Chris

Wow, I don't think I could ever live in a city.

I don't really see anyone suggesting to tow with an unsuitable vehicle.....if the weight of your trailer and equipment is less than the towing capacity of the vehicle why would anyone spend money to upgrade. Why would automakers list a towing capacity on a car if cars were not suitable for towing as someone else has suggested. C'mon, this guy is talking about towing a 14' aluminum boat w/15hp motor and some are suggesting beefed up suspension, brakes, oil and tranny coolers, etc., etc. Some of you guys must be mechanics they way you are selling expensive auto upgrades. I can see adding a tranny cooler for automatic transmissions (approx. $100 to $150 installed) that's about it. As far as safety, whether your under your towing capacity or not, extra distance is required to stop....anyone towing/driving like a maniac because they feel safe with upgrades is just as much a danger on the road as someone pulling under their limit without upgrades. Adding upgrades may give some a false sense of security......kinda like the SUV owners that drive like idiots on icy roads because they have 4WD.

I used to have a 14' fiberglass with a 20hp loaded down with gear the package was approx. 750lbs. I had the boat for 14 years and towed it with two cars an '87 Dodge Omni and a '91 Plymouth Sundance. Never installed a tranny cooler in either, no beefed up suspension, no nothing. Never had one problem towing and on top of tons of local trips, we made 5 trips to Georgian Bay (approx. 1000km both ways) over 5 years with the Sundance. My wife and I towed the boat from the Ottawa area to Buckhorn lake with camping gear, fishing gear, food, booze, you name it and never had one problem. Can't remeber what the towing capacity on the Omni was but the Sundance was rated at 1000lbs. The Sundance had over 270,000km when I sold it and the guy who bought it from me drove it another 4 years. Never once had a problem pulling the boat out of the water or on boat launches.

Sweeet, looks like Marc Oliver has grown about two feet since I last saw him. In fact last time I saw him he was reeling in a 54.5" muskie. Chip off the old man's block I'd say.

Have a great time man and bring back lots of pics please

Pictured is my '85 Scottsdale. Still only 135,000 original kms.....parked winters and only tows the boat, picks up occasional new furniture, other truck stuff. Runs excellent, rides good (actually better with the boat attached) and usually only costs me a few hundred bucks a year in maintenance. Pretty easy to work on and gets about 21mpg on the highway and 15mpg while towing the boat. Only problem I have is that the original electric window motors crapped out and had to be replaced. The regulators were replaced at that time as well. The new GM motors barely have enough power to move the windows....so now I'm looking at switching from electric windows to manual, maybe gets some from a junkyard. I think GM made some pretty good stuff back then but personally I wouldn't touch any of the big three with a 10' pole nowadays. If I ever need to get something newer it'll probably be a Toyota.

Awesome, but....poor little seals

Very cool

In like a lion.......

Hi Lew, nice pics, thanks for sharing, here's a different angle on the your pic of the Rideau locks.

John, I can't speak for Marc but I can tell you my comments have absolutely nothing to do with any "past life". I'll try to be more "sensitive" for your benefit in the future (but still won't be picking up some idiot's trash). Last time I checked I was still being taxed thru the nose....there are public works and city staff that are (and I use the term loosely) "supposed" to be taking care of trash problems in their respective jurisdictions. Maybe instead of wasting your breath on my selfish environmentally challenged ears, you should contact your local politician. Sorry but that's how I feel. BTW can you tell everyone here how many times in your life you have cleaned up the trash along the many roads you use.....

Wow.....So now because I don't pick up after slobs I'm also selfish as well as environmentaly uneducated. John for someone who dosn't know me, you sure have done a fantastic job of assessing how I behave environmentally. So let me get this straight......we all use the highway, so when the snow disappears in the spring and the miles and miles of ditches are full of Timmy's cups, cigarette packs and bottles....anyone who doesn't clean up them is environmetally uneducated and selfish??? I'll bet you more than half of the people using this message board have never cleaned up garbage at a launch or along the road before. Gee maybe some day I'll be as educated and selfless as you are. If it makes you feel superior, go ahead and lump me in with people who throw trash all over the place. I think some of you people need to stop watching the news and get out of the city for a while. And make sure you give yourselves a few pats on the back for the wonderful job you are all doing of keeping the garbage (that I didn't put there) picked up. Guess I'm just not politically correct enough.

