An update on our situation. July 17, 2007

Hello All . .

Our situation has improved since our last post. We have been towed to Collins Bay Marina, which has a crane available to lift the new engine that should be delivered today. Since Yanmar is no longer manufacturing our particular engine, we thought we would not be able to locate an engine but were finally able to find one in St Petersburg. It is on a plane coming this way as I write this. Today, we'll have to deal with the GST tax and get it through customs.

There are 2 possibilities of ways to install - either disassemble the new engine and reassemble it in the boat or cut a hole in the boat and lift it by crane into the boat. Since the 1st choice would probably negate the warranty, we have decided on the 2nd choice.

Since we don't want to watch our boat cut apart (and don't want to deal with all that fiberglass dust) we are going to leave the boat for a few days. We'll probably drive up to Ottawa for a couple of days and then drive over to Penetanguishene for the Summer Rendezvous.

Thanks to all for your good thoughts. And thanks to all you wonderful folks here in Kingston who have been helping us put our lives (and our boat) back together again. By the way, we're taking up a collection for the "Levine Engine Fund". Strictly non-profit, of course.

We're still not sure where we'll go from here. It's obvious that we'll not finish the loop this year. We'll probably take the boat back to New York and store it for the winter. We'll keep you up to date on our progress and will see many of you in Pentetanguishene. (At least I can spell that - have no idea how to pronounce it! I can pronounce rendezvous but can't spell it! Ah well . . .)

See you that there somewhere - sometime . . . .
Rob & Ann

We're stuck - - June 11, 2006

Hello All . . .

We're stuck in Kingston, Ontario. About half way across Lake Ontario, one of our engines shut down. Turn's out it is fried and will need to be replaced. At this point, it looks like this was caused by an installation problem - one of the oil hoses was placed too close to the bottom of the engine compartment and friction caused it to lose all oil, causing the engine to freeze up. Unfortunately, our 2 year warranty period was up 2 months ago.

The good news is that we made it into Kingston just fine - with the help of Larry and Lola on "Lola Marie". We limped in on one engine and minimum steering ability but managed to make it fine. We found a marina with room for both boats and have since been moved to a better location with power and water so that we will be able to stay on the boat during most of the repair time. Many thanks to Larry and Lola for all their help and to Kingston Marina for making accomadations available.

Since we were already short on time and hate to miss the Great Lakes, we have about decided to spend the fall in this area and leave the boat for the winter. Then we'll have all next late spring and summer in the lakes.

Anyone have any sugar for the lemonade? We have plenty of lemons. We'll keep you posted on our progress.

See you out there somewhere - sometime.

Rob & Ann

Canada here we come! 7/8/07

Hello All

We are in Oswego, New York - on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. We're going to cross the lake Monday or Tuesday. We loved the Erie Canal, except some of the locks were very difficult. The canal system locks were not designed for large boats. Many of them have only ropes to hold on to and nothing to tie the boat to. When there was wind, it was almost impossible to have any control over the boat at all. We were so glad to pass safely through the last lock yesterday. We passed through 8 locks on the Oswego Canal and 23 on the Erie Canal. We are looking forward to being in Canada - have met many very nice folks from Canada on our US waters.

See you all out there somewere!

Ann & Rob