CPH

AKRISONER just a little word of caution. Been in the marine business for over 20 years. As soon as a boat comes in take a picture of all sides and any damage, scratches,etc. Take pictures of before work is done and after work is complete. Get the owner to fill out a work order in advance in his or her hand writing being explicit as to what they want done and ensure you document the date and time you call them to come and pick up their boat, and how many times you call. While most boaters are good people there are others that do not belong on this planet and will try to take advantage of you. I've seen it all. They come in for an oil change and want a new boat back, or accuse you of damaging their boat and will settle for a free repair. Electrical problems are the most time consuming and expensive repairs if you have to chase the problems through out the boat and through the different harnesses.You fix something, they come back a year later after having used it for a full summer and tell you something is wrong again, and want a warranty repair. Get a credit card or a substantial deposit to ensure the boat owner has some skin in the game, if not, you may be the owner of a boat and it will cost you 500 plus to scrap a boat or a lot of heart aches to try and sell it for what you have in it. Its a cheap way for someone to dispose of a boat.Its not a neccessity like a car. They just leave it with you. Not a joke... I know...Anyone want to buy a boat, or seadoos I have a few of them.

Within 8 hours of Toronto you have fishing heaven ....From Lake St Clair to Lake Nippissing to Golden Lake...and everything in between and the best part is that is only about 5 hours out of Toronto.

First of all very few if any will tell you on this forum where their personal honey hole is. If you are looking for City fishing from your location you may want to check out Bronte Creek or the Credit River. Be sure to check fishing regulations for these. If you are willing to travel a couple of hours check out the Kawartha’s, the lakes there are great, start with lake Scugog, then work your way to Pigeon Buckhorn and Rice. Not only are these lashes good for Walleyes and bass but also battling it out with monster muskies. Good luck.

Duck hunting is definitely addictive. Years ago in my 20's I too got up at 3 am loaded up the hunting gear and drove to Valens to secure a stand before others got there and sometimes spending the night in the parking lot in my van just to get a stand. Even a broken leg would not stop me. Full length leg cast and friends to carry me to the stand. ( I had a great black Lab that would retrieve ducks so the broken leg was no problem). Like anything though, with age and work and growing kids things tend to fall by the way side and so did my duck hunting. All the stories bring back memories and very enjoyable. Now I'm semi-retired, my son is in his early twenties and keen on hunting and fishing. Its time to start some serious hunting again and catching up with one another. No better place to do that then on a hunting or fishing trip together.

Its worth it to me...if we have the attitude that its okay and not worth the effort or not worth it arresting these idiots than everyone will do it. There is money to be made in stealing. Then lets see how that plays out for everyone. Not only will theft increase but if all claims go to insurance just wait and see what your insurance costs will be. So who other than the thief wins ?

Every boater and every fisherman should be on the look out for stolen items. Had an outboard stolen and police just say call the insurance company. There is nothing they can do even if they catch the bugger. They told me he would be out by the time they finish the paper work. So what is their motivation to even look for the thief. Why would they put themselves in Harms way arresting these idiots if only to have them back on the street possibly targeting the cop who arrested them. There is only one way to deal with these people...if you know what I mean

Friend of mine buys US boats all the time. The most important thing to have is the Title (ownership), the bill of sale and ensure boat numbers match on the title. The border seems more concerned about the trailer and yes, you still have to take the trailer to Canadian tire to get certified within a certain period of time. This is done all the time and just make sure you have the proper paper work as mentioned, pay the appropriate tax and It will be a breeze. Registration in Canada should be simple too. Color pictures of the boat, copy of the title(previous owner), copy of your receipt (bill of sale), copy of your license. This can be done on line. One important thing to remember is to keep a copy in safe place, of the receipt showing you paid the taxes and duty on the boat. 3 years from now Revenue Canada will be asking you to prove you paid the taxes on the boat. If you don't have that reciept you may have to pay again.

Great info..good job !!

