Our summer checkout cruise

We have planned a summer checkout cruise to get warmed up for the Great Loop and ensure everything is working and in place as planned. We will go north to Charlevoix to meet up with our good friends Win and Susan in their Tiara. From there, weather permitting, we will go on up through the Mackinaw Straits and into the North Channel. We have from July 14 to 29 and look forward to visiting other friends we know along the way.

Here is Great Laker at the dock and anxious to go. Occasionally during the summer we get an algae bloom which colors the water green.  The contrast of the water, cobalt blue hull and clouds in the sky drew Elizabeth to take this shot before we headed out for a day on Lake Michigan. This coastal cruiser is rather unusual on the Great Lakes and we constantly get the thumbs up from observers wherever we cruise.  

Great Laker on Spring Lake, MI

Additions to Great Laker

When you buy a boat, no matter how new it is or how great a condition it is in, there are always things you want to do to personalize it and make it ready to fit your needs. Great Laker was essentially ready to cruise. After all, I brought her back successfully 650 miles from Lake Erie. However, I rapidly developed a list of "like to haves" and started work on them over the winter.

Spending a lot of time outdoors in the sun and heat requires some shade. I designed and fortunately found a very capable canvas expert to implement solutions in three areas.

One piece windows cover

Sun deck bimini

Two piece cockpit screen

Use one or both pieces zipped

The pilot house still had open side windows so I added curtains using Sunbrella's yellow fabric.

Pilot house curtains

Additional storage on deck for fenders, a wash down hose, and a back up anchor was needed. The factory custom makes this great deck box to match the boat lines and shipped it out for me to install on the bow.

Bow deck box

We will be anchoring outside of marinas one or more nights on occasion and it is important to be able to monitor the house batteries to know when they might need charging. This battery monitor does exactly that. I installed and mounted it next to the generator start/run panel.

Victron Energy battery monitoring system

When motoring during the day, having clear channel access to music, news and weather is a blessing. Therefore, I installed a Sirius radio receiver and integrated it into the Clarion sound system. Anne will be up to date on business news and market conditions at all times and I will have many choices for music. The electronics are under the pilot house seat.

Sirius Radio Receiver

An Automated Information System (AIS) is required of commercial boats and causes information about their boat name, heading and speed, destination etc., to be transmitted frequently to other boats for display on their chart plotters and radar. I installed an AIS receiver to allow me to track these vessels around me and be sure I am out of their way. It is a valuable and important safety device. I put the electronics over the helm in the ceiling of the pilot house.

Automated Information System Receiver

It also turns out the four round ports that came with the boat were plastic and the sealant used by the factory did not stick to them very well.  They had a tendency to leak in high winds and rain. Removing and re-bedding them would not solve the problem in the long run.  So, I found beautiful brass ports with chrome platting and installed them instead. It was a lot of work, but they stay dry and what a great look!

Stairway port

Shower port