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Diaries of a Lodge Owner
In 2009, sheet metal mechanic, Steve Niedzwiecki, turned his passions into reality using steadfast belief in himself and his vision by investing everything in a once-obscure run-down Canadian fishing lodge.
After ten years, the now-former lodge owner and co-host of The Fish'n Canada Show is here to share stories of inspiration, relationships and the many struggles that turned his monumental gamble into one of the most legendary lodges in the country.
From anglers to entrepreneurs, athletes to conservationists; you never know who is going to stop by the lodge.
Diaries of a Lodge Owner
Episode 70: From Gold Mines to Marinas - Andrew Johnston's Lakeside Legacy
Discover the unlikely path from gold mines to marinas with our guest, Andrew Johnston, who traded the pickaxe for propellers in the heart of Red Lake, Ontario. Andrew's journey is not just a career shift; it's a tale of transformation that highlights the importance of environmental responsibility within the mining industry. As a seasoned pro in both gold mining and marine engine maintenance, Andrew shares insightful tips on ensuring engine longevity and how to prepare for the chill of winter—essential knowledge for anyone bridging the gap between these two fascinating worlds.
The story takes a family twist as Andrew walks us through the serendipitous steps that led to owning a family-operated marina and Yamaha dealership in a small town. The lakeside life is not just about business; it’s about being a key player in the local lodge industry, especially during the bustling months when demand peaks. Hear firsthand how Andrew's encounter with the Yamaha dealer reaffirmed the reliability of their motors and reinforced the community spirit that fuels his business. It's a narrative filled with dedication, family ties, and the pleasures of small-town life.
From the nuts and bolts of marine engine maintenance to the hilariously creative excuses boaters make, this episode is packed with practical advice and amusing tales. Learn why using the right oils and parts could save you thousands in repairs, and why even a simple washer replacement is crucial. We wrap up with light-hearted stories of local legends and boating blunders, adding a dash of humour to the importance of proper preparation and maintenance. Whether you're a marine enthusiast, a lodge owner, or just someone who appreciates the charm of small-town adventures, this conversation promises to be as enriching as it is entertaining.
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is brought to you by Nordic Point Lodge a luxury outdoor experience with five-star service.
Speaker 2:The way we sell it is it's two bucks to save you two grand. It does exactly that. We see probably I'm going to say lower units coming through the shop somewhere between three and 400 units a year, and that's probably one of the biggest culprits, for that is just the $2 washer pays for itself time and time again.
Speaker 1:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network's Diaries of a Lodge Owner stories of the north. Willie and I are really excited and looking forward to introducing this outstanding guy who cut his teeth working in the gold mines of northern Ontario. This experience then gave him the tools to buy, operate and bring to the next level this lodge supporting business in Red Lake, ontario, lakeside, marina, and it is our pleasure to introduce to the Diaries family Andrew Johnston. On this show we get to know Andrew, talk about the gold mining industry in Ontario as well. We sit with this entrepreneur, marina owner and Yamaha dealer whose staff consists of some of the best small engine mechanics on the planet, and we ask him questions to help us prepare our engines not only for the winter, but we learn some key hacks for engine longevity. So if you've got gold fever or are interested in engine longevity hacks, grab that ripcord and give her a pull, because this one's for you.
Speaker 1:Here's our conversation with Andrew Johnston. Conversation with Andrew Johnston. Welcome to another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner. Folks, it is a pleasure to have Andrew Johnston here. He is one of our good friends to Nordic Point Lodge and Willie and Willie, you're here too. Why don't you say hello to everybody out there and properly introduce our good friend Andrew?
Speaker 3:Folks, it's great to have everybody here again with our Diaries of a Lodge Owner family. We got Mr Andrew Johnson here, who is the owner of Lakeside Marine in Red Lake, ontario here. He's a friend first of all. He's a business associate, but he's just as many of the guests that we have on here. He's a great humanitarian and a great man in his community and we feel that he's got some. He works with a lot of lodges, boys and girls, and he does a lot of you know he works in our industry direct. He's got a lot of good stories and we just felt that it was a direction we hadn't gone yet and we wanted to bring him on and hear some of his background today. Welcome, andrew. Hey guys, how's it going today?
Speaker 2:Wonderful, couldn't be better. It's sunny and chilly up in Red Lake. For those that don't know where it is, it's probably in one of the most pristine and available lodge places in the world. It's easy to see on the drive up man. You go by sign after sign after sign. Black Sewell, red Lake itself and then the Northern Fly-In community up here is unbelievable as far as the lodge world goes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's at the end of the road, like I mean, you've got what? Another 20 kilometres of road there and then it stops in Ontario.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not even that. The community itself, koshner, is all part of Red Lake. The highway literally terminates into the water as a boat launch.
