A SUCCESSFUL WEINER ROAST

 

There is nothing like a Weeny Roast to gather everyone together.

 

 

 

To catch up with old friends

 

And make new ones

 

There are a lot of new faces in the Marina this year, I hope everyone will make them welcome.

 

They will be the old friends we are catching up with next year.

 

 

 

SO THE CELEBRATIONS CONTINUE

 

 

 



DECORATING DAY AND BOAT RE-NAMING CEREMONY

Well, the boat decorating has begun, and off to a good start, now lets see some more. 

This morning we had a great turn out for the boat re-naming ceremony.

 

 

 

The Captain and Mate ceremoniously discarded the previous name, into the Seas. 

 

 

 

 

And everyone in attendance toasted the new name from shore. 

 

"Here's to 3 D at Sea"   

 

Even the Marina puppy dogs were well represented. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SO, THE LONG WEEKEND IS OFF TO A GREAT START.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOAT CHORES

There are two Boat Chores that every boater absolutely hates to face.  But these chores inevitably have to be faced. 

Filling up -  And the saying goes "It's a Wealthy/Happy boater that can fill his Fuel Tank and his Bar on the same weekend."  

And Emptying out - And just like an RV these big boats have holding tanks, that have to be emptied as well.  Only with our RVs it is all accomplished with gravity.  With the boats there are pumps involved.  Enough said. 
 

THANK GOODNESS THAT CHORES DONE 

 

 

  

IS EVERYONE READY FOR CANADA DAY?

IT'S THE LONG WEEKEND

It's Canada Day on Monday!

 

Is everyone ready?

Has everyone collected up as many flags as they can fly?  Well, lets get busy decorating and partying!  Fly your flags and celebrate our wonderful country. 

 

 

A Weeny Roast on the Island Saturday night
1$ for a Hot Dog and Marshmallows

 

 

Fireworks on Sunday night in Gimli Harbour.

 

Be sure to join us, in the Floatilla that we are planning for Monday noon.  It's a good excuse to take the boats out. 

HAPPY CANADA DAY. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY: CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS HAVE BEEN TOTALLY REBUILT

When we purchased the Thunderbird she had a small V shaped berth deep down in the hull at the bow of the boat.  It went from wall to wall and you had to crawl across it, to lay down.  If you slept with your head toward the bow, your heads were crowded together, and if you slept across it, you had room for your head but, one of you always had to crawl over the other to get out of bed.  And that was usually me, becuase Dan need to be on the outside, because he was the tallest.  The only other thing in that area, was a small water tank under the berth and a very large vanity and sink.  Plus there was a large storage area, under what was the helm above in the Pilot house. 

After spending our first summer aboard we decided we needed to improve this area.  After taking many, many measurements, ( I even measured Dan from a sitting position to the top of his head, so that I knew how high up we could make the top of the bed, so that he could sit up in bed without him hitting his head on the ceiling.)  Like I say I looked at all the possibilities .  

I knew that a standard double bed is 54" wide and 72" long.   I also knew that the higher up we came, in that area, the wider the hull got, which would give us more width in the finished room.  So I made a wish list.  I wanted to be able to walk up each side of the bed to make it.  I wanted a second toilet and sink down there.  We also wanted some cloths storage areas and a larger water tank.  That was my wish list.  I sat down to re-work this sleeping area and I came up with a design. 

Now, having a design was one thing being able to translate it to Dan was something else.  I can come up with the design, and I knew it would work, size and shape wise, but he is the one that has to make it work structurally and mechanically.  He has to figure out where each piece of board is going to go and what he is going to attach it to and make it solid enough so it will all hold together even in rough seas.



So we plunged ahead.  And in the fall of 2004 we started ripping everything out of the entire area forward of the windshield and helm.  We stripped everything back to the steel ribs of the hull, except for the ceiling and 18"of paneling that came down from the ceiling.  When we opened up under the helm we realized there was such a huge space there that we could add a huge black water holding tank to the boat.  We had already taken the measurements for a new much larger water tank that we were having custom made, to fit down into the V of the hull, so we measured this other large area and decided to maximize our holding tank as well.  So we ordered two custom made tanks at the end of our fall work season. 

