Ahoy, boaters! Welcome to yet another boating blog, this one focused mainly on small-craft cruising and boatbuilding on the canals and lakes of Ontario, Canada.

Many folks- like us- love the water, but have land-based commitments (you know, jobs and things like that) that prevent us from sailing off to the sunny south. That's OK- there are plenty of interesting places to cruise right here in Canada, many of which can be explored in a weekend (or perhaps a long weekend... or a week).

Our current flagship is Maverick V, a 1974 C&C 35 Mk.II sloop. She's supplemented by Sunset Chaser, a five-metre runabout designed by Phil Bolger and built by Matthew B. Marsh in 2001. In the shop is the prototype of the Marsh Design Starwind 860 power trimaran, which we are building to extend our cruising grounds.

On The Water

Photos, ramblings and the occasional bit of useful information from our voyages aboard the runabout Sunset Chaser and other small boats.

Lithium Charlatanism

Submitted by Matthew on

It's great to see electrification taking off, as was definitely evident at a recent boat show. It's a little less great to see how much charlatanism and huckstership have tainted the nascent field of marine lithium batteries and the equipment that uses them.
*****
This 1100 W electric outboard is equivalent to a 3 hp gas engine!
1100 W is 1.475 hp, by the literal definition of horsepower which is 1 hp = 745.7 W. Stop lying.
*****

Big Boat, Big Depreciation

Submitted by Matthew on

I recently came across a 60-foot motor yacht that, after two years with its first owner, was now listed at a brokerage. The broker mentioned that its asking price of \$2.8m CAD was quite a deal, being a $1.5m savings versus the boat's original cost, while having only 200 hours on its twin Volvo IPS powertrains and being virtually pristine inside and out.

Get Rid Of That Damn Kellet

Submitted by Matthew on

Kellets – those chunky cast-iron weights intended to be tied to the middle of the anchor rode – still exist, somehow, despite being useless (at best) or downright dangerous (at worst). Here's why yours deserves a date with the scrap bin.

Weekend Warrior Cruising

Submitted by Katy on

A lot has changed in life over the last several years. Getting out on the boat became a fair bit harder with the addition of one child, and then a second. Then there's owning a country property that was too small to start, so we added one addition...then a second. Both of which are nearly complete.

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In The Shop

Dispatches from the shop: Progress reports on our boat building projects, plus some useful information for those of you who are building, restoring or repairing your own boats.

What's up with the Starwind?

Submitted by Matthew on

Welcome back, folks. I hope you've had a merry Christmas. Or a merry last few Christmases, for that matter.
So, whatever happened to that weird, radical power trimaran we were working on? The one that filled these pages, oh, seven or eight years ago?

Well, life happened.

Epoxy & Fibreglass in Winter

Submitted by Matthew on

It's still winter up here in the great frozen wilds of Ontario. That doesn't mean that boatbuilding has to come to a complete stop. We can, with a few tricks, turn ice-cold epoxy into something usable.

And Then There Were Two (Hulls)

Submitted by Matthew on

141214-200007-8151s.jpgThere's still a long way to go, but now it *looks* like two-thirds of a trimaran!

Epoxy on skin? Use vinegar.

Submitted by Matthew on

Wet epoxy is pretty hard to clean up, particularly if you get it on your skin.

The easy solution? White vinegar. Rub the epoxy-contaminated skin with a vinegar-soaked paper towl for about 30 seconds, then wash normally with soap and water.

The vinegar arrests the curing reaction and loosens the bonds that are starting to form, allowing you to easily wash the soft epoxy away.

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