Wing Day At Stokes

Even though it was a little cool and breezy, we set out in the dinghy for our biweekly run over to Stokes for chicken wings.  Last year they were 55¢ each; this year up ten percent to 60¢.

This seawall was created by sinking a freighter ship and filling it with cement debris and gravel.

Our 15 hp rubber boat easily glides through the chop. 

As part of a sprucing up program, Stokes brought in a $2500 palm tree from Florida. Sarnia Observer photos.

Here we are waiting for our wings in the shadow of the new palm.

Hmm, haven't had a beer in a long while.

Ah! The wings are superb. "Better than Kelsey's!" Says Wendy.

Safety glasses on! You gotta get right into wings. Click to enlarge.

I wonder what goose wings taste like?

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Sarnia Street Rods Annual Cruise In The Park

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I've been to my share of vintage car shows but the annual Sarnia Street Rods Cruise in Centennial Park is one of a few that I go to by boat. (we once attended the annual WAMBO show in Wallaceburg and the Goderich Car Show aboard the Phoenix) Today was one of those absolutely perfect days for this kind of event. Brilliant sunshine with temperatures in the low 70's (22C in French)
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George waiting to board my dinghy to go to the car show

My long time friend and condo neighbor George and I left about 10 am and drove over to Sarnia Bay Marina in the dinghy. You might recall this is the spot I like to go Tuesdays and Thursdays in the summer because it's right across the street from Stokes Bay Restaurant where, on those days, they sell the fabulous 55¢ chicken wings.
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Anyway, some of the cars at this show are absolutely stunning. It's hard to believe there are so many beautiful old cars still in existence. And what a lovely setting for a vintage car and street rod show. A perpetual breeze kept temperatures perfect in spite of the blazing sun.

 Do you think the owner of this car was attracted to this spot by the colour of the johns?
 

 A beautiful old 1930 Ford truck.

 A pretty Packard and a pink Pontiac

 A Belgian build Ford station wagon

 An old Austin 8 ready to drag.

Only the French would put the engine in backwards then have all the accessories driven off the cam shaft. 1960 Citroen

 We usually see somebody from the condos and today we met Glenn and his grandson who loves cars. They came by car but the young boy wanted to come by boat.


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The Sweet New Tank - My Fathers' Day Present.

I made up a drawing and ordered the brand new 45 gallon, 43 pound polyethylene sewage tank last Thursday. Lisa at Trionic in Wisconsin checked and said they had no "off-the-shelf" stock of the size I needed. These tanks are designed for marine use and have a thick 3/8" wall. There are cheaper ones around but watch out for flimsy 1/8" thick walls. Really, for only $248 + $30 freight, they are a bargain for what you get. Even though they were out of stock, they would have a new tank made and it would be ready in a week or two.

Luckily they did find one and I had it by Wednesday at my box in Port Huron. They placed the threaded inserts exactly as they were on the old tank, thus simplifying the re-assembly. While I have everything out I'm replacing the Air Conditioner water recirculation pump because it failed right after the AC service man left on Monday. It was easy to get access to the hoses connecting the pump with the tank removed. Also, I'm adding two new higher capacity bilge pumps - just in case.

Wrestling the new tank into the engine compartment was easier than getting the smelly, leaky old one out. The new tank is actually one inch taller than the old one. I'm lucky it fit because there was zero clearance left above it. If it was 1/4" taller it would not have fit and you can't return a custom tank. Whew! Now the hoses for inlet, outlet and vent, as well as the level indicator must be hooked up.  Tomorrow I'll add bracing and straps to hold everything in. This tank will weigh 500 pounds when it's "full of s**t", so we don't want it moving around when the boat starts rocking in a storm. It will be really nice to have all the bad smells contained again.

Replacing the level sensor before I slid the tank into place.

Access is tight but I had an old chaise lounge pad to lie on down there. All kinds of pipes and hoses make the area pretty uncomfortable, especially when you have to lie on them to reach. It's also pretty hot and wet down near the bilge. Wendy had to get back to London but I had my friend and condo-neighbour George helping me so the job wasn't too bad. George took the pics.
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The Leaky Roof Saga Continues...

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Check out this video I took last night during a thunderstorm.

After all the work totally replacing our ceiling in the condo, the roof is again leaking worse than ever. The workers of course accept no responsibility saying that the condo board directed them to patch the roof rather than replace it. Unfortunately the roof repair likely pales in cost to the ceiling repairs since it must be done again and included new drywall material as well as a complete scrape-down of the textured ceiling and a re-application of the texturing. 