Speaker 1:Well, just to give you an idea, from Toronto, where everybody knows the location of that city, you can drive now correct me if I'm wrong, but pretty much a straight drive, no stopping, other than for gas. It's going to take you to get to Red Lake 23 and a half 24 hours.
Speaker 2:Correct yep, if you're not cognizant of the speeding limits, you could probably make it in 22,. But it's a long haul. No matter what man. Nobody likes to go in a bottle. Province of Ontario.
Speaker 1:And for our American friends out there and a lot of everyone. I'm not sure this is something that people have thought about, but if you take the actual size of Ontario and you and pretended it was flat on a map and you folded Ontario from its most southern tip over on top of the United States, the north end of Ontario would end up in the Gulf of Mexico. That's how big this landmass is. It is, and you're at the end of the road, brother, end of the road, man, nice, nice. So listen, were you born and raised in that area or how did you end up there?
Speaker 2:So I originally was born and raised in Marathon, ontario, which is not quite halfway down towards Toronto. It's right on the north tip of Lake Superior. It was another very nice place to grow up in small town was another very nice place to grow up in small town. I was there until I was uh 17. I went away to sioux college, got a college education there, moved back to marathon, worked in the mining world the gold mining world had an opportunity to come up here and work in the environmental end of the of the mining game was. Uh worked at the mine here for almost 15 years and needed a change of pace in life in general.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about the gold mining Freddie Dodge and Wani Barra, the Gold Mine Rescue, and Tony Beetz and Parker Schnabel from the Gold Rush series that History does. Did you have any hands-on gold mining experience? Were you like gold mining or were you working to support the mine?
Speaker 2:Working to support the mine. I started out in the environmental world, traveled I mean, it's all about the sustainable mining programs right now. Right Is that the industry understood that they were having a significant impact in a lot of ways that was not entirely responsible.
Speaker 1:So these were like open mines and there was no money being set aside for reclamation after it was done.
Speaker 2:Reclamation and closure and the environmental side of things really deals with the responsible continuation of the mining practices, but also about closing things out for the future. So we create these closure plans for the Mining Association of Canada and all the regulations that are in place to have that sort of situation so it doesn't get created in a bad way anymore. I mean, there are still impacts to the environment, but they're very heavily regulated. Now A lot of new mines that are trying to start up or are running into those situations where you know it's the they're at risk of not being able to open their doors because they're they want to avoid these major impacts, right. So it's uh. That environmental job had me learn a lot about the history of mining in the area and and it's very extensive. I mean they were mining here in the in the early 19th century.
Speaker 1:So was it plaster mines, or was it underground mines, or? Or where is there still gold there?
Speaker 2:There's still, there's still.
Speaker 1:I might need to get my pen and sluice box out.
Speaker 2:It's happening up here right now, man. I mean it's with the price of gold right now. It's happening up here right now, man. I mean it's uh, with the price of gold right now. It's probably one of the more aggressive uh exploration times. As opposed to uh, as opposed to operating the yeah old mine here. When I first started my very first week walking in here, um, they found this chunk of rock underground and they were like like wow, this is impressive. We've got one of the richest gold mines in the world here. And they brought up a rock and the rock wasn't even the size of a basketball. So I worked with the metallurgist in the lab at the time and he's like you know what we got to measure the amount of gold in this rock, because the Ontario Royal Museum wants this rock. They're going to put it on display in there. So, if I stand corrected, there was 110 ounces of gold in this rock. That's like this big.
Speaker 1:No way Did it look like gold, or did it look like a rock? What's that? Did it look like gold or did it look like a rock? What's that? Did it look like gold or did it look like a rock? Both?
Speaker 2:It was just the vein was all intertwined in there. I mean, the chunks, the flakes of gold were falling off the rock.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:It was wild man. I said what am I walking into here? So we literally got a picture of me holding up this rock in my first week and I ended up in the the thunder bay chronicle journal, the toronto sun I was like is there me holding this thing?
Speaker 1:and I'm like I don't even know what I'm holding on to here. So is is gold fever a real thing? Absolutely, man, yeah I mean they don't, they don't make. I've got it listening to you.
Speaker 2:What's that?
Speaker 1:I think I've got gold fever listening to you.
Speaker 2:It's a, it's an impressive area. I mean, it's the. They've been mining here for creeping up on 100 years, like it's, uh, the the stories, the history books you can find about this place, about them you know, walking from dryden and and backpacking with dogs and following up, like through laxool and the river system, and the stories are that's the guys we need on the show, brother, man yeah following behind you lake cyberine.
Speaker 3:That's what when they?
