This is the END

Refugio sold today and it's bitter sweet, for so many reasons.  I gave Refugio a kiss on the haul, thanked her for our safe travels and wished her well on her new adventure with her new family. We've had nothing but good times and wonderful travels.  Perhaps someday we'll get another "smaller" boat for now we'll settle back and ponder our times together.

Kentucky River

A few miles back up the Ohio River, north of Madison, is the start of the Kentucky River. We've driven over this river many times as we've traversed back and forth across the state these past 10 years and have always thought it would be great fun to cruise it. So when Wendy & her family came up for a week long visit from Texas we thought it was a perfect time to investigate the river. Turns out we could have only traveled as far as the old Lock One, which is no longer operational. When the river is high, and if you have a smaller boat (not a vessel such as Refugio), you can go over the top of the lock and continue your journey, but we were happy to drop anchor at the first bend of the river. Our depth was 20+ feet, we were able to observe any other boat coming from either direction and the water & air temps could not have be more perfect for a swim! (As it turned out there was only one lone fisherman who passed us twice) Other than our own splashes, the only other sound was that of the occasional motor vehicle off in the distance on the highway and the numerous birds & cicadas who serenaded us all day. Alice hitched a ride on her Momma's back and was so relaxed that she feel asleep! We were able to pull her aboard and settle her in for a nap. As we all enjoyed swimming in the calm waters Refugio gently swayed between our two anchors in the small current at the bend of the river. After lunch and our swimming adventure our son-in-law and his son experienced their first try at fishing in the river! Nothing was caught, but no one seemed to mind – many memories were made this marvelous day!

On the Move

When we arrived at Washington Marine for our splash, Refugio was already in the sling hanging over water. Honestly I didn’t mind not seeing her being moved over the roads just inches off the ground – boats just should not be that close to dirt (either wet or dry). One of my jobs as deck boss is to watch for water at the tail pipe when the engines fire up; there should be a big gush of water, then there after continual little spurts. This time however, giving a thumbs-up on the starboard and a ‘not-so-much’ thumb wiggle on the port engine. After an hour of investigation and a “dawn-liquid seal” test it turns out the sea strainer was not quite seated and was allowing more air to be sucked in rather than water. Easy fix! Tom cruised down the Ohio and I drove my car to the marina, 20 minutes later we met up at the marina. After a quick trip to the store for provisions and dinner (feeding a momma duck & babies too) we tucked in for the night. It was a relatively easy day and we logged 3 miles!

The next morning the first thing I noticed as we quietly slipped through downtown Cincinnati was how LOW the water levels are. In comparison to two years ago, there are no other boats on the water, it’s hot, the water is very still and the only breeze is the 7 knots we are making ourselves. The bridge that was purple two years ago is now yellow.

There are numerous abandoned barges being used as shore extensions, most of which were now totally exposed due to the water level. Also, more tree roots and shoreline rocks are more visible now too. I know there has been major flooding further down river, but it makes me wonder how things would have been if man did not try to control the rivers flow and just let Mother Nature take care of her own. I suppose if I understood the reasons for all the locks then maybe I’d understand that need for control; or the reasons for all the control then maybe I’d understand that need for the locks. We decided to drop anchor(s) behind the little island in Craig’s Creek, as we’d done on our trip north two years ago just north of Markland Lock. Not much has changed here, all the damaged pier and boat parts are still there rusting away. With the humid temps in the high 90’s we decided to run the generator all night in order to keep the air conditioners running. Noisy, but cool in the staterooms.

More times than not we’ve awoken to deteriorating weather & wind blowing us places we don’t want to be – namely into the rotting pier and boat parts along the island. Our anchors holding, but we’ve slid a wee bit closer to the junk pile than we liked, so as soon as it was light enough we weighed anchor(s) and calmly slipped away from Craig’s Creek. Back out under the 20’ bridge disturbing the thousands of mayflies who apparently want to come with us. Fortunately there is no activity at the lock this early (7:30am) and we’re able to lock though. So expertly we slid along the wall and I grabbed the bollard to hold us off as we lowered 35 feet. We were told come Monday the larger of the two locks will be down for a few months for repair, so we came through at a good time. (Thank the gods) Otherwise the wait could have been hours. Commercial vessels have priority, and being a smaller lock most will likely have to breakdown their tows to get them through. Believe it or not there appears to be much less water this side of the lock, they say pool is 14 feet. The remainder of our trip is pretty uneventful and we’ve noticed many familiar sights along the Ohio. Approaching the marina is always exciting; seeing it for the first time from this advantage rather than from shore. Just past the US 421 Harrison St. Bridge which connects Madison, Indiana & Milton, Kentucky tucked in behind a small land mass sits the Rivercrest Marina. Approach is good, a solid 7 feet under us – once in the marina we’re down to about 4 and when finally tucked into our slip we’ve got about 6” under our keel. Well we don’t have much water, but our slip is covered and it’s still only about 1.5 hours from home. The city of Madison is quite a lively little artsy town which seems to hop every weekend with one activity or another. This should be a good place for us to continue with our boat renovations and soul restorations.

