bigbuck

Check the U.S. You should be able to find one down there. See if any of the Lund dealers around here have one in stock so you can check it out in person. Unfortunately, the prices down in the U.S. are still so much better that it makes it tough to buy a boat here.

If it gets rented out for 2 months of the year, will that cover the bulk of the bills?? What about 3 months?? The only issue is that you don't get to use it for the 2 best months of the year, you get the rest of the year. It is a great way to build equity as long as you don't outstretch your resources. Good luck!!

P.S. Be very choosy about who you let rent the place. You don't need a bunch of rowdy's destroying it or vandalising someone else's property. Have a strict limit on the number of people that are allowed. Everyone thinks that they can rent a cottage that has an occupancy limit of 8 and invite their 20 closest friends to party. Uh-Uh!! Make them pay $30/head/day for any extra people to discourage this behaviour. And, check up on it during their stay.

Simple things first, check the battery connections, and the ground connection.Charge the battery and see if it holds a charge, if it does not, you need a new one. Then start looking around for bare spots and the like, the alternator could be gone, there are tons of things that could be the culprit. Start with easy stuff first.

You probably should replace the impellor as well. You'll have the lower unit apart anyways. I don't think it would be that difficult especially since you change your own oil and do basic maintenance yourelf.

For Evinrude parts in the T.O. area check out:

Klaus Marine Service

17 Arnold Street

Etobicoke

They are off the Gardiner down by Kipling I believe.

my engine says use regular octane 86 or 87 I believe. Is it safe to go to 91? The guys that are putting in high octane does your engine say it's ok? Just wondering

You can run 91 octane with no problem. The extra additives in the 91 will also help keep engine deposits to a minimum. My boat requires 89octane minimum so I always run it on premium anyways. I cart 5 gallon jerry cans to the gas station and fill them up. It is about 25cents a litre cheaper to do it that way over filling up with marine premium.

Nice!!! I can't wait for that episode to air. Marc, we are going to start calling you the 'Fish Whisperer'!!!

Big Jim is a great guy and I'm happy to see that he is doing well.]

Enjoy your life, it's no dress rehearsal.

Spend the extra 20-30 bucks more for the Premier, you won't regret it. That said, I'll second checking out JB's Fishing Depot. As for the poster who said that the Triumph is built with the Avid blank, you are dead wrong on that. The Triumph is St. Croix's entry level rod and is entirely built in China not the good 'ol U S of A. They are a decent rod for the money.

Great report!! Nice tosee that there are still a few fish left in Rice.....LOL

Nice fish and Good for You for getting those nasty slimy lampreys off the big girl. The fishing gods will smile on you for that. I see a 56" in your near future........

Good one!!!!

Thanks, that's what I thought.

You should be good with the 3M stuff. Make sure you wax it after using the rubbing compound. It's lots of elbow grease but the result will be worth it. If you have a polisher it will be much easier, Canadian Tire has one on special this week I believe.

Wayne, enjoy your summer!!! That's some nice work you did there. One day when I grow up I'd love to learn to fly.

Wow!! I was at Home Depot on Friday afternoon and was talking to the hot dog vendor, his gazebo disappeared but he was unhurt. Smith's trailer park took the brunt of it. Scary scary stuff. Saturday morning I was over at Atlas Block and they had a bit of damage but thankfully their building is made of stone and concrete. What's amazing is that a couple of the guys from our park were out fishing out by Picnic Island after the storm and it was calm.

Another point to remember, when you see the big tanker in front of a gas station, go fill up at the next station you see. Everything in the bottom of the tank gets stirred up including any condensation (ie water). The sample I saw was from the bottom of the boat's fuel tank that was stored over the winter without fuel stabilizer. The owner of the boat was too cheap to spring for a proper winterization and just had the water drained from his engine. I'm not fear mongering, just stating some facts and observations. If you spend $10k+ on a boat, I think $20 for some Marine Stabil is just good insurance against having an expensive problem to fix. For me, I burn at least a tank (27 gallons) at least once a month so my fuel is usually quite fresh in the tank and I still pour some in, it keeps the fuel system and carb clean and it makes me feel better.