Speaker 2:say statements like when men were men right and these were. These were times where the people were hard and this place was founded on that right. It's such a beautiful community I mean, if we were doing a live one, I'd show you out my window. The view is fantastic. It's very raw, rugged. I'm in town and you really can't see too much infrastructure around here. It feels like I'm in the bush all the time. I love it.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So tell us a little bit about so we know a little bit of your history and how you were into the gold mine thing and I will, before we leave this, ask you this question have you ever thought about going back and mining somewhere yourself?
Speaker 2:Never.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I love what I'm doing too much right now, man.
Speaker 1:Well then, let's talk about it. So what are you doing right now?
Speaker 2:So, uh, almost eight years ago, I uh I decided I need a career change. Um was looking around at certain. I personally was actually looking at buying a lodge of my own, um trying to break into the to Willie's world. Right, it's um, you, you get these, these really awesome businesses that get run up here by a phenomenal crew of people that love the outdoors. And that was my whole life, man, I grew up in the bush and I'm living in the bush today and I'm going to be here until I'm in a pine box. So I really got looking hard and it wasn't a real good time to be purchasing at the time. So we were looking at a bunch of different places that the prices were really high, the business was strong and things were. You know, I was like you know what. This isn't going to work out, but I stumbled upon having a conversation with the former owner, mike Smith, and he said well, you know it's, I'm kind of at that time.
Speaker 2:What of Lakeside Marina.
Speaker 1:Oh, lakeside, marina Okay.
Speaker 2:So he said you know, I'm kind of thinking about selling this place. You got the right sort of attitude for it. You're kind of a people person. If you have a couple brain cells to rub together, you could probably make a go at this place. So I mean, that was as much of a comment or compliment I'd ever get out of him. So it was.
Speaker 1:And you counted at least two.
Speaker 2:So I said you know what, this might not be a bad idea. We sat down, we went over some numbers and it took I'm going to say it took the better part of a year to really come up with a confirmation from us that this was what we wanted to do. And we signed the papers and made it happen. And it was a very unique type of deal is him and his wife sort of sat us down and said you guys have to buy this thing as a couple. This is a family run business. We want it to continue to be a family run business and it's. If you guys aren't doing this together, you know, essentially we're not interested in talking about it. So we signed a deal that I would work there for five years, um, with him and my wife would come on partway in between and we would do this together. And uh, it's uh, the. The business itself is, uh, primarily um, a a camp. I guess they call us a pro-camp dealer in the Yamaha world. So our Yamaha outboards, we cater to the lodge industry.
Speaker 1:And you call it a marina, but you're not actually on the water, are you? You're right in the center of Red Lake.
Speaker 2:Correct Right at the stoplight, because there's only one stoplight. So that's where we're at man Left at the stoplight, cause there's only one stoplight, so that's where we're at man Left at the stoplight. You can't miss it.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah so you're.
Speaker 1:You're um primarily um a Yamaha dealer.
Speaker 2:Uh, we run a slew. Because we're in a small town and a small environment, it's really hard to make a go of things. It just being very specific as part of that goes we're also a BRP dealer. We deal, uh, uh, we, we deal in all that stuff. Sure, yamaha outboard, we're a G3 boats, which is a Yamaha company as well. Um, we got lawn and garden, we're doing a whole bunch of that. So for you, a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1:Right, we do some vehicle maintenance and it's whatever's available, the number of lodges up there, it makes sense and I'm assuming that's your primary source of clientele.
Speaker 2:If you talk to the past owners, it's probably if Lakeside really really needed to, it could run for the months of may and june and and it would be enough to have a viable business. It's, uh, the amount of stuff that goes on in those two months. I mean, unfortunately, my mechanics and support staff would get very little sleep for that two months and preparation.
Speaker 1:And just so that everybody knows, the reason that um may and june are your busiest months is because that's when all of the lodges in the area are firing up to start working.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. The May long weekend is the opener for walleye in our area. So we spend the first three weeks of the month um just rigging boats getting motors run up. We I can remember a couple years ago we we set aside some time. We had some really good orders. Uh, my guys um pdi'd, which means prepared motors for for delivery.
Speaker 2:Uh, 104 motors in in three days wow you got to take them out of the crate, oil them up, run them up, drain the oils, make sure they're all ready to rocket the hoses and tanks and everything stacked up, and then start doing deliveries at the same time. So I mean if I could staff up by double for those two months, I could easily make that work. But we run a pretty tight team and they're just an amazing crowd. We do a ton of stuff in the months of uh, may and june you know there's uh, just let me hop in here, stevie.
Speaker 3:So we did that I'll. I'll actually tell a story here about how we met, bro. We uh so andrew is is our specific dealer, yamaha dealer. We only run yamaha boats at the lodge and or yamaha motors, um, on our boats. Uh, we have never I've always said that 90 horse and under yami tiller man. