Island G Gazette

Chick Boat

2006-06-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

Chick Boat

2006-06-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

Chick Boat

We have taken delivery, or rather picked up, our new “used” boat. It’s a 16’ fiberglass legend bowrider-type fishing boat with a 60hp Mercury outboard. We probably won’t use it for fishing, but it will be a treat to have a boat with canvas on rainy days. We have also bailed out the old aluminum scow and towed it into town to have a snap on cover made. That should reduce the bailing!

While the two Rogers were trying to fix our old evinrude 20 on the open aluminum boat, we mentioned that we had bought a new one. We are buying from a local fellow on another nearby lake as they have too many boats and need to part with one. As soon as we said who we were buying from, they immediately piped up with “Oh, you bought the chick boat”! There goes our plan to change the name.

So we are getting the “chick boat”, so named because of the glittery paint that, no doubt, is supposed to attract the girls. We will see if sons #1 and #2 will go zooming by the girls sunbathing on the docks, to see if it works. That probably won’t be this year. Son #1 won’t be coming to the cottage this year as he will be having double hip replacement surgery. Unfortunately he has had a bad time with Lupus and the medication has severely damaged his hip joints causing lots of pain and difficulty for him. The doctors are doing something different than usual for him because he is so young and the new joints he will be getting will be made to last much longer than those for older folks. Son #2 is now working as a welder and loving it, so we hope he might find a weekend available later in the summer to come up and enjoy some fishing and slacking off at camp.

We did find out what was wrong with old motor. Our mechanic said it still had water in it after being half-submerged during the recent downpours. Old sort-of reliable is now fixed again and back in action. We will soon have our own yacht club at Islang “G” – the boys also acquired boats this year. Son #1 is an industrial designer and fellow students at Humber built a wooden power boat as their main project this past year. He is the happy recipient of one of their prototypes. It will probably be a couple of years before he finishes it and tows it up to the lake. Son #2 is an avid sailor and has bought himself an old fireball sailboat. It too needs some work done, but we might see it flying around the lake next summer.

Every time we plan our trips to the cottage we think we will be going with plenty of room in the van, but again we are packed to the roof. I had to buy a new “used” dresser to replace the old junker with the drawers that don’t work. Dan wanted to burn it, but it has found a new home in the sleep camp. I am happy with the deal we found on craigslist. It is IKEA, but it is bigger, in terrific shape and in a light pine that looks nice in our log bedroom.

Craigslist is a great buy and sell site. We sold the red wrought iron café set that sat on the porch of the sauna to a lady who wanted it for her loft. Dan couldn’t stand it – not into funky. He wants the traditional muskoka chairs on the dock. I have agreed, as long as they are painted in a nice cheery colour. I have put a link to craigslist in the sidebar. It’s really worth a look. Also very interesting for nature lovers is Andy Fyon’s Northern Ontario Wildflower site.

Next time we go to camp, we will have another new floating dock – this one at the mainland. I am looking into ways to secure it so it doesn’t swing from side to side and bump into other people’s boats.

We will have a mini-vacation over the July 1st weekend as we have so much work to do. I think people buy cottages with the idea that they will be relaxing, fishing, sunning, swimming and generally enjoying themselves, then we spend all of our time working and spending money on the hardware and supplies we need to do the work. But, it’s fun and rewarding work and for us it doesn’t have to be perfect – just goodenough.

We will have company on the long weekend. Dan’s daughter #2 along with her boyfriend and another friend will come up to enjoy themselves and while we have them captive, we plan to put them to work. They will be helping to dismantle the old dock and position the new floating dock. Then we will tow a big section of the old dock around to the other side of the island to use as a deck.

One of these days, we will be sitting on that deck in our muskoka chairs, enjoying the scenery.

Log Cabin Wall "before"

2006-06-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Island G - "Goodenough for the likes of us"

2006-06-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Where in the World is Island G ?

2006-06-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Island G Gazette - Here we will discuss the perils and pleasures of island ownership, along with the perks and pitfalls of being completely surrounded by water. That can be a joy on a beautiful sunny day, when the lake is calm and the water is warm, but a bit frightening during a storm when the wind is crashing the water over the dock and you know that you cannot safely take the boat to the mainland. Of course, that's the time to throw a log into the woodstove and put on a Garrison Keillor tape and just sit back and relax in your private little world and laugh at those crazy Lutherans in Minnesota.

Island G is located in about the centre of Ministic Lake, about 45 minutes northwest of Sudbury Ontario. It is about a 5 hour drive from Toronto and then a short boat ride. Well, its a short boat ride if you have a motor that actually runs.

We purchased the island in January 2003 after travelling out across the lake on a skidoo to see it. I was the passenger, but my husband was towed on a toboggan. He fell off several times but fortunately for our bankers, he was not discouraged.

