Toronto Boat Show

This year we really decided to take our time with the show. Two years ago we stayed for 2 days, spent most of the time in seminars, bought all the cabinets for our kitchen during the one night we stayed, and missed most of the booths at the show, because we just didn't have the time. Last year we were run ragged over two days with all the shopping for the refit. We missed all but one seminar, and the hotel was the shits. This year we stayed at Spring Hill Suits by Marriot, very nice. My sister works for the Marriot, so I get the family discount from her, which gave me a $169 a night room, for $40 a night. Swing.... That meant that we could stay 2 nights for what we normally would pay for one. But you know, after 3 days, I am thinking that one more might have been nice, because we still missed some seminars that we would have liked to see.

I have to say, that for a sailor, the quality of the show is really starting to tank. All the venders are still there, but the only boat that we were willing to take the time to see was a trawler. This year there were very few sail boats, and they were the crappy plastic bathtub toys that the mass production companies put out. I wouldn't give a nickle for all the boats that were there, sad....

The good news is that all the vendors are still there. We bought our rigid boom vang from Garhauer, and saved a crap load of money. And a few other items. To be honest, we would have saved more money by staying home and just ordering everything from Marine Outfitters, but then we miss our little winter vacation.

 Meet Vita's new bow anchors. This is a long story, that I am going to make really short, because to be honest, I can't remember all the thoughts and research I went through to come to this decision. Originally, we had a 45 lb Kingston plow as our primary anchor, and a 25 lb Kingston plow as our secondary bow anchor. My thinking was that the 45 was way too big for our boat, so it would be just fine, and the 25 which is under sized for our boat would be replaced by a Delta or Bruce of similar size. However, the Kingston plow (CQR) does not set very well, and relies on its excessive weight to stay put. They are finicky to get set, and often drag for awhile before they lock in. The big bonus is that they tend to set in just about any bottom, which is something that most anchors cannot do. Except for the new generation anchors; Rochna, Spade, Manson Extreme, etc.... These anchors set quickly, set well, reset fast, and hold in just about every bottom. A $300 insurance policy, that's what it sounds like to me. The deciding factor on which one was left to price and availability. The Rochna is the cheaper of the 3 right now and for me, the most readily available. The Rochna 15 is 33 lbs, and slightly larger than we need, perfect! I thought of using the 45 lb Kingston as a secondary, but that is a lot of weight for an anchor that I honestly think will get used very little. So for $49 I grabbed at the 22 lb/10 kg Bruce. Its cheap, arguably works better than a CQR for the same weight, and has a tendency to continuously reset itself as the boat shifts.

 And here I stylishly show off one of our new self-inflating life jackets with built in harness. These are the Pilot model made by Plastimo. They are made and marketed in Europe, and are much lower in price than the domestic models. What that means though is that they are not an approved life saving device in North America. Which means we still have to carry approved life jackets in the boat and the dinghy, but we already have them anyway. We don't wear life jackets, or at least we haven't in the past. However, I don't float in fresh water, salt water no problem, but in fresh I sink like a stone. I used to lay on the bottom of our pool just for fun, with no extra weight to hold me there, and air still in my lungs. So, my thinking was that if I fall off the boat going across Lake Ontario, with Serena's current boat handling skills, I might not be able to tread water long enough for Serena to get back and pick me up. And that would suck. I am sure there are other times when they might come in handy, and if we have them, we might just use them.

 Tuesday night, before heading back to the hotel, I stopped in at Bass Pro Shops and picked up this inexpensive Penn reel and rod for the boat. Mahi Mahi, here I come. I bought cheap for the first setup, just to make sure this is what we want, but it is a Penn!

 And here is a bunch of miscellaneous stuff we also picked up; radar reflector, hand held portable bilge pump, two winch handles and pockets for them, 1,000,000 candle power 12v spot light, gloves for both Serena and I, sheaves for the boom to run clew reef lines through, a snubber, and an led replacement bulb for our mast head anchor light.

We also picked up a couple of fender bags. I was going to make some of these, but for $65 per pair, I couldn't buy the materials for that price.

Today I stopped into The Rope Store and picked up another 600' roll of 1/2" - 3 strand nylon line. We need 4 - 20' dock lines, enough rope to make ratlines, a 60+' length for the preventer, and a spare 200' coil. That leaves a further 200' of spare rope, but one never knows, and its cheaper in the roll.

There has been other progress. The face frames and doors are done for the galley. They just need some Cetol, and will be ready for installation. I have started work on the upper cabinets, above the galley sink and the Nav station. I made an instument cover/white board, and a few more odds and sods. But I'll cover them later in a different entry.

Slowly moving towards the goal.