The Toad - Another Diversion

Last weekend we had the opportunity to visit Vanessa's friend, Gary Scott Breithaupt on his island in Georgian Bay. He tooks us out on his Campion centre console boat with a 90 HP Mercury outboard. It was a good time and a good test of Vanessa's enjoyment on the water.

I've always loved boats and boating in general. The pieces of the puzzle started to come together this year when we replaced the camping trailer with "The Lime". We started to notice that most of the parks where we camp have boat ramps and docking or mooring for boats. Since we are no longer towing a trailer, but driving the van, we have the ability to take a boat with us. So, we bit the bullet this week and picked up a 1996 Sea-Ray Sea-Rayder Jet Boat with a 90HP 2-stroke oil injected Mercury Sport Jet engine and a beautiful original Shorelander trailer.

Until we come up with something better, for the purpose of this blog, the boat will be called "The Toad." This is a natural play on the fact this boat will be towed everywhere we go. There are long-term plans to update the colour scheme, and since the tow vehicle will most often be The Lime, it would be appropriate to go with a lime green paint scheme on the boat as well.

We got our first chance to use the boat this weekend when we launched it at Hunter's Bay Marina in Nipissing and took it over 15 miles to Sherry and Kevin's Island (Goose Island) in Lake Nipissing. We acheived speeds of over 32 MPH with Vanessa, myself, and all our gear in the boat. We later used the boat for some sightseeing, spin-outs, and we also took Kevin tubing. All this took place on just over a half-tank of gas. Not bad, since it costs Kevin over $50 one-way to his island in his Four Winns Vista.

This is a project blog, so I should point out some of the things I have done and need to do to the craft:

DONE:
-greased bearing buddies on the hubs
-purchased and mounted a spare tire
-checked all lights, wiring
-tightened grab handles in boat
-mounted CPS (www.cps-ecp.ca) flag on light pole
-purchased and stored all safety equipment and new ropes

TO DO:
-replace bilge pump (old one is shot, wiring OK)
-replace fuel hose
-clean and polish boat
-get longer rope for tube
-design, build, and install hitch for The Lime