I had found the source of the leak and fixed it – but my guilt kept nagging at me – something had to be done. This past September I had a lot of time to work on the inside of the boat while Jay, my fiberglass guy was working on the hull so, no more excuses, the time had come for me to tackle the ceiling repair.

The ceiling in the forward cabin is basically made up of two large panels – one for the port side and the other for the starboard side. I tried to find the same vinyl material (photo below) as what was already installed so I would only have to repair the port side but was unable to find anything readily available with a pattern that was a perfect match. Not really a surprise for a boat that is almost 30 years old.

So, my next choice was to replace the entire ceiling using a fabric that would at least be complimentary to the ceilings in the rest of the boat. I settled for a white marine grade vinyl that has no pattern at all. I figured this would be a good choice because it should be relatively easy to find anywhere if additional repairs are needed at some time in the future – either in the forward cabin or somewhere else in the boat.

The ceiling panels are held in place by teak strips along all of the outer edges and at the seams where the panels meet. In addition, the wider sections were adhered to the underside of the foredeck with generous amounts of flexible caulking. This caulking resulted in me basically having to destroy each of the panels in order to get them off the ceiling.

Once the original panels were removed I did the best I could to put them back together so I could use them to make templates for the new panels. This worked – in a fashion.

I transferred the dimensions over to new 1/8″ thick door-skin plywood. This was the same thickness as the original plywood. Because of the layout of the cabin it was going to be very difficult to replace the ceiling with only two panels so I opted to divide the ceiling into four segments. This made each panel much easier to work with. Even so, I had a lot of “fun” fitting each panel in place because of all the unusual angles and curves that had to be matched. That was even evident in how the original panels were fitted. The teak trim strips hid a lot of small gaps!

Once I had the four plywood panels cut to fit I marked out the patterns on the underside of the vinyl and then cut it to fit each panel. I attached the vinyl to the panels using contact cement and let everything cure overnight. The next day I was able to install the panels and secure them to the ceiling with the teak trim strips.

I had never done anything like this before. It really was not all that difficult and I learned a lot through the process. The entire project cost less than $300 for the plywood and vinyl fabric and took about 12 hours over 3 days.  If I ever have to tackle a job like this again I will not put it off for so long.