The continuing story

OK, so as the story continues I decided to start a new blog to cover our further adventures. So, if you are interested, here it is - life after our 400 Sundancer:

http://moreplanb.blogspot.ca/

Hope to see you there.

........S O L D ........

Yes – believe it or not, Plan B has been sold. We listed her at the end of last year when the activity is totally dead. But the first person who came and viewed her in March (the real start of the boat selling season) bought her. We had anticipated the sale to take at least a year and that we would have her for the 2013 season. Hmmm, same thing happened when we sold Alias 5 years ago.

 

Why sell? Well………we decided that we really wanted more of a cruiser than an express. And this was for the accommodations and primarily a bright salon with lots of windows to see out of. The express design (regardless of the make) is not exactly blessed with lots of window – just a couple of port holes. That is the primary reason to sell. It will be nice to sit inside and still feel like we can see what is going on around us. We have been torn between the sedan bridge and aft cabin – pros and cons to each style – unless budget and size have no limit…….Oh and on my wish list are diesels if at all possible. Now, on the down-side, I really love the styling on the big Sea Ray Sundancers – just so cool looking. And she really is like a sports car on the water. I think it will be a bit like going from a sports sedan (BMW M3) to an SUV. But since we spend more time at the dock than underway (around 30 hrs last year) we think this will be better for spending more time on board.

 

The boat was sold to a couple from the Bay City area of Michigan. They are moving up from a small bow-rider so a huge change in boating style for them. The survey went fine – passed with flying colours. They asked for a sea trial which obviously requires the boat be in the water rather than sitting in a shed. We launched April 19^th – a very windy day where the temperature started at 18ºC and then dropped to below freezing. The launch went fine and all the systems came to life after 7 months with no issues. We stayed on board Friday night as it snowed and ice pelleted through the night. Thank goodness for the great on board central heat. Saturday the decks were covered with ½” of ice and the canvas zippers were frozen, as were the mooring lines etc. Regardless the new owners showed up at 10:00 and we walked through all the systems. With the flood waters still flowing real fast and lots of debris and a 50 – 60 kph wind it was agreed to sea trial out to St Clair Harbor only and back. We stopped at the fuel dock and the new owners filled up to the tune of $1000. Then back to Rivers Bend where they signed off on the trial and we bid them good luck and happy travels.

 

So……what’s next? Well, you will just have to wait for the next post to get an update

 

 

 

Season Wrap-up

The season wrapped up uneventfully – some excellent weather and the opportunity to anchor off Canatera Park and some trips to Port Huron and Saint Clair. Haul out occurred Oct 12^th and went smoothly. Plan B is stored indoors again in St Clair.

I did manage to get a few minites of video and will try to put it together. I confess to not being good at it or having great equipment.

At the resteruant dock in St Clair - we tied here on one of our day trips.

Late summer dawn - view from the cockpit at Bridgeview

 

 Early morning at our dock

Plan B as viewed from George's flying bridge

Sea Ray Girl casting us off

 Cycling superstar Will helming down the St Clair River

Entering the Pine River and St Clair Harbor

Early morning in St Clair

L to R George, Jen, Sea Ray Girl and yours truly - in our cockpit at anchor

Liddy chillin'

Mary and Austin

Will and Carley and unknown person scooping chip dip!

"The Kids" preparing to jump

one,  two,   three, jump!!

Jen helming the mighty Plan B towards the Blue Water Bridge

Rescue? No Thanks…..

Williams’s girlfriend – Arianne came for a visit one weekend (she lives in Gataneau) and we took her to the boat for the week-end. We decided to head across to Port Huron for dinner - something a bit different. So, like when Austin came with us, Arianne does not have Nexus. The process is not difficult but it is time consuming. You have to tie up on the river at Desmonds Marina and then call in and explain you have a visitor with a passport but no Nexus. You are told very clearly not to leave the boat and wait for CBA officers to arrive. It takes about half an hour and then they check the paperwork over and ask questions. This time they did not board the boat and we got the OK to move 200 yards up the river and tie up by the restaurant. Time consuming but at least we were sitting in the sun, no shots were fired and no one was arrested.



I put the bilge blowers on and as we waited to start up a call came over the VHF. A 23 ft cruiser had lost power and was drifting down the St Clair River just south of the Black River. They were speaking with the US Coastguard and having difficulty getting an anchor down. I looked at Sea Ray Girl. “We should go help – if it was us drifting I would want some help” Nodding agreement we cast off and headed back out to the St Clair. I agreed that if we could see the boat we would offer assistance but I was not trolling up and down the river looking for the boat. We spotted a small boat over near the Canadian shore that might fit the description and headed across to see. As we closed up Sea Ray Girl went up on the bow to talk with the crew who unzipped the back cover and climbed out. We asked if they were the boat radioing for assistance. Affirmative. Did they want a tow back to Port Huron (they were a US boat) because we were heading there? The answer was a surprise. “No thanks. We are going to wait for the Coast Guard.” Hmm…….a choice between getting a tow now or waiting who knows how long for the Coast Guard boat to show up and all that time end expense. Strange. Anyway, assured they wanted to wait we headed back and enjoyed a nice dinner!