We left Port of Orillia at 7:45, and crossed a very flat Lake Simcoe,

arriving at Gamebridge at 10:30.  Andy had  a low oil pressure on the Port engine, so he ran with only the Starboard engine through this set of locks.  We were through the 5^th lock, Bolsover at 12:40—he checked the oil, and called the diesel mechanic from Orillia as well as BYH and his brother Duncan.  It may be that the oil pressure sending switch is toast.  We continued on and were through the Kirkfield lock at 16:10, after waiting for the lock to come down and then take us up which is typically an hour each way. We arrived at Rosedale at 5:45—long day, 42.2 miles and 6 locks. There were only 2 other boats above the lock,  I would have thought it would be busier for a Friday night.  Andy touched base with Karl, regarding meeting up later in the week.

On Saturday we locked through Rosedale at 9:05, and then were on to Fenlon at 9:50 and Bobcaygeon at 11:55.  These two locks were busier, as they are in the middle of busy towns and have power.  We had rain off and on in the morning.  Peter from BYH called, Andy told  him about our latest issues.  He said we could stay at the gas dock for the night, as we wanted fuel and a pumpout.  We arrived at 1:50 and tied up having gone 34.3 miles and 3 locks.  Rain continued throughout the afternoon. Around 6 pm a house boat stopped and the gas dock and tied up perpendicular to it. 

Both Andy and I came out to talk to them.  They knew almost nothing about boating, docking or tying lines. Andy helped them turn the boat, so they were parallel with the dock. Andy texted Peter, and he came down to tell them that they couldn’t stay there, and that they should go tie up on the blue line at the Lock.  After they left, we jumped in our car and drove to the lock, so we could help them tie up.  We told the lock staff that they were enroute, and Steve and his crew took over, and turned them around, so that they were facing away from the lock.  The driver of the houseboat, said he was restricted and couldn’t actually go through the locks—we figured he didn’t pass his 5-minute training session.  As pleasure craft owner,  we need a boating license—however renters do not—I don’t get it—they are definitely a hazard.

We  filled up with fuel and pumped out before we left Buckhorn Yacht Harbour at 9:00 on Sunday, passing by the rental- still tied up to the blue line.  We went through Buckhorn at 9:20, Lovesick at 10:10, Burleigh at 10:45, Young’s Point at 11:45 and arrived at Lakefield at 12:30, where we tied up and plugged into power.    There were several boats there, many of which were loopers. By late afternoon the lock was was full.

  There was also a kayaker there name Chris, who was from Ottawa.  He had started in Port Severn less than a week ago , and had gone 220 km.  He ended up pitching his tent, close to our boat, so Andy spent some time visiting with him.

On Monday morning, we went though the Lakefield lock at 9:30, with Chris.  He is amazing, and kept up with us the whole way,

  We went through Sawer Creek at 10:00, Douro at 10:20, Otonobee at 10:50, Nassau Mills at 11:20 .  Chris dropped off here for a rest.  We went through the lift lock at 12:10 and then through the Ashburnham lock at 12:30 and tied up on the gray line.  Tough day- 7 locks and 10 miles.  We visited with Kirk, the lockmaster who we knew from Buckhorn, as well as Andrew who was a Lovesick last summer. Chris appeared shortly after 1:00 in his kayak, he was taking it out here and going back to Ottawa.

We spent a peaceful night and met some loopers in the morning from around Duluth, that shared some favorite anchoring spots in Lake Superior.  We left in the morning, just before 9:00 to head to Scotts Mills Lock 19, so we could get through and head up the Otonobee River to Rice lake and Hastings.  We arrived at 1:30, having gone 38.4 miles.  We tied up on the gray wall, and were soon joined by many loopers.  We walked to the LCBO and grocery store, and just got back to the boat, when it started to rain. 

In the morning we locked through Hastings, and headed up the Trent river, when we got to Heally falls flight lock, we did a cross-over at the top of 17, with 2 looper boats and a deck boat. 

When we went over to the basin, before Lock 15,  we saw Just Wright in the lock.  We had planned to meet here for a catchup. We had last seen them on June 11^th in Buckhorn, as there were leaving to go down the TSW back to the Thousand Islands and beyond. In the afternoon, Andy put a light coat of Cetol on the teak railings, and then we went to visit at the picnic table.  We had some rain, so moved onto our sundeck, after the rain it became very hot and humid. We had a quiet night.

On Thursday we went through Lock 15 – Heally falls at 9:25, followed by Crowe’s Bay at 10:30, here we waited for a couple of boats coming up, then it was on to Campbellford at 11:00.  We waited for a couple more boats, and once we were through the lock there was another 7 boats waiting to go through.  We arrived at Old Mill Park, Campbellford at 11:15 and tied up.

