44°55′7″ N 75°52′13″ W

Santosha’s Winter Home – Aylings Boatyard Merrickville, ON

Santosha was hauled out this past Thursday afternoon.

Once she was “on the hard” I winterized the plumbing & the engine & took the balance of stuff off the boat that needs to go home to London with me.

This morning my fiberglass guy started to sand the antifouling paint off the boat’s bottom. Now that’s one tough job to do! The dust from the sander was unreal!

After several hours of work he concluded that the paint was much too hard for efficient sanding & recommended that it would be much better to hire another contractor who has the equipment to strip the hull using an abrasive blasting media – probably soda, dry ice or glass pellets. We are arranging for quotes from several contractors & will make a decision next week. Time to dig deep into the piggy bank 🙀. BOAT!!

I’m anxious to get home so I’ll drive back to London tomorrow & make the contractor arrangements remotely. Hopefully they can complete the work within the next 2-3 weeks.

Fall is setting in quickly now. The weather here through the day is beautiful in the low to mid 20s but the nights have been chilly at 5 to 7 above freezing. It’s working wonders on the fall colours. They will probably peak just before Thanksgiving.

I took the photo below from the bridge at Burritt’s Rapids.

This next photo was taken from the bridge in Merrickville at the river “bypass” around the Parks Canada locks. I’m still trying to get a handle on the special effects app on my iPhone.

On the way back to the boat this evening I was also treated to a flypast & high level roost by this crane.

Nice images to close out Santosha‘s 2019 Rideau Cruise.

Cheers!