Saturday 8 August 2015

Killarney repairs to Drummond Island

Good thing we were at our favourite anchorage!  We had planned on staying 2 nights but 2 nights turned in to 4.  Steve is very diligent about checking the engines every morning.  Makes sure all liquids are where they should be and everything looks good.  He noticed one of the belts was worn so thought best change it sooner than later.  While he was changing the belt he noticed a coolant leak.  When he checked the coolant pump it was very loose and he said the bearings were shot.  It's not easy getting parts for a 1984 Mitsubishi diesel.  Many have said go to Seattle Washington...there is a guy.  Well the guy said yeah I can get you one for $4000 from Japan or I can rebuild the one you have but I won't do that until you send me yours.  Ugh.............tick tock.  So we remembered a boat named Crowe's Nest.  He had the exact same boat as ours and repowered about 5 or 6 years ago.  Steve still had his contact information so he called and asked if we could buy the coolant pump from him.  He remembered us and said he sold his engines to a mechanic at a Marina in Midland.  He gave us his number and this guy couldn't have been nicer.  He said yes he would sell us the part and even drive to Killarney and install if we needed him to.  That wasn't necessary but he did put everything together for us in a package.  Our daughter Sarah lives about 20 minutes from Midland so we called her and asked her if she could go there and pick up the parts and ship them to us in Killarney.  Well she would have no part of that....."shit can go wrong when you ship" she says...so she insisted on driving to Killarney with our parts.  She arrived at 4pm on Thursday.  I met her in Killarney and drove her back to the boat with the parts by dinghy.  The best fish and chips in all of Canada is in Killarney so I promised Sarah I would treat her to dinner for the drive.  We drove back to Killarney in the dinghy for fish and chips and were back at the boat by 6:30.  BOAT FIXED!!
Sarah spent the night with us that night and we headed out for the US the next morning.  Made the swing bridge at Little Current perfectly at 2pm.  It opens every hour on the hour for 15 minutes.
  From there we anchored at an Island about 54 miles from the US boarder.  Great night but no exercise for Dexter so Steve took him for his morning run via kayak.  We were up with the sun and ready to go it was smooth sailing to Drummond Island.
  Anchors away and we are in the U.S.  Flying the US flag because that's just good boating etiquette.  You should always fly the flag of the country you are visiting.  The boarder crossing at Drummond Island couldn't have been easier.  Not sorry I tossed the food because I'm sure there are fish more hungry than us.  I can eat popcorn for dinner but made a concoction of pasta..packaged cheese sauce, cream cheese, rosemary, and canned salmon.  Steve really liked it....me not so much.
The boarder crossing is nothing like crossing by car.  You drive in and dock...DO NOT leave your boat.  They come to you and they were so nice to us.  Sense of humour and everything!!!  When do you ever see that in a car? First thing I said was "Can I take our dog for a pee"...he was all over the Jack Russell cause he has 2!!!  So boarder guy gave us his direct line and a get out of jail free card.....and you can have a shower and go for a bike ride!!!

All cleared to boat in US waters "One Bay at a Time"



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