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Boat experts

crankcall said:
I may have found my next boat , 26ft Ranger Tug , displacement hull so pretty comfortable in big lakes , trailerable if I need it , 150hp outboard which leaves a ton of storage in the back deck . Nice lines ( if you dig trawler style ) . New fuel injected outboards get pretty decent mileage , way better than a big block inboard , and way less maintenance costs .


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Rangers are beauties... but man are they pricy!

My last girl was a vintage Marinette 32, nicely setup for big water. I bought and refurbished her with plans to do the loop, but after a few years of dreaming, I lost interest and sold her this spring.

I wish they still made midsize aluminum-plated cruisers. Durable, light, and virtually maintenance-free hulls. With modern metal shaping equipment, they could probably get some nice style lines.
 
They make beautiful aluminum plate cruisers , Stanley is more work boat styled , Kanter will build you anything , he’s in St Thomas , makes lovely boats . I’m guessing a Ranger 26/27 will set us back $160k for a ten yr old boat . They are not cheap, but you have something to sell when your done .
I was into Brukkmann in Mississauga last wk , he has a 50ft picnic boat in build . Wish I had an extra 2mil . US.
Seadoos are not boats , it’s a watercraft , but it’s not a boat .

@ifiddles , go rent a boat , rent a couple jet skis for a weekend , if your new to this don’t blow your brains out on a toy you may not like . Find some friends to take you out . Wander around a marina and ask questions.
Come down the road to Bronte and I’ll take you out on a 30ft sailboat so you’ll know you don’t want one of those .


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crankcall said:
They make beautiful aluminum plate cruisers , Stanley is more work boat styled , Kanter will build you anything , he’s in St Thomas , makes lovely boats . I’m guessing a Ranger 26/27 will set us back $160k for a ten yr old boat . They are not cheap, but you have something to sell when your done .
I was into Brukkmann in Mississauga last wk , he has a 50ft picnic boat in build . Wish I had an extra 2mil . US.
Seadoos are not boats , it’s a watercraft , but it’s not a boat .

@ifiddles , go rent a boat , rent a couple jet skis for a weekend , if your new to this don’t blow your brains out on a toy you may not like . Find some friends to take you out . Wander around a marina and ask questions.
Come down the road to Bronte and I’ll take you out on a 30ft sailboat so you’ll know you don’t want one of those .


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95% of the cars on the road are interchangeable with regards to use. Boats are different animals. The perfect boat for one guy is a 12' tinnie to get into some special spot for some fishing. Another guy goes six figures for a boat to catch a bass. Then the offshore racing stuff etc. I like canals so I could have likely gotten away with a high thrust 60HP on a 26 footer.

I saw a 33 'Searay for sale a number of years ago and it only had 10 hours on it. The owner bought it and after the family tried it for a bit they wanted a sailboat. Loss of taxes, depreciation, sales commission, I wonder what the cost per hour was?

Where do you intend to use the boat? Some days Lake Ontario is like a sheet of glass. other days (Or later in the day) it's more like a broken mirror bringing bad luck. We went from the Murray Canal to Port Credit in a 20' KMV. It was a great boat but two days of pounding got on the nerves. Under ideal conditions the trip could have been 3-4 hours.
 
crankcall said:
............................ @ifiddles , go rent a boat , rent a couple jet skis for a weekend , if your new to this don’t blow your brains out on a toy you may not like . Find some friends to take you out . Wander around a marina and ask questions.
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^^^ This

I spent a few summers as a guest on a buddy's few different boats (sail, speed, pontoon). He has been on boats most of his life and is very experienced in many parts of the world. While I enjoyed myself I also watched him. I believe we went every where you can on Georgian Bay. He NEVER looked like he was enjoying himself, EVER. Head constantly on a swivel. Docking was a constant fight with his spotter (wife), every single time. The money he told me it cost to take it out was staggering (I felt guilty and chipped in a hundred every few times. At first he refused, then reluctantly took it, then yanked it out of my hands). I had aspirations of getting a boat myself years ago, but not now. I thought boating was supposed to be relaxing. Maybe its Georgian Bay thats the problem, I dont know. It reminded me so much of riding in southern Ontario, constant stress.
 
Mikedezo44 said:
Saw this being pulled down(up) the highway a couple weeks ago coming up from Niagara Falls direction. Was quite the sight to see on the custom trailer with huge rock guard infront of it. I guessed close to a million, I wasn't far off after a little searching :ROFLMAO:

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I've seen a few skaters on tilt trailers. They make me happy. Probably miserable to go that fast while trying to avoid all the other idiot boaters but fun to know you can.
 
