Boating in Ontario

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.

Saying Goodbye to our Baby
The thought of selling our Tempest made me sad. We had many good times with her, and could easily travel the much smaller lakes that we enjoy. She was named 1000 Island Dressing because we enjoyed her for two seasons in the 1000 Islands. Quickly my husband found her a new home near Bobcaygeon, Ontario on Little Bald Lake. If you know of the band The Tragically Hip, you might recall one of their songs called "Bobcaygeon" Now to make it even more depressing, we were left without a boat at the beginning of the season.



I read a post on the Bayliners Owners forum which they stated how sad it was when you sell your boat, to see it leave home for the last time. Well for us it was different as we delivered her to the new owners, and we know she has a good home!



We launched her at Oak Shores Marina. The people there are great, and even stayed open a bit longer to cook us up some burgers and home made french fries.



We did get back at the end of the season to winterize 1000 Island Dressing and again had an enjoyable time at Oak Shores Marina. They have a pretty good menu and that one morning while we were there were many boaters coming to take advantage of their yummy breakfasts. We had to wait awhile for the food, but luckily thier bar was well stocked.



It is a favorite meeting place for the local area residents to have coffee, drinks, play some pool or watch TV on their big screen. Its good to have a place that you can count on going to for some R&R, especially on rainy days.



One strange thing I did notice along the road was a shoe tree. Its a tradition of cottagers in Canada to nail a shoe to a tree in their community. I think I would need a whole forest for all of my favorite old shoes.



Searching for a Bayliner

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.

Bayliner Links

Bayliner: Bayliner
Bayliners Owners Club: A site devoted to Bayliner owners

Click on the below photo for a continuation of our boating at Port of Whitby Marina





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