When we arrived back the following spring with two new tanks, we really had our work cut out for us.  The hardest thing to do in the nose of a boat is to set the levels we wanted for the floor and the bed.  OK if that is the level at which I want the floor, where do I tie that to?  And if the bed is going to be at that height what do I attach that to.  Of all the building and house renovations we have ever tackled, over the years, that was the toughest job we have ever had to do. 



In the hull of a boat there are no straight walls, nothing to use a square against.  Even the laser level, we purchased for this job, didn't prove to be the help we thought it would.  The only thing that proved to be of some help was a plumb line. 

It was a lot of work, with a lot of cursing and swearing, but we got it roughed in with a quick coat of primer in time for our launch that spring. 

We even managed to pick up our new custom built mattress just prior to having guests arrive for the Canada Day long weekend.  It wasn't all that pretty, but it was functional. 











The following year we put in all the finishing touches.  My Mahogany, my trellis dividers, my tiny sink, new flooring on the bathroom walls, etc. etc. 





We put a shower curtain up to enclose the en Suite if you felt the need for privacy. 









We even installed a drop down DVD player on the ceiling for watching movies in bed at night.








I had to get an interior decorator to pick the paint colour for me.    ( I painted this area twice and hated it both times, then turned to a professional to pick the three different beiges I have on the boat. )  Now the colours are perfect. 




So now I have everything on my wish list.  I can walk up each side of the bed to make it.   I have my en Suite toilet and sink.  I have a huge storage area under the top half of the mattress, open compartments under each side of the bed and two drawers and a cabinet in the foot of the bed, as well as a small hanging closet, behind the bathroom wall.  I even have a small vanity shelf below a large mirror for hair and make up.

THE CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS ARE NOW PERFECT





ENDANGERED PELICAN

  

 

 

This beautiful White Pelican got into trouble when he swallowed a fisherman's lure or bated hook with a long mono filament line and fishing weight attached I'm sure there was a hook of some kind involved. You can see the line wrapped around his beak so that he can no longer open his beak to eat. You can also see the weight hanging below his beak. The conservation officers were asking us to watch for him and call them when we sighted him. Thank goodness they were able to trap him and remove all this horrible apparatus and release him to go on his way. 

 

 

 

 I LOVE WHITE PELICANS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CANADA DAY FLOATILLA

Well, the middle of June has come and gone, it’s time to start thinking about the Canada Day long-weekend.  I hope everyone saved the flag streamers I gave out last year.  I have managed to get a few more for this year, but please try to remember to stow them away for Canada Day each year.  We hope to see as many flags, of any sizes SIZES on as many boats, of any sizes SIZES  as possible again this year.  I will put some fliers out around the marina, but pass the word to anyone that may be interested. 

There are all kinds of Canada Flags in all different sizes available at any of the $ Dollar stores, please get lots.  They don't have to be the good quality expensive ones, as you are only going to fly them for this weekend.   I put mine away and add a few new ones each year. 

As we did last year, we will gather North - East of the harbour entrance around 11:30 am.  (For those navigators that had difficulty last year figuring out where North East of the harbour entrance is, that is slightly north towards Gimli and a little out on the lake towards Grand Beach. )  Dah...

 At 11:45 we will fall in line and head for the water tower, then turn and parade slowly along the beach front just outside the swim line with flags flying and horns blaring. 

Of course all of this is weather permitting.  We would not ask anyone to go out of the harbour if it's too rough.   

 

 

HAVE A HAPPY CANADA DAY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHY DOES EVERY WEEKEND BRING RAIN?

It's been lovely through the week and as the weekend approaches the weatherman starts talking about rain.   For me, it doesn't matter because I'm here all week when it has been so nice, but it certainly is upsetting for those looking forward to their weekend off and having nothing but rain, rain, rain forecast.   

Oh, Well, maybe it will be like last weekend.  The rain they predicted last weekend didn't amount to much, and didn't interfere with our weekend much. 

LETS KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED

 

 

FALCON BEACH - THE SERIES

Today, we hung on our wall, in the pilot house, a framed burgee of “Falcon Beach”, which is a fond memory for us. 

