Opening the 2022 season

Thornton69

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2014
1,148
Northern BC
Boat Info
1981 245 SDC
2021 Solar 420
Engines
'97 5.7 Bravo 2
'20 Merc 25 EFI Jet
This far up north, the winters are long. Boating is a big part of our lives and we are fortunately close enough to the coast that we can push the season a bit longer than most. I also keep it in the shop over the winter so there is no snow banks to worry about. Just the winter weather systems that can pound the snot out our coast.
Parked the boat mid October last year and gave it it's first splash last weekend with my youngest son for 3 days on the Douglas Channel. The skies were blue and seas mild for the first couple days. Temps were down to -9 C and up as high as -2. The crab and prawns were plentiful and we were able to capitalize on them. Had a great time with our annual opening run which includes an overnight at one of our local hot springs. Had them to ourselves.
There was a weather system though that decided to show up early and turned our trip into a bit more of a 4 day adventure. An outflow of 35knts with gusts of 50 or more. Seas were a solid 4' and we were forced to duck out for cover when they started hitting closer to 6'. Am sure doesn't sound bad for the offshore crowd, but in this channel, those waves are no more than a couple boat lengths apart. Tough to keep the bow from stuffing and threaten the structural integrity of the windshield. We were not able to hold anchor in that bay after multiple attempts and choosing to have those seas at the stern was not comforting. We decided to try to make it through a small passage that led to a protected bay on the south end of Kitsaway Island. Had a relatively soft grounding and had to wait it out for the next tide (4:30 AM) to float her out. Glad Sea Ray build's a tough hull.
Everything worked out well and we got a good reminder of how not to forget to respect mother nature. Wasn't going to post our adventure, but figured we need more boating posts. Here's some pics. Don't beat me up to bad. We get old but hopefully not boring.
IMG_5142 (2).JPG IMG_5145 (2).JPG IMG_5135 (2).JPG IMG_5148 (2).JPG IMG_5151 (2).JPG IMG_5160 (2).JPG IMG_5154 (2).JPG IMG_8862 (2).JPG IMG_5182 (2).JPG IMG_5184 (2).JPG
 
This far up north, the winters are long. Boating is a big part of our lives and we are fortunately close enough to the coast that we can push the season a bit longer than most. I also keep it in the shop over the winter so there is no snow banks to worry about. Just the winter weather systems that can pound the snot out our coast.
Parked the boat mid October last year and gave it it's first splash last weekend with my youngest son for 3 days on the Douglas Channel. The skies were blue and seas mild for the first couple days. Temps were down to -9 C and up as high as -2. The crab and prawns were plentiful and we were able to capitalize on them. Had a great time with our annual opening run which includes an overnight at one of our local hot springs. Had them to ourselves.
There was a weather system though that decided to show up early and turned our trip into a bit more of a 4 day adventure. An outflow of 35knts with gusts of 50 or more. Seas were a solid 4' and we were forced to duck out for cover when they started hitting closer to 6'. Am sure doesn't sound bad for the offshore crowd, but in this channel, those waves are no more than a couple boat lengths apart. Tough to keep the bow from stuffing and threaten the structural integrity of the windshield. We were not able to hold anchor in that bay after multiple attempts and choosing to have those seas at the stern was not comforting. We decided to try to make it through a small passage that led to a protected bay on the south end of Kitsaway Island. Had a relatively soft grounding and had to wait it out for the next tide (4:30 AM) to float her out. Glad Sea Ray build's a tough hull.
Everything worked out well and we got a good reminder of how not to forget to respect mother nature. Wasn't going to post our adventure, but figured we need more boating posts. Here's some pics. Don't beat me up to bad. We get old but hopefully not boring.
View attachment 121374 View attachment 121375 View attachment 121376 View attachment 121381 View attachment 121384 View attachment 121386 View attachment 121387 View attachment 121388 View attachment 121389 View attachment 121390
Great story beautiful pics.
 
Wow, I love hearing/seeing about trips like that. Any idiot can steer a boat down the water on calm days. It takes someone with some skill to handle a boat when it's snotty out.

