July 21 & 22 – Merrickville to Smiths Falls

Edmonds Lock (North of Smiths Falls)

44°52′40″ N 75°59′2″ W

Sunday, July 21 was my first day traveling on the water. I left Aylings Boatyard around noon & headed for the Merrickville Locks. The new bow thruster got a small workout as I passed through the locks & it worked like a charm.

(Photo above taken the day before – Jaden helped me put up the bimini & he got a chance to see the results of all his hard labour cleaning & polishing the hull)

A few days earlier I had made arrangements to meet two prospective buyers from the Montreal area on July 23 so they could see Santosha on the water & to go for a brief ride/“sea trial”.

Edmonds Lock is just north of Smiths Falls with a couple of kilometers of water to reach the next lock. I decided it would be a good location to meet.

I arrived at Edmonds around 3:00pm & the Lockmaster gave me a very nice spot to tie up for the night.

I spent the rest of the afternoon & all evening cleaning up the inside of the boat. More dust & grime to deal with – will it ever end?

In the midst of all the chaos on board I set aside some time for a big G&T & to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

That’s much better – Cheers!

Santosha Cleanup, A New Bowthruster & Launching

July 8 to 21

Aylings Boatyard, Merrickville

44°55′7″ N 75°50′5″ W

After the fiberglass repairs were completed Santosha was filthy & covered in dust. It was time for a major cleanup & some detailing.

The hull was also in bad need of a thorough cleaning & wax job. Just doing the hull alone is roughly the equivalent of washing & waxing 10 cars – too much for an old guy like me, so I recruited Jaden, my grand-nephew from Ottawa to lend me a hand. Tall, young, strong & enthusiastic, he was exactly the kind of help that I needed!

Jay, the fiberglass guy was kind enough to give Jaden & I a tutorial on compounding & waxing a heavily oxidized hull. Then Jaden was off & running.

The results speak for themselves. Look at his reflection in that shiny hull! It was a lot of hard work! Jaden made a few extra bucks for his efforts & that will help him out as he heads off to his first year at Brock University in late August.

I attended to a variety of other projects while Jaden was focused on the hull. Top of the list was installing a new bow thruster because the original one had quit working at the end of the season last fall.

Finally Santosha was ready to go back in the water. I must confess that there were times when I never thought I would see the day….

Cheers!

Fiberglass Repairs To Santosha

Late May to July 16 – Fiberglass Repairs

Aylings Boatyard, Merrickville

44°55′7″ N 75°50′5″ W

Early last fall Santosha was hauled out & stored for the winter at Aylings Boatyard in Merrickville.

Aylings is a working boatyard where they will perform various repairs for you or you can do the work yourself. I was contemplating getting some fiberglass repairs done to parts of the boat’s main deck & to also fix up several nicks & dings that had occurred over the years. Aylings recommended a local fiberglass repair specialist & I contacted him to give me a quote for the work that I wanted completed.

Jay, “The Fiberglass Guy” as I came to refer to him by, commenced repair work in late May with a target completion date of the first week of July. Jay was fitting this job into an already very busy schedule so I accepted the fact that work would progress slowly at first until he wrapped up a few other projects with other customers.

Renovating an older boat is very similar to renovating an older house – you never really know what you are going to encounter until you get right into it & then there are always a few “surprises” that pop up to greet you.

In Santosha’s case, the deck repairs turned out to be more complicated than expected because the bottom layer of fiberglass of the deck was very thin.

After reviewing repair options with Jay we decided that the best approach was to epoxy 1/2” thick marine grade plywood over top of the existing deck surface, followed by several layers of fiberglass & then finished with Kiwigrip non-skid deck paint.

I am very happy with the end result. The deck surface is very strong & impervious to water.

Jay also repaired several spots on the boat where there was cosmetic damage to the fiberglass – normal wear & tear on an older boat that has had numerous adventures over its life. I must confess that I contributed to several of those nicks & dings!

Jay completed his work on July 16 & now it was time for me to clean up the boat prior to launching. And there was a lot of cleaning up to do!

Thanks Jay!

December 2 – Last Day in Delhi

Posted by Catherine

We enjoyed hanging out at the hotel, dealing with fatigue that is slowly settling in. It’s definitely a place for the scions of industry to gather as well as very affluent Indian families and tourists from around the world.

Photo below: the entrance to the hotel lounge on the 6th floor. We are certainly going to miss this place.

After enjoying a late morning breakfast we managed to get the packing sorted out and found a place for everything! We had arranged for a late checkout at 3:00pm so we stayed in our comfortable room for as long as possible & then left our luggage with the bellman while we enjoyed the pool/gardens area public spaces. Which way to the airport?

Compulsively early, we had thought to have a light dinner and head to the airport around 7:00 pm. The hotel’s front desk staff assured us that leaving at 8:00 pm. would give us plenty of time. Besides that, the Air Canada crew for our flight were staying at the hotel and they weren’t heading over until 10:00 pm – but then they probably know their way around a lot better than we would!

We had a leisurely drink in the hotel’s Polo Lounge and then shuffled over to the cafe for a lovely dinner. It was difficult to leave such elegant surroundings but home was drawing us! The pool & gardens are very pretty at night. Wish our apartment had a view like this at home.

The airport transfer appeared promptly at 8:00 pm and we were whisked to the airport in about half an hour. The airport was very modern, not overly busy and time passed quickly. We had made a good decision to be there around 9:00 pm for our 00:45 flight. That’s quarter to 1:00 am on December 3 but checking in on December 2! It took us awhile to wrap our heads around that and make sure we were where we needed to be on the correct day!

Homeward bound ✈️

December 1 – Living Large in Delhi

Posted by Catherine

Manu had given us some suggestions for a few hours of sightseeing in Delhi but we like the hotel so much that we decided – Nah, I’m a stay right here – (Namaste). The thought of braving the traffic, noise, crowds and air pollution on our own wasn’t appealing. We are both full to overflowing with all of the experiences we have had over the past month!

We spent the day sleeping, lounging around and exploring the hotel. I finally got to use my bathing costume and took a dip in the main outdoor pool. Marvellous to be swimming after a month off but it’s going to take several weeks to get back in shape for the Masters Club!

The facilities include men’s and women’s whirlpool, sauna and steam room. Wally sat in the hot tub and steam room for awhile to try and clear his head which helped!

Complimentary breakfast, afternoon coffee, tea (a little pot all to myself and piping hot – manna from heaven) and snacks as well as Happy Hour from 6 – 8pm are all included in the package we bought. The lounge area on the 6th floor where we are is very elegant with lovely views, fresh flowers and congenial staff who remember our names. It’s a bit like being on a cruise ship without hordes of people. What decadence! We are so very very fortunate. It’s also reaping the benefits of Wally’s 20 years of travelling for his work & thousands of nights in hotels “on the road”. Airline & hotel chain loyalty programs do pay off!

Thoughts are turning more clearly towards home as we will reorganize our bags, have a late checkout tomorrow and head to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the early evening for our direct flight home just after midnight. I will have my silk long johns at the ready to put on when we land in Toronto!