 

We came to Boundary Creek Marina, with Thunderbird, after a number of years spending summers at the dock in Gimli.  At that time we had still been working on the engine and getting the boat running properly and were not mobile at all.  So, that was the only place we could launch and be towed to a berth, live on board and work on the boat all summer.  We were tucked in a corner that no one else would take, because you could not get in and out of it.  Once the boat was running properly, Gimli harbour could not supply us with a proper dock that we could get in and out of, to go cruising.  So when Boundary Creek Marina offered to create a good long dock, in a place where it was easy for us to pull in and out of, we jumped at it.  And we have not regretted it for a second.  It is the best marina we have ever been docked in. 

 

When we arrived in 2006 we discovered that they were filming a television series called “Falcon Beach”, at the marina.  There were many “sets” around Winnipeg Beach, including downtown streets, Beauty shop, Arcade, Beach Front etc. and every Tuesday, they came to the Marina to film. 

This all started as a pilot movie, which was picked up and ran for two years as a TV series.   One of the young male leads “Jason “ was supposed to be running the marina for his widowed mother and the second young male lead “Danny” was supposed to be running the downtown Arcade for his family.  It was a real teenage, romance and angst, soap opera.  (Coincidentally, Dan and I happen to know the man that used to own the downtown Arcade in the beach and his name actually was Danny.)  
 

This filming restricted your movements slightly on Tuesdays, but was very interesting, and added an extra spark to life in the marina. If your boat was in the background of a shot you were not allowed to move it until after they had finished the filming for that day, as, once they started a scene they couldn’t have a boat disappear out of the back ground from one shot to the next. You had free movement around the marina until you heard them holler“ACTION”, then you froze where you were and stayed put until they hollered“CUT”, so that you made sure you didn’t walk into the middle of a scene. And if your boat was used you got paid $75.00 for that. We once got $75.00 to have two Bikini clad young ladies laying sun bathing on the bow of our boat all one afternoon. But, that didn’t end up on TV. I guess it ended up “On the cutting room floor”, as they say, but we still got paid. 

I think we all have fond memories and stories to tell about when the filming was going on, about the people we met (actors and crew).  About the scenes some boats and boaters were in, the free food they offered us from the catering tent, snapping pictures of the hot young stars, in case they ever made it really big. 

To us it was all really great fun.  I hope some day my foster Granddaughters will cherish this picture that their Nana arranged to have taken with the star Steve Byers. 

 

Then there were the stories of slipping drinks to actors and crew when they were hanging around waiting for the action to start.  There seemed to be a lot of waiting and they were so bored.  I heard there was an actress that became quite enamoured of the Captain of Solitude VI, who would pour an ounce out of a can of coke and replace it with rum and nod to it as he left it here or there around the marina set, ready for her each time her scene ended.   I would like to add that he refuses to confirm or deny that.......  But, I can’t, as he will proudly tell you all about it, if asked. 

 

All of the boats that could, at any time, end up in a shot in any direction from the club house, were given burgees with the fictitious “ Town of Falcon Beach”  logo, that were to be flown every Tuesday, during filming.  I stumbled across ours, while cleaning yesterday and it brought back some fun memories so I decided to frame it and hang it up in the boat. 

 

IT ADDS TO MY BOATING MEMORIES

 

THE WEEKEND

It turned out to be a really nice weekend after all.  The weatherman certainly was not giving us much encouragement, with predictions of rain for most of the weekend.  But, thankfully, as usual the weather man was wrong. 

Friday was a beautiful day, with the odd very short and intermittent sun shower.  Until after dinner when a number of us were sitting out enjoying the sunshine and a real downpour occurred.  We all made a quick dash to our boat and socialized for a couple of hours on board Thunderbird. 

Saturday, we had sunshine for the whole day as well.  There was a Wine and Cheese get together at the club in the afternoon, which was well attended.  A number of people went out cruising Saturday evening as well.  And the rain held off and I was even able to sleep with the hatch over our bed open. 

Sunday was a replay of the rest of the weekend, but with much more threatening looking clouds.  Although it got a little cool with the cloud cover, we were able to sit out (with jackets on) until around 3:00 pm.  Then it started to spit a little so we adjourned to our boats. 

