I thought you fellows might like to see my last sailing trip of the year. In late October there was a last-minute spot of abnormal above-freezing weather that prevented our bay from freezing as early as it usually does. My friends and I watched and waited to see if it would be possible to sail in November, which as far as we know, has never been done. Sure enough, on the first Saturday in November the harbour had only a thin rim of ice which was easily broken by the great ship "Made Merry" and her courageous crew. It was about five degrees below freezing with between five to ten knots of wind, perfect to fill the sails without too much splashing (important). What wake was kicked up by the merry bow was frozen on the deck before it could trickle back and get our pants wet. It's possible this is the latest a sailing vessel has sailed on Great Slave Lake. We stayed under weigh for about an hour and made two complete circuits of Joliffe Island, with its lee shores and forbidding rocks. We were aided in our endeavors by Lord Nelson himself, who provides the recipe for his favourite drink: the old black rum with hot sweet tea and lemon juice. Thus fortified, with our brave ship we sailed into history.
Well done ship of fools
Keith,
.  That looks like it was a great day on the water, cold but great! Thanks for sharing! How long do you figure before the ice will be to thick to get through?
Regards,
.    Will
Right now. We're driving trucks on it. In about a month we'll be landing Hercules and Boeing 727s on it. No joke! (Those pictures were taken on about November 5th. I took a while to get around to posting them)Â
Keith
I thought I'd sailed in a lot of cold weather, but I've never had to "ice break" my way along
What are the two bolts sticking out of your rub rails ?
Hi Bob, those are the ends of the "U"-bolts that the pulleys in the steering system are attached to. Normally they'd be cut off flush with the rub rail, but I recently changed the rope in there and as it stretches the steering periodically needs to be tightened up by turning the nuts on the U-bolts. Next spring when I haven't had to adjust it anymore I'll saw them flush so you'll only see the nuts there and not those ugly bolts.
Greetings Keith,
I love that last photo, as it shows one of the best trailer setups for a Weekender that I have seen to date. The flat bottom of the hull looks to be only 18 inches above the ground and is actually below the tops of the wheels thanks to the keel clearance afforded by the curving cross-members of the trailer frame. The trailer also seems to have a reasonably long tongue. Together, these features should let the boat easily slip off and on the trailer in some very thin water on shallow boat ramps. I doubt you even get your toes wet at launch time. Compare that to the aluminum boat / trailer combination in the background on the right where the very bottom of the keel sits above the tops of the wheel fenders.
The trailer wheels could be set a little more forwards to reduce hitch tongue weight, as there is no heavy power boat motor to support, but that would really be picking nits.
Is that an EZ-Loader trailer?
Nice to see that your very nautical cap has not blown away in five years of wet sheets and flowing seas.Â
Good day, Tom!
I was really lucky when it comes to the trailer. I built the boat in a small town where I had worked for seven years or so, and everybody in town knew about the boat. When I finally moved away I still didn't have a trailer for the boat and my boss and friends at work chipped in to buy that trailer. They didn't know exactly how big the boat was or how much it weighed, and they didn't want to ask since they wanted it to be a secret. So they bought one that was quite a bit larger than the boat needed, more or less by accident. It rides really nicely and like you said, the curved cross members make the boat sit nice and low. It is an EZ-Loader. I towed the boat right across Canada and my truck didn't even notice it was there.
I bought that hat 14 years ago when I started building the boat. I never sail without it.