Have a Heart, Lillie May

Summer 2023

With her light Aluminum hull and a wooden cabin with solid walls on top to catch the wind, Lillie May pretty much goes where the wind blows her.  A little twelve horse diesel is just not enough to keep her under control in windy conditions, or even a breeze, which makes for some interesting docking adventures!  

Other than that little problem, the boat was working out well for us as a day cruiser and occasional weekender.   The remedy:  a bigger heart was in order.  Jeff found a used three cylinder Westerbeke diesel 27 horse for sale.  Perfect.  He had it checked out and approved by a local diesel mechanic, and made arrangements to have it put in.

Here's the process:

First, to get the old engine out the back access had to be enlarged.  This was a little painful.  Jeff took a sawzall to it and it didn't take long but got the job done.

Next he went in with the forks on the loader to remove the old engine.

Then the new engine was brought in and set down.  New motor mounts would have to be make and everything fandangled to fit.

Maintenance - An Ongoing Mission of Love - Summer 2021

 You can cover a lot of sins with an old can of thick paint.  That has been my maintenance strategy with Lillie May so far.  Jeff is different. He prefers to go at it full bore (and likely "properly" I will admit).   He is rife with great advice, which I sometimes listen to.  For instance, he insisted that I remove the handles, sand them ALL the way down and refinish them properly.  Which I did.  But the old blistered painted cabin roof?  Bleh.  I want to ENJOY the boat, not endlessly WORK on the boat.  As Jeff is working full time and the painting job was left in my hands, we defaulted to Susie-style.

There is a time and place for "doing it properly" for sure, but that old chipped and blistered roof?  Nope.  A can of old paint gets blissfully thick and gooey if left out in the sun for a bit.  I scraped the big hunks off,  sanded a bit, and gooped it on.  Poor Jeff.  I know he was shuddering.

But, out in that hot sun that gooey mess got baked on good and it turned out great.  It actually was shiny and new looking and maybe will hold the cabin together for an extra year or two!  We know it will have to be upgraded it at some point, but for now....

Sooo shiny.  And I like shiny things!   (Don't look too closely!)

The other big maintenance job included the base of the cabin where water sits instead of running off through the scuppers as it should.  The cabin walls had begun to rot away and that had to be stopped.  In this case I wisely stood back and let Jeff do it his way.  Graeme, our son-in-law who is the owner/operator of Harbour West Marina, lent us a few days in his shop and Jeff cut away the damaged wood and added a lovely strip along the bottom of the cabin. He'll never admit it, but I think he's developing an affection for my slow little funny boat.  We took the opportunity to repaint the red cabin. 

Lillie May was getting so perty.

Inspired, I decided to tackle the interior of the pilot house.  It was varnished tongue and groove wood that had aged and been water stained over the years.  It was still solid, but needed a face lift.  There, I sanded and fussed and painted over, ending up with a much freshened pilot house.

Jeff had designed a make-shift double bed in the cabin, so by grabbing a cooler and a portable barbeque, we were basically good to go.  Bring on summer!!

Primer coat.  

Tug Fest - Summer 2021

Over the years Lillie May has participated in Tug Fest, first with her original owner and then several times with us.  Tug Fest is a local annual festival for workboats, most of which have been modified to become cruisers.  They all dock at the Municipal wharf and offer tours, parades and races for the locals to enjoy.  There are usually musicians and a festive atmosphere on the dock.  

We were glad to re-enter Lillie May as many locals remembered her.  Again, she was a hit with the little ones and made a great backdrop for pictures with kids at the helm donning a captain's hat.

Lillie May alongside a beautifully
restored 100' vessel, the Prescotont

Pirates in Midland...  He didn't know
who he was dealing with.

Such beautifully restored vessels

Lillie May racing the Mink Isle - which is funny as
it is only the camera angle that is making it look like
Lillie May is a big girl.  The Mink Isle is a 49' steel tug
that is beautifully restored and travels quite a bit faster 
than little Lillie May.  Lillie May will take her glory how she can.

Lillie May taking part in the parade

Toot toot - Along side the Prescotont


Below, participating in the races aboard the Mink Isle, 
one of the big boy Tugs.

Lillie May the Therapy Boat - Summer 2019

 Lillie May fell nicely into our summer lifestyle.  Being busy building our cruising kitty,  it was nice to be able to just jump in the boat and putt-putt out for a quick swim, sunset cruise or weekend get-away.

This summer, our attention was mostly on our Airbnb project.  Jeff had purchased several travel trailers.  We parked them over at the marina on the shore overlooking the water and rented them out on Airbnb.  They were a big hit and we were busy all summer.  

Most of our customers were people escaping the city for a few days.  We are so lucky to live here on beautiful Georgian Bay.  One of our favourite ways to enjoy our Airbnb hosting experience was to take our guests out for a sunset cruise on Lillie May.  What was especially appreciated by our customers was that we liked to give them a chance at the helm (closely supervised).  Lillie May only chugs along at about five knots. Nothing happens fast.  It was great fun and provided many great photo opportunities for the families, with their kids at the helm driving a "real boat".  Folks said it was like summer therapy for them and more than one customer came away eager to start shopping for a boat of their own.  We were just happy enough to get out on the water after a long day and chit-chat to city folks, often from very different worlds.