Around 1:00, Karl arrived with our new inverter, as well as some other parts.

  He worked most of the afternoon, on setting it up with our Lithiums, and when he left we were fully charging. .  After dinner, he finished up and was off to Ivy Lea.  We felt a whole lot better, although he discovered that one of our alternators wasn’t putting out the correct voltage, and will have to be changed.   He removed the DC-DC charger, and took our old inverter to sell to another boater.  On Friday we walked over to the laundry and Sharpe’s grocery store for a few things.  Around noon, Brian and Helen arrived from  Bancroft and we went to lunch, then the chocolate factory and V&S.

We had intermittent showers throughout the day. 

On Saturday, we had Rick and Linda Wigmore visit from Oshawa, we had drinks and snacks and told long-story- short tales at the picnic table. Around 1:30, David and his mother Grace arrived from Hamilton—David and Andy were going to come up with a plan for electrical upgrades over the fall and winter. 

David helped me upgrade the Garmin GPS system, as well as reset a tripped fuse on   the hot water heater, since my hot water was running out, even though we were connected to shore power.    We will be setting up a list with pictures of what needs to be done and sending it on to him later this week.  After they left we had dock tails with 7 or 8 boats looper boats. In the morning we will be starting our trip back to Buckhorn, as we have to leave for Winnipeg on the 1st or 2nd of August.

After topping up the fuel and pumping out, we left Victoria harbour on Sunday July 2^nd.  It was still a little smoky, with very little wind.  We went about 21.6 miles and anchored in Monument channel between Star and Galbraith islands.   We were joined later in the afternoon by Crustacean.  There were 5 other boats in the area.  After crustacean did some exploring, they flew their drone around  our boats. 

   Bill picked us up and we went to their boat for drinks and snacks, and got to meet their son Kyle.  We spent a quiet night. 

In the morning we left and went 18.6 miles to 3 fingers lake, which is part of the Massassauga park. 

We anchored in this bay, with about 7 other boats, and celebrated out 13^th anniversary.

In the morning when we went to leave, the Port starter battery wouldn’t turn over, so we started the generator to charge the battery.  We decided to go the 4 miles to Henry’s restaurant and plug in.    The next morning we left around 10, and went to  12 mile bay,

we were meeting Brian Hayton, at a public dock near Moose Deer Point marina. 

He was driven there by Brian Vermeersch.  He brought us some provisions as well as  a spare starter battery.   Once he was loaded up we took off and headed back to the Monument channel and anchored around 2:15.  We relaxed in the afternoon, and the two old guys went for a dip and later  tried fishing,

bringing back this small bass. 

It was a hot evening.

In the morning we left just after 8:00 headed for Longuissa Bay, just as it started to sprinkle.  We had to pull up the anchor as Andy’s night-line had hooked onto one of  the float line.  We went the 13 miles and arrived at about 10:15.  It rained on and off all afternoon. We occupied ourselves playing cards.  In the evening, Brian went out in the dinghy, but came back empty handed.  He said the bay was very weedy.  At nightfall there were 10 sailboats and 4 power boats in the bay—very popular spot! 

In the morning we left  the anchorage at 8:10 headed for Port Severn lock.  There were some waves, once we were in open water, but they diminished as we turned into the channel headed to Green and Potato Island.  We reached the lock at were though by 10:40.  We were then on to the big chute and waited for one lock up before going through.  Once on the other site, we stopped at the dock and went for ice cream at the marina. 

A few miles further up the trent severn, a light on the port engine went on and there was a blue puff a smoke.  Andy shut the engine down and we proceeded to Swift on one engine, arriving at 2:50.  Andy called around in Orillia, looking for a diesel mechanic, and found one that will take a look at our engine on Wednesday.  Andy went down to look at the engine, and it looks like some coolant  and possibly oil spilled out.    He called his brother, Duncan for his opinion, and we now suspect that we  may need a new head gasket. We are going to spend a couple nights at Swift, plugged in to power and then one night at Couchiching, before booking in for  3 nights in Orillia.

Another high speed power boat, called money just money, also had an engine issue– Maybe we need to rename our boat to something like this- Money Just Money! 

We played cards in the evening,  it was a cooler night, so most of the windows were closed. 

On Saturday, Andy brought out the charts for Georgian Bay and the North Channel and went over them with Gary, a looper  from Pennsylvania on Frost Free.  Andy and Brian did some fishing near the spillway from the dam, but came home empty handed.

 A bit of a sleepness night was had by the captain and admiral, as Andy worried about passing through Hydro glen and mcdonald’s cut—two narrow channels with a strong current on one engine.  Going through these areas, Brian and I were on each side of the boat with boat hooks,  but Andy did a fabulous job, and our services weren’t needed.  We continue along the Trent Severn and arrived at the Couchiching lock around 11:00.  We told the lock staff we were on one engine, and another boat helped us tie up, and allowed us into the lock first.  Once we were out, we tied up on the port side. 

