I mentioned back in August that I had an issue with the alternator on my generator and had ordered a new one. I like to try and shop local when I can, so with my gernerator manual and the old alternator in hand on August 25th I stopped by the local alternator store to get a new one. The new one was $140.00 and if I wanted it by Friday it would be an extra $40 for frieght. I decided that I could wait a week or two so had it ordered using the normal channels. Two weeks have passed since I ordered the unit so on Sep 8th dropped by to check on the status of my alternator. As it turns out my timing was perffect and they were just unpacking my shipment. The harness had be changed from the old alternator to the new so I went and grabbed the old unit out of my trunk. When I brought the unit inside it didnt look quite the same and as it turns out it wasn't, unfortunately it was too small to fit my gernerator. After learning this the parts guy made a few calls and found another supplier that had the right alternator but it cost $240.00 plus $30.00 frieght because the supplier wasn't one of their normal channels, huhhh! No mention of me already waiting two weeks because of a mistake in ording etc... I decided to check online before ordering another unit >$300.00 after tax seemed really expensive. I spent about five minuites online with the right part number and ordered the same alternator through amazon for $78.00 plus $18.00 for shipping and handling, Wow! I will continue to try and buy locally but it's really difficult when there are so many deals online. I had a similar experience last year with another local supplier. I had about $400 worth of boat stuff on the counter at "the Binnacle" one of our biggest marine suppliers here in Halifax and I asked if I could get a bit of a discount since I was a frequent shopper and had purchased over 3K of products in the last few weeks. I was directed to one of the owners who very patiently explained to me that thier products were already priced very competitively and if I had over 10K in purchases on the counter he might consider a discount and if I wasn't happy with the price I should go online. Well I wasn't real happy but I bought the products anyway. After getting back to my office I decided to price out the products online and was surpised to find that I cpould get the same stuff for 15% less by ordering online and the supplier was guess who????......"The Binnacle". I ordered all of my products online and took everything I had purchased back to the store for a refund and picked up the same stuff three days later from the same store when my order came in. I did leave a message for the owner that I felt customer loyalty should trump a one time online buyer but never did get an answer or explanation as to why the same discount couldnt be offered in person. Oh well thats my rant for today:) in ten years when there are very few storefronts I'll understand why.
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Joyce and I have only been members at the club for two years and when we purchased Rose Lee and joined the club we didn't know anyone. Jim and Freda MacDonald were some of the first members to welcome us aboard and make us feel like family, Jim has been a great friend with lots of support and advice ever since. Jim is also a Catalina owner and we have talked about getting out for a sail either on his boat or ours for quite a while but it just never came together until today. Jim met me at the dock around 1300 and we took our dinghy out to Rose Lee. Jim dropped the mooring while I got Rose Lee under way and started out of the cove. I offered up the helm to Jim and I was happy to crew for the day. The wind was forecast out of the SW but in reality was out of the N-NE at about 10-15. Jim had Rose Lee into her groove and we were slipping along at 7+ in warm air and pretty clear skies except for that one big dark cloud:) We made our way to the East end of the basin before Jim turned and started his down wind run for the bridges. At this point a few rain drops started to fall and quickly increased to a nice sun shower, its great to have a bimini:). By the time we had passed under the Bridge the rain had stopped and we were back into a beautiful sunny after noon again. We had a very relaxing sail along the waterfront and it was great to catch up with Jim, I have always found that a boat is a great place to have a conversation (no distractions and very relaxing). We passed Georges Island to starboard and quickly sailed out of our breeze. The next little while was spent drifting, chatting, and whistling for wind and about an hour later we were ghosting along again. Jim soon had Rose Lee romping along in a fresh breeze and we started our beat to windward. Wow he is some smooth on the wheel with a light touch and perfectly timed tacks to allow me time to sheet the genoa, sweet. Jim decided to motor sail under the bridges with the upwind leg and short tacking against the tide it was a great call and made it easy on the crew:) After clearing the second bridge we unfurled the genoa and Rose Lee was back to doing what she does best. We sailed across to the SE side of the basin to the diving barge before Jim tacked and got us onto a nice beam reach for home. It was almost sad to have to start the motor and furl the sails, what a nice afternoon. Jim brought Rose Lee back to her mooring and I snagged it on snagged it, a perfect ending to a perfect sail. It seems like summer has finally arrived in Nova Scotia, better late than never.
I dropped by Rose Lee at noon for a quick visit and couldn't resist the temptation to go sailing. The conditions were excellent 10-15 knots in the right direction and about 25 degrees.I started the motor and had it running in neutral as a fail safe, however I was able to sail off the mooring with the main and a few minutes later I unfurled the jib and was off and running. As I was leaving wrights cove there was a navy frigate being towed out of the munitions depot so I had to give them a bit of room, but it was interesting to watch the process as I sailed by. I went down towards the Eastern end of Bedford Basin before tacking and settling in to a nice broad reach towards the bridge. I was able to make it under both bridges with minor sail adjustments and was just in time to see the big navy ship being backed into its slip, pretty cool. After a super sail out past Georges Island it was time to make the turn and head back towards home. I had a lovely beam reach with light wind all the way back just ghosting along at 3-4 knots until the breeze opened up at the bridge and we were off again for the mooring like a horse back to the barn. I decided to sail into wrights cove where my mooring field is located and drop the sails in the protection of nearby navy Island. It all went like clockwork and I snagged the mooring on the first try ( have you ever noticed that there is never anyone watching when you do something right, its only when you have a real mess that a crowd is on hand:). It was a great day on the water.
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https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/RoseLee
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