Tuesday - Thursday, July 30 - August 1, 2019
Bay Port Yachting Centre in Midland, Ontario
We hung around in the lower pool of the Big Chute to take photos of a couple other Looper boats before getting underway to Midland, ON. Just as we began heading down river, our port tachometer stopped working. Brian made a quick inspection in the engine room to look for any obvious causes without success. We decided to continue onward doing our best to balance the engines rpm’s by sound.
Our trip to Midland was a relatively short 20-mile run. We covered the last 9 miles of the Trent Severn Waterway, went through our last lock at Port Severn (12-foot drop) and traveled 11 miles on the Severn Sound to Midland's Bay Port Yachting Centre (BPYC). Midland is the last large town with a well-equipped boatyard for a few hundred miles, so we’d made plans to stay a couple days to do some engine maintenance. Brian had spoken to the service manager a couple days prior to our arrival, and now the broken tachometer was added to our maintenance list.
BPYC is a very large, well-organized marina. A manager stopped by the boat the afternoon we arrived to go over what needed to be done during our stay and said they would have someone come by the boat the next day to help Brian change oil and oil filters on both engines and take care of the used oil. BPYC could also send over an engine mechanic if Brian could not fix the broken tachometer
Midland has a few restaurants within walking distance (1-1.5 miles) from the marina, so we decided to walk along the Trans Canada Trail to Phil's Pub & Eatery. The Trans Canada Trail is a system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, then up to the Arctic Ocean. The trail extends over 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers), but our little section ran along the shoreline from the marina into downtown Midland, about one mile (1.8 km). The walk was very scenic, however, the high lake water level surprised us with a challenge. About half-way to town, we came upon a section of trail that was about 4 inches underwater with no easy way around it. Do we turn around and take the other route walking along the main road, or go for a refreshing walk through the water? Both of us were wearing shorts and sandals that evening, so we chose the water option. The water was very clear and not too cold. It seemed like the right decision until we realized that the rest of the evening in town would be spent in wet sandals that squeaked with every step. The dinner was very good, and we took the dry path along the road back to the boat.
The next day, July 31, was Sue’s big 60th birthday, so she decided to sleep in. However, at 8:00am we heard a knock on the hull, which caused Bo to go into a barking frenzy. It was one of the service managers and a service technician, Amy, stopping by to discuss when they should come over to do the oil change. The tachometer problem had already be resolved by Brian, so that was off the list. We set 9:30am as oil change time to give us a chance to get Bo through his morning routine and let Sue wake up (not a morning person), then Bo and Sue could hang out on the sundeck when Amy returned.
Tachometer Repair: One of the bolts supporting the alternator had worked loose. The remaining 2 bolts kept the alternator in place, but it was out of alignment with the engine drive pulley. This pulled the alternator slightly forward breaking a wire sending a signal to the tachometer. Fortunately, the missing bolt was found in the bilge. Brian re-installed the bold and repaired the broken wire – voila! - the tachometer was operational again!
Amy returned at 9:30 with waste oil buckets needed for the oil change. Brian and Amy had the oil and oil filters changed within a couple of hours. Though it’s sad to say, it is still unusual to see women in mechanically related services, so Brian learned a bit about her while they worked. Amy grew up in the area and decided to be a mechanic when she got out of high school. She worked at an auto repair shop for a few years and recently decided to begin working on marine diesel engines, encouraged by her boyfriend who is a marine diesel mechanic. She was good at what she does, seemed to enjoy it and showed Brian a couple little tricks to avoid making a mess when replacing oil filters. Since diesel engines and messes seem to go together, less mess is always a good thing!
Sue’s birthday dinner took place at Lilly’s Italian Eatery in Midland. It was a small, modern Italian restaurant that provided a fantastic meal topped off with a fabulous giant slice of ice cream cake that we shared for dessert.
The following day was spent on various boat chores and laundry. We met a very interesting and pleasant local couple on the boat next to us (Pete & Leanne). They live here on their boat during the summer, and stay at a place in Mexico during the winter. He writes computer applications and she creates craft cards, so they can both work from anywhere with an internet connection. When we discussed traveling the Georgian Bay they said, “If you like water, rocks and trees – you are in for a good time.” Leanne made a very creative card for us and gave it to us the next morning just before we continued on our journey.