Saturday, September 01, 2007 at 06:00 EDT - Labor Day Weekend

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Saturday 1 September 2007 for the period ending At 3.00 AM Sunday with an outlook for the following 24 hours.
Forecast: Wind northeast 15 knots diminishing to light and variable this afternoon. Fair. Waves less than 1 metre. Outlook..Light and variable increasing to light to moderate southwesterlies.

The nights are cool but the days spectacular. It feel a lot more like fall than summer but it is a far better time to do bottom work than when it is snowing. This is the weekend of the Wright Tractor Pull, a party which almost did not happen, but the party is on and the Waupoos tradition continues.

Defiance is on the hard and I slowly sinking into the upcoming bottom job. So far so good, other than a few test patches most of the bottom is as it came out of the water with a ragged random pattern of rust blooms punctuating the remaining bottom paint. I have the boat on the hard in time to keep the haul out to scheduled maintenance service.

The issue is not with Defiance but with me and my struggle with an increasing disability. As much as it breaks my heart to lay Defiance up I know that this may be my final moth balling as I no longer can do the frozen winter act. I find myself very down as I go through the well rehearsed of getting the work site set up as all the factors mean there is little chance of me being able to re-commission the boat myself. This is a very sad period for me as the dream is going to sleep and I know it.

The Sunnydale Farm's Tractor Pull, by Wright Farm

Being around the marina I find a lot more time to follow the Marina’s pride of cats. With the clean up of the orange building they have taken the hint and returned to the hidy hole that they used last winter.

Sunday, August 2

For the greatest part I took a break on Sunday as my work was limited to yet more analyzing of the oxidation and plans for the new bottom.

Labor Day

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Monday 3 September 2007 for the period ending at 3.00 AM Tuesday with an outlook for the following 24 hours.
Forecast: Wind southwest 15 to 20 knots veering to northwest 15 this evening. Fair. Waves less than 1 metre building to 1 to 2 near noon. Outlook..Moderate northwesterlies veering to easterlies then diminishing to light and variable.

Tuesday was all about the final coatings decision and order. I was on the road most of the day hooking up with people and organizing the next job. Lots of mile lots of suppliers talked to. All in all very productive on the longer time line. In my absence John was launched and the Joy B once again looks a home and Dingo back aboard.

Bottom Coatings:

It has been a long haul and the decision critical as the materials I used the last time fell short of my expectations leaving me a full blown bottom job on Defiance for 2008. The pitting is not deep and does not pose a problem, but if I do not get it right this time I will have to shorten the haul out period in the future. With luck the new coatings will live up to the hype. I will use the Amercoat 238 primer, fair with Newcoat 114A, thin and clean with P10, and a final ice top coat of Amercoat 339 on Defiance this bottom job.

I would like to thank Dan Agnew (technical sales), Peter Villinue (Lab), and Donna (order)of AMERON in Mississauga. Customer service is alive and well in Mississauga, Ontario. These people are right on the mark and a pleasure to work with. My application was a unusual in that the intent is extended period of ice exposure in cold water is far from recreational use but they found me the answers piece by piece. The majority of these materials go to goverment departments such as the Securete de Quebec, Department of Defence (Navy), and the Canadian Coast Guard who use it on the super icebreakers.

AMERON Coatings web site The following description source is AMERON's web site which I encourage anyone interested in underwater coating to visit.The description goes on but I would suggest that you visit their web site and check them out for yourselves. Source Ameron Data sheets AMERCOAT 238 (Primer) Amercoat 238 is designed to protect surfaces subject to unusual abrasive and wear conditions common to many heavy duty marine and industrial applications. Underwater hull areas such as bulbous keels, shear strakes, rudders, rakes, bottom flats, chain and ice damaged areas. The majority of Ameron coatings products are now "environmentally designed" with low-solvent, solvent-free and waterborne technologies that reduce the possibility of pollution and enhance workers' safety. In 1996, Ameron purchased the Devoe marine coatings business of Imperial Chemical Industries PLC. The acquisition made Ameron the largest supplier of high-performance marine and offshore coatings in North America and also greatly expanded the company's sales and service network and global presence in these markets. Early in 1997, Ameron also acquired the worldwide Valspar maintenance coatings business. Many of Valspar's highly regarded coatings products are now being made and sold by Ameron under the Amercoat brand. Both these product lines are available in Canada through Amercoat Canada. In 2006 Ameron Coatings was purchased by PPG Inc, a world leader in the manufacture of paints, coatings and glass in addition to Pitt Char XP Fire Protective Coating. Manufacturing of Ameron Coatings in Canada is carried out in the Group’s 65,000 sq ft ISO 9001 certified plant in Oakville. Distribution of Ameron coatings throughout Canada is available through office/warehouses from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, BC in conjunction with General Paint of Vancouver, BC in Western Canada. Amercoat is also the Canadian distributor for Vinyl Ester and Epoxy Novolac chemical resistant surfacers and linings, manufactured by Polyspec. In addition Amercoat Canada’s associate company, Nukote Canada Inc, is the Canadian Distributor of of Nukote Polyurea coatings. AMERON Coatings web site

Marine Forecast issued for Lake Ontario. Issued: 3.00 AM EDT Wednesday 5 September 2007 for the period ending At 3.00 AM Thursday with an outlook for the following 24 hours. Forecast: Wind light and variable becoming east 10 to 15 knots this morning then veering to southeast near midnight. Scattered showers with chance of a thunderstorm ending near noon otherwise fair. Waves less than 1 metre. Outlook..Light to moderate southeasterlies veering to southerlies and then to southwesterlies.

John finally got the Joy B back in the water and a very pretty sight they are. John and Dingo have become quite the project of interest to visitors this summer as he gave the Joy B a complete paint job.

Thursday, September 6

Thursday the 5th was material pick up day. The weather was hot with the high of 34C in Toronto making my trip to Oakville and points in between a hot one. I did return with the coatings and materials that I need to begin Defiance's bottom including a nice little sandblaster from Princess Auto.

I have all but lost my Internet connection in the marina and will have difficulty in checking email my normal four times a day and keeping the Blog up to date. Please be patient.