New Look

Anchors up, up and (put) away -



She's getting a fresh new look and she's looking good!

PROGRESS.....

Happy to report there has been much progress with the coming of warm(er) weather. The covers are off, the console is complete, the bottom has been sanded and repainted, zincs (actually aluminum for fresh water) replaced and the hull being prepped for fresh paint next week. The captain has been working VERY hard, and I'm also happy to report he's no longer blue.

HAPPY SPRING

We are anxiously awaiting the time when we can put her back in the water!! Tom plans to finish the pilot house this month and start prepping the bottom for new paint.

Slowly & Surely

So much has been done to the interior of the pilot house it's hard to know where to start. Tom has completely gutted it and begun to remodel and rebuild. The console was built and idea's have been roughed out for placement of all gauges and controls. The interior lighting, paneling and moldings are done. Since we experienced an early winter work had to end sooner than wanted. She's covered in her blue tarp again and gone into hibernation for a few months. During these winter months Tom will be pre-wiring the gauges and prepping for all his upgrades that he will be installing next spring.

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Transformation

Windows are done & open beautifully~


and how the Captain looks while at work~


Monday, July 26 2010

Nothing has changed since we've been out cruising the US in our motor home this past month, which I suppose is a good thing. The new windows are still there and looking great. Tom can not wait to get back to concentrating on finishing up the pilot house and remaining windows. There is a very sad abandoned house boat in the back of the yard which the owners have given us permission to remove the rails and ladders before they demolish her. Ah another task for Tom before winter hits. I believe the rails & ladders will look wonderful on our boat deck.


Friday, June 18 2010

Four years ago Toms wish was to alter this boat into a true pilothouse trawler and it’s coming to life right before my eyes. The stationary windows are in and now it’s on to the 3 hinged windows. Works in progress, we’ve yet to settle on which hinges or closures – but that’s half the fun, right – shopping. It’s shaping up to be one awesome pilothouse. Tom continues to amaze me; his attention to detail and patience are remarkable.

This is Eric, we believe he is the kindhearted soul that retied our tarp this winter when it tried to blow off. He was going to splash his houseboat today, so we’ll miss his tender neighborly care.

Happy motoring Eric.

We’ll be taking a little break next month, its road-trip time for July 4th. See you again in August when our vessel transformation continues.

June 6 2010

Tom just returned from installing two more stationary windows in the pilot house. He was able to park the motor home along side the boat and it's amusing to see both of our 'babies' side-by-side. The keel was also sanded down nice and smooth.

May 20 2010

Who knew we'd have to wait 2 months for a weather window - yes even with the boat being on the hard we had to wait to do our work. During these past few weeks Tom has been at home designing, planning and fabricating the windows for the pilot house in the garage. (Polyester resin has a very strong smell). We've had lots of discussions about the sizes, shapes, material, latches & hinges and came up with great custom windows. We decided NOT to put in a new door on the starboard, but rather utilize the small door at the rear of the pilot house. We will still need access from the boat deck to the aft deck, but that's on our future drawing board. With the motor home parked right in front of the boat Tom was able to work long days and get the 3 windows across the back of the pilot house done. I make it all sound so simple, but believe me working with the raw materials, actually having to form windows, frames, cut the plexiglas and secure them properly to the boat took many long hours of planning and doing. Tom hopes to get the other 4 fixed windows done within the next few weeks as well as the 3 hinged windows. We'll be installing two porthole windows and finishing the small door at the rear of the pilot house too. With these new windows now in place Refugio is taking on a new look and it's exciting to watch the redesign.

Springtime Inspection

We were so pleased to find Refugio still tucked in under her big blue tarp today. The tarp however did not fare as well, but it did survive to see another season. At some point over the past few months someone took the time to retie various corners as they must have torn and ripped from the winter storms. It’s comforting to know there are such good folks out there looking out for one another, but that’s usually the case with boat people. Thank you!

We’ve decided to leave Refugio on-the-hard for one more year mainly to finish the pilot house. It’s very convenient to have her only one hours drive from home and the boat yard will let us park the motor home there for a little while too. This will make it easier to concentrate on completing the work without driving back and forth daily.

