DIY: THE BOAT VENETIAN BLINDS

Thunderbird is docked in the marina with her bow pointed South.  So the sun comes up on the Port side and sets on the Starboard.  I have found that venetian blinds are the best solution for this situation.  As the sun comes up, we can have blinds on the Starboard side closed and avoid  the glaring sun and keep the boat from over heating.  And around noon, we can close the Starboard blinds and and open the Port side ones. It works very well.  

So during the refit I started with the Captains forward cabin.  There are four port holes rather than windows in there.   And as port holes are a nice feature in a boat, I wanted them to show.  I find the venetian blinds, when left open, show off the port holes rather than cover them up, and when closed they really give you the privacy needed and they also block out the sun.  

With that working out so well, I went through the entire boat with venetian blinds.  It was quite a chore.  They don't exactly come in convenient sizes for this application, but with a lot of fitting, cutting and customization, we now have blinds on all the windows.  

I only made one mistake and that was the four pilot house windows.  The blinds I ordered for those windows were too wide an expanse between the vertical blind supports. All of the blinds throughout the boat only have about 8 inches between the upright blind supports, but in the pilot house the expanse was around 16 inches.  These are only the simplest PVC blinds so after a few years in the hot summer sun those blinds started to sag in the middle,  as you can see in the above picture.  

 

So, this week Dan and I, took down the old ones and again custom fit new ones on all the pilot house windows. 

And this time they have three vertical supports (barely visible) per blind, which is what was needed.  That extra center support will really help.  But, as before, they don't have a ready to order size available for these windows.  

So it was a full day's work, but they turned out great.   

 IT'S DONE AND I AM PLEASED. 

IN HARBOUR BAR - B - Q

We had a very successful Marina Wine and Cheese get together at the Club House yesterday.  There were a few cloudbursts that came through, which sent us scurrying off of the deck a couple of times, but they only lasted a few minutes and we were back in the sunshine very quickly. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures of this event.

I have a couple of steaks marinated in the fridge, but because it was a little late getting back to the boat after the Wine and Cheese party yesterday, my plans for a steak Bar-B-Q got side lined to today.  ,

Although the wind is down the temperatures are still a little cool, so I think a Bar-B-Q here in the harbour is in order, rather than out on the lake.  

SO THAT'S THE UPDATE FROM BOUNDARY CREEK MARINA

SETTLING IN AT THE LAKE

We are starting to settle in at the lake. Slowly getting into the rhythms of nature that we live by here.  

  Sea-Enna certainly is feeling at home.  She just loves to be outdoors and here at the lake, she gets to be outdoors, whenever one of us is. 

 

 And she has her work to do here as well.  Every morning when she is let out she chases the geese back down off the grass and back into the water.     

 

 I love having the geese swimming past the back of our boat, but when they are up on the grass in front of our boat, that’s a whole different story.  They are pooping everywhere with every step they take.  

 We have two families in the harbour this summer.   

One family with 4 goslings,

 and another with 6 goslings.   

The babies are so cute right now, all yellow and fluffy, but in a few weeks from now they will have their full feathers and will be walking, eating and pooping machines. That is when I will have to get out my Pooper Scooper, and clean up the grass every morning until they are full grown and leave the harbour.  

BUT THAT'S PART OF LIVING WITH NATURE TOO!  

A DELIGHTFUL WEEKEND AT THE LAKE

Well it turned out to be a pretty good weekend at the lake after all.  We were busy Friday, but had a good Friday evening out here.  

Then Saturday it rained and rained and rained.  

It finally cleared up late Saturday and we had a lovely day on Sunday.  We even had some picnic table time.   

WELCOME TO OUR WEEKENDS AT THE LAKE  

BRING ON THE WEEKEND

We were looking forward to our first weekend in the Summer of 2015.  We had some errands to run in town Friday morning, but we were back out here by mid afternoon.  And another warm and sunny day it was too.  

But here we sit Saturday morning and that rain, they were threatening us with for the last few days, has hit.  It is pouring outside.    So I guess it's going to be an on board, indoor day. 

WATCH A MOVIE OR READ A BOOK?

THUNDERBIRD LAUNCH 2015

Here we go, following Thunderbird from the hangar to Gimli harbour.
 

Coming down Center Street in Gimli.  

Lines at the ready, then the "Splash"

Once she is launched, it is just a hour cruise.  

We head out around Willow Island marker buoy.  Then we make a Beeline for the Winnipeg Beach water tower.

Once the harbour entrance comes into view, just follow the marker buoys into our home port and straight to our dock. 

IT'S GOOD TO BE HERE FOR ANOTHER SUMMER

FINAL WORK WEEKEND

Well this was our last work weekend. Our launch is booked for Tuesday June 2nd   Dan worked all weekend, and hopefully got everything accomplished. 

He set up our ropes and bumpers for launch, so that's all set.  Then we went to the marine and set up our dock for our arrival, then headed home. 

 We will go back out with all the last minute stuff, bright and early Tuesday morning for our launch.  

 Our Sea-Enna will be so happy to see her summer home, for the first time this year.  


I TOO, WILL BE GLAD WHEN THUNDERBIRD IS LAUNCHED AND WE ARE LIVING ON BOARD AGAIN