Wayne, good to hear you are OK. I talked to the park owners (our place in HH) and the bulk of the damage was in Midland so I wasn't too worried about you. There is considerable damage in Midland but it can be fixed. Thankfully nobody was killed, that can't be fixed.

Go to your local UHaul and pick up a proper ball mount. Don't mess around for 40 bucks. A skeg costs a buck and a half or so to fix never mind any other damages. Canadian Tire sells them too so pop in and get the right one.

ST. CROIX Avid and up!! I have not had a problem with St.Croix on warranty and have sent 3 rods back to them (I have 7or8) that have seen heavy use and got them back no problem.

I don't think the big manufacturers really want their 4 stroke high tech big outboards (115+) manufactured in China, they are interference motors (which means they are built to very very close tolerances), there is no room for loosey goosey assembly and parts. You'd be fine with either a Merc, Yamaha, Suzuki or Honda kicker.

When you buy fuel from a marina, assume that there is ethanol in the fuel UNLESS there is a sticker on the pump indicating that it is ethanol free fuel from the fuel supplier.

I'd say no, in the U.S. the mortgages are NON-RCOURSE which means that you can leave the keys on the porch and call it a day and nobody comes after you after the fact, here in Canada we have RECOURSE mortgages, the debt follows the mortgagee and guarantor until it is paid off in full. I would say don't do it, it can end up being a major problem for you, if someone needs a guarantor, that means they are on shaky ground credit wise. If they have any sort of financial difficulty which unfortunately is probably quite likely, you will be on the hook. Remember, banks don't normally ask everyone for a guarantor, only those people whose income and credit are borderline.

I believe it!! You should see some of the jackasses up on GBay with their big cruisers. Some people just have no clue when it comes to the rules of the waterways. I know how the Ontario gov't can get out of the current fiscal mess we are in, put a whole bunch more OPP officers out on Seadoos and have them ticket jerks on the water, in no time they will get us out of the deficit. (Yes, I am being just a bit facetious)

Smith's Trailer Park in the south end of town was badly hit, most of the trailers were either destroyed or badly damaged. The Honda dealer had the windows blown out and about 30 odd cars were damaged. Trees were damaged and hydro got knocked out. I have a couple of calls into friends in town there and am waiting to hear back from them. I heard there were only 12 people injured and there were no deaths. Thank God for that.

I will be up there tomorrow and will get a first hand look and will report back on Monday.

Lovely, from my understanding, Premium fuel contains NO Ethanol. I'm going to have to do some more homework on this. I think a little slug of Stabil Marine Formula will go along with my fuel from now on. I figure it'll be cheap insurance.

On the weekend I popped by to see a friend that runs one of the local marinas in Honey Harbour. He showed me a bottle of fuel that had separated in one of his customer's boats. It was pretty much 1/2 and 1/2 fuel and water/alcohol in the bottle. You could shake it up and after a minute or two, the fuel would float back up to the top and the water/alcohol would sink to the bottom. It was in a boat that doesn't get much use and was filled up with gas station gasoline with 10% ethanol. After draining the fuel tank, cleaning the fuel tank, replacing the fuel filter and fuel lines and rebuilding the carb the boat was good to go. Almost $1k later. That said, if your boat is going to sit for any length of time on the driveway or in the water, put some fuel stabilizer in it OR run non-ethanol gas (proper marine fuel - which is getting harder to find BTW) OR run it on Premium which has no ethanol in it.

I know there has been much heated debate on this topic but having seen fuel that did separate with my own eyes only reaffirmed my belief that you should drop some STABIL or whatever other stabilizing agent you wish in your gasoline. Many marinas out there are starting to use ethanol blended gas but are not openly letting their customers know that. If in any doubt, ask, if you don't get a satisfactory answer, get your fuel somewhere else. I've been buying Premium fuel at the gas station and filling the boat that way, it's cheaper than marine regular and I know what is going in the boat.