First up will be a final sanding and application of 2-part epoxy primer on the keel. We’ve decided to put in a door on the starboard side of the pilot house so there will lots of sawing, sanding and measuring. After much research on windows over this winter we’ve decided to go with acrylic (plexiglas) which Tom can cut and install himself. By end of the summer the interior will be finished and the console refurbished. I’ll post pictures as we progress, should be exciting! (See On-the-Hard Work photo album)

As we were leaving the boat yard we noticed the flooded ramp where boats are launched. Apparently the Ohio River just peaked at 50 feet so they won’t be splashing any boats for a few weeks yet.

Right now she’s dry and secure, what more could we ask for!

Let it Snow

Over the past 4 months Tom has taken numerous north trips to work on the keel. It's been a lot of cutting, sawing, digging, pastering and sanding all while laying on the rocky ground. Not an easy task, but once again she's water tight along the keel.

We took advantage of what we think will be our last warm day this year to cover her up. After getting the price for getting her shrinked wrapped we opted for a BIG blue tarp. We just couldn't see spending so much money on something that was going to potentially get ruined over the winter and then taken off and thrown away in the spring. Wouldn't you know the minute we tried to unfurl this huge 40' x 60' tarp the breezes kicked up, if this had been a sail on a sail boat we'd be happy campers. It was not an easy task to 'evenly' cover Refugio, but we managed. For now the keel will get one more cosmetic coat of epoxy and under the protective cover of the tarp Tom will begin to remove, repair and replace damaged-rotted cap rail. All the water lines have been drained and various hoses disconnected in anticipation of freezing times ahead.

On the Hard

A few days ago we made arrangements with Washington Marine to haul Refugio out of the water and keep her 'on-the-hard' for a few months in their yard. There are many other boats there and most are in the midst of being repaired and/or painted. This completes our summers plan to have her close to home (1 hr. drive) so we can finally fully repair the keel and completely sand and repaint her hull in the spring. There are just a few things we plan to get done over the next few months, one of them being 'winterizing' her, draining tanks, etc and then once we're done she'll be tucked in for the winter. We plan to splash her back in the water after the thaw next year and the spring high waters have receded. We have not decided yet but we may be keeping her in the Cincinnati area for a while or maybe we'll just take her back down to the Land between the lakes area. For now, she's close to home, easy to get to and safe from hurricanes.

Journey's End (& Craigs Creek Bay)

We passed through the last of our 28 locks for this trip with only one minor incident on Friday. We were told to wait along the guide wall on the Kentucky side until the tow pushing 15 was safely in the outside lock, which we did for about ½ hour. As the tow wiggled his barges into the lock we noticed the water receding in our lock (there are two again). Once the tow was safely in his lock we had to wait for two smaller fishing boats to exit ours. I noticed at this particular lock there is an observation deck and it’s loaded with tourists watching the boats lock through. As this is our last lock and we’re feeling confident in our abilities as we saunter in, approach the wall and I’m just about ready to expertly lasso the bollard and guess what – there’s no bollard. Ha Ha on us, it’s an empty chamber. Oops, so Tom has to reposition away from the wall and begin our approach again. When we get to the next bollard along the wall the pin I am to lasso is almost a foot above my head – this is different. I missed the first time, but got it on the second try. And here we thought we had the procedures in these locks down pretty good. Goes to show ya never be too confident and to always be prepared for the unexpected.

Immediately following that lock through the captain of the tow in the other lock radioed us and say’s “go ahead captain” since he exited just ahead of us, but we were looking for our anchorage for the night 1 mile down river and declined. I feel it’s important to mention this since most times we found the tows to be indifferent to us, so thank you “Winchester” for your courtesy.

Our anchorage for the night was behind a small uninhabited island in Craig’s Creek Bay. That was the only thing uninhabited in this bay since there was a marina and a number of homes that lined the banks. Across the river was the Balterra Casino, a very popular casino in these parts. Again, we found ourselves being rocked around by tubers and otherwise fast speedy little boats most of the evening. As dusk approached so did a little Bayliner which dropped their anchor just off our bow. Off in the distance someone was using up the rest of their July 4th fireworks but I still didn’t see them.

Our passage up river that brings us into Cincinnati was just a continuation of our already pleasant trip. The landscape is breathtaking at times and it’s hard to believe this region is as populated as it is. Also the unfortunate aspect of this region is the number of power plants, seems around every corner there are stacks spewing their white vapors into the air.

Cincinnati was a HOOT to boat through. Both local pro stadiums are on the banks of the Ohio and the Reds had just started a ballgame. There were a number of small boats lingering around the area, we assume waiting for that one long ball. I felt very jubilant standing the bow for the last couple of miles as we passed under 7 bridges looking left and right and snapping pictures.

Amanda & Stella joined us at the Marina to help celebrate the completion of our trip which lasted 35 days and took us over 1800 miles on the water.