SODA: State Of the Dock Address

   "All this debating goin' 'round..."
                      -Kim Mitchell


   The parking lot is almost empty of boats  and the docks are almost all full, so this is as good a time as any to take a look at how the season is shaping up.

   Good news:  The Dock is full.

   Booked up.

  No empty slips.

  The view from the deck of Whiskeyjack:

   Popularity is a double-edged sword- full slips mean more marina revenue which hopefully translates into steady rates and improved amenities.  But, increased demand also meant that, this year, the "balance -due" date was strictly enforced- if you didn't have your slip bill  paid in full by mid-May, you didn't get a slip.
   That has meant at least one change to this season's starting line-up.

  Dock Six isn't the only full capacity Dock this season.   Every dock in the Marina is fully booked, or near enough to it.

  More good news:  Water level is up.

  A wet May has helped ease some of the concerns sparked by low water earlier this spring.  Depth has increased by about 20 cm. in the last three weeks or so.   The Lake is still down from last year, but we're heading in the right direction.

WEEKLY WATER LEVEL BULLETIN

  For the week ending:  10/06/2013

  SUPERIOR     HURON      ST CLAIR      ERIE     ONTARIO   MONTREAL
                                         PORT
 THUNDER BAY  GODERICH   BELLE RIVER   STANLEY   KINGSTON  JETTY NO.1

 Last daily mean available
    183.25     176.03      174.95       174.19     74.99       6.64

 Latest weekly mean
    183.23     176.05      174.95       174.17     74.99       6.53

 Highest water level during the week
    183.30     176.16      174.99       174.25     75.04       6.67

 Lowest water level during the week
    183.14     175.93      174.90       174.08     74.91       6.35

 Latest weekly mean relative to chart datum
    + 0.03     + 0.05      + 0.55       + 0.67    + 0.79     + 0.97

 Change from previous weekly mean
    + 0.02     + 0.03      + 0.05       + 0.02    + 0.07     - 0.38

 Change from last year's weekly mean
    + 0.08     - 0.05      - 0.03       - 0.08    + 0.12     + 0.62

Dock conveniences can still be captured in a single photo:

    But, there is now a bike rack in the picture.

    We also have a new porta-potty...

 which appears to be a two-storey model, according to the pictograph on the door:

   Men, unfortunately, are confined to the ground floor, apparently.

   Redshirts were busy last week installing solar lights on the Dock, a nice touch.

Got an email earlier this week:

   "Marina Management Services, Inc. has been hired by Norfolk County to develop a Marina Sustainability, Development Strategy and Business Plan for Port Dover Harbour Marina.

Please join representatives from Norfolk County, Port Dover Habour Marina, and Marina Management Services, Inc. on Saturday, June 22nd from 8:30am to 10:30am.  This will be an informal "meet & greet" with the staff and the consultant as well as an opportunity to sign up to participate in the process.  The meeting will be held in the Pavilion at Port Dover Harbour Marina."

   Those of you who have skin in this game, those with boats on the Dock, or any of the lesser docks, please attend this meeting, or email Tim Keough at tim@marinamanagement.com to let him know you are interested in being part of the solution.

   *insert clever segue here*
   *if clever segue fails to appear, revert to default workmanlike style, below*
  Right then, with the business side of things out of the way, who does have skin in the game this year?

  Many of the usual suspects are back for another season:

   Jim and Mariann  have both boats in the water, looking as perfect as ever.

  Gordon and his lovely wife have returned with Quidi Vidi  .

   Rick has docked 20th Hole- rumour has it that his boat has left the Dock more than once so far this season.  This shot is from last year- no one can verify it has actually happened this year...

   Ivan and Rick and Grant and the rest of the serious fishermen are back.
   Jordan has docked  Saphira in the shallows.
   Cholita returns with Len at the helm.
Ralph and Julie are back beside Rick...

 and beside them Mark and Erica have returned.
Hilary is back, and his boat still doesn't have a name.  This may become a contest.  More on that later.
Eric has splashed After School, and Bruce has brought Prolific back for another season, but moved farther down the Dock,

  Other Jim has classed up the joint by slipping his Bluenose, Carpe Diem:

   Brent has slipped Lady Dee,

      Cocobliss and most of the other bowriders and pontoon boats are back and of course Jack is in, with Blew Orphan:

BUT...
   JD and Wheelin' & Dealin' are MIA.
   Bryan and his Siren are not in.
   Will's Tanzer is on the hard.
   Ed decided to trailer sail his Siren this year, looking to get more time on the water in more places.

   For the first time in years, there is not a single Siren on the Dock.

