First trip, check!

[Two killicks]

Good day all,

We just got back from five days trip on our tug, our first time too!

Here is summary of our trip;

We ran the engine for about 12 hours, the max engine rpm is 3800 RPM, I used it mostly in the 2200-2400 RPM.
At 2200 RPM, the speed on the GPS, is around 5 kts. The Wave where between 2 and 4 feet in Big Rideau Lake (parts of Rideau Canal) I am wondering if 3800 rpm is a bit high? Our max speed was 8 kts. Is it comparable with you guys?

The tug was just perfect as expected and really nice. We bought the boat used, Some stuff was not working such as the AM/FM radio, there was no way to listen to the radio the signal was too weak. Heater leak easily fixed...

Here are a couple things that I would like to share with you guys mostly funny but not expected or intended!

When we drop the anchor in the bay the shackle between the chain and the rope was not locked up properly so when the anchor went off the chain went along but the rope stayed on deck!,, :lol: We turned around and went back to the marina to get a new anchor!

Funny hey! Wait! That's not the best part!

We went into a secluded bay, Drop the anchor had supper look at a great howl right behind the boat and saw a beaver hut far away. During the night when we were sleeping I heard loud water splashing noises around the boat, my wife told me as a joke that it must be the beavers. Sure enough it was, the little critters where scratching and biting the boat too! I got out and scared them away. At 2 o'clock in the morning that little bastards came back and kept on munching my boat hull to the point where I told my wife to raise the anchor and we took off at night on Rideau canal and it took us two hours to get to another bay, all this with a thick cloud cover in 4 feet choppy water... Was it ever dark! 😱 (by the way I am going to raise the search light, because the reflection goes right on the guard rail on the forecastle, and we can't see nothing because of the shiny reflection if we are pointing the light dead ahead) I was glad that on the GPS we could clearly see the previous track to go into the following bay because they are shallow water everywhere in these areas!

I would like to buy the same anchor and chain that came with the boat, for the bruce anchor, is it a 10-12 pounds anchor? The only one available at the marina was a 13 pounds danforth anchor that is too big for the anchor support! I will keep it as a back up.

Anyway I hope I made you laugh, right on the spot that was not funny but afterwards, I can laugh at it too have a great night folks 😀

Oh yes, What size chain do I need?

 

[Irish Mist]

Sounds like you had fun overall Just a thought for you.. If you get some of those foam pipe wraps you could just slip them on the rail at night.. Easier then raising the spot light.. Thanks for sharing your adventure
🙂

 

[Favunclerich]

Part 3 of the article linked below describes a technique to prevent loosing your anchor when the shackle comes loose;

http://www.skippertips.com/public/344.cfm

 

[RonB]

Pat:

I'm impressed you can laugh about your adventure! The waves on Big Rideau Lake must have been unusually big because of the wind from Hurricane Joaquin running up the east coast of the USA and Canada. What I don't understand is why the beavers were interested in your boat. What were they chewing on? I've never heard of beavers chewing on any thing but trees or wooden beams under docks.

Ron

 

[Two killicks]

Sounds like you had fun overall Just a thought for you.. If you get some of those foam pipe wraps you could just slip them on the rail at night.. Easier then raising the spot light.. Thanks for sharing your adventure
🙂

This is a great Idea Irish mist, thank you for the tip!

 

[Two killicks]

Part 3 of the article linked below describes a technique to prevent loosing your anchor when the shackle comes loose;

http://www.skippertips.com/public/344.cfm

Favunclerich, that is exactly what we did, but on in the same pattern, thanks for the link, there are many things interesting on this website.

 

[Two killicks]

Pat:

I'm impressed you can laugh about your adventure! The waves on Big Rideau Lake must have been unusually big because of the wind from Hurricane Joaquin running up the east coast of the USA and Canada. What I don't understand is why the beavers were interested in your boat. What were they chewing on? I've never heard of beavers chewing on any thing but trees or wooden beams under docks.