Because I refuse to clean up after a bunch of slobs means I need more environmental education??? Give me a break. Go ahead and knock yourself out....I'll be gone fishing. Whoppers got it right...clean up after them today and you'll be back cleaning up after them tomorrow.

For a similar situation check this out http://fish-hawk.net/hawktalk/viewtopic.ph...4f4f4d848d42248

One thing I will NEVER, EVER do is pick up after a bunch of ignorant Bandits that throw their garbage all over the place. If they want to fish in a pig sty let 'em. I feel bad for the non-littering guys who are confined to fishing from shore, tho'. For years everyone used to fish for catfish from private properties along the banks of the Nation River near where I live, but many of the property owners have since stopped allowing this because the idiots would go out and start fires and have garbage strewn all over the place. I don't blame the property owners at all.

For as long as I can remember the boat launch in the town of Rockland (east of Ottawa) has two different boat launch rates, one for residents of Rockland and one for non-residents. I no longer go to Rockland. I don't buy gas there, I don't buy anything from any of the stores there. I don't stop to eat there. But I still fish there, I just launch down the river a ways for free. In fact Muskies Canada used to hold their fall tournament there. The date that the tournament took place was after the docks had been removed for the winter and the collection booth shut down. When the launch operators got wind that MCI was holding a tournament there, they re-opened the collection booth for that day only and charged all the tournament anglers their overpriced launch fee. MCI has never held a tournament there since.

muskieb, I don't think it really has anything to do who won the race. NASCAR made the rule to prevent drivers from racing back to the start/finish line while there were wrecked cars on the track. In yesterday's race there were cars racing for position while cars were wrecking in front of them. It's all about driver safety.

I also have one and have never had a problem. At first I thought I did though. Went fishing, dropped the trolling motor in and started fishing. The Lowrance was working great. When I went to change spots, I pulled the trolling motor out and took off down the river. I glanced up at the Lowrance and the screen was black. I thought, what the heck is wrong with my Lowrance. Stop the boat and start checking the unit....all wires connected, power is on, everything seems fine. Then it hit me...duhhhhh.....I pulled the trolling motor up, along comes the sonar out of the water too. A few laughs and some teasing afterwards but everything OK.

Glad to hear that Sherri is, for the most part, OK Lew. Hopefully the idiot will get what's coming to him. Unfortunately we will always share the road with idiot drivers. Heck, a while back, there was even a thread on OFC where several of the respondants defended their excessive speeds, with many of them disrespecting drivers who "held them up". Slow down!!!!!

Unfortunately, there will be a lot of controversy over the officiating at the end of the race. According to NASCAR's own rules they are supposed to drop the yellow flag as soon as an accident starts to take place and the cars are to slow down and hold their positions past the start/finish. This was not done. I'm impartial to either Harvick or Martin, BUT......rules are rules and NASCAR already has a bit of a reputation for inconsistancy in applying their rules. The NASCAR boys are saying the fans don't like to see a race end under caution, but what about Martin's fans....he could've been the real winner. The NASCAR boys were saying that throwing the caution would've created an unsafe situation for the drivers as many of them would have lifted off of the gas pedal, creating more of a wreck. This is faulty reasoning.....they throw the yellow during the race all the time. If anyone watched Dave Despain last night the majority of fans that called in or emailed thought NASCAR did the wrong thing by not dropping the yellow. Normally when the yellow drops the field holds their position and slows AND THEN safety crews are dispatched to the wreck. In last night's final lap mellee one car slid hundreds of yards on it's roof, on fire and no safety crews were dispatched until AFTER all cars crossed the finish line. So is NASCAR saying that giving the fans a finish under green is MORE important than the safety of the drivers???

Wow, nice pics. Being an Earnhardt fan it is greatly appreciated.

Congrats to Tony. Love him or hate him you can't deny the fact that the man's gotta a wicked racing resume. He's been a champion in just about every type of racing he's competed in. I'm a long time Earnhardt fan.....it sometimes gets frustrating watching Junior. Junior has to get some teeth and get a little more of a 'tude going on. He don't seem as determined as the ol' man. Watch out for the Richard Childress cars this year.

Isn't stereotyping all white anglos as having this "general belief" illustrating the same racism you are denouncing???