Living aboard a trawler is similar in many ways to living in a small cabin or trailer for the summer. You get to enjoy summer at the lake, plus you have the benefit of being able to take your cabin to a different beach if you choose.
A Trawler is traditionally a very slow, but powerful boat. And that very much describes what "Thunderbird" is. She is big and roomy and makes a good live aboard. But, she is also very slow. Her top speed is only 10 mph and our normal cruising speed is about 7 1/2 mph, therefore if we are going anywhere it needs to be well planned out.
Not that we haven't seen some of the best laid plans go awry. Like the time we almost got sunk by the coast guard.
For the most part we spend our summers close to our home port of "Boundary Creek Marina". This harbour allows for easy access to everything we could possibly need. Groceries, Hardware, Liquor Store and a variety of Restaurants within a short drive. Even a Walmart 27 miles away in Selkirk and of course our lake access.
We can venture out for cruises, to go out on the lake to swim, or to get away from a hot still day at dock, to cruise with friends for a raft-up or we cruise just to break the monotony that can occur in a long hot summer.
But a "Destination Cruise", is a whole different thing. That takes planning. You have to plan for fuel, where are we going to have access to Diesel? Food, what to take and for how long? Will there be stores? Do we have all the tools we need if we have a breakdown? Always a fear on a long haul. And what about the weather? But the "Destination Cruise" is the high-lite of living on board. To take your home and move it to a new port or a few new ports for a real change.
Navigating?? I think we are pretty good at navigating, we haven't gotten lost yet. But when you are going into strange waters it is always best to check all your charts for updates.
We rely on our GPS and personal notes for the most part, but I would never cruise away from our home port without my charts. We have had incidents when the GPS has gone "out" when on a cruise. So I don't rely on it alone.
Weather?? Now this is the one thing that you have absolutely no control over. Especially on Lake Winnipeg. This lake is relatively shallow for a lake of this size, especially in the South Basin. A squall can come through on land with high wind and rain and leave nothing behind but a few broken branches, some puddles and a little excitement.
But out on the lake that same squall, can whip up substantial waves. And if the wind keeps up for any length of time those waves can build to be quite huge and dangerous. Many people have lost their lives on this lake. We know from experience that you don't want to be caught out there in that and you most CERTAINLY would not venture out INTO it. But all in all.
I LOVE LIVING ON BOARD OUR TRAWLER