   Marco and Dee have moved back to Sarnia, which opened up a slip, which means we have new neighbours:

   Frank and Lorraine  have moved in next door with their Northern 24,

  Beside them is another new good old boat, a Tanzer 7.5,  in the hands of returning boaters,  Randy and Monique.  Welcome aboard!

                Down toward the end of the dock is another newcomer, another Jordan, and his go-fast boat,
        Boss Nova,

     The sailboat count is higher than in any previous year, Siren absence notwithstanding; Team Tanzer is certainly making up the difference.

   In short: Some old friends, some new friends, some old characters, some new, some wild cards, some old favourites, and some gone, but not forgotten.

    There will be new stories told, adventures shared, lies swapped, rum consumed, food eaten,  songs sung and laughter laughed.

Forget the hokey-pokey.  That's  what it's all about.  Come on along.


"Talk the Dock!"

 

Dock Changes

     "I watch the ripples change their size, but never leave the stream..."
                                                                                        -David Bowie






     On Friday, James dropped a bombshell.  He was selling George Too Two.  Saturday morning she took her last cruise past the Dock on the way to her trailer.
     As of Saturday morning, James didn't have a boat to replace her.  It looks like he is going to be off the Dock for the duration.


     This is one hangdog looking crew:

   
     Think they are happy about the prospect of leaving the Dock, even temporarily?

    

        


     Goodbye, George Too Two.


    Meanwhile, as one boat leaves, another shows up.  Friday I notice ANOTHER Siren on the dock.

      The damn things are taking over.


     There is another "small world" story attached to this boat.  As Marianne tells it, she and Jim saw the owners rigging her in the parking lot, and,  a)being fellow Siren owners and b) being sailors who love to talk about boats, they struck up a conversation.  Marianne and Jim were born, raised, and continue to live in a small village north of Port Dover that nobody (except locals) has ever heard of.  Turns out these new Siren sailors have ancestors from the same village.  Further turns out that they were Marianne's great-great-grandsomething's neighbours!

    Late Saturday morning the weather turned sour.

   In short order the skies rained hell from above.  Lightning, thunder, dropping temps and heavy rain led humans and dogs to head below and button up.  Our new companionway door did a great job of keeping the weather where it belonged.  An hour later the sky cleared, and James and George wandered down the dock bearing gifts of beer and rum.
   Apparently, Dock withdrawal set in quickly.
   Through the afternoon we managed to make a significant but purely scientific, dent in the fine bottle of rum that James provided, as research for an upcoming "Rum Review Part II" post.
   And we talked boats.
    James knew what he wanted in his next boat, it was just a matter of finding the right boat.  He thinks he may have found it.

    Sunday morning dawns beautiful, and just gets better.  As I am enjoying my morning coffee in the cockpit, what do I spy motoring up the fairway?

   James has a new boat!
   Soon to be renamed Instigator, she looks to be a solid all-weather fishing machine.
   Total number of lost days Off-Dock: 0

   There's also new additions to the feathered population on the Dock.

     New Canada goslings...

      And new ducklings

     They sure are cute when they're not crapping on the dock.


    As always, thanks for checking us out.  Please feel free to "Talk the Dock." Link us, follow us, or just tell your friends!
    


                                       

"In" Season Continues...

          So many people come walking by, looking so happy..."
                                                                      -Ivan Neville




      Hot, hazy, humid...  THIS is the promise that we hold onto all damn winter.  The hope that the lake will thaw,the rain and snow will stop,  the sun will return, the fish will bite, and the wind will blow.

      It seems that the promise has been kept..

      Lots of traffic on the Dock and in the marina today, and every face I saw had an ear-to-ear grin.

      Spring is the season of rebirth, and rebirth was a familiar theme among Docksters.  Jim and Marianne debuted their new fishing boat...

   slipped beside their painted and polished Siren, Cranky.

   Ooooohhhh, pretty!

    I'm gonna start a pool on when the first scratch is inflicted on the perfect finish in the cockpit- I'm calling June 2.

     Speaking of Jims, Carpe Diem splashed today.

     Jim was hard at work this winter renewing the brightwork, installing a new motor, adding some teak, and making an already pretty boat even prettier.  I caught him just as he was finishing painting the cuddy.
    You ever notice that nobody ever looks this happy while painting their house?


    When we pulled into our slip on Friday, we were surprised to see Drifter in the water.  SWMBO muttered, "It's kinda pitiful when a guy who doesn't even live in the country anymore has his boat in the water before us.:"
    We managed to catch up with Steve on Sunday, and were pleased to hear that he will be back fairly frequently throughout the season.

     Whiskeyjack  has a new neighbour, a C&C 24:

     The fish are back.  I think this one was grinning::

    And, of course, again this season, Dock Six gets the hoopty dock carts.  We're okay with that, though- it means that other docks rarely borrow our dock carts.

