We ended up spending almost a week under the covered slip.  While there we met most of the boaters in that part of the marina.  On Tuesday, May 31^st, we went to Bobcaygeon to do some laundry.  It was a warm day so we also made a stop at Kawartha Dairies, and I tried the new flavour- Coconut.   Ice cream has really increased in price, for two double cones, it was almost $14.  However, they did give us a small carton of Black Raspberry Thunder, when we went into the store for some milk—as we had spent over $20. So more ice cream for later…..

On June 1^{st it} rained most of the day, so I spent the day washing, waxing and buffing the outside of the cabin and gunnels.  We had planned on leaving Thursday, however when Andy went to the marina office, he learned that the parts for our generator were in Orillia, and would likely be delivered later in the day.  On Friday afternoon the generator impeller was installed, however it was determined that while the generator is running, it does not re-charge the generator starter battery.  The marina technicians, figured it was an electronic issue, not mechanical so suggested that we called ONAN. 

This would be an expensive fix, as they would have to send someone out from Toronto, a more reasonable solution would be to find an alternate source for charging the battery, and it was suggested that we buy a small solar panel and hook it up only to this battery. Andy mentioned this to our dock-mate, Ken, who said he had one of these small panels, and said he would let us try it out.

We think that it should work, as we only need to charge this battery when we use the generator, and will try it out later in the summer.

Finally on June 6^th, we had no more excuses for staying at Buckhorn Yacht Harbour, so we left the covered slip, it was overcast.  We motored over to the Buckhorn lock, and tied up on the blue line to go through.  We were told there would be a short delay as they were repairing one of the motors used to empty the lock.  We were through by 10:45, and then it was on to Lovesick an hour later at 11:45, Burleigh falls at 12:20 and Young’s Point at 13:30. As we were going through one of the locks, the lock staff commented on how many passes we had stuck on our windshield.  This is the 7 year that we have spent time on the Ontario waterways. 

  We arrived at Lakefield Lock #26 at 14:15.  So we had gone through 4 locks and about 22 miles.

We tied up and hooked up to power.  Three power pedestals had been added to this lock over the winter.  

We decided to stay here for two nights as it was predicted to rain all day Tuesday.    We met some loopers coming through from the states, as well as other Canadians travelling along the TSW.  I loved the look of the boat that this looper had on the back of his catamaran.

    Here’s a pair of ducks on a dock Tuesday morning, trying to get out of the rain.

During the day I prepared some pasta sauce, we used some for supper, and I froze a container for another easy supper in the future.  I have also had plenty of time to read, so have been breezing through the box of books that Helen gave me while in Bancroft.  To date I have read: the maid, 5 little words, where the crawdads sing, and tough customer and fair warning—all very good reads.

 On Wednesday morning we walked into Lakefield and stopped at the drug store and Foodland for a few things. Around lunch time, we locked down with one other boat- Best Day Ever and followed them through Sawyer Creek and then on to Douro lock #24 where we tied up.

So two locks and 2.3 miles- Big day!

On Thursday morning, we had planned to move on, but when Andy went to start up the engines, the starboard would not start.  He spent the afternoon talking to Alex at PKI distribution in Toronto.  Andy suspected that the starter on the starboard engine may be defective, as he checked the batteries and they were at 12.8 Volts.  Alex found us a tech- Josh Savage, that could drive out to our boat the next morning and do an assessment of our issue, if it was the starter the bill could be up to $1800 and it may 5 – 7 days to get the part.  Most of the remainder of Thursday was cloudy with intermittent rain showers.  We ran the generator for almost two hours in order to replenish our house batteries.   I walked around the lock station, and checked out their flower beds and garden.  

 We went to bed early and didn’t sleep well, worrying about yet another boat issue.  In the morning Josh called to say he was on the way and would arrive around 9 am. 

