Everything is Coming Together.....Finally

This past week quite a few projects have either been completed or are near completion.

On Tuesday, I visited the shop of Bruce Malboeuf, the craftsman that is constructing our flybridge seating group. They are almost all done. All that is needed is a few coats of paint and some stain, and they will be delivered to the boat and installed.
They look great, even without the paint. You can tell Bruce pays particular attention to detail.....and I guess, that is the art of master craftsmanship.

Port Bench

Starboard Bench

On Wednesday, the foam we ordered for new mattresses in the guest stateroom came in, and Dottie has choosen the fabric for the coverings. Mike and Antoinette Nicoletta are working on them now, and they should be ready by next weekend.

Thursday, our fiberglass guy came out to take a look at repaining a few cracks we have in the flybridge decking. Good news for us, it will only cost around $300.00.....ten times less than the estimate I had received back in October for the same job. Hopefully he will have this done no later than April 15th.

On Friday, our canvas guy, Mike Overbaugh of the Geordie Magee Canvas Company arrived at the marina to measure, cut and install the new aft curtains for the flybridge enclosure. When he arrived, I explained the new benches that Bruce had done, and Mike caught a major problem in the way I was going to lay them out. Apparently, once the radar mast was raised, the new benches had to be reversed. I had originally planned to have the "L" shaped seating on the port side, but that would not work for the way the canvas would have to be installed. However, if we put the "L" on the starboard side, there would not be a problem.
A quick phone call to Bruce to make the changes, and after a bit of thought, he figured out what needed to be done and by 5 PM today, he was finished making the changes.
Mike finished the canvas work today, and even threw together a new dashboard cover and a free bottle of Imar's Strataglass cleaner to keep the clear vinyl looking good. Mike does excellent design and construction work when it comes to marine canvas.

While the canvas work was being done, Wayne Robinson, marine surveyor, was at the Lucky Find II doing a pre-purchase survey for the new owners. His only negative findings were that the starboard running light bulb, and the stern light bulb were burnt out.

They have to be replaced.....other than that the Lucky Find II was in great shape.
No need to say, the new ower was happy to hear that the problems were minimal, and I was glad that those were the only faults that a surveyor could find.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we have an electrician coming aboard to look at what is needed to install 3 or 4 more 120v outlets. There are 10 outlets already on the boat, but they are either in inconvenient loctions or not in the right location for our needs.....so, this should be the start of a new project for next week.

The First Day of Spring....and the " 7 Year Itch"

It is finally here....The First Day of Spring.
Friday, March 20th, 2009.
I got to the marina early this morning for the annual ritual of removing the shrinkwrap. It was a bit chilly when I arrived, about 34 degrees, but the forecast was for a day in the mid 40's.
I started at 9AM and by 11 all the shrinkwrap was removed, and the bimini top was up.....it now looks like a boat again.
Getting the 7 pieces of side curtains installed took the most time, but all in all it is now offically boating season....at least in our minds.
I had plans of removing the shrinkwrap on the Lucky Find II, our 34' Silverton Convertible, today also. But those plans went by the wayside as I was exhausted and it was now 3PM by the time all the little things were done on the Lucky Find III. I let it go till tomorrow.

Saturday, March 21st....a day that will remain in our minds forever.
I arrived at the marina by 8:30AM to begin removing the shrinkwrap from the Lucky Find II. It was cold, 19 degrees but sunny. The weatherman promised me a day in the high 40's.
I had scheduled two appointments to show the Lucky Find II for today. One at 11AM and the other at 11:45 AM.
By 10AM, the covers were off and the bimini was up. Again, the LF 2 looked like a boat. Dottie arrived at 10:15 AM and we both waited to meet our first appointment at 11AM.

Well, 11AM came and went, and so did 11:15AM....we thought we had a no-show. The folks for the 11:45 appointment arrived 15 minutes early, so the day was not a total loss. Joe was a local Sodus Point businessman and he brought two of his friends.
We gave them a tour of the boat, pointed out all the good things and let them have free rein for the next few minutes.
Sure enough, our 11AM shows up at 12 Noon. This couple Moe & Bonnie, came from Rochester....along with 4 of their marina friends. After a few cordial introductions, we had nine people scurrying over the Silverton. Looking into every nook and cranny. Opening and closing hatches, holds and lazerettes.
At about 12:30, Joe and his friends bid farewell with...."I'll give you a call" and Moe and Bonnie and their friends remained.

