No boat and pining

2 weeks and I (Bice) "what did we do?" Well we did want a bigger boat, and we also wanted to take a year off. That year off is not really working. Took Tim 4 weeks and he was looking for other boats,. Did get stuff done around the house though. So off we went up to Manitoulin Island to look at a boat on the May 24 weekend.

 Nice drive up to Tobermory on Friday morning and on the ferry we went.


We had to stay outside on the dog deck, but hey, the weather was nice and no wind. As luck had it, there was another dog there and its owners. Dog's name "Guinness". So, we travelled with Stella and Guiness, but preferred to have a glass of white wine.



Once in Southbay we stopped in at the surveyor's house to pay him. He promised to send us the survey and off we went to Gore Bay. Apparently it was "immaculate" according to the surveyor we had hired to do an inspection, not a full one mind you, just one for insurance purposes. Off we went, bank draft in Bice's purse. Should have know. It was a Hunter after all and if that boat was immaculate than I am ...The owner had told us that we should sleep on the boat to make sure it was for us, so we unloaded our stuff in the marina, loaded it onto the boat.  and from there it just went something like, this may not the be the boat  ... hatches all cracked like car windshields held together by glue, multiple cracks in the deck, several structural, the step at the stern was cracked in 2. "Immaculate" has different meanings for different people. Stern had stress cracks where the davits were mounted. Nice layout, aftcabin had a very good air flow, galley was good, but storage was debatable. Told the owners the next day that we were not buying, at which point he dropped the price by 14,000. We still said, no thank you, especially after he had told us that the boat once had an unfortunate meeting with the pylons in his former marina on the stern, but it had all been fixed. Want details? call us.


 Gore Bay itself is a beautiful little town though and the marina is very well protected. Went back home the land route, stopped in at Little Current and this is what it looks like in spring

Spent some days at a cottage which was very nice. Had lots of Kawartha's icecream, and lazied about.

Also spent time with friends at their cottage.  Stella was very happy to be on a dock and when we went for a boat ride, she was rigt there hanging over the bow. We got the message. Stella wants a boat!

Looked at another boat, very nice as well, but we were not allowed to turn on any instruments, the airor heat, to see if it all worked, unless we made an offer, put 10% down, hired a surveyor and then we could turn on the instrument, etc. We ran! Want to know the brokers' name, call!

We will keep looking and there are still some candidates out there.