My fiend and I went to the Vancouver International Boat Show today. We were only going to look at kayaks. Really. I thought he might buy one, but I was only going to look. Just look. Well, I didn’t get another kayak. But…
There was this display, y’see? It was a Mercury 430 HD. Brand new. Red. The dealer just got it in after a three-month wait. CDN$5,200, including a Mercury 25 hp outboard. I circled around like a shark. We wandered off and had a look at the Zodiacs. I’ve wanted a Zodiac ever since I was a kid. We’re talking 30 years, here. Turns out the Zodiacs were about 2-1/2 times the cost of the Mercury. We looked at the Merc again, then went to lunch.
We went back to the boat show, and I sniffed around some more. I didn’t want the motor. Actually; I did want the motor, but I didn’t want to spend the money right now. Besides, it’s a two-stroke. Two-stroke engines have lots of power for their weight, but they pollute more than a four-stroke. I didn’t find out if I’d have to use pre-mix; but if I did, it would be a hassle. The boat-show price of the 430 HD was CDN$1,000 less than the regular price. I couldn’t pass it up. The boat, oars, floor kit, repair kit and pump cost about US$2,000. The Boat Centre deflated the boat and we bundled it up into its two bags and loaded it into my fiend’s white serial-killer van.
I got my GST back at the border, but I’ll need to go back to get my receipts stamped so that I can recover the PST.
So I finally have my “Zodiac”. I don’t have a motor for it yet, so it’s pretty useless. I’ll look for a used motor locally, even if it’s a two-stroke. Maybe I can find a four-stroke for a fair price.
I’ve been thinking about getting back into diving. I have my PADI and NAUI cards around here somewhere. It will give me a chance to use my Nikonos underwater. And then there’s that u/w video housing I picked up, and the housing I want to make for my Bolex. At the very least, it’ll come in quite handy for crabbing and fishing. It’s big enough that I’ll feel fairly comfortable making long trips across the Strait of Georgia. Okay, so 14 feet isn’t that big; but it’s big enough for local trips.