Good Job!
Thanks.
We can get a 20+' tide swing on this channel. It was closer to 14 when we made the decision to attempt the small passage. It wasn't enough to get us through and probably for the best that we stopped where we did. It got us out of the snot and onto solid ground.
When we cut across the passage to follow the channel, we clipped a couple rocks which redirected us into some higher ground. Kind of at the mercy of the elements at that point with a quickly dropping tide. After the tide dropped another 5' or so, we set the anchor in the deepest part of the channel and waited it out. The next tide was 17'. It swung us out to a depth we could lower the leg, fire back up and check systems. All good, but did have to run it slightly in the trailer position to avoid anymore rocks/ground to follow our track in, back out.
There is now a bit of growling with little trim or steering off center. Will be pulling the leg this weekend for a better inspection. It's time for new u-joints, gimbal bearing and raw water pump impeller anyways. Was putting it off for the new engine install but it is what it is.
Kind of funny, but after we were high and dry and had our ditch packs loaded, I had a little heart to heart with the 41 year old girl. Told her it wasn't our time to see the bottom. If it wasn't hers, she better get us out of there. She did!
 
This far up north, the winters are long. Boating is a big part of our lives and we are fortunately close enough to the coast that we can push the season a bit longer than most. I also keep it in the shop over the winter so there is no snow banks to worry about. Just the winter weather systems that can pound the snot out our coast.
Parked the boat mid October last year and gave it it's first splash last weekend with my youngest son for 3 days on the Douglas Channel. The skies were blue and seas mild for the first couple days. Temps were down to -9 C and up as high as -2. The crab and prawns were plentiful and we were able to capitalize on them. Had a great time with our annual opening run which includes an overnight at one of our local hot springs. Had them to ourselves.
There was a weather system though that decided to show up early and turned our trip into a bit more of a 4 day adventure. An outflow of 35knts with gusts of 50 or more. Seas were a solid 4' and we were forced to duck out for cover when they started hitting closer to 6'. Am sure doesn't sound bad for the offshore crowd, but in this channel, those waves are no more than a couple boat lengths apart. Tough to keep the bow from stuffing and threaten the structural integrity of the windshield. We were not able to hold anchor in that bay after multiple attempts and choosing to have those seas at the stern was not comforting. We decided to try to make it through a small passage that led to a protected bay on the south end of Kitsaway Island. Had a relatively soft grounding and had to wait it out for the next tide (4:30 AM) to float her out. Glad Sea Ray build's a tough hull.
Everything worked out well and we got a good reminder of how not to forget to respect mother nature. Wasn't going to post our adventure, but figured we need more boating posts. Here's some pics. Don't beat me up to bad. We get old but hopefully not boring.
View attachment 121374 View attachment 121375 View attachment 121376 View attachment 121381 View attachment 121384 View attachment 121386 View attachment 121387 View attachment 121388 View attachment 121389 View attachment 121390
I've always liked that model with its hardtop. They make a great fishing boats on Lake Michigan when it is cold in the spring time. Also good for just staying out of the hot sun without having to deal with canvas.
 
Thanks for posting. Love hearing about and seeing pics of other’s adventures. Beautiful area you boat in.
 
Never seen that model. What is it, I like it.
It is a 245 SDC. Sea Ray didn't have any records on it. It's a custom build from Phoenix I believe. It appears to be pretty similar to the '81 245 Sedan Bridge but without the upper bridge.
We picked it up 8 years ago pretty tired for a project. Some of the bigger things I've done with it are a new trailer, stringers with lower deck, upgraded 5.7 with Bravo 2, electronics and custom aluminum arch, swim platform and 3 piece engine covers. Lots of smaller stuff to customize it to our fishing needs. Am currently building a 5.7 Vortec for it as well. Seems like just the right package for it.
Been a good boat for us. Really like the high rear deck. Lots of access to everything in the engine room and crazy amount of storage space compared to other boats of it's size. Can easily stow 6 of the 18 gal Rubbermaid totes below deck.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,948
Messages
1,422,804
Members
60,930
Latest member
Ebrown69
Back
Top