Great Job Bill, looks great. Did you paint that hull as well? Its fun working on these old boats and bringing them back to life, and even throw in some modifications..Its a labour of love..lol . I have another project I'm doing right now on a 16ft 1992 Sunbird bowrider. Took out the 3.0 OMC motor and replaced it with a rebuilt 4.3 OMC, gutted the interior, have re-upholstered all the interior panels, replaced the gauges on the dash from another boat I scrapped. I took off the decals and got custom new ones, instead of Sunbird its going to be a Superbird..yes I'm a mopar fan. At one point I was even thinking of putting a wing on the back, like the 1970 super bird car, as I have a nice radar arch from a Thompson cruiser that I can cut down to size. After I shared my idea about the wing on the boat my guys won't let me near that arch now. I wonder why? (yeah I know..Cheesy). I am now in the process of wet sanding buffing and putting everything back together. I'll get some pics out once its done. Hoping some of these builds we post help others with their projects or at least gives them some ideas and info on different methods and products....or what not to do like put a wing on the back.

Brought back a lot of good memories. As kids we could not wait for spring to hone our fishing skills battling 20 lb+ carp at Cootes Paradise in Hamilton Ontario. Preparing corn meal balls and getting all our old tackle together, as we knew we would lose line, sinkers, and sometimes rods. Those were fun days and yes Carp was a fun fish to catch.

Sinker...If you paint the boat yourself that's one thing. If you paint it for a paying customer and not done properly that's a whole different ball game. I have seen some very unfortunate people asking me to re-do paint jobs that they initially paid big bucks for. Like I said, I try to stay away from painting if I can and source them out to my contacts. I'm not saying not to paint. I'm trying to say be careful do your homework, ensure the shop is reputable and will warranty their work. We have done paint on boats where we have had to repair damage, which meant painting after the repair was done and then replace the decals such as Legend Boats. Yamaha PWC's which have that new light weight NanoexCell body is painted. When we repair the damage to the hull or sides, and we have done a lot lately( because no one else wants to touch them) we have to repaint them. Again, a very expensive job as we use a three part Yamaha OEM paint made by colorite out of the U.S. very durable and specific to ensure adherence to the plastic body and the abuse these wave runners get. We use the same vinyl flooring that Lund Boats use. Can be purchased from any Lund dealer. I'm sure there are others, however we have found it to be durable and nice to work with. A high premium outdoor floor adhesive should suffice however you mentioned aluminum plate flooring. I have never worked with aluminum floors, only wood and fiberglass. So that may be something you want to look into as far as vinyl to aluminum adhesion goes. I do not know anything about that. Wood would be much easier to work with, easier on the feet. Coated properly with fiberglass resin would give you those 20 years again and much cheaper? Also, if the transom is wood, coated and sealed properly, will give you years of no problems. few of pics of different floor and transom repairs may give DIY's some ideas.

I tend to stay away from painting boats. Guys do use "all grip paint" which is marine boat paint and tends to work pretty good but it is very expensive and the application has to be just right or you will get eventual peeling. We did a 1960 18 foot aluminum boat the man wanted converted into a semi-bass boat with a casting deck, new floor, repainted boat and engine. We used All wheels body shop in Stoney Creek to paint the boat, and we did the motor. Jeff really knows what he is doing and did a great job on this wreck of a boat, and he is very reasonable. Here are some pics that gives you an idea of some of the build, and some inspiration that yes you can make an old boat into something new again.We took all the floatation foam out and replaced it. Totally soaked and probably added an additional 300 lbs to the boat. The customer could not believe how fast his boat was after the build. So bottom line is that a build like that is very time consuming and expensive. Knowing how expensive a complete make over would be we did try to talk the individual into just finding a newer boat. The customer insisted he wanted it done. He claimed the boat was his fathers, then his, and once finished would give it to his son as a surprise present and keep it in the family. That's exactly what happened, He took the boat home and put it in the garage. he called his son to the garage. The son broke into tears when he saw it, and they were thrilled using it for 6 months when unfortunately the father suddenly passed away. The son has the boat, loves fishing with it, and it represents a near and dear "forever" reminder of his Dad.