He assessed the engine as Andy started the boat and figured we had a bad battery, that didn’t have enough voltage to turn over the starter.  He also noticed that a couple of battery connections to the house bank were loose or not connected at all.  Rather than us limping to Peterborough on one engine, and fighting the current, we asked Josh to go into Peterborough and buy us a new starter battery.   If anyone is keeping track of our battery issues- we last changed out both starter batteries in September of 2021. I would have thought they would last longer than that.  It’s likely on warranty and we will try to return it in Campbellford, where we know the Canadian Tire is near the marina. 

Once Josh returned and the battery was switched out, we were good to go. Here’s the customer and service person both smiling Andy because our bill will be a lot less than anticipated, and Josh because he didn’t have to crawl behind the starboard engine to extract the starter. 

Our friends, Brian and Helen arrived shortly thereafter with Andy’s amazon order, which are cooling, sun protection arm sleeves.  Andy has been wearing long sleeve shirts or sweatshirts to keep the sun off his arms, as directed by his doctor. These sleeves should give him protection and allow him to now wear t-shirts.    Soon after Brian and Helen arrived, two other boats arrived at the lock, so we decided to lock through with them.   Helen took some pictures as we were leaving the lock wall and entering the lock. 

  We were though Douro at 11:30, Otonabee at noon, Nassau Mills at 12:20, Peterborough lift lock at 13:15 and Ashburnham at 13:50.  Saw some trees down along the shore from the wind storm that had blown through here on the May long weekend.

We arrived at Peterborough marina at 14:10 and tied up with help from 3 deck hands and 3 boaters.  The wind and current were pushing us all over the place.  Once we were settled, I went in search of the laundry, as I wanted to wash a couple loads.  I was finished that task by 5:00.  Andy had invited a couple of the boaters who had helped us dock, over for drinks on the sundeck. They were loopers from Charlevoix Michigan, headed north.  As it turned out, Glenn the captain of the boat- Saunter, had worked with corrugated cardboard, similar to Andy had when he worked for Domtar in the 1980’s- so they had lots to talk about.  His deckhand Mike, was from Sault Ste. Marie.  We had a good chat with the two of them.  We barbecued for supper, and then watched some past episodes of Coronation.  There was a blues singer at the nearby Holiday Inn, so there was loud music until at least 10:00.

 On Saturday morning, we walked to Boater’s World to pick up a replacement fender rope holder, for the one I had damaged getting into the lift lock.  We then continued on to the grocery store to pick up some perishables.   Here’s the boat parked at the marina, near the lift lock cruise boat.

The park near the marina was busy most of the morning, as dragon boat relays were taking place.  In the early afternoon we walked across the street to the UK store, and browsed through their wares.  The person working at the store, had been a boater, and kept his boat at Buckhorn Yacht Harbour—small world! We returned to the boat and had intermittent rain and thundershowers most of the afternoon.  For dinner we walked across the street to Jack’s for fish and chips, I also had deep fried pickles. 

In the morning we met a couple from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, with a boat that is trailerable.  They hope to  traverse the entire Trent Severn Waterway and then will pick up their car from Trenton and take their boat back to the states. 

It continued to rain on Sunday, so rather than getting wet while locking, we decided to stay at the marina another night.   In a break from the rain, we moved the boat from tying up port side to starboard side.  This should help us pull out of the slip in the morning, as the current is quite strong at this dock. 

We spent the afternoon playing cards and reading.  At about 4:00 we went for a short walk and ended up having drinks with the boaters on Dock C.  There is even a cat on Chief Scalliwag, named Docker that made it’s presence known.

The late afternoon turned out to be quite pleasant, we were glad that we stayed at the marina for the extra day. Andy BBQ’D for supper. 

Tomorrow, we plan to be at Scott Mills at 10:00 when the locks open and then make the 20 mile trek to Rice Lake followed by the 6 mile crossing of it to the Hastings lock wall.  We’ll stay there for a couple of days provided the weather is good.  Then we will continue down the TSW. We’ve booked to be in Campbellford for the weekend of June 17-20^th, we are hoping that David can come back to finish our Grmin electronics setup.