Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:44 am
Hey.... watch that or we may start our own Obama-esque fued! I have been a Lake Ontario boater for over 30 years. Certainly not as nice as Georgian Bay and the North Channel, but it does have something to offer. Yes, some use their boat as a floating cottage, but its not as prevalent as you suggest.
I have visited almost every Canadian port on the lake (and a few US), done the Trent, the Rideau Canal, and had a few trips to / through the Thousand Islands. The Thousand Islands would the the closest match around here to what Georgian Bay has to offer.
The other perk of being on Lake Ontario : travel time is 20 minutes to the boat, 30 on a 'bad day'.... versus '2 hours on a good day'. I want to spend my time there, not getting there.
As for the numbers : summer docking is about $2K (40'x16' slip including power), and for winter I opt to store indoors - about $4K including haulout, bottom wash, storage, blocking, winterizing both engines/genny/ac, with access to power all winter, and launch. Being indoors I don't need to shrinkwrap, and just throw a blue poly tarp over the boat to keep the dust off it. If I stored outdoors it would cost me a bit over half of that number, but then I would have to shrink it and have to worry about snow or ice collecting on the cover, chafing if the cover moves, UV exposure, sand blowing around and blasting it or a neighbour's cover not properly secured and blowing in the wind, etc...
The extra few bucks go a long way to keeping it looking good. Most people can't believe it is a 30 year old boat.
I have visited almost every Canadian port on the lake (and a few US), done the Trent, the Rideau Canal, and had a few trips to / through the Thousand Islands. The Thousand Islands would the the closest match around here to what Georgian Bay has to offer.
The other perk of being on Lake Ontario : travel time is 20 minutes to the boat, 30 on a 'bad day'.... versus '2 hours on a good day'. I want to spend my time there, not getting there.
As for the numbers : summer docking is about $2K (40'x16' slip including power), and for winter I opt to store indoors - about $4K including haulout, bottom wash, storage, blocking, winterizing both engines/genny/ac, with access to power all winter, and launch. Being indoors I don't need to shrinkwrap, and just throw a blue poly tarp over the boat to keep the dust off it. If I stored outdoors it would cost me a bit over half of that number, but then I would have to shrink it and have to worry about snow or ice collecting on the cover, chafing if the cover moves, UV exposure, sand blowing around and blasting it or a neighbour's cover not properly secured and blowing in the wind, etc...
The extra few bucks go a long way to keeping it looking good. Most people can't believe it is a 30 year old boat.