BRAZO - Trent Severn 2009

BRAZO · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:29 pm Post subject: BRAZO - Trent Severn 2009

Ok, after many many boat projects to take a new 2008 CD22 from the dealer and make it into our cruising boat - we are 1 day away from leaving for a 2 week cruise of the Trent Severn Waterway. Here are some of the additions that we made to the boat:

- full camperback including bimini frame
- dual Racor fuel filters
- Gull Wing boarding ladder
- Nobeltec Radar
- Nobeltec GPS
- S1000 autopilot
- Standard Horizon's VHF
- Dedicated laptop to run Nobeltec navigation software
- Wallas stove
- House battery
- Twin VSR battery switches
- Inverter
- Hailer
- Anchor light
- new mast to hold radar/gps ant/vhf ant/anchor light
- new laz covers
- depth sounder
- permatrim's
- Bennett trim tabs
- Bennett auto trim tab controller
- Norcold refridge under helm seat
- Honda Speedometer (main for fuel meter)
- Bruce anchor and 250' rode
- Privacy covers for the outside of the windows
- Limo tinting
- shore power
- Guest 30amp battery charger
- Epoxy barrier coat
- Shield Guard

Our goal was to make this boat as close as possible to the amenities that we had on our Sundowner Tug - I think we have done that. I took my time and thought thru every install in order to maximize space and minimize "holes" in the boat. I must say that having C-Brats.com as a resource was a HUGE advantage. It was sooo nice to search on c-brats.com and see what everyone else did and then determine the best approach from those options.

We are very excited to try out our new boat and think it'll work out perfect for us. There will be 4 of us on the boat - my wife, 16yr old, 11yr old. and myself. We plan on using the camperback area for our 16yr old.

Anyway, I hope to post our progress thru the 2 weeks along with my thoughts on the C-Dory and how it is working for us. It is all dependent on our Internet connections, but I plan on making posts when possible.

I also plan on Twittering @ http://twitter.com/teambrazo

One more day!!!

Jazzmanic · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:14 pm Post subject:

Great job on the boat projects Robert. Have a great time with your family and be safe out there!! Thumbs Up

I've been meaning to ask. Did the radome come all white like that or did you paint it or take the decal off? If so, was it because the color didn't match? The only reason I bring this up is because our blue Furuno radome doesn't match C-Dory green at all!!*#@*! Mad

JamesTXSD · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:46 pm Post subject:

Great mods. We'll be looking forward to your reports from the Trent Severn. Have a great time!

Best wishes,
Jim B.

BRAZO · Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:55 pm Post subject:

Hey Peter,

BRAZO · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 2:34 pm Post subject:

Today is the final get ready day. I'm working on fender boards to use going through the Trent-Severn locks. Most of the boat has been packed with food, clothes and supplies. Pretty amazing how much we were able to get in the boat - used the bottom of the galley cabinet for clothes, used the top of the galley cabinet for pans, etc, used the space under the dinnette for food, and used the space in the bow for misc tools, etc.

We have a 13 hour drive from our house to the boat launch and plan on taking 2 days to get there. We'll get up early in the morning on Saturday and get through Chicago before any weekend traffic.

Look forward to spending "less" money than I have over the last couple of months outfitting the boat. I know how my mind works and that is that I need to purchase the items right away - otherwise I won't spend the money in the future. The Wallace stove is a prime example - who the heck spends $2500 for a little stove/heater that some discribe as a "not very good" anchor -- well we did.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 3:25 pm Post subject:

Lucky dog! Keep us posted as best you can. And your mods are GREAT! Good job!

toyman · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:03 pm Post subject:

I'll second that "lucky" comment. I'm TRYING to get stuff transfered from the RV (much smaller than Jim's) to the pickup so we can get up to Connecticut to fitout and splash 'FanCdory' for the first time - for us. It is unbelievable the amount of "stuff" we're carrying - - - Honda Kicker & tank, new roof top A/C, Honda Generator, Kicker bracket, new bimini, Garmin 4210 & 498, boat manuals, maps, charts, tools & then we start on personal & galley stuff.We're down here in S.E. Texas where we, for the past 3 days have had more hours of 90+ degrees each day than we have had below freezing hours for the past 2 winters - summer sucks here !

BRAZO · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:57 pm Post subject:

The CD22 is hooked to the truck and we are ready to roll. Around 6AM we should be on the road and the first night we plan on stopping in London, ON -- that'll leave us 4 hours to drive on Sunday.

BRAZO · Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:40 pm Post subject:

Well, after an 11 hour drive - we are now at a Ramada Inn @ London, Ontario for the night. The CD22 pulled great behind the 2001 F150 (w/200k on the odometer). Outside of having to take it out of overdrive, I didn't even know the boat was behind us.

The gas tank did notice though - we are getting about 10mpg (normal 15mpg - too bad our Prius won't tow it) - took a few gas stations stops.

Tomorrow we'll make the 4 hour drive to Burleigh Falls, Ontario and splash the boat.

Now time for some dinner and some much needed sleep. I think I needed the vacation from upgrading the boat!!

SGIDave · Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:50 pm Post subject:

Hello Robert,

It sounds like an exciting trip. I sense your anticipation with all the great things you've done to your CD-22 in preparation for this cruise.

Thanks for keeping us informed of your travels.