We fell in love with Island "Goodenough" under a blanket of snow that covered many sins. We discovered the sins after the snow melted in the Spring and had to hire a dumpster and borrow a barge to remove them. These were the sort of sins that my husband calls the detritus of the lazy - old rusty metal, kids broken toys, old car seats, old wringer washer piles of garden hose and shingles and broken chairs.

Some details about our little bit of heaven - about a half an acre in size. A main cottage, about 20 years old attached to the original log cabin which we believe was built in the 1940's or earlier. The log cabin is now our bedroom. There is a second log cabin which is our bunkie or guest cabin, as well as a sauna, a leaky, broken down shed and the proverbial outhouse. We have a propane stove and fridge as well as propane lights in the kitchen. Other than that it is flashlights, lanterns, candles and a couple of lamps that my son wired up for 12 volt that use auto tail lights and give a terrific light for reading at night. We bought a couple of those wonderful 12 volt batttery things from Canadian Tire and this year for Mother's Day, my boys bought me my own solar panel so I can re-charge them at the cottage instead of bringing them home every trip. They no longer buy me flowers as our cats just eat them.

Currently, our little Island G is drying out after amazingly high water this Spring. In fact I believe our island was somewhat smaller than when we closed up for the season last fall. At that time the water was so low our boat was beached. This year it is so high and the weather so fierce a couple of weeks ago that our boat is now sunk at the dock which is now about 8 feet from shore thanks to the winter ice going out and trying to take the dock with it - for the third time. Thankfully the motor was off as it is back in the shop being re-re-repaired. Our mainland dock has now been removed from its tether by the Spring floods and we understand from a neighbour that it is floating somewhere in the bay. We will be dismantling the old island dock and re-using the lumber to create a deck, to which we will attach our new floating dock. It sounds so easy, but we know it will be more than a weekend task

At the other end of the island is a wonderful huge rock, about 20 feet by 40 feet, usually only a foot underwater. It's a great spot for swimming. When the water level drops a bit, we will replace our little sitting deck - a sweet spot to sit in the evening and watch the satellites pass overhead.

Its a lot of work to fix up the camp, but there's nothing like dancing on the deck on a moonlit night to the strains of Frank Sinatra, finding your own special fishing hole, leaping into the lake for an evening swim after a nice hot sauna, seeing a double rainbow arched across the sky, and baking a pie with blueberries from your own patch, to give you wonderful memories to last a lifetime. Of course this is balanced with rescuing a terrified wet cat, who thought he was a boat hood ornament, dealing with a fire in the middle of a rainy night, lugging l00 lb propane tanks by boat and then by vehicle into town for re-filling, dealing with unruly boat motors and the embarrassment of being rescued from disaster many times by capable, ever-patient neighbours.

We pick up our new boat on June the 9th. This one has has a bigger, hopefully more reliable motor and full canvas so we won't get soaked on our trip to the island. We are having a new floating dock built so we will have something to which we can tie the new boat.

I am preparing for the new boat - went off to Canadian Tire to buy new pfd's the other day. Unfortunately for them, I left the lifejacket aisle in a bit of a shambles as it was necessary to try them all on. It's interesting that the older you get, your idea of size changes. I was sure a medium would fit me, but I did end up buying 2 xxl's and a couple of cheapie one-size-fits-all because we don't know what size our visitors might be.

We did get this year's projects started on the one decent weather day. I have improved the sauna and inserted enough fire protective material that we can now relax when we sauna. The last one burned down in the middle of the night, during a downpour - so we are now extremely cautious about fire on our island.

My next project will be repairing the one exterior wall of our log bedroom that some idiot previous owner decided to cover with plastic siding. Son #1, the expert, warned me last year to take it off or the logs would rot behind the siding. He was right. Son #2, the demolition man, after too much beer, decided to take a break from playing with the Daisy BB gun and start with this project. In short order he had ripped off the siding and exposed a hideous wall of rot and left me with another pile of siding and wet boards to remove from the island by boat and take to the dump. I hadn't planned to tackle that project until next year, but now there is no alternative but to do it this summer. For now, the wall is exposed so the damp logs can dry out thoroughly. I have done my research at Dr. Rot's internet site and pleased our bankers again with the purchase of epoxy resin and fiberglass cloth and all the fiddly bits I need for the project. I am posting a "before" picture here and as I progress, if I think I am progressing, I will post pictures showing the process and the outcome. The "after" picture in my mind is of course wonderful. If I make a hash of it, I guess I will just seal it up and re-side the damn thing. After all, we are a hapless duo from the city - with very little skill or experience in the construction and repair trade.

Our island is a labour of love. We don't expect it to be perfect - just "goodenough for the likes of us".