Vehicles · Boats
The one that became a Pontiac
A boat is a car with worse depreciation and better weekends. The crew has owned exactly one, and it ended in the best trade on the ledger.
2018 to 2020
1981 Doral 16 ft bowrider
Doral built fibreglass runabouts in Quebec through the 70s and 80s. Ours came from a friend's family estate, nobody else wanted it, and it arrived with a ShoreLand'r trailer and a Mercury outboard.
- Hull
- 16 ft fibreglass bowrider, tan stripe, bimini and full camper canvas
- Power
- Mercury outboard on the transom, the honest kind you can fix on the dock
- Home port
- Outer Harbour Marina, Toronto, two seasons
- Exit
- Traded, boat and trailer, for a 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix in August 2020
Learned
What two seasons of boat ownership teaches a car person
The trailer is the car
Bearings, lights, tires, the winch strap. Most boat problems happen at 100 km/h on the 401, not on the water.
Marina fees are the real engine
Insurance plus a slip plus winter storage costs more than the boat is worth, every year, forever. Budget for it or trailer it.
Outboards are honest
Two-stroke or four, an outboard is a motorcycle engine on a stick. Impeller every two years, fresh fuel, and it will outlive the hull.
Trade up, not out
Nobody on Kijiji wants a 1981 bowrider in October. Someone with a G-body Pontiac and a lake house might.
Shortlist
Boats the crew would actually buy
Boston Whaler 13
Unsinkable, literally. Forty-horse tiller outboard, and it fits in the underground if you tilt the trailer.
Muskoka launch
A Ditchburn or Greavette from the 30s. Varnish is a hobby. The inline-six under the hatch is the reward.
Yamaha jet boat
Twin four-strokes, no propeller to hit, shallow draft for river cottages. The WRX of the water.
Community
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