The rain never amounted to much, but most stayed on board until after dinner, then we had a couple more hours of outdoor weather. All in all a good weekend. The only sad thing to report is that we have lost one of our little goslings. That family of 5 is now down to 4. 

 

 

 

SO THAT WAS OUR WEEKEND

 

 

 

 

 

IT'S BEEN A LOVELY WEEK

Our week at the Marina has been wonderful.  Sea-Enna is just so happy to be here.  She will sit by the hour just staring out at the water and the boats and she is happy. 

The weather has been great. The other day, Dan installed some motion sensitive lights for our dock. Right now the sun is out until about 10 pm, but as the summer moves on into fall they will be very helpful in the evening. 

So here it is Friday, and what else, but It's raining!.. 

Just when everyone is looking forward to coming out for the weekend, it's pouring. 

So, here I sit, working on my Blog, while others Dan and Sea-Enna have decided it's a good excuse for a nap. 

DIY: VINYL FLOORING FOR BATHROOM WALLS

When we purchased the "Thunderbird", it only had one "head" (bathroom) and it was pretty rough.  It was roomy and conveniently located and had a really nice vanity & mirror.  But, beyond that, the toilet was very old and didn't work well.  It had no holding tanks and the whole interior ( walls and floor) were just plain plywood.  Early on, Dan addressed the toilet and tank issues, then I started to think about what to do with the finishes . 

Over the years, Dan and I have done many, many home renovations and in one of them we had used vinyl flooring as a tub surround.  It worked perfectly.  It was waterproof, flexible to work with, and hid all the rough  spots on the old walls and it lasted beautifully. With this experience in mind I decided to cover the walls of the head with vinyl flooring. 

Although it would have been the first choice, as it was in the tub surround, I could not use anything that looked like tiles.  There are always curves in boat walls, so I knew that a tile pattern would emphasize those curves and make it look like the tiles were installed crooked. 

I was able to find a good flooring with a random stone pattern in brown tones and a nice matte finish that looked like real stone. 

Finding the right material was only half the battle, now I wanted it installed with as few seams as possible.  No easy task, but we got it done.  That flooring in the main head, starts at the ceiling goes down the starboard wall and across the floor and up the other side with no seam at all.  The only seams are in the two upright corners.  By making templates and pre-fitting, I got it installed in one large piece. 

At times it looked like a crazy  " I Love Lucy"  skit as I wrestled with that glue covered flooring in that little bathroom.  I ended up covered with glue, I even had it in my hair.  But, with Dan's help,  I got the job done.  I was quite pleased with the results. 

So, when we created the second head in the Captain's quarters I did not hesitate to use vinyl flooring on the walls again.  The Captain's quarters are in Navy, Grey, Blue, Beige and White, so I had to find a grey or ,beige tone with another random stone pattern. 

This one has smaller stones in the pattern and is a little on the shiny side but it matches the small head very well.  The pieces not being so large, and the head not being so closed in, it was a lot easier to install.  So I am very please with the results in this head as well.

 

VINYL FLOORING IS GREAT FOR BATHROOM WALLS. 

A RELAXING WEEKEND

It has been a wonderful weekend at the lake.  A lot more boats have arrived.  The harbour is starting to fill up.  A lot more new people to meet and names to learn.  Which are always difficult for me to remember.  

 

Our neighbour Art finally got his new dock.  The marina has over the last couple of years been replacing all the old wood docks with new EZ Docks.  Art was the last to get one and arrived in the beach before his dock was ready, so he had to park else where and wait for it to be readied.  But he got to sit on shore and watch it all take shape. 

 

 

 We have a couple of families of geese in the harbour this year.  This little guy was lagging behind when his family climbed out of the creek and up onto the bank.  He couldn't seem to keep up, so he just stopped and took a rest.  

But, not to worry, Dad was standing guard close by waiting for him to come up and join the others.  We have one family of three gosslings and another family of four.  They are adorable to watch when they are all so cute, yellow and fluffy and tripping all over themselves. 

 

The weather has been wonderful and everyone is so happy to be back at the lake again for another season. 

 

 

WHAT A LIFE