Smiths Falls Detached Lock

44°53′40″ N 76°1′38″ W

This morning I traveled a very short distance from the Combined Lock in Smith Falls to the Detached Lock – maybe 500 meters in total.

I had arranged with my friend Yang from London to meet at the Detached Lock. I met Yang in 2017 when I was volunteering at the Cross Cultural Learning Center in London & we have been friends ever since. He and his girlfriend Amber were going to spend 2-3 days on the boat with me.

After getting secured on the dock I walked over to several stores to pick up food & beverage items that we would need for our adventure. I got my steps in today & my legs were certainly reminding me of that by mid afternoon.

Yang & Amber arrived shortly before 7:00pm & after a welcome drink we headed off to a local pub for dinner.

The plan was to cast off the next morning & head south to Newboro Lock – about a 4-hour trip by boat – 30 minutes by car!

Here are some comments by Yang & Amber:

8月19日，我和倩倩早上10点怀着异常激动的心情从London，ON出发，目的地是Smith Falls小镇，Wally的Santosha号，这将是我们第一次在船上度过将来的几天时光，所以我们非常激动，虽然路上因为401修路耽误了一些时间，不过路途还算顺利，当我们到达Santosha停留的港口时，感觉一切的劳顿都是值得的，Santosha看起来是那么的漂亮，映照在夕阳下。Wally非常热情的迎接了我们，当我们拿着行李进入船舱后，一切都是那么温馨、整齐、干净。Wally特意帮我们收拾了船舱内的卧室，Wally也非常喜欢我们从中国山西带来的十二生肖彩色剪纸。Wally也特意准备了香槟为我们接风，喝了一些之后，我们便去小镇中心一家酒吧吃晚饭。聊了聊最近各自发生的事情，非常开心。回到船上以后，我们又喝了一些红酒，聊聊最近国际的一些新闻，和各自的看法。祝福各自的生活越来越好。最后我们计划了这几天的安排，我们还会在Santosha上面度过两个夜晚，之后便休息了。最开始我还觉得船里会很热，但实际，晚上睡觉非常凉快，甚至有些冷，船上真的太舒服了！！

Cheers!

Overnight at Smiths Falls Combined Lock

44°53′47″ N 76°1′16″ W

Today I traveled from Merrickville to Smiths Falls. The journey took about four hours with no waiting time at any of the locks.

The lockmasters at each lock commented that traffic had started slowing down quite a bit since the end of the Quebec construction holiday.

I tied up in the basin at Smiths Falls, adjacent to the docking area for the LeBoat fleet of charter boats. Catherine & I are planning to charter one of their boats in France sometime next year or the year after.

Scattered showers kept me inside for the balance of the day. Things calmed down a bit around dusk.

Hopefully this will be the end of rain for a few days because I have some friends coming tomorrow (Monday) to spend some time on the boat with me.

Cheers!

Aylings Boatyard Merrickville

44°55′2″ N 75°49′51″ W

It rained most of the day today – a good excuse to sleep in & then take a long nap later in the afternoon.

Just before noon I managed to drum up a bit of ambition. Steve Flewitt, the owner of Aylings Boatyard was getting ready to custom cut some hardwood lumber for one of his customers so I lent a hand as his apprentice pile it. Steve cut the wood & I piled it for him. Sorry, no photos to show you because I was keeping a close eye on my fingers 🖐 🤚while working around the monster saws & planers.

Just before bedtime I received a text message from my friend Glenn with an inspirational poster.

I am looking forward to impressing my guests on board with a platter like that.

Yummmmy👍

Santosha Project Day in Merrickville

44°55′2″ N 75°49′51″ W

I decided to stay at the marina for a couple of extra days to complete a few projects. Simple stuff first & then on to the tougher jobs.

First on the list was to install the new pantry curtains that Catherine made. They went on in a snap & look great!

Next on the list was to install a new power cable for the Garmin chart plotter on the flybridge. Thankfully the connection point was very close to the upper helm station so this job went pretty quickly too. I mostly use the sonar setting on this device so I can “see” bottom & the depth of water.

It’s a good compliment to my Tiki Chartplotter.

Finally on the list was to reinstall the aft deck cleats on the port & starboard sides of the boat. They had to be removed when I was having the deck repaired & could not be put back on until the bottom of each fitting was trimmed a bit to accommodate the higher level of the new decks.

Steve Flewitt, the owner of Aylings Boatyard was kind enough to trim the fittings for me in his shop. These fittings are made of heavy stainless steel so there was no way I could trim them with any of the tools that I have on board.

I’m glad to have that job done because it is tricky to secure the stern of the boat when I am going through the locks.

Reinstallation setup:

Job done!

Next in the list… oh yes, a big G&T to celebrate my accomplishments!

Cheers!

On the dock at Aylings Boatyard in Merrickville

44°55′2″ N 75°49′51″ W

I left London around 7:00am on August 15 & was back at the boat at 3:00pm. It was a pretty easy drive except for the stop & go traffic through Toronto. I don’t know how people can do that day after day!

Shortly after I got back to the boat a new neighbor arrived for an overnight stay at the marina.

“Dolphin” is 60 feet long, was built in New York City in 1929 & has been owned by the same family from the Montreal area ever since she was launched!

Needless to say, Dolphin attracted a lot of attention & was the subject of many photos. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to tour the inside but the Captain of the boat asked admirers to respect the (on board) owner’s privacy.

If I ever win the lottery……

Cheers!