Our lovely old girl, theRaincoast Maiden, passed all 6 inspections with flying colours and went back into the water last Thursday. Now we’re busy waxing, polishing, oiling, painting, scrubbing so that she will look her best by May when our season starts.
The annual haul out always means the start of a few days of high activity! On Tuesday the Raincoast Maiden was lifted out and the life raft taken in for inspection. The fire suppression system was tested today, followed by another two inspections (radios and electrical circuits) early next week, all of this leading up to the grand finale: the Transport Canada Inspection. This year we have not only our annual inspection to “worry” about but also an underwater inspection which is due only once every 4 years. If all goes well the boat will be floating again by next Thursday! 
Last weekend Al & I made the run down the West Coast from Ucluelet to Sidney. The weather was nice enough but COLD ….. but nothing that long underwear, a t-shirt, fleece sweater, fleece vest, TWO jackets, a hat and double pair of mitts couldn’t fix! We’ll be in Sidney for the next 2 months, getting the boat ready for the upcoming season.
We are now closed for the season. Thanks to all of you who joined us on a cruise this year and also to those of you you sent your guests our way – we really do appreciate it. We look forward to another year of adventures, starting in early May 2014!
Returning from an evening wedding charter on August 21st. Congratulations to Jessica & Leigh who tied the knot on August 22nd. We enjoyed having you and your family aboard and being part of your special celebration.
We finally made it back to Ucluelet after having been delayed by a repair that took longer than expected. We are happy to be home and hope to be ready to start our season in a few days.
What a relief! The Raincoast Maiden is back in the water after 4 LONG WEEKS of sitting on blocks in a parking lot. The reason for being out of the water for such an extended period is a repair that went “sideways” when a courier lost an essential part of machinery which then had to be manufactured! So if you are the person who had an extra parcel delivered to you, enjoy the coupling to our port shaft as we no longer need it!
Each spring our boat gets lifted out of the water and put in a parking lot. It is our one chance a year to do work that is difficult or impossible to do while the boat is in the water. This Easter weekend we made use of the warm, sunny weather to wax and polish the hull. We even got a head start on this year’s summer tan!
After a few days of blustery conditions the sea finally calmed down enough for us to take the Raincoast Maiden down the West Coast of Vancouver Island to Sidney, near Victoria. We got here two days ago and are excited to have started working on getting the boat ready for the upcoming season. The Raincoast Maiden may be a pretty lady but she does demand a fair dose of TLC to keep her looking good – which is exactly what we’ll be up to in the next few weeks!
