The list of projects to get ready for the Downeast Circle Route was longer and more arduous than we thought. Knowing you’re going to be away from your home port for many months takes preparation to a new level. Things need to be fixed. New gear needs to be installed. Arrangements need to be made to handle things back home. And the list goes on. Here’s a sampling of preparations we undertook that we hope will be helpful to others planning this or a similar voyage.
| Preparation Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Fuel Leak | The gaskets on the access port’s to True North’s diesel tank were cracked, allowing fuel to leak into the bilge. After cutting new gaskets, the big job was emulsifying the leaked fuel and pumping it out of almost inaccessible nooks and crannies of the bilge. A camera scope (too find residual diesel in the bilges) and an oil extractor (to pump it out) were two critical tools for this job. |
| Solar Panels | In order to have more autonomy, we installed two 140W solar panels. That seems to be enough to be able to sail all day with autopilot, instruments and fridge running without drawing the batteries down at all (at least on those occasional sunny days). |
| Inverter | Want to make a smoothie, microwave popcorn or watch TV while at anchor without running the (noisy, smelly) generator? A 2000W inverter is the way to go! Dan, a better plumber than electrician, got in a little over his head on this project and hired Steve Wilde, a professional marine electrician to finish the wiring. |
| Sacrificial Anodes | Magnesium is used in fresh water, aluminum in brackish water and zinc in salt water. We will be going from fresh to brackish to salt. We decided to install zincs before Spring launch, rather than haul the boat half way through the cruise. Hope this is the right choice. A great source for zincs is https://www.boatzincs.com. |
| Holding Tank Monitor | Given the scarcity of pump-out stations in rural Canada, monitoring one’s holding tank is critical. Monitors are not standard on these Beneteau’s. After unsuccessfully trying two versions of Gobius monitors, we finally gave up and tried a SCAD monitor as recommended by “Head Mistress” Peggy Hall. It works great. Warning: if you tap into an electric head circuit, the motor can cause a voltage surge and fry the SCAD monitor. Makes sure to add a diode to avoid this. SCAD Technologies were very helpful in troubleshooting this and providing a replacement. |
| Fender Board | Due to the locks with slimy walls and the occasional need to raft up to rough fishing boats, fender boards are critical and easy to make from a pressure treated 8 foot 2 x 6 piece of wood. Also, chemical safety gloves protect your hands when fending off lock walls. Sandy joined a network of women sailors, who recommended buying old XXL t-shirts from a thrift store to use as temporary fender covers. |
| Parts | We sourced a good inventory of spare parts for the engine, bilge pump, rigging, plumbing and electrics. We are also carrying an oil change kit, oil, coolant, extra diesel fuel and gasoline (for the dinghy and portable Honda generator). |
| Dinghy & Arch | Our 9 foot inflatable with a 2.3 HP Honda egg beater won’t cut it in the river and tidal currents so we upgraded to an 11 foot aluminium floor Zodiac with a 9.8 HP Tohatsu. We also installed an arch last year to use as davits, as well as support the solar panels). |
| Headsets | We acquired a pair of Sena SH10 bluetooth walkie-talkie headsets, also known as “marriage savers” by some. They allow the crew to talk in a quiet voice, even when one is positioned on the bow and the other at the helm. These take a lot of stress out of yelling or relying on hand signals for docking and anchoring maneuvers. We even found them useful when one of us was out in the dinghy and the other on board (see Day 20). |
| Connectivity | We quipped the boat with a Starlink satellite internet system. The bandwidth is amazing and about an order of magnitude faster than our home system! |
| Wash Down Pump | Beneteau put the wash down pump outlet near the stern, when it’s mostly used at the bow when hauling up mud with the anchor! We built a portable one that fits in the anchor locker, with a Johnson pump, an uptake hose that drops overboard and a small lithium batter, all contained in a Home Depot bucket that fits in the anchor locker. |
| HVAC | The stern heat pump wasn’t cooling or heating. We found out that the Dometic has the same coolant recharge procedure as a home system. Our home HVAC service company agreed to do it at a 5th of the price of the nearest marine HVAC specialist, who would have charged us to drive from Buffalo. We were apologetic about him having to crawl around tight spaces, but he said he’d encountered much worse in home systems. After all, we have no dirt floor or dead mice on board!  |
| We requested the post office to reroute mail to a family member to check for urgent items and scan them to us. | |
| House | We will have some family and friends visit the house weekly to check on things, water THE plant (no, gardening is not our forte), and remove any packages or mail that slips through the cracks. And we have great neighbors that don’t miss a beat when keeping an eye out for each others’ homes. |
| Charts & Guides | We acquired the necessary digital charts, cruising guides and other notices to mariners covering our route. |
| Insurance | It’s good to check that marine insurance covers the geographies and seasons in which you’ll cruise. Some exclude places too far North or South, and some exclude certain seasons. Also, we sourced medical travel insurance for our time in Canada. Our US insurance provides coverage if you’re willing to fight claims adjusters highly. trained in rejecting claims. For a modest cost, you can avoid all that and have more proactive coverage for medical emergencies, including evacuation. We used http://www.travelinsured.com. |
| Packing | How do you pack for 2-3 months, different weather conditions and with limited space? Well Sandy is the master. Starting a list way in advance helps. One idea we use is packing cubes. They are soft zip cases that facilitate organizing clothing. Besides clothing, medications, electronics, travel documents, reading material, games, etc, are also important to remember. |