The Trailer - Summer 2018

 Jeff has been a good sport about my new boat.  He volunteered to drive up and tow the trailer home, which allowed him to get well acquainted with it.  He wasn't impressed.

It was a little disheartening, as the whole plan for this package was to be able to tow the boat to locations around Ontario.  The Trent Severn, the Muskoka Lakes, The Rideau, The North Channel all were on our short list.  The trailer was essential.

Jeff came up with a solution.  An old racing boat for sale on the internet caught his attention.  The boat was well past it's best before date.  It actually had weeds growing in it but would make an interesting project for someone!  It sat on a rough-looking but solid trailer.  

Jeff knows good bones when he sees them.  He picked up the whole package, then sold the boat off at cost and ended up with the rough trailer left over.  Perfect!  

Then began the transformation:  Sand blasted, painted, modified by a welder, new wheels, fancy rims.

The trailer ended up being worth more than boat it was meant to transport!  But Lillie May sits proudly and securely on it and can safely be trailered where ever we want to take her.

Lillie May Comes Home - Summer 2018

 Lillie May was located in Key River, about 180 km from our home.  We drove up to finalize the deal and take possession.  The owner had purchased Lillie May from our area in Southern Georgian Bay and towed her to her present location on its trailer so that was our plan.  Upon closer inspection, Jeff was not comfortable with that plan at all.  He wasn't sure the trailer was up for the job.

So, plan B was in order.  The plan was, Jeff would tow the trailer home for some upgrades and we'd drive Lillie May home through the small vessel channel down the coast of Georgian Bay.  YAY!  A two day trip in our new little tugboat.

Unfortunately that trip would have to wait as the Key River area was closed to traffic due to forest fires.  Yikes.  It took a couple of weeks but eventually we got the green light to transit Key River and head out onto Georgian Bay.  It was a desolate trip, with the smell of smoke still in the air and charred remains of the forest lining our way.

Following the paper charts closely, we snaked our way through the maze of islands that make up the East Coast of Georgian Bay.  It was the Tuesday after the Labour Day weekend and we were pretty much alone out there, passing very few boats or cottages in this Northern Corner of the the bay.  

We putted along.  Without a speed gauge we were unsure how fast we were going, but we were pretty sure there was nothing fast about it at all.  We were guessing maybe three to five knots.  

Eventually we started to see the odd cottager or passing boat.  Invariably, out came the cameras as folks snapped pictures of our cute little tugboat chugging along.  We began to realize this was something we were going to have to get used to on Lillie May.  

All in all the trip home took two days, with one overnight stop in Killbear -- and about 5 gallons of diesel.  This little girl sips!

Meet Lillie May - Summer 2018

Our main problem was that our boat was located a thousand miles away in another country.  Which was exactly where we wanted her as she made a great winter home for our seasonal snow escapes from the harsh Canadian winters.  But that left seven months during the spring, summer and fall that we were home here in Canada living comfortably in our "dirt house" while gazing over the deep blue waters of Georgian Bay.  We longed to get out there.  Something had to give.  

We came up with a plan.  We decided something on a trailer that we could tow to distant locales when desired and camp onboard would work.  The shopping ensued.

We looked at several boats and even started to get distracted, looking at several big steel tugs that we loved but would require a ton of work.  We love the old historic tug boats and they were tugging at our heart strings.  Could we sell or rent the house and move back aboard?  Which way should we go?  All possibilities were open.  

We were considering all options when I found it - a little quiet personal ad online reading "Tug for Sale".   Upon investigation I learned she was twenty-two feet long, on a trailer, with a little two cylinder diesel engine.  Jeff was skeptical but I convinced him to add her to the list of boats to look at.  It couldn't hurt to just look, right?

As we approached the marina, driving over an overpass and looking down at the small collection of boats docked, there she was.  She was hard to miss!  Fire engine red and CUTE as a button.  I was intrigued!  Jeff rolled his eyes.  

We met the owner and he gave us the tour.  It didn't take long.  She was aluminum, so lightweight enough to be easily towable, with a wooden cabin on top.  She had a comfy pilot house with access doors on each side and the cutest little brass portholes and adorable imported brass steering wheel from Scotland.  Below in the tiny cabin was the engine, a head in the corner and a single berth.  I quickly started to plan how we could build it into a double.  She even had adorable wee little tires hanging over the side to serve as fenders.  Just like a real tug!  It was love at first sight for me!

The owner asked if we'd like to take it out.  My head immediately started to bob up and down but as I looked over at Jeff, expecting to see my excitement reflected, his head was shaking in a different direction.  He agreed to come along IF I drove, which I did.  She putted along determinedly and had a kick-ass air horn that commanded the respect she deserved! (In my opinion, anyway.)  

Back in the car I excitedly asked Jeff what he thought.  She checked all the boxes - on a trailer, we could weekend on her, and best of all, she was cheap!  He reluctantly agreed and volunteered to negotiate with the owner (as that's kind of his thing).

Likely with an ulterior motive in mind, Jeff threw out a low-ball offer and to his surprise - and my delight - the guy immediately accepted it.  Whew-hoo!!  Just like that, she was mine! 

 And to boot, I had somehow convinced Jeff to give me a hand with the mechanics and towing.

Meet our new family member, Lillie May: