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.

Mismatched driveshafts

A repair job is never allowed to go by the book. There always - always - has to be some weird, poorly documented catch that sets the whole thing back.

Wind + summer = kiteboarders?

MBM20130729-153952-3149s.jpgHey, it certainly looks like a valid equation if you hang out on the Queen's University waterfront.

What's inside an outboard engine gearcase

Since we have a lower gear case in pieces anyway, I may as well write about how the bottom end of your outboard engine is put together. This is one of those clever mechanisms that we boaters usually just take for granted, and trust the shop to deal with when it fails. It's kind of cool to see how it all works.

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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.

Crossbeams Closed In

With the temperature now dropping below zero on a regular basis, temporary permission has been obtained to bring boat parts indoors for short periods so that the epoxy can fully cure. (In this weather, the resin will kick off and gel just fine, but the reaction slows down dramatically once it starts to solidify.

Crossbeam details

The crossbeams of the Starwind 860 are its most complicated parts, from a construction standpoint. Today I'll show you a few internal details from the aft pair.

Crossbeams, little by little

Trimarans are finicky to build. There really aren't too many ways to simplify the highly loaded crossbeam structure, particularly when (as in our case) it has to be able to fold for trailering.

Our Starwind 860's aft crossbeams are now sitting partially assembled in the garage. The webs, the strut blocks and the centre blocks are in place, and it is now time to start closing them up.

Guide to Thread Compounds

There's a bewildering array of mystery goops available for use on threaded fasteners and fittings. Which one's right for the job?

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