Since I moved to back in 1999, my travel habits are starting to shift to boating trips, rather than driving trips. I can still get to most of my favorite spots in Ontario, except when traveling by boat there is alot less stress and more senic places to visit. We enjoyed the last two years in our 17' Tempest Runabout, but trailering it to our favorite destinations became a pain! We decided it was time to move up and we put our boat up for sale. We wanted somthing that was roomy and we could do overnight trips, rather than day trips. Actually, I wanted a bathroom, stove, sink and fridge.
While working for Clift's Marine Sales, Canadas Largest Yacht Brockerage, I came across many potential buyers that were looking for anything but a Bayliner. I was always curious as to why they had such a bad rap, and I still can not seem to find a valid answer. Some have said there was a model that was mass produced one year, and it was substandard, and then according to others it was just a matter of preferance. After showing a Bayliner 2855 to a customer, I fell in love with the comfort of it and had to show my husband. He agreed, as he is 6'1" and could walk around easily He just insisted no OMC sterndrives. Another case of personal preferance or is there something with the OMC's that gave Bayliners the bad rap? Four years ago before I even knew what an OMC was, we were out cruising on Lake Ontario with a friend, and found a boater in distress. We towed him into his port at Frenchmans Bay, and everyone said "Oh he has an OMC, that explains why he broke down" My husbands only argument against an OMC was because they were out of business, the parts would be harder to find.
A bird found good use of this OMC:-)
Don Allin, one of Clift's fine brokers, had just the Bayliner for us. A 2455 Ciera Sunbridge and in our price range. We took an hour long drive to the other side of Toronto, to Port Credit, to check it out. We gave him a deposit, and came back 4 days later for a sea trial, or should I say Lake Ontario trial.
We were now the proud owners of a Bayliner.
As you can see from the photos, she is very spacious for a 24' boat
We had her trailered to Port of Whitby for launch, which she will stay there a month or two while we do some minor modifications.
A champagne christening was complents of our broker.
The first renovation we did was to install a new floor and toilet in the head, now I'm happy.
We were planning on cruising her to the 1000 Islands for the rest of the season and then possibly to Portland on the Rideau Canal for next season. But so far we are enjoying her here in Whitby, as its only a 5 minute drive to the marina for us. The only drawback is Lake Ontario, as we prefer inland cruising, but at least we are close to everything.