1,000 Islands, NY

This has been one of those wonderful Summers enchanting like when we were children. Endless swimming and lazing in the sun. You know it will end but you just don't want it to.

We have been on vacation for a little over a week now and have one week to go. I know when we get back it will be a short time and we will have to prepare for our trip south. If only it could stay this beautiful all year round up here on the lake.

As you can see from the top picture Jonathan our grandson has no fear of the water and swimming. This is him jumping off the pier in Cape Vincent at the town dock which we were having so much fun, we stayed for three days.















Jonathan has so much confidence in his ability that he is showing his brother Joseph how to swim backwards in this picture.

I did start working at Four C's Cafe on Oak Orchard River before we left for vacation and will work a few more weeks before we leave to go South. It has been fun doing something that I know will be for a few weeks and then it ends till our possible return next year. I actually have two paychecks waiting for me when I return. Larry will start to work for Joe on the fishing charter boat when we return and will work until mid September. For now I just want vacation to last forever!

LCH Before going on vacation and returning to work on the salmon charter, I took the time to have the boat hauled so I could clean and paint the bottom. I was surprised that the paint held up as well as it did since it has been 2 years since it was painted. The original paint was an ablative type meant for cooler, moderate fouling areas. We had used the boat most of the time in warmer, high fouling waters so I had expected worse. It did take me almost 2 hours with a power washer to get the bottom clean and then I had some scraping to do. I was able to get 2 coats on the bottom and 3 coats on the keel and bow with just 2 gallons of a hard epoxy paint. Then I waxed the hull multiple times. The last jobs I had to do was add flax to the packing gland and add a couple of zincs to the shaft. One thing I did not know earlier was that 'zincs' are usually aluminum, at least in fresh water. A true zinc coats over in fresh water and loses it effectiveness when you return to salt water so most 'zincs' you buy now are really aluminum.

Something else I did for Gail was to convert the cabinet that Hunter hides the garbage can in into a storage cabinet. It is amazing how much space is wasted using that space to hold a garbage can. I also added a shelf above the wet exhaust system under the aft mattress. We now have storage that did not exist before. We are always looking for storage.

The next job is to install a davit system for the dinghy and then mount a solar panel above it. Towing the dinghy coats us boat speed and thus fuel efficiency as well when motoring. We need to get it out of the water and putting the dinghy on the deck is not fun. We need the solar panel because this boat is a power hog with the separate frig and freezer. We may still take the freezer out of the boat and convert it to a storage space.