Andy called Port of Orillia, and booked us in for Monday to Thursday.  We went for a walk around the lock, and saw there was a restaurant nearby that served Kawartha Ice cream.  We decided to go later in the afternoon for some.  However unknown to us, when we showed up at 2:45, they were already closing for the day. Met some loopers from Coburg, that were on day 6 of their loop having started from Pigeon Lake- liked the name of the boat–Done Saving.

We played more cards in the evening, and we  all went for showers. While I was gone, Andy and Brian, saw a fox near the boat—maybe Muriel was checking in on us.  We had a pleasant night and   we were the only boat at Lock 42.  It was a little foggy in the morning when we got up.

  We asked theLockmaster to call the CN bridge tender to find out a good time for us to come down to the bridge.  We don’t want to be idling for an hour in front of the bridge with only one engine.

At 9am the lock called the bridge, but he didn’t pick up.  A boat came to the lock, which had been able to get under the bridge, and told us that there was another boat on the other side waiting.  Within about 15 minutes, it appeared. So we decided to go up to the lock to find out when it might open.  After a short wait the bridge tender came out, and said they were changing the starter in the generator, and it may be an hour or more—so we turned around and went back to the lock.  Around 10:30, the locking staff told us that the bridge would be opening shortly, as a train had just  crossed.  So we fired up and went back to the bridge,  once there, the bridge tender told the 10 opposing boats, to let us pass though first, as we only had the one engine. 

Most of the boats were flying the AGLCA burgee.  We crossed Lake Couchiching, and were tied up at the marina by 12:30.  After having lunch, I did a couple loads of laundry, while Andy and Brian went to the Legion and liquor store.    The marina had another 8 or 10 looper boats by nightfall, one was a 65 foot Fleming.  For supper, Brian took us to Fionn Maccools, we returned to the boat and played cards.

Many of the looper boats left early in the morning to get to the train bridge and Couchiching.  The boats are rushing to get to the Big Chute, during the week, as they will not put large boats through on weekends.    In the morning another boater, stopped by who was a mechanic—he checked our coolant and determined it was very low—so we topped it up. Around noon, Brian and Helen arrived, they had come to pick up Brian Hayton, so he could return to Bancroft.  We went out for lunch to Friends Dinner, which was quite good.  Afterwards we stopped at Canadian Tire, as Andy wanted to pick up some more coolant, and Rotella T5 oil, just in case we need to replace fluids, if it ends up being the head gasket. Just as we were getting out of the car and saying our goodbyes, the skies opened and  rain started to fall. 

Andy and I returned to the boat, so that we could cover up the top.  We had rain and thunder for most of the afternoon, so we played cards.  Around 6:00, there was a bit of a break in the weather, so we walked over to the Metro grocery, to pick up a few things.  On Wednesday, many boats left in the morning, and many more arrived as the day went by- the outer docks here are almost full.  

Steven, the diesel mechanic  came by around 9:00,  he looked around the engine, and had Andy start it up.  No water was being released, so he ascertained that we likely needed a new impeller in the coolant water pump.   We had a  couple of spare ones on-board.  Around 10:30, Kevin, who works for Steve, came by to replace it. When he pulled out,  the impeller, none of the fins were left intact.  He had to pour a lot of water through the water-heat exchanger to dislodge any impeller pieces, prior to replacing it.  Andy ran the engine  for about 30 minutes to get it up to temperature, and ensure we had good water flow.  By 12:30, Kevin was gone, and then Andy and I had to clean up the water/antifreeze mess beneath the engine. 

While we were busy in the engine room, our friends Peggy, Tom and Nayla from Hamilton arrived on Water Lily-  we had met them last summer on the Rideau.  We spent several hours later in the afternoon catching up with Tom and Peggy, while Nayla kept guard, or cuddled with us.

In the evening we caught up on some episodes of Coronation Street.

I was awoken around 4 am to wind and rain, which continued until 8:30.  Since I couldn’t get back to sleep, I stayed up and read.  Once the rain had stopped and the wind died down several of the looper boats left for Couchiching.   Around 11 we walked over to Wilkie’s bakery to pick up Chelsea buns, and then went to Metro for a couple of things.  We came back to the boat, had lunch and played some cards.

In the evening Tom and Peggy stopped by for some more visiting.

If the weather and wind is favourable in the morning, we plan to cross Lake Simcoe to Gamebridge Lock 41and beyond. Karl the electrical engineer should be back from Scotland in a day or two, ans we still hope to meet him somewhere to look at the electrical system before we return to Winnipeg at the beginning of August.