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craigdritchie

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Everything posted by craigdritchie

  1. Most likely the owner replaced an I/O with an outboard. Many advantages to this - outboards generally weigh much less than an I/O of equal power, so you get a better power/weight ratio ... modern outboards give better fuel economy than I/Os ... you can tilt the outboard completely out of the water to keep crud , zebra mussels and (in salt water) barnacles out of it ... and moving the prop aft of the transom gives it more leverage, so you have greater speed and much better handling. Brackets aren't just for repowering though, you do see them more and more on new boats - especially big salt water rigs. Disadvantages to brackets are that they can be awkward when using downriggers, and they require the transom to be reinforced, since you're hanging the engine's full weight out on the end of it. If you use one, you'll probably have to replace your prop as well (pitch will be off) and the engine height is critical. Most brackets are installed with jack plates as a result. Armstrong are probably the biggest bracket maker out there. You can find more info on their website.
  2. Nothing wrong with a Legend, but as others have said, they compete on price by advertising the boat with a smaller engine. By the time you upgrade to a larger engine, the price tends to fall in line with everyone else. What would I buy? Starcraft - hands down. Don't even have a second choice. They're well designed, well built, nothing rattles or vibrates, and they're just about indestructable. The Hydra-Lift hull design on most of the fishing models will go into shallow water for bass, yet still eat big waves i open water. That's why so many of the die-hard walleye guys on Erie use them. Beyond that, Starcraft has been building boats since 1903. You don't stay in any business for 112 years (and counting) by making a crappy product, or by not taking care of your customers.
  3. Not sure how things are in your neck of the woods Cliff, but around here, it is a very small number of real estate agents who seem to do at least 90 percent of the sales. They're the ones who really work it, and they're the ones you will likely have the most success with. Find out who they are, talk to a couple of them and find one you're comfortable with. Then, it's a lot easier. They're not all turkeys. By the way, it's important to understand that "what the house is worth" and "what the house will sell for" are two completely different things. The appraised value might not be even close to its realistic market price. The reality is that many homes have very expensive features in them that simply won't factor into their resale value (things like the additional insulation in your boat house, although valuable, might fall into this area). Comparisons to the actual selling prices of similar homes in your area is a much more accurate guide.
  4. McGuard makes prop locks for various outboards and stern drives. Same company that makes locking nuts for cars. Most larger marine parts stores will have them in stock - especially now, with winter storage coming up.
  5. Internet Explorer has so many security flaws in it that you really should replace it with anything else. Seriously.
  6. I agree, but that's not the issue. If the vehicle isn't rated to tow anything and you have an accident while pulling the boat, the insurance company can void the policy and leave you on the hook for all the bills. The Subaru is a great vehicle with an awesome reputation, and because of that they can still be fairly pricey ... you'll have to look long and hard to find a deal on one. On the other hand, 4x4 Rangers are widely available at excellent prices. They may eat a little more gas, but they will cost less to buy so there's a bit of a wash there. I've had a couple of 4x4 Rangers in my life, all were excellent trucks that went through pretty much anything, lasted forever, and never cost me a dime beyond regular oil changes, wiper blades, tires and other basic maintenance. Very reliable truck, I can't recommend them highly enough.
  7. The shark teeth were painted on for a short time while they were celebrating one particular Lanc that flew with RCAF 419 squadron. You can read a bit more about it here. Apart from the shark teeth, they also painted on different registration numbers, and applied the name "Ropey" to the nose. It wasn't like that for long, maybe a week or two? The plane has since been repainted to its normal VR-A scheme.
  8. I live in Oakville. Canadian Warplane Heritage takes people up on sightseeing flights most Saturdays, and sometimes on Sundays too. They usually fly up and down the lake shore, so every weekend is an air show around here. You often see their Lancaster, B-25, Harvards and C-47 out doing rides. Sometimes you see visiting planes, including a Mosquito, B-17 and B-24. Wife arranged a flight in the Lancaster for me when I turned 50. I can't even begin to describe it. There is zero space inside that plane, all the available space goes to fuel tanks, bombs and machine gun ammo. The plane isn't pressurized, and there are gaping openings to the outside everywhere, so the wind whistles right through it while you're airborne. It's fine in the summer at low altitudes, but climb to 20,000 feet and then it would be 50 below with a 250 mph wind chill. Moving around inside the plane is difficult in even shorts and a t-shirt ... I can't even imagine what it would be like to be cramped into that thing for seven or eight hours in the pitch dark, while it's -50 degrees inside and you're getting shot at the whole way. The people who did this night after night are a whole lot braver than me. Lancaster: View from the dorsal turret while flying over Bronte. To sit here you assume the fetal position, sitting on your tail bone. On bombing missions during the war you would be there for about eight hours. I began to cramp after about 15 minutes: Cockpit view while buzzing the Skyway bridge. Cockpit window is open a little ways, as it was a very hot day: Heading back to land. You can't hear anything over the four big Merlins: We're so lucky to have the opportunity to see planes like this. You see the Lancaster, or a Herc, or a CF-18 and it makes you appreciate everything we have today.
  9. Ha! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. As a kid Icaught a lot of bass there, and in some of the same spots too. Back in the 70s there were a lot of white perch in there, plus some decent bluegills and crappie. It's great to see it's still an enjoyable place to fish.