They must have liked what they saw, because by 1PM Bonnie had her checkbook out. They gave us an offer, and we accepted.
Bonnie wrote the deposit check, we went over the details for closing and then we went aboard the Lucky Find III to seal the deal over a few shots of Crown Royal. Well, at least Moe and Dottie did....afterall, this deal was between them. Bonnie and I don't drink.....Crown Royal, that is.

Both Dottie and I were very happy for selling the Lucky Find II, but down deep we knew we were gong to miss that boat. She served us well over the past 7 years and we really enjoyed her. But we knew that Moe and Bonnie would take good care of her and we wished that they enjoyed her as much as we had.

We wrapped the day up around 3PM and headed home....with check in hand.

Then it dawned on me....March 27, 2002....one week shy of the day we took ownership of the Lucky Find II 7 years ago.....So this is the "7 Year Itch" we have all heard about. Unbelievable!

Thank You....Craig's List!!!

Another Weekend of Preperations

This past Saturday and Sunday were spent getting the salon, galley and staterooms in order. The weather has been cooperating also, with temps in the high 40's and low 50's and bright sun.
On Saturday we loaded up the mini-van with boxes and those Rubbermaid bins of all the things you need to make a boat a "home on the water."
A large amount of the things we brought aboard is what is commonly known as "Lady Litter"....you know, all those little things that make your house a home. Pictures, placques, and other decor items.

Dottie spent Saturday polishing woodwork, dusting, and cleaning.....and transfering everything in the van to the engine room.

On Sunday we went through all the boxes and bins, and started emptying them, one by one.
We stocked the galley with all the dishes, pots & pans, glassware and silverware. Then on to the salon to lay down the scatter rugs, put in the new wicker chairs & cushions and just go through any storage lockers, loading them with the necessary items you need to have on board.

Then into the head, first for a thorough cleaning and then hanging up the shower curtain, stocking the towels and all the health & beauty aids.

It is unbelievable, the amount of stuff you can mange to collect over the years....and more unbelievable is being able to find a place for it all aboard a boat....but we did it.

This coming week, I will sort through the engine room supplies, and find a place for all the spare parts and tools.

Next weekend it will be getting the shrinkwrap off, and setting up the flybridge enclosure. We need to get the flybridge done in order to clear off the beds with all the canvas and sidecurtains. Once that is done, then we can get to the two staterooms to make up beds, and load the dressers with clothing and whatever else we can make room for.

We have 5 major outside projects to do during the month of April, so getting the interior done now will leave those days open for completing the outside projects. The outside projects include:

1. -Getting new aft curtains made for the flybridge.
2. -Repairing a crack in the flybridge decking.
3. -Installing the new bench seating on the bridge.
4. -Removing the old name from the transom and adding the new name.
5. -Finally, painting the bottom and getting it ready for launching.

Both of us can't wait to get started on these projects and look forward to having her splashed.

The Beginning of the Spring Ritual

This past weekend was a good time to start "cleaning house" and getting the boat in order for a timely spring 2009 launch.
Weather was warmer but overcast. On Friday (March 6th) I was able to get the engine room and bilge cleaned out. The prior owner was a bit of a "packrat", and saved just about everything he ever replaced on the boat, including an old macerator pump, a seized fresh water pump and numerous empty boxes, hoses, etc. They are all gone now.
Saturday was a day spent just cleaning the salon, galley and guest stateroom. (Dottie was in Syracuse visiting our daughter Karen and grandson Mitchell).

I ventured to the marina to wash floors and walls and dust & vacumn.
While doing so, I managed to get a CD disc stuck in the radio, and cannot get it out. So, I am now in the market to replace that radio.
Sunday, I was visited by my marina friend, John Finnigan. He wanted to check on his boat and do a few things. We went to lunch at Captain Jack's in Sodus Point, Dottie met us there, and then back to the boat with him to just hang out and talk.
Finished up some odds and ends, got some great advice from John, and went home.

All in all it was a productive weekend, and if the weather cooperates, maybe we can get the shrinkwrap off within the next 2 weeks.