Ron

Ron, believe me, they were chewing, on what??? the keel I think, the scratching noise was not loud, but the chewing, wow, we felt the vibration as they were munching! That is why we left in the middle of the night. I cant wait to get the boat out of the water to see if there are any dammage to the paint or fiberglass...

 

[Scuffy]

We have an anchor we removed from our boat as we bought a larger and heavier one. The one we took off is a Lewmar 16.5 pounder. It's yours for free you pay the shipping from Pa. Leave it to Beaver! Maybe they were just trying to shoo you away.

 

[Two killicks]

Thanks for the offer Dave, but the shipping and custom will end up probably more than a new one...

I ordered a RT flag last week from ranger tug, the 25$ flag ended up costing me 63$ 😱

 

[RonB]

Thanks for the offer Dave, but the shipping and custom will end up probably more than a new one...

I ordered a RT flag last week from ranger tug, the 25$ flag ended up costing me 63$ 😱

When shipping from USA to Canada, use USPS (US Postal Service, not to be confused with UPS) whenever possible, since the package will only be subject to Canadian sales tax, and they will often skip the sales tax if the declared value is less than $100. Using UPS is very expensive, since they always charge $35 for doing the cross-border paperwork on top of sales tax. I'm not sure about Fedex since I haven't used them for cross border shipments.

Ron

 

[Sea Jo]

Interesting story, good thing you left before they chewed threw hull and made your boat part of their dam. Next step you would be hearing them up on swim step opening door ,just kidding. would have left quickly also, no one wants their boat damaged.

 

[JamesTXSD]

Can't speak to the beaver situation, but there are numerous reports of people cruising for the first time in the Florida Keys who hear sounds like their hull is cracking! Brine shrimp - they munch on other critters that are on the hull, but it absolutely does sound like the fiberglass is self-destructing.

They do no harm to the boat.

Those "first trips" are learning experiences. I call some of those "oops" events tuition: money you pay to learn something.

Sounds like you are truly enjoying the boat!

 

[Stevan47]

Hi Pat: Good to hear from you and about your adventures. No beavers down here: only bloody big sharks and lots of dolphins. My R21 came with a 5kg Bruce (I think that equates to about 12 lb I think) - does the job. Not sure an=bout the chain size - I must measure it one day, but I have eight metres of chain and forty metres of rode (braided nylon rope). That is more than sufficient for any anchoring I do here.

I am interested in your report of glare from the spotlight. I too experienced that issue when using my spotlight at night. It blinded me from the reflection from the f'rd guardrails and the white coloured superstructure. I thought about raising it to the next steel platform up on the mast but that would have meant extending the wiring, drilling holes and increasing the top weight and thereby raising the centre of gravity a little. What are your thoughts, and also anyone else's opinions?

I will try using some of that black Armorflex refrigeration pipe insulation material and see what it does.
Regards

 

[Scuffy]

The free anchor has been claimed. :mrgreen:

 

[Irish Mist]

Steven
The pipe wrap I have used is at Home Depot and is for wrapping copper pipes.. It really makes a differance I would just keep it in the anchor locker as it will stay out of the way if you position it properly in the locker... Or leave it on if it doesn't bother you ..

 

[Stevan47]

Irish Mist: Good idea - will try this weekend. My boat is on display at our local 'Club Marine' boat show this weekend (Mandurah, Western Australia) so I will put some of the material on the rails in the evening and see how the light reflects then while it is tied up at the marina. Kind regards, Stevan.

 

[Two killicks]

I bought a 11 pound anchor, with 25 feet of 1/4 inch chain. So the setting will be the same. I will try the insulation as well next year to see the Difference. A 80$ cost + a dinghy to go with that...

 

[Two killicks]

Great news, the boat in not damaged by the beaver chewing at all... My only guess is that I had lots of vegetation on or around the prop and rudder and they were going at it...