Haida Legend Adventures

After 10 years, we’re back on the water!

11 February 2025 | Lee Stocking Island
06 February 2025 | Rudder Cay
05 February 2025 | Cambridge Cay
01 February 2025 | Staniel Cay
01 February 2025 | Cambridge Cay
30 January 2025 | Waderwick Wells Anchorage
27 January 2025 | Cambridge Cay
25 January 2025 | Waderwick Wells
22 January 2025 | Warderick Wells
20 January 2025 | Bonds Cay
16 January 2025 | Great Stirrup Cay
14 January 2025 | Lucaya last day.
12 January 2025 | Lucaya
07 January 2025 | Lucaya
30 December 2024 | same
24 December 2024 | Slip C25 Lucaya
20 December 2024
13 December 2024 | windy
08 December 2024 | Lukaya
05 December 2024 | n/c

ep42. Here Comes The Sun

27 November 2024 | Slip C25
Bill Bernaerts | Full on Awesomeness
https://youtu.be/KQetemT1sWc?si=wpIllVBU-gZCosvb

We hit the beach which is a 15 minute dinghy ride from our boat. You have to go out of the harbour into the open ocean and then along the shore a bit. I noticed that when I tilted the outboard tiller handle up the motor would start misfiring. (think of a 1 arm bandit slot machine handle). Originally I just thought it was just a coincidence but after trying it a few times it did it most of the time and if the handle was left up the motor would die completely. This is not good!

So it was time yet again to break out the tools. The tiller arm controls the speed and Forward/neutral/reverse functions of the motor as well add having a kill switch to stop the motor. There is also a deadman switch (not sure why it got that name). You can connect a lanyard to so if you get separated from the dinghy under power, the motor stops vs. the boat going into a hard turn and doing circles as it tried to run you over as you flail in the water.

It actually came apart fairly easily and the wiring for the kill switch had some cracks in the outer insulation but the conductors were in tact. I connected my meter to the leads and sure enough when you tilted the handle up, it shorted out. It turns out an internal part of the kill switch had detached from the rubber cover and gravity caused it to close every time the handle was raised. Slipped it back into place and voila, good as new.

On a roll now with maintenance so got out the dinghy cleaner and conditioner and cleaned to the entire thing. The conditioner has UV protectant in it so hopefully it will extend the life of the pvc dinghy tubes. I also scrubbed the boot stripe of Amaruq's hull ( the line at the waterline ) where it was getting a bit furry. I was hoping the growth here was as result of the sunlight and the marine life looking for a place to attach to. i was also hoping this is why our little nocturnal critters come for their buffet every night. Sure enough, the sounds of the midnight munching have reduced significantly but they still come to dine each night.

I will have to dive on the hull and scrub the whole thing to get it clean. The only problem in doing this is the potential danger of stray electrical current in the water from some fault in a neighbouring boat electrical system. There is a sort of unwritten law that you don't swim in marinas because of this. Virtually all boats have sacrificial anodes on them below the waterline which are designed to disintegrate over time due to galvanic corrosion caused by current created between the water and the metal parts of the boat. In cases where the anodes are disintegrating at a very rapid rate there is usually a problem with either that boat's electrical grounding system or a neighbouring boat's. This creates current flow when the boat is plugged into shore power at a marina. So, to get our hull cleaned we'll have to take it our into the open water, anchor and then go to town on it. That for another day.

Good explanation of stray current here:

https://youtu.be/FqHUJ2bAyJg?si=5ey570sBJTaU0Lhm

It was also US Thanksgiving on Thursday so even though we aren't in the states, the restaurant had a turkey dinner special. The grocery store here had Butterball turkeys on sale as well for some surprisingly low price, even compared to back home, so there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the pricing here. We had turkey burgers, which were great!

https://youtu.be/BGFtV6-ALoQ?si=TwXopkeNtm1CmEOE


Today's photo is entitled Sun of a beach! You can see the various shades of the water in the background. Water temp is in the high 70 and low 80 F range.
Comments
Vessel Name: Amaruq
Vessel Make/Model: Tartan 3500
Hailing Port: Brighton On
Crew: Bill, Sam and Finn (Dinghy Dog) sadly Finn is no longer with us.(sniff!)
About:
Bill and Sam retired in 2014 and took off for an 8 week, 1400 mile cruise of the Trent Canal, Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and home again to home port. In 2018 they traded their boat for a 5th wheel and cruised the US southwest for 2 winters. [...]
Extra: Follow their adventures as they knock 1 more thing off their bucket list.