It feels good just to be aboard the Lucky Find III, although on the hard, and getting things ready to go. It has been a long, cold winter.

Finally...Getting Some Projects Underway

This past weekend seemd to be a bit fruitful.
We have many projects planned for the Lucky Find III, but thanks to the upstate NY weather, most of them can't be started for another 2 months.

However, this weekend we got some plans off the ground.
On Saturday, we met with some of our marina friends, Bruce & Diane Malboeuf, for lunch in Canandaigua, NY. Bruce is an excellent cabinet maker and woodworker. I hired him to fabricate two bench seats for the flybridge. One will be an "L" shaped bench and the other a straight bench. Bruce gave me some very professional 3D drawings,

3D drawing by Bruce Malboeuf

and I gave him the go-ahead to purchase the materials and get started with the labor.
When completed, it will look like these two photos ....though the fabric on the cushions will be a different color & material.

Starboard side seating

Port side "L" seating

So, thankfully, this is underway

After our lunch, we drove to Greece, NY to meet with Bob Gozia of RLG Electronics. Bob is an top-notch marine electrical technician. Our Raymarine L760 had two broken pins in the transducer socket. I ordered the part from Raymarine last Tuesday, and received it on Thursday. We brought the unit and the new part to Bob, and less than an hour later it was finished.....now that is out of the way.

From there, we stopped at a Pier 1 store to take look at some new chairs for the salon.

and will get them sometime in March, along with some nice cushions for these chairs. We didn't buy anything, but we found what we like and will get them sometime in March, along with some nice cushions for these chairs.

Like a new home, a boat needs it's owners personal touches. Dottie wants to have new upholstery throughout the salon. On Sunday, Dottie and I went to the boat to make a template of the dinette seating and helm seating. We bought a roll of that brown kraft paper and traced out the cushion arrangements and made some exact measurements.
The week before, we ordered new Sunbrella upholstery fabric from http://www.sunbrellacentral.com/ . We found this place to be an excellent source of fabrics.....inexpensive, free shipping and excellent custome service. We ordered the fabric on a Tuesday and received it on Thursday.

Today I took the fabric, template and old cushions to our friends here in Clyde, Mike & Antoinetta Nicoletta, of Nicoletta's Upholstery and they will get started making us brand new cushions for the dinette and lower helm. Should have them no later than March 21st.

So all in all, it was a productive few days.

Scratiching the "Spring Itch"

This past weekend skies were blue and the sunny....
So, on Saturday, off to the boat we went, climbed in through the shrinkwrap and began doing some measuring and what not for the coming season. Dottie wants to do a little updating to the interior and needed measurements for curtains, sheets and bedspreads.
While there, we plugged the shorepower in and let the batteries charge a bit. All it took was about 30 minutes, and the batteries were topped off with a full charge.

Sunday morning we drove out to Syracuse to attend the Central New York Boat Show at the NYS Fairgrounds. First wet our daughter Karen, her SO Dave and our grandson Mitchell for brunch.
We went to the Calypso Cay Restaurant in Brewerton, and as always, this place did an excellent job on the brunch menu.

By 1PM we were in the boat show and spent the next 3 hours just strolling around looking at all that was new for 2009.
It was nice, but after attending some of the major shows in Annapolis, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, this show just cannot compare.
All in all, we had a good time, met a few "docker" friends and just enjoyed the day.

It's those blue and sunny skies that just puts you into anticipation mode of the Spring season.

Back Home....AGAIN !....Thank You

Just a note to let everyone know that I am back home from the hospital.
To those that sent an e-mail or made a phone call, I thank you.

On Saturday evening (January 31st) around 9PM, I was overcome with some strong pains in my chest. We were traveling from Oswego back to Clyde when it happened. We had just finished having dinner with 2 other couples, friends of ours from the marina. I had Dottie take over driving and she drove me directly to the E.R. at Newark-Wayne Hospital. I spent the next 6 hours being checked over for a heart attack, and thank God, I didn't have one. I was then admitted to the Telemetry Unit of the hospital until noon the next day. My cardiologist did suspect a blockage, and made the necessary preperations for me to go to Rochester General Hospital on Tuesday (February 3rd).

Sure enough, after a angiogram, a blockage was found in my diagonal coronary artery, and Dr. Ling Ong placed two stents in that vessel to open it back up. He had already placed 3 other stents in my LAD artery in 1999 (1) and 2006 (2)

"This is a picture of the angiogram showing the blockage in the diagonal artery.
Notice the white space at the beginning of the diagonal artery. That is the blockage.

After stent placement, that white space disappears, meaning that blood is now flowing into the artery."

---

These 2 stents were put in a bit differently than my prior 3 stents. Instead of using the femoral artery in my groin, he used my right radial artery in my wrist. One tiny puncture hole into my wrist and artery, and in went the catheter. He went up my arm, into the brachial artery, then into the subclavian artery, across my chest, into the arch of the aorta over the top of my heart and right into the diagonal branch artery. It is unbelievable how far this technology has come since my last double stent placement back in 2006. The best part is the recoup time....now hours instead of days.
Right now, I feel great, and hopefully this will make me a bit more comfortable over then next few years.

Again, thanks for your well wishes, it is deeply appreciated.....

Al

The Treasure Coast - Hutchinson Island, FL.

As our previous post explained, we were in Stuart Florida attending Trawler Fest, We stayed in the area for four days after the Fest in order to spec out different marinas in the area.
We had rented a condo for our week stay from a listing I found on Craig's List.
It was a beautiful place, located at the Island Beach Resort, in Jensen Beach on Hutchinson Island. It was oceanfront, had a pool and a laundry area, next door was a place called the High Tide Restaurant and Tiki Bar. It was just fantastic.

Should you ever want to go to the Treasure Coast area of Florida, we highly recommend this person's condo.



You can find it at: http://www.priceisrightatthebeach.com/
We lucked out, and were able to strike a deal with him and it saved us about 50% of his normal rates. We did this by booking it only 3 days in advance. Check his website for more info.

As I said, we were there to check out marinas....and we did find quite a few, like over 50 of them.
We narrowed it down to The Harborage Yacht Club & Marina in Stuart, The Fort Pierce City Marina and The Fisherman's Wharf Marina in Ft. Pierce, The Saint Lucie Marina in St. Lucie and Pirate's Cove Marina in Port Salerno, Florida.
All were quite beautiful.
We made a decision, that IF we were to move the boat south, we would stay at The Harborage Yacht Club & Marina in Stuart. It is a brand new marina will all the amenities we would want.
You can see it here: http://www.harborageyachtclub.com/harborage.html

Trawler Fest - Stuart, Florida

We arrived here on January 21st, leaving the -4 degree temps of upstate NY only to find it 39 degrees in southern Florida. Brrrrrrrrrr.

View from our condo....Sunrise on Jensen Beach

On the 22nd, opening day of Trawler Fest, temps got into the high 60's, but that was better than -4. By the next day, temps leveled out into the mid 70's for the remainder of the Fest. We stayed in the area for 4 extra days after the Trawler Fest, and everyday was sunny, and each day the temp rose a few degrees. By the 28th, the day we headed back to NY, the temp was 82 by 10 AM.

This was our first Trawler Fest, and all I can say is WOW. It was great.

We met so many wonderful people, both novices and experienced cruisers alike.

We also learned quite a bit. They had some seminars that both Dottie and I attended. I went to seminars regarding electrical and charging systems, diesel fuel and fuel polishing, and a diesel engine question & answer forum. Dottie went to seminars regarding medical emergencies aboard while cruising, and we both attened seminars on cruising the Down East Circle route and cruising the Florida Keys. All of the seminars were very well put together, and gave everyone a chance to ask whatever questions they chose.


The venue for the Fest was the Marriott Hutchinson Island resort, and it was a great place. In today's world, you kinda forget what service is until you arrive at a place like this resort. It was excellent.
The "in-the-water" boat show was terrific. They had about 50 boats on display which you could go aboard and snoop around all you wanted without the pressure of sales people on your back.

There were trawlers that ranged in size from 25' to 65' and in price from under $100K to well over $2.5 million.
We both wished we had a spare million or two to spend....LOL.

Their second largest boat, a 63' Ocean Reef Trawler did sell at the show....for $1.9 million, and the kicker was that the couple who bought that boat had never owned a boat before. What a way to start boating!! At the closing dinner reception, they introduced that couple, and some of the marine gear distributors gave them beautiful gifts to welcome them into the family of boating.

It was a great three days, and we would recommend to anyone that is interested in trawlers to attend one of their Trawler Fests.

Winter Blues

Not much to report this time of the year.

Our weather here has been cold...in fact, we are approaching about a 10 day run of lows into the single digits. It has snowed just about everyday since Christmas, not much.....

The marina is a "sea of blue".....shrinkwrap, that is!

but enough to breakout the shovel or snow-blower each morning. By mid-day the sun is out, and the sky is blue, at least for a few hours.

As they say, there is "hope on the horizon".

Sodus Bay is solid ice now, and you can see a few ice fishermen out there. Not my cup of tea for sure. I always marvel how they drive their pick-up trucks out onto the ice.

Something about driving 3 tons of metal over 30 feet of water, and only 12 inches of ice that make me wonder.

Ice fishermen out on Sodus Bay

We are looking forward to heading down to Hutchinson Island, outside of Stuart Florida in a few days. We will be attending Passage Maker Magazine's "Trawler Fest". After Trawler Fest, we will probably head on down to the Keys for a little much deserved R & R.
I have been watching the temps in Florida the past few days, and they are experiencing a bit of a cold snap also, with lows in the mid 50's and highs in the mid 70's.....but that sure beats 2 degrees....which it is right now as I write this.

Keep Warm.....and dream of summer....it will be here shortly.

Shake-Down Cruise

FRIDAY - OCTOBER 10, 2008- Dottie and I drove to French Bay Marina in Clayton, NY early that morning, (120 miles and a two hour drive) paid for the boat, signed the registration paperwork and she was finally ours. We spent the next 8 hours of daylight getting the exterior somewhat cleaned up. The boat had been stored in a covered slip since the death of her owner in August 2007, along with a large family of pigeons that lived overhead in the rafters....so there is no need to tell you what the boat had looked like.
Our plan was to leave Clayton the following morning at daybreak with our friend Doug Parkhurst, but by 7 PM the weather changed a bit and it turned much cooler. I knew we would have a fog in the morning, so I called Doug and changed our departure time to 8AM. We ordered out for some Chinese food, and spent the rest of the evening, till about 9:30PM, cleaning the interior of the boat....not too bad, just a year's worth of dust. By 10PM it was lights out, we were both exhausted. Our first night aboard the Lucky Find III was so peaceful and serene.



"Tumbleweed awaits our arrival on the main dock at French Bay Marina, Clayton, NY"

SATURDAY - OCTOBER 11, 2008 - Sunrise was at 7:05AM this morning, but by 5:30AM we were awake and filled with anticipation of the cruise from Clayton to Sodus Point, a distance of just under 80 miles, in our "new to us" boat. The weather forecast for the day was ideal. Winds out of the southwest at less than 5 knots, wave heights less than 1 foot and temps in the 70's without a cloud in the sky. Perfect....better than perfect really, for this time of the year in the Thousand Islands Region of NY....but we all know how incorrect forecasts can be, or how quickly it can change on Lake Ontario.At 7:45 AM Doug and his wife Donna arrived at the marina. Donna had drove from Oswego, NY, to drop Doug off to crew along with us. She was going to meet us back at Oak Park Resort Marina when we arrived. After giving them a quick tour of the new boat, we were off....right on schedule.

"Doug & Dottie ready to cast off"

We left the dock and headed out into the St. Lawrence River. ( A big thanks to Donna Parkhurst for giving us a good push off the dock....it helped quite a bit.)Actually the fog was not too bad, we cleared the first buoy out of the marina, and were able to get a good look south down the river....it was OK. We had at least 1 mile visibility in the light fog. Well, the weather forecast was right on . As we began the 25 mile cruise down the St. Lawrence Seaway to Cape Vincent, the weather just kept getting better and better....and most of all, warmer. The fog burned off by 9AM. The river was like glass, not even a ripple.
We saw one private vessel heading north the whole way, and it was easily a 75 footer, after that we met two freighters traveling in the opposite direction, and that was to be the traffic for the day..
We rounded Cape Vincent at about 10:30 AM and entered Lake Ontario. To put it in the words of Doug, "This has to be the best boating day ever; I can see the plume of steam from Nine Mile Point, ( the nuclear energy plant in Scotia, NY) and that has to be 35 miles away"He was right, it was just spectacular. Waves were less than 1 foot, the lake looked like a sheet of molten glass, and we were already into the mid 60's temp wise. This was the type of day to put the autopilot on, sit back and relax.

"Leaving French Bay Marina"

Well, that dream proved worthless.....I pushed the button for the autopilot, and nothing...nada....zip. It worked fine during the sea trial. I sent Doug down below to get me the instruction manual. Another useless thought, as the book only said "Set your course, and push the button labeled auto". After about 10 tries, nothing happened. Doug was determined to see why it would not work, so he took off for down below, and Dottie came up and sat in the flybridge with me. About 20 minutes later, the boat suddenly veered to starboard and no matter what I did with the wheel, she would not respond. I throttled down to a crawl, and heard Doug coming up the flybridge ladder laughing his butt off.....I found the problem !, he said, as he just kept on laughing. Apparently the autopilot is wired to the windlass circuit breaker...who would have thought?.....and while he was trying each of the breakers, he accidentally tripped the breaker for the windlass, and that powered the autopilot on. Sure enough the red light was on, showing the autopilot had power. I turned it off, got back my steering control, set my course and pushed the button. The autopilot took over, and it was time to relax a bit. I determined that during the sea trial, the surveyor had turned the power on to everything for testing purposes, and that is why it worked fine.

"Doug gazes out over the horizon to see Oswego, NY about 25 miles off our starboard bow"

Crossing the lake from this point forward was actually uneventful. Dottie made us some lunch, and we picked and nibbled on junk food while the autopilot brought us right on course to Chimney Bluffs, 5 miles from the Sodus Point Lighthouse. Temperatures had climbed into the low 70's by 1 PM. We entered Sodus Bay at about 3:45PM, 5 miles from our final destination. By 4:30 PM we were tied to the dock at Oak Park Resort Marina, and the Lucky Find III was now in her new home....safe and sound and "none worse for the wear". Donna was there to greet us, and grab a line. We tied up, and a few other boaters wandered down the dock to see the "new" boat.

Synopsis

Not a bad day after all....we covered 80 miles in 8.5 hours, and burned about 42 gallons of fuel.
By 6:00PM, we were sitting in Connelly's Cove restaurant, enjoying our shakedown celebration dinner.
A Special Thanks to Doug and Donna Parkhurst for making it a special day for us.

"Lucky Find III at the dock in Oak Park Marina, Sodus Bay, NY"

The Lucky Find III was hauled out of the water for winter storage on October 13, 2008.
We are anticipating a Spring 2009 launch date of about May 7th
Please, check back after that time.

Thanks, Al & Dottie Baris

The Boat:

Is a 38' PT (Performance Trawlers) built at the Cheer Men Ship Yard in Taiwan.

The Lucky Find III is powered by twin Perkins 6.354M diesel engines.

She has all the amenities that we need for extended cruising, including a washer/dryer, 6.5Kw generator, bath tub/shower air conditioning, and a queen size bed.

Built with a solid fiberglass hull, superstructure and a 13'6" beam, she rides solid and comfortably in most seas.
This is an ideal two person boat, easy to handle and dock, with it's full walk-around deck. The guest stateroom has twin bunks.
Also on board is full suite of Raymarine electronics, including radar, chart plotters, fish finders, depth sounders and VHF communication radios.
The large flybridge can accommodate up to 8 additional guests if needed.

Hopefully, she will fulfill our dream.

The Crew:

We are Al & Dottie Baris.

Both of us, would like to one day, cast off and complete what is known as the Great American Loop, (click here to learn more) which is the continuous waterway that encompasses the eastern portion of North America – including the Atlantic and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, the Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America’s heartland.

We have 3 grown children and 1 grandson.

Currently, we are both employed. Al is a self-employed funeral director and has owned his own funeral home since 1981. Dottie is a insurance under-writer for a local insurance company. She has been employed in that capacity for over 24 years.

Retirement looks to be a few years away as of yet, ....God willing.

We searched for over 3 years to find a affordable, comfortable and sea-worthy vessel.