I for one will probably never come to make a Superior cruise, but enjoyed every word
of your adventure. Have enjoyed other trips to Bahamas, on Lake Tahoe, in the
Northwest, etc. I for one like "the reports from the water".
Ted
P19 #626
Virginia
Ray Boivin wrote:
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> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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> Greetings Everyone:
>
> Following are some of the items which we took with us on our trip from
> Thunder Bay to Rossport and the rationale for carrying the gear. I have
> also included some thoughts on what I will do differently for next years
> cruise.
>
> 1. We carried 45 litres of fuel. I wanted to be careful in this regard
> primarily because we had a five year old and a three year old travelling
> with us. With this much fuel we figured we could motor about 80 percent
> of the ninety mile distance with our 8hp Honda at 1/2 throttle. This would
> allow us to make a hasty exit to the closest town should someone
> become sick or injured. As it turned out we only used 18 litres of fuel.
> My wife and I have discussed this and have agreed that if we did this trip
> again we would carry the same amount of fuel for the same reasons.
> Also, usually there is wind on Lake Superior but I remember a kayak trip
> which I took from Thunder Bay to Rossport a few years ago when we
> had five consecutive days of hot, calm weather. I would be nice to push
> the Potter under power when conditions are calm.
>
> 2. We carried a 13 lb Danforth with 20 feet of chain and 150 feet of
> nylon line, an 11 lb Bruce with 10 feet of chain and 100 feet of line, a 100
> foot line, three 25 foot docklines and two 15 foot docklines. We actually
> used all of these lines and anchors at various times although I found the
> 100 foot line to be too long. I will probably add a 50 foot line to the
> inventory. The long lines are useful for tieing off to shore. All of the lines
> are 3/8 inch and we have tried to get different colours so that they can
> be picked out of the line locker fairly quickly.
>
> 3. We have a vhf radio for listening to weather and calling for help (if
> necessary).
>
> 4. I brought along a small water filter. Lake Superior water tends to be
> fairly clean but I am concerned about giardia and cryptosporidium so for
> the sake of our kids we do not drink any surface water without first
> filtering or boiling.
>
> 5. We used a five gallon solar shower for getting clean. This worked
> great.
>
> 6. I have a handheld GPS which was bought primarily for navigating in
> the fog but proved to be useful for taking some of the guesswork out of
> manual fixes.
>
> 7. Our sail inventory consisted of the main with two sets of reef points
> and the working jib. I would like to add a genoa for those light air days. I
> would highly recommend the two sets of reef points for anyone planning
> to cruise on Lake Superior. It really helped us to continue sailing when
> the winds picked up.
>
> 8. We have a collapsible, emergency radar reflector. Lake Superior is
> used by some big ships and we thought that this would be useful if we
> found ourselves in a shipping lane during foggy conditions.
>
> 9. We have harnesses and tethers for everyone. This is particularly
> important when going on deck.
>
> 10. We have monkey harnesses on both sides of the v-berth. These are
> great for storing clothes as the day warms up.
>
> Some things which I will do differently next time:
>
> 1. The five gallon water jug burst on us as we were trailing the boat to
> the put in site. I am going to try to beef this up with a better jug.
>
> 2. Our outboard battery charging system did not keep the battery topped
> up so we spent the trip in energy conservation mode. I am going to add a
> solar panel.
>
> 3. We need to add an access hatch to the area under the v-berth on the
> starboard side just forward of the head. This storage area is difficult to
> use from the port side.
>
> 4. I am thinking about some sort of tender. This may allow us to access
> those rocky areas where we do not want to risk the fibreglass.
>
> I hope that you found the summary of our summer trip interesting. I look
> forward to continuing to read your posts and learning how other
> Potterers manage their boats.
>
> Ray
> P-19 #953 "Water Wings"
> Thunder Bay, Lake Superior