Once your in the lake 12 ft or 60 ft take the same efforts to operate , it’s getting on and off the dock . I set every boat up for single handing , I’ll gladly take help but I can leave or return to the dock in everything from the 43 we had down to our now 30.
Marina yards , boat trader magazine, facebook marketplace are full of boats owed by people that either bought the wrong boat ( @nobbie48 is right) or hugely underestimated the care and feeding costs .
At least trailer boats can fill up at a gas station , marina gas this year is over $2.00 a litre .



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crankcall said:
Once your in the lake 12 ft or 60 ft take the same efforts to operate , it’s getting on and off the dock . I set every boat up for single handing...
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In big water handling a 12' and 60' sail boats are a lot closer than same lengths in power boats.

Few runabout and small cruisers are dedigned for big water. Fewer of their owners are competent once weather advisories kick in.

I have never been scared in a sailboat, all my hair-raising moments have been rough seas in small power craft.
 
Mad Mike said:
In big water handling a 12' and 60' sail boats are a lot closer than same lengths in power boats.

Few runabout and small cruisers are dedigned for big water. Fewer of their owners are competent once weather advisories kick in.

I have never been scared in a sailboat, all my hair-raising moments have been rough seas in small power craft.
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I should have taken you out in the tornado. In a stiff breeze (or tight quarters), that thing was scary. A ton of fun but full throttle all the time (you could drop to 90% throttle but less than that was not possible as their was no way to reduce sail area while in the wind). Like driving a litre bike around in town wide open. Lots of adrenaline but also a series of near misses.
 
I was just south of Barrie heading north on the 400 when the 85 Tornado went thru. By the time we got to Essa, the tornado had passed -- the highway was littered with debris, the trees along the highway were stripped of their leaves, the raceway was a shambles, and you could see houses up the hill ripped apart.
 
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So I have to attend a meeting last week with Halton marine police , Oakville Fire , the Towarf ( town of Oakville rescue) , the director of parks and green spaces and the Commodore’s of the three yacht clubs in Oakville . Over 96% of last summers rescues were dumdums that can’t read a weather forecast , left the beach in an on shore breeze got caught in an offshore breeze and realized next stop was Rochester. With weather alerts on your phone, a VHF radio with WX functions , and now lots of boats with radar ( it’s cheap now) I’ve never been scared in a boat . Big pool toys with 4 people in them in Lake Ontario scares me .

Unrelated I was out last night in a foiling moth , it’s the future of sailing . If your 20.


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crankcall said:
So I have to attend a meeting last week with Halton marine police , Oakville Fire , the Towarf ( town of Oakville rescue) , the director of parks and green spaces and the Commodore’s of the three yacht clubs in Oakville . Over 96% of last summers rescues were dumdums that can’t read a weather forecast , left the beach in an on shore breeze got caught in an offshore breeze and realized next stop was Rochester. With weather alerts on your phone, a VHF radio with WX functions , and now lots of boats with radar ( it’s cheap now) I’ve never been scared in a boat . Big pool toys with 4 people in them in Lake Ontario scares me .

Unrelated I was out last night in a foiling moth , it’s the future of sailing . If your 20.


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Haha, I keep trying to get my wife excited about those. No luck so far.
 
Mad Mike said:
In big water handling a 12' and 60' sail boats are a lot closer than same lengths in power boats.

Few runabout and small cruisers are dedigned for big water. Fewer of their owners are competent once weather advisories kick in.

I have never been scared in a sailboat, all my hair-raising moments have been rough seas in small power craft.
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The first 2:30 of this says a lot. 1:00 dump beer. 1:25 look for life jackets.

Bow riders should have safety nets like trampolines.

 
nobbie48 said:
The first 2:30 of this says a lot. 1:00 dump beer. 1:25 look for life jackets.

Bow riders should have safety nets like trampolines.

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Can't watch it all, too angry. Sadly, there are far too many of those asshats out there. They treat everything like a game and then act shocked when they prop their kid.
 
GreyGhost said:
Haha, I keep trying to get my wife excited about those. No luck so far.
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Kid in my club bought one , 30k used for a 10ft boat . Cool toy once you get it foiling , maybe a ft or 1.5ft of chop and you just skim over it . Till you don’t . My friend is running the Canadian Foil training centre in Kingston , she is having a bunch of us down in August for a regatta . I need to figure out a more than 50% foil to floating ratio.


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crankcall said:
So I have to attend a meeting last week with Halton marine police , Oakville Fire , the Towarf ( town of Oakville rescue) , the director of parks and green spaces and the Commodore’s of the three yacht clubs in Oakville . Over 96% of last summers rescues were dumdums that can’t read a weather forecast , left the beach in an on shore breeze got caught in an offshore breeze and realized next stop was Rochester. With weather alerts on your phone, a VHF radio with WX functions , and now lots of boats with radar ( it’s cheap now) I’ve never been scared in a boat . Big pool toys with 4 people in them in Lake Ontario scares me .