 

Thanks for taking the time to check us out.  Please feel free to "Talk the Dock!"  Link us, follow us, or just tell your friends.

Refit Roll Call!

     "Lord, I am so tired.  How long can this go on?"
                                                            -Lee Dorsey




      When we're not sailing, or fishing, or roaring across the Bay, or cleaning, or drinking, or eating,  Docksters are usually fixing.  Or improving. Or fixing what we had previously improved.  Since winter significantly cuts down on the "sailing, or fishing, or roaring across the bay, or cleaning" parts of our existence, we are left to fill the void with additional drinking, eating and fixing.
     Especially the fixing.
     If we drank any more than we already do, we'd have to start attending meetings.
     Bottom line, from October to April we get fat and work on our boats... not necessarily in that order.

     This winter was an especially busy one-  it seems like everyone had a project or two underway.
     Jim and Marianne gave Cranky a makeover- new topsides and deck paint, hardware rebedded, and fresh bottom paint.

   I like the rolling cradle, Jim.

   I have to admit to some serious boat shed envy.  Look at that high-falutin' ceiling fan in the background!  And Jim is working in short sleeves!  Heat AND ventilation AND shelter- that ain't fair.

   Here is what Cranky looked like before she entered the shed:

    Nice colour choice, Jim and Marianne.  It looks like we are starting an official colour scheme for the Dock Six fleet!

   James gets the "Pimp My Hull" award.  He built new smoked acrylic transom doors for George Too II, added more LED mood lighting, installed a deck throne, dialed in both outboards, and installed a new stereo with a DVD player and retractable LCD screen.  With the new entertainment system instalkled, James added cabling that will enable him to display his smartphone on the screen-  download Navionics chart app to  the phone and voila!  A fixed mount chartplotter.   Then he went over the top-  he installed night vision cameras fore and aft, and tied them into the screen on his stereo!  I can't wait to see how it all works.

     Jack bought another boat.   Jack will be splashing an O'day Tempest this season, providing he can find the sails, which apparently have gone missing.  I predict that Jack will buy another boat just to acquire the needed sails.

     Jim and Jill have been working on Carpe Diem, reworking the running rigging, installing a new loose-footed mainsail, and refinishing the teak trim.  It sounds like one of the prettiest boats on the dock just got prettier. I can't wait to see her.

    Rumour has it that Gavin bought new skatelaces for his fenders. (Oooohhhh, I'm gonna hear about that one.)

     The new boat, After School,  saw some serious structural surgery take place.  Eric discovered that the mast step was a little soft...

...so he did a little exploring...

 ...then a little more...

... then he cut away about half of the deck and the cabintop...

   ... pulled out all of the wet rotted core...

   Installed new oak core, laid new fiberglass...

 painted the repaired sections...

 ...then fabricated new mounting points for his bow pulpit, allowing him to remove the pulpit so the boat fits in his garage.  Slick!

     Jordan, Andy and the family got bitten by the dinghy bug, and decided to build a D4 dinghy, Tempus 2.

 I focused on adding function to the interior of  Whiskeyjack.  There was a lot of wasted space under the v- berth:

So we decided to add a hanging cubby to the underside of the v-berth filler panel, which you can see just above the dog in the picture.

  
   Hopefully the dog will still fit.

   In true low-buck fashion, this is a freebie project. One of the advantages of being a really lousy woodworker is that I always have lots of scrap wood lying around from earlier mistakes. Some of it is really nice wood, which I decided to put to use in a galley extension.  Our galley counter space is limited, and our room to add more counter space is limited as well, so I cobbled together a folding extension which will mount to the aft end of the galley, beside the sink in the picture below:

     Here is the extension folded for storage:

    (Please ignore the epoxy bubbles and runs- I still need to sand and add the final finish.)

   And here, it's ready for use:

    (While you are ignoring the epoxy runs and bubbles, please also ignore the dirty, disorganized, disheveled workshop in the background.  Please.)
    Hidden behind the flap when it is stowed is a narrow shelf, just big enough for nav tools, pencils, a pad of paper and issues of Good Old Boat and Small Craft Advisor.

    Most of the materials were scrap on-hand, but I did have to shell out $7.46 for hinges.

   Next, we plan to build some small book shelves for the v-berth,  a stowable helm seat, and I still have to install a larger solar panel.  Luckily, the Easter weekend is approaching, allowing me to get some of this stuff done.

    Fellow Docksters, if I got details wrong or left projects out, please give me a shout, and I'll get the info up here.


   Thanks for taking the time to check us out!  Please feel free to "Talk the Dock!"  Follow us, link us or just tell your friends.