/david

journey on · Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:00 pm Post subject:

That'll be a great trip. We went through the Trent Seern in 07. Here's Judy's story and some pics: Trent Severn Trip

I really enjoyed the canal at the Georgian Bay end, especially the marine railway. The lock tenders are great, and try to do the best job possible. The lift locks were a blast.

Boris

flrockytop · Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:11 am Post subject:

Hi Robert,

Sounds like your in for a great trip. I'll be looking forward to "riding" along. You have made some great mods. I especially like the canvas top Smile

Have fun. Be safe. Looking forward to your next installment.

Roger

BRAZO · Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:29 pm Post subject:

Ok, we are now on the Trent Severn - the trip over with the truck went well - no problems at all. I'm glad we decided on the CD22 instead of the CD25, because of the weight difference and our F150. The F150 had no problems, but I'm guessing it would have not been so good with that much added weight.

We launched the boat at the Burleigh Falls lock - they have a boat ramp and also they allow long-term parking for the truck/trailer. We had a bit of a problem getting the boat launch on the ramp. The ramp was not in very good condition and the bottom of the trailer was scraping across the rocks. After some bravery to just "not listen" to the scraping - we got the boat in.

The only way I can explain the Trent-Severn at this time is like - DisneyWorld for boaters. What a treasure - just amazing that this waterway is being kept around just for the pleasure of recreational boaters - crazy good. It was kindof like our C-Dory was made to do this sort of thing - comparing our last boat (32' Sundowner Tug - single screw diesel) docking, locking, 12ft beam, etc - the CD22 is a DREAM getting around.

We made our way East from Burleigh Falls to Lakefield and spent the night tied to the lock. On the way, I would just turn off one of the engines and only run on one. That would allow us to go the speed limit (around 5kts) and we would get around 5 to 6 mpg.

All the electronics have worked without problems and having the dedicated laptop has worked out great. Another area that so far seems to be working well is the battery situation. We have 2 starting batteries and 1 (115AH) house battery. The main thing on the house battery is the refridge and the computer/monitor for evening movies. While we are cruising the Twin VSR charges the house battery and we've had a full house battery - our Sundowner required the use of the generator.

We are now in Peterborough, Ontario. We made the trip from Lakefield to Peterborough this morning. Went thru 6 or 7 locks including the Peterborough Lift Lock - which is the largest lift lock in the world. http://follansbee.info/trips/ontario/2006/17%2010%3B49%20peterborough%20lift-lock.jpg

We are staying in the marina tonight and tomorrow we'll probably head back West to the other portions of the Trent-Severn. So far we have used 4.5 gallons of gas going probably around 5kts average - just like our trawler days. What I also love about the CD22 is that in big water that may be a bit boring - I can "clean" out both engines and get across fast.

One thing that really concerned me about the CD22 instead of the CD25 was the shower - I MUST shower (or jump in the lake) every morning (just something in my head). Well I purchase a Rule IL500 that I just put in a 3 gallon pot on the Wallace and it worked great - shower in the cockpit after we got back from our 5 mile run around Lakefield.

We loved the Sundowner and was concerned about our idea to downsize, but so far it has been much better - kindof like the difference between finding a parking space when driving our F150 or finding one with our Prius - I can park each one, but just so much easier and relaxing with the Prius.

So far so good - living my dream again!

I'll be back in touch the next Internet location.

BRAZO · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:48 pm Post subject:

BRAZO · Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:02 pm Post subject:

Made our way down from Orillia to Rosedale yesterday and spent the night at the lock in Rosedale. The nice part of cruising this time of year is that nobody is out - we had the place to ourself. Did some canal swimming with the boy's and some fishing.

The weather has been great outside of 1 day when it rained the entire day (Saturday). On the raining day, we just closed up the boat and heading out on the Trent-Severn and did some trawler cruising - the C-Dory is a great boat to cruise in the rain (outside of the line handlers (wife & 16 yr old).

The CD22 has been working great for us. We only have a few items that we would like to add when we get the boat home, but nothing that is a big deal. We have found that if we put our wet clothes/towels hanging thru the canvas frame - that it'll dry them in no time. So when we get back home I'm going to purchase some sort of netting and that way we can just put the wet clothes in the netting and the sun/wind will do the rest.

We also need to add another power strip to the shore/inverter power.

One other addition will be some sort of antenna for the USB TV card. Right now we are just using a small antenna and we can get in channels most of the time, but it would be nice to have one installed on the boat. I put a "nice" one on our Trawler and never had much luck with it. I'll have to search the c-brats.com site to see what others have done.

We still are traveling mostly at trawler speeds just enjoying the water. From time to time we'll be tired of going slow or have the desire to get to the next lock and we'll drop in both engines and motor (around 27kts) our way - that is a very nice option to have.

We installed the S1000 autopilot and that works great. We are using Nobeltec Radar and software that are connected via USB hub to the GPS, autopilot, and vhff. Our old boat did not have the ability to connect all togehter. So, while crossing Lake Simcoe - I set the route, told the autopilot to track the route, setup the radar guard zone, and then sat back with the remote and enjoyed the trip across.

Very impressed with the Nobeltec Radar - not too much need for it on the Trent-Severn, but I have been playing with it as we go. The guard zone makes it very nice when you are going trawler speeds - the computer will beep when an object comes into that zone.

We are having a great time on the boat and have found out about a few more cruising destinations that we plan on doing soon.