INTRODUCTION

    After running the Carver 440 for 6 years, we bought the Grand Harbour pilothouse boat in January 2003.  We left the boat in the Fort Lauderdale area for about 2 months.  During that time we upgraded the electronics, replaced the dinghy, added lights and towel rods, adjusted the heights of tables and TV cameras, replaced the water pump twice, added a transformer and a new inverter, bought sheets and towels, loaded the boat with tools, etc. that we shipped to FL from TX, provisioned the boat, etc.  In March we brought it from FL to TX, and later that summer we cruised to MN and back to Texas.

     It seems we were really de-bugging the boat for most of that first year.  We added stabilizers and replaced an air conditioner with a larger unit.  The manufacturer replaced all the caulking in the windows, as it was defective and leaked.  We agonized over the water pump, which was eventually solved by the manufacturer in late-2004.  He replaced both of the high-priced Groco units with lower-cost pumps that worked like a charm.

     We spent 2004 on the Tennessee River and really enjoyed some slower cruising with a lot of anchoring out.  I wanted to go back to Canada in 2005, so we decided to leave the boat in Iuka, MS for the winter.  The mechanics at Aqua Yacht Harbor had worked on our boats before; they were capable and fair and very pleasant to deal with.  So we parked the boat at the end of October 2004 and retrieved it April 28, 2005.  

     Our 2005 plans included traveling to Canada and leaving the boat in New York in dry storage for the winter, which would put us in position to cruise the Canadian canals in the summer of 2006; and that's what we did.  We stopped along the way in Chicago, Mackinaw Island, Detroit, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, and Montreal.  After our first trip we were invited to go on a cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia through the Baltic Sea; and we decided to include that cruise in our plans for 2005.