Author: Pearl Lee

We found our Endeavour 43 during a lunch time internet search in the spring of 2015. She was located in LaSalle, Ontario, Canada. Little did we know what an adventure that advertisement would kick off.

After contacting the broker and explaining our distance from the boat he sent us 150 very detailed photographs. He showed her, warts and all, and it was clear he was not hiding anything. After a few conversations via phone and email we decided to make an offer with contingencies for our inspection, a professional survey and a professional mechanical inspection.

There was only one wrinkle, we didn’t have passports yet. It was one of those things that just kept getting put off, but now we needed them fast. Kristi contacted Congressman Adam Kinzinger and he was able to help by getting us an appointment immediately. We dropped everything and rushed to Chicago,  and spent most of the day traveling, waiting, and finally getting our passports. Even with our congressman’s help, it required a large surcharge for this service.

Now we were off to see the boat. She looked just like the pictures, no real surprises good or bad. She needed work, but it was work we could do, so we decided to move ahead. Next came another trip to LaSalle for the survey, which didn’t reveal any deal breaking defects. The yard put her in the water and the mechanic checked her out. Everything worked as advertised, so she became ours. We spent the next four weekends traveling to Westport Marina in LaSalle, ON on Friday after work and back home Sunday evening, working to make sure she was safe for the trip to our home port in Racine, WI. I’m sorry to say I can find no reason to recommend Westport Marina. There must be better facilities in the area, but that’s where our boat was when we bought her.

After a lot of research we decided to buy new sails from Mack Sails. UPS screwed up no less than three times getting our sails to us, but we finally got our sails thanks to Travis at Mack Sails being bulldog persistent in dealing with UPS. We were delayed a day but that made dinner with some old friends possible, so it wasn’t a total loss.

At first light on a crisp clear morning we backed out of the tiny marina and headed up the Detroit River. Phase two of our adventure was beginning.

Continue to Part Two

At first light on June 20, 2015, we started the motor, and crept out of tiny Westport Marina in LaSalle, Ontario, Canada to begin our  journey to Racine, WI. We motored up the Detroit River full of excitement as we looked at the Detroit skyline. We were planning to cruise through Lake Huron’s North Channel, so we stayed on the Canadian side of the river. Although chilly, it was a gorgeous day for a beginning.

Eventually the river opened into Lake St. Clair. A couple freighters were coming into the river as we were exiting, so we gave them plenty of room. We were starting to be troubled by Perky’s hiccups. “Perky” is our Perkins diesel, and as she rumbled along she would occasionally miss a beat, just for a fraction of a second. She kept going though, so we vowed to have a look when we stopped for the night.

The weather was fine and we were motoring, so we made a bee line to the St. Clair River. Perky kept up her hiccups, and we kept going. Well, that is until Perky had a bigger than usual hiccup and died. We tried to restart, but the starter was dead. Suddenly we were adrift on the St. Clair River with freighter traffic coming up behind us. We managed to drift to the edge of the channel, and dropped anchor. Tom scrambled below to find the problem while Kristi radioed the approaching freighter so he’d know we were disabled. The freighter captain said he had plenty of room and even throttled back a bit as he passed to minimize his wake.

We found that in our panic at the engine stopping we had left the transmission in gear, so the starter didn’t engage. Once we shifted to neutral, Perky started right up. Yea! Time to haul up 120 feet of chain and a 45 lb. anchor. This is not a good time to find out that while your windlass (a winch for anchors) “works” it has no power. Kristi tried to pull it up manually, but after she mistakenly got the chain wrapped around her ankle, we traded places and Tom pulled the chain while Kristi manned the helm. It was a very scary moment for both us, but no harm done. It’s tricky getting the throttle setting just right to counteract the river current, but not overrun the anchor.

We were a little shaken, and tired, but we were on our way again. We reached Sarnia Bay Marina a little later than intended, but with our first day behind us we felt good.

Over a well deserved dinner we decided to stay an extra day for boat work.  In addition to Perky’s ailments, and the powerless windlass, we found that Otto, our autopilot, occasionally turned randomly, which required that one of us be at the wheel at all times. So, we had our “day off” well planned for us.

The next day we checked fuel filters, bled injectors and tested Perky under power at the dock. We found that the previous owner had wired the windlass to 6 volts instead of the 12 volts it required. At least that was an easy fix. Otto, however, remained mystery as we prepared to clear the Blue Water Bridge and head into Lake Huron.

Continue to Part 3

We bid goodbye to Sarnia and headed north towards the Blue Water Bridge and Lake Huron. The current under the bridge was pretty stiff and we were glad that the previous owner had upgraded to a larger engine. We made forward progress, but it was slow. We learned much later that the trick is to hug the West bank where the current slacks a bit. That would have been nice to know before leaving Sarnia.

Once we got into Lake Huron we headed straight for Goderich. There were thunderstorms predicted for that night and we wanted to be off the lake before they hit.  We made it to Maitland Valley Marina with no problems. If you’re headed there, just look for the turquoise salt mine. The friendly staff helped us tie up just as the first thunder could be heard in the distance, and rain started to sprinkle down.

We ended up having quite a storm, but it was short lived and the marina was very well protected.

Once the storm subsided we decided to walk into town because a reviewer said it was a nice walk. Nice, perhaps, but it’s long, and steep. There is a long stairway leading up the bluff to town, followed by a fairly long walk to get to the downtown area. If you were in a hurry, and in good shape, you might be able to walk it in under 30 minutes. The town was very nice and has some wonderful old architecture. We got rained on a little, but not too bad and ended up having a nice meal before heading back to Pearl Lee.

We found out we had only experienced the edge of a very large storm and the following morning reports of large waves kept us at the dock. So we spent a sunny, warm day relaxing and planning our next step, heading to Port Elgin.

Continue to Part 4

Early in the morning, on June 24, 2015 we backed out of our slip at Goderich, turned right on Lake Huron and we were on our way to Port Elgin (pronounced with a hard G, as in “gun”). With little to no wind, and small waves we motored north. It was sunny, but a bit cold with wind finally kicking up just as we wanted to dock (why does it do this?).

As we negotiated the channel and breakwater into Port Elgin Harbour, people on the dock were shouting and pointing in three different directions which caused some confusion. We bumped the fuel dock slightly due to bad directions and somewhat unfamiliar controls, but eventually made it into our slip for the night. Lessons learned, pay no attention to the bystanders, and when in doubt go back out. You can always approach again once you have things sorted. With nowhere nearby to go, we relaxed and got ready for the next day’s trip to Tobermory.

Fog, drizzle and very cool temperatures marked our trip to Tobermory. We didn’t see another boat out all day and at times felt like we were the only people on Earth. We motored along fog shrouded islands, feeling our way forward. We were very thankful for our full cockpit enclosure which kept us dry and relatively comfortable.

Finally, rounding Bonnet Island we could see Tobermory Harbour. As we got closer it seemed more and more like a 19th century fishing village. The staff was helpful and professional in getting us squared away. Once we were settled we explored the town a bit. If you want fish or fudge, this is your town. We did a bit of shopping and had an excellent whitefish dinner. This was one of our favorite stops, and we both wanted to stay longer because there was so much to see, but with limited time, as Kristi said, “If the weather is good, we have to move.”

We went to bed knowing that the next morning we were off to Killarney.