Barn Swallows Aplenty

When I got to the cabin Friday afternoon, I was surprised to see colourful newspapers taped over the windows. My first thought was that Wayne was starting to do some exterior painting. Wayne said no, it was because Barn Swallows were arriving from all quarters and looking for even the tiniest ledge for nest building.

In May, we got everything set up for our returning pair of Barn Swallows. Maybe Bert and his lovely lady told all of their friends about how hospitable we are. Whatever the case, fluttering adds are encouraging the other birds to find a different nesting location.

While nesting birds are fun to watch, it can get pretty messy underneath. Besides, the ledges the birds have to choose from are too narrow. We've had them try in the past and the poorly supported nests tend to fall, dumping their precious contents out way too soon.

Once nest building time ends, we can take down our colourful flags. But in the meantime, we have Bert and his lady to watch. She's already sitting on the nest, so we'll have some little ones to enjoy by July.

Do you have any nesting birds? How are they doing? -- Margy

Garden in the News

My floating garden has been getting lots of attention lately. As you know, it won a prize in the Sunset Magazine Facebook contest and a picture is now in their June issue.

A blogging friend saw my announcement and asked if he could do an article about the garden. I thought for about three seconds and you know my answer was a resounding YES. So here, direct from Duane Burnett's website is "Amazing Floating Vegetable Garden Grows on Lake."

Duane is a self-made media specialist living on the Sunshine Coast in BC. You can find him writing about our wonderful region online at a variety of places including:

http://www.facebook.com/duaneburnett.sunshinecoastbc
www.duaneburnett.com
http://www.twitter.com/duaneburnett
http://www.youtube.com/user/DuaneBurnettdotcom
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/sets/

And tell Duane Margy sent you. -- Margy

Surprise Post on re-nest Blog

Today I noticed there were more visitors to the blog than usual. Using Sitemeter I was able to determine that most of the traffic was coming from re-nest: abundant design for green homes.

Most of the content came from my post "Our Little Cabin up the Lake" on the Tiny House Blog a few years back. But some of the pictures came from my more current blog posts. Fortunately it was a positive post.

If you're looking for posts about float cabins, try some of the following categories:

Float Cabin Construction
Float Cabin Living
Cabin Accessories
Gardening
Wood Stove

Welcome and enjoy. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or send an e-mail through my profile page. -- Margy

Buying a New Boat

It's hard to believe, but at the turn of the century (doesn't that make 2000 sound like a long time ago), Wayne and I knew next to nothing about boats. In 2001, we bought our first runabout to get up the lake. In the last ten years, we've added nine more vessels of various types to our collection. So why would we want another boat? Size matters. At least when you are out on the chuck (ocean).

Our primary ocean going boat has been the 23.5-foot Bayliner Halcyon Days. We love her, but the large straits and inlets of the Inside Passage have been beckoning, and the heavier seas and stronger currents made us want a more substantial boat before go.

What's held us back? We've been on the waiting list for a larger slip in the Powell River North Harbour for about nine years. Now that the marina is being redone, the wait is over. And Jim, the wharfinger, found us one that we can see from our condo window. How cool is that!

So off we went looking for a new boat. What better place to start than with Geoff at Lake Union Sea Ray in Bellingham. He helped us get our Bellingham boat a few month ago, so we returned for more of his able assistance.

Wayne and I sat down to create a list of mandatory requirements and "nice to haves." A few of the mandatory items were:

28-30 feet in length
command bridge (flybridge)
dinghy and motor
GPS and depth sounder
and a maximum dollar amount we set for ourselves

We searched on both sides of the border using craigslist, Yachtworld.com, and, of course, Geoff. Because of our good experience with Bayliners, we settled on three models: the 2858 Command Bridge, the 2859 Sunbridge, and the 3058 Command Bridge. To stay within our price range, we looked at boats built in the 1990's with gas engines.