  10. Hate to break anyone's heart, but a 20-inch smallmouth from this area isn't going to weigh five pounds. While that rocky Canadian Shield shoreline does scream "bass," the reality is that it's relatively infertile, and bass there do not pack on weight like the smallmouth from Erie, Simcoe, St. Clair or the Thousand Islands do. If the poster wants big smallmouth, quite honestly, there are other places that produce them on a far more consistent basis. Parry Sound is primarily about good numbers of smallmouth in the 15- to 18-inch range, which generally weigh from a little under two pounds to perhaps three pounds and change. There is a small population of larger fish, which tends to suspend in the water column off of structure and move around quite a bit depending on the wind and baitfish. If you find them, then you're into bona-fide four-pound-plus smallmouth. But finding those fish and staying on them is very, very difficult. For the most part, you go to Parry Sound to catch good numbers of smallmouth from one to three pounds. And let's be honest, that's great fun. There is some decent largemouth fishing in a few areas in and around Parry Sound, but quite honestly, there are other parts of Georgian Bay that are far, far better.
  11. Call Daiwa and they will direct you to Aikmans anyway. Aikmans is their service center in Ontario. Daiwa's Canadian operation is just a sales office.
  12. An agreed value policy is easy to settle - no argument there. If you have an agreed value policy that insures your boat for $20k, then if you should write the boat off you will get $20k - no haggling, no fuss, no hassle. That's the value you and the insurance company agreed to. The problem with it is that although your boat may not appreciate in value, the cost of replacing it with a new one will almost certainly increase. Write off your $20k Lund and guess what - the same boat might now cost $25k. Guess who's on the hook for the difference? It's not the insurance company. Actual value policies concern the value of your specific boat. Replacement cost policies concern the value of the new replacement boat. If your boat is stolen, what matters more? How much the old one was worth? Or how much it will cost to get it replaced? For a slightly higher premium, I still feel replacement value coverage is worth every cent because the cost to replace things always goes up. Think of how much you paid for your boat when you bought it, and go see what it would cost to replace it today. It will be higher every single time.
  13. Even better is a full replacement cost policy. Same idea, but if it turns out the cost to replace the boat is higher than expected, you're not on the hook for the difference. The additional premium is very little ... well worth it IMHO, especially if your boat is made in the US and the replacement cost is subject to currency exchange fluctuations. Today's Canada-US exchange rate is sitting at almost 23%. A boat that cost $10,000 back in January at the boat show will cost $12,300 today, just on the exchange rate difference alone. Absolutely worth an extra $40 - $50 increase in premium.
  14. Not open to public - trade only (meaning dealers, distributors, manufacturers and legitimate media). Still some tournament guys running around begging for freebees, but the show management continues to do a great job of weeding out the beggars. It was a good show this year, record attendance (over 12,000) and it was a noticeably loud building ... lots of conversations, deals being done, contracts being signed. Nice change from 5 - 6 years ago, when you could hear a pin drop from 200 feet away. Combining with the fly tackle dealer show seems to be working out well.
  15. Also spent my day working in the yard, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as yours. I'm very grateful for that. Glad to hear you're going to be ok. Once you're back on your feets, you might want to call a pest control guy to get rid of the hive you evidently stirred up. Sometimes they're in the ground.
  16. I remember back in the 1970s Frank Soda used to launch pyrotechnics off his head while playing live shows in bars. In one infamous incident he almost burned down the Gasworks this way ... the bar survived, but he incinerated most of his hair, which led to the rest of the band shaving their heads for a few weeks to make him feel less conspicuous. True story.
  17. Nothing wrong with a stainless steel brush provided it's one of good quality and you replace it every other season. You hear about experiences like this every few years, and it inevitably results from people using a cheap, made-in-China brush that they found at the dollar store. As with everything else in life, you get what you pay for.
  18. Of course it's screwed up Cliff. Liberals in power. What else would you expect?
  19. I don't understand why you feel you need a lawyer. Companies change ownership all the time, and usually for the better. Until someone specifically tells you that the new owners are going to package you off, you're kind of jumping the gun here. Also - understand that free legal advice is pretty much worthless. About the only exception is something called Duty Council, which may be offered by your local court. Duty Council is a public service where lawyers (and more often, judges) provide legal advice to people at no cost. The idea isn't so much to give you specific advice, but to determine if you have a beef that's worth going to court with, or if you're just wasting your time. Judges donate their time to this duty because it helps reduce the court's case backlog. Not every court offers this, but many do. You'll have to call to find out if this is available in your area, and what the hours are. Because there's a lot of demand for free legal advice, your time with the judge is usually limited to about 15 or 20 minutes, so make sure you have all your facts straight and supporting papers in hand before you go. If the judge thinks your complaint is valid, then you can decide if it's worth taking legal action. If you feel you need a lawyer, get one that specializes in labour relations. A real estate lawyer is of no use to you. You need a pro. Those guys aren't cheap - think $200 an hour to start - so it's definitely worth floating it by duty council first, to see if you even have a legitimate case. Good luck.
  20. If it's the numbers you're referring to, then I wonder if someone was doing a photo shoot on the lake. If the manufacturer (or even a dealer) is doing photos for a catalogue or website, the boats never have numbers on them. You need to have the paperwork with you, and there's usually a manufacturer's number mounted on a board that you would normally place up on the dash. It's sort of like the boat equivalent of having a temporary permit in lieu of a license plate. This is definitely the time of year for it. Most manufacturers are doing their 2016 brochure photography right now.
  21. White perch and white bass are closely related, but they are two different species. White perch look almost identical to white bass but don't have the dark stripes along their sides.
  22. Seriously. I hadn't seen one in a long time either, then just like that they seem to have returned. I know their populations are cyclic, but Lake O seems to be completely boom or bust. Remember how many there used to be at the Pickering nuke plant? Then they just disappeared.
  23. LOL!! That never gets old.
  24. White bass seem to be coming back everywhere. Port Credit was absolutely full of them earlier this month.
  25. Milk snakes are very beneficial, if you have them around you'll never have a mouse problem. Best to not try handling the adults, since they have teeth like razor blades.
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