So now the cost will double, not to mention the inconvenience of having to store the furniture in our family room. The cost is born by 40 or so unit owners but still, this is why our condo fees keep rising. Since we are only here in summer, the loss of use of the condo for the work period represents a substantial portion of our yearly use.



And here we go again tonight. No wind, no driving rain, no excuses from the roofer please! 
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Aamjiwnnaang Pow-wow

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The following little story really has nothing to do with the pictures and the rest of the post but I was in a reflective mood after visiting the magnificent Pow-wow at Aamjiwnaang near Sarnia.

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One of my first friends I met in school when my family moved up to North Bay in Grade 1 was an "Indian" named David Allen. If you are older than about 55 you will know they used to call native Canadians Indians back then, just as they called black people Negroes. People up to the late 1950's weren't trying to be racist or prejudiced, we just didn't know any better. How could we, when our own government even had a Ministry of Indian Affairs and our very parents, grandparents or teachers, friends and relatives used these words. David told me he was an Indian, so when did this politically correct change actually come about when no one calls these people Indians?

I remember that David's father was an older man and David told me he was the chief. That's all I knew and when I did meet his dad (at a birthday party I think) I remember thinking he looked like somebody's grandfather. I was amazed as a kid but that's about it. We all saw Indians on TV and in the movies and we were told that they were the "wild, bad" Indians but I was old enough to realize, even in my naivete, that the movies were not particularly factual.

My young Indian friend and I enjoyed the summer days and the natural beauty of the rugged north. I  noticed and gained an insight, even at that young age, into the genuinely gentle, loyal, nature-loving and easy-going disposition of my native Canadian comrade.  He always had a refreshing and different point of view from my other school friends.  I moved away from North Bay 55 years ago and completely lost touch. I'm even wondering now if my parents discouraged this friendship somehow, without directly mentioning it to me. I  suppose not, since I lost touch with all my North Bay friends, regardless of race when I moved to Toronto in Grade 7. I have often wondered where all those people are now. I'll likely never know. Kind of sad really.

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Eating

Shopping

Gabbing

Watching

Dancing

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Thirty Year Old Systems Have Their Problems.

Part of my infatuation with boats is how the self contained systems interact with each other and work in harmony to produce an inviting, comfortable and safe living space. As well-made and thoughtfully engineered as these floating marvels are, the effects of time and a harsh environment begin to wear down certain components. Built in 1982, the Phoenix is nearly 30years old. Even though the engine hours are low, showing only an average of seventy hours of use per year, some things just degrade by time alone. When one of the components of our seagoing environment fails, things can quickly go from good to bad. 

 I’m really surprised how bad this tank was. These inlet and vent fittings have turned to powder and were leaking badly. The smell was a strong clue that something was wrong.

A perfect example of a component that goes quietly unseen throughout its useful life is the sewage holding tank. On the Phoenix this forty gallon aluminum vessel holds toilet waste, known as “black water” until it can be pumped out at a shore station. With no moving parts this important yet unsavory receptacle usually draws little attention to itself. That is, until time and corrosion work together to eat holes through metal causing leaks to develop. A leaky fresh water tank would be bad enough, but a leaking holding tank is horrid. I don’t know why any manufacturer would make a holding tank from aluminum since it is so vulnerable to acid attack. 

 Wrestling the old tank from the "basement". Not as fun as it looks.

You can see the corrosion spots where liquid has oozed through. This entire tank is turning into a sieve. For the past three seasons I have been trying to repair leaks but I could never see the hidden damage until I got the tank out.

Now the job is to spray the area where the tank was with bleach. This will kill any bacteria and black mold that has been living under the old tank.

 
As I searched the internet for a replacement I was surprised to read that the life expectancy for an aluminum holding tank is only three to five years! I guess we did OK with 29 years. I have ordered a brand new polyethylene replacement tank which will last indefinitely and costs much less than aluminum.

This is the part of boating that most people leave to their boat yard but it really isn't as bad as it looks. I keep telling myself that anyway!

There, all cleaned up and smelling fresh. In a couple of weeks the new polyethylene tank (my Father's Day present) will be ready to slide in. The new tank's walls are a full 3/8" thick so it will be odor free, impervious to corrosive cleaning chemicals and will surely outlive me and probably this boat too.

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