Our search took us from the Pacific Northwest to Vancouver BC. We found several boats that met most of our mandatory requirements and some of our "nice to haves." But how do you know which is the right boat for you? Stay tuned for the rest of the story. -- Margy

Buying a New Boat: The Search

After Wayne and I decided to start looking for a new boat to use on the chuck (salt chuck, ocean), we developed our mandatory and "nice to haves" lists. That helped us keep us focused during our search. The key item was our maximum dollar amount. This had to include any upgrades that might be required to make the boat conform to our mandatory list.

Geoff from Lake Union Sea Ray in Bellingham was a key player in our search. He also introduced us to Yachtworld.com where we could review boats available in the U.S. and Canada. Narrowing the search to the Pacific Northwest (including British Columbia) made the search more realistic.

If we purchased a boat in the States, as Canadian permanent residents, we would need to import it to Canada. This would be advantageous if we could find a boat that was less expensive south of the border. Importing a boat into Canada is fairly simple if it was manufactured in a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) country. If not, it could require expensive import duties. We definitely wanted to avoid those.

From craigslist we found several boats that we went to see. One definitely made it to the top of our list. We also went to several local dealers to see boats in their lots or on their docks. As I mentioned before, this process helped us narrow our search for three Bayliner models: the 2858 command bridge and the 2859 sunbridge (both 28-footers), and the 3058 (a 30-footer). Now all we had to do was find THE boat. -- Margy

Buying a New Boat: We Found It!

Buying a boat is a bit like love, you never know when you'll find it. We went to see a 1993 Bayliner 3058 twice. It was an individual sale through craigslist. The owner kept it well maintained and the layout was very functional. The only downside was twin 4.3L engines. We were afraid they were a bit underpowered to get the boat up on plane. But the up side would be better gas consumption at lower speeds.

Before we went for a demo ride, Geoff found a 1992 Bayliner 3058 Motoryacht just north of the border in Richmond, BC. Wayne was at first reluctant to travel so far, but since it was on the way to Vancouver International Airport, he stopped by on his way home to Powell River.

It was love at first sight. And it had every item on our mandatory list (including price) and almost every item on our "nice to haves" list. Wayne told me all about it when he got to Powell River. He was so excited. We set up an appointment for me to see it on my return trip to Bellingham. We learned that this was the boat we wanted. We also learned that not all boat brokers are as good as Geoff.

Thanks to Geoff's hard work, we found our boat. But now the hard work had to start. A boat can look great from the outside, but what is happening inside. Since we didn't know anything about the owner or his maintenance records, we opted for a complete boat survey and mechanical inspection. What a story that made! -- Margy

Buying a New Boat: Getting a Boat Survey and Mechanical Inspection

When we purchased our Bellingham boat from Geoff at Lake Union Sea Ray, we knew the seller and the maintenance records for the boat. Wayne and I trusted the boat we were purchasing was in good condition and free of any major defects. For that reason, and because our U.S. insurance carrier didn't require one, we opted not to get a boat survey.

With our new Bayliner 3058 Motoryacht, we didn't know the seller or the boat broker, and there were no maintenance records. For those reasons, and because our Canadian insurance carrier required one, we chose to get a boat survey.

Geoff also recommended that we get a mechanical inspection of the engines and legs to make sure they were in good operating order. The Foghorn (as in Foghorn Leghorn) has been moored in the fresh water of the Fraser river for several years, but before that it was in salt water and that can be quite corrosive.

Wayne and I met Geoff at the Skyline Marina in Richmond, BC, where the boat is moored. Geoff helped us find an independent survey company and mechanic. During the morning, both inspectors crawled all over the boat looking at the construction, systems, engines and condition. Then Geoff took us out to test the boat in action.

The final stage of the inspection was a haul out at the marina so both inspectors could see the bottom of the boat and the stern drives. The Skyline Marina has a 30 tone boatlift, so we used that. Now that was quite an experience. All I could think was, "Don't drop it!"



After both inspectors finished, they gave a verbal summary of their findings. The written reports followed two days later so we could make our final purchase decision. But the initial report was good.

Both inspections plus the haul out were a bit expensive, but the peace of mind it gave us with an unknown boat was worth it. You can bet when we get ready to sell our 2350 Bayliner it will come with a lot of records for the prospective buy to review. -- Margy