Unrelated I was out last night in a foiling moth , it’s the future of sailing . If your 20.


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I did lots of rescues on Simcoe, most were way back when PS volunteers were the first responders.

I'd say 1/2 the rescue calls were weather, the other 1/2 mechanical failure on poorly maintained boats. Few of the mariners rescued able to manage the situation they found themselves in.

My 2 favorite rescues::

2 teens who paddled a canoe 1m offshore from Willow Beach then decided to go for a swim. They didn't know how re-board a canoe in open water. They were clinging to an overturned the canoe, had lost their paddles and had no lifejackets.

2 young men out for a booze cruise in daddy's 16' tin boat. They forgot the plug, the boat filled up and capsized. No lifejackets, and clinging to a buoyant beer cooler - they were still drinking when we found them 2 miles north of Snake Island.
 
Mad Mike said:
I did lots of rescues on Simcoe, most were way back when PS volunteers were the first responders.

I'd say 1/2 the rescue calls were weather, the other 1/2 mechanical failure on poorly maintained boats. Few of the mariners rescued able to manage the situation they found themselves in.

My 2 favorite rescues::

2 teens who paddled a canoe 1m offshore from Willow Beach then decided to go for a swim. They didn't know how re-board a canoe in open water. They were clinging to an overturned the canoe, had lost their paddles and had no lifejackets.

2 young men out for a booze cruise in daddy's 16' tin boat. They forgot the plug, the boat filled up and capsized. No lifejackets, and clinging to a buoyant beer cooler - they were still drinking when we found them 2 miles north of Snake Island.
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I had to rescue a few back in the day too. Some were boater error, some were rental operators being giant aholes. We saw a rental boat blown down the lake and stuck in a bay with waves breaking over it. The shop had rented them a boat with an electric motor on a day with 30+ knot winds across the harbor mouth. Renters called shop from a nearby cottage and were upset that the craft they had rented was entirely unsuitable for conditions and shop said too bad, get it back before the rental time is up or we start the overtime rate which is far higher. Aholes. These poor renters had never been in a boat. I put that one almost entirely on the shop for providing bad advice and putting money over lives. They probably shouldn't have rented any boats out that day and definitely not any with only an electric. They were doomed from the get go.
 
GreyGhost said:
Can't watch it all, too angry. Sadly, there are far too many of those asshats out there. They treat everything like a game and then act shocked when they prop their kid.
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A friend's father was up in years but still a good water-skier and wanted to go out. A visitor to the cottage wanted to drive the boat and pops gave in. The novice driver launched pops full throttle and didn't back off until pops frantically signaled to slow down. Water skiing is typically done in the mid 20's MPH range. The boat was going twice that.

The driver, instead of slowing down, dropped to idle and pops started gaining on the boat, got tangled in the towline and got dragged when the driver reapplied the throttle. He survived but was never the same.

Beware of land lubbers.
 
nobbie48 said:
A friend's father was up in years but still a good water-skier and wanted to go out. A visitor to the cottage wanted to drive the boat and pops gave in. The novice driver launched pops full throttle and didn't back off until pops frantically signaled to slow down. Water skiing is typically done in the mid 20's MPH range. The boat was going twice that.

The driver, instead of slowing down, dropped to idle and pops started gaining on the boat, got tangled in the towline and got dragged when the driver reapplied the throttle. He survived but was never the same.

Beware of land lubbers.
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I don't spend much time behind a boat recently as there are few people I trust behind the wheel. The normal towing part isn't bad and I can teach from the rope but I don't trust them to get back fast enough if things go wrong. I have had to pull multiple people out after bad crashes. Time matters a lot. My wife is fine cruising around in the boat but wouldn't put the hammer down when required. Her brother, aw hell no, he would probably flick me into a dock if I was on a tube. Her dad is the best of the bunch. Competent but he won't be coming back all that quickly so I know I will be on my own for a while. I'll trust my dad and my brother with my life when I'm on the rope.

We were on balsam many years ago with a competent friend pulling a slalom skiier. Out of seemingly nowhere, a humongous roller wave appeared (probably far away cruiser at speed as wakeboats weren't a thing then). Driver cut the throttle to save the skiier. Skiier was still on plane and the wave rolled over their head. I have no idea what would have happened if they had stayed 35 mph. 99% chance the ski would have pierced and skiier would have slammed into the wall, a 1% chance the skiier would have been launched to the moon. I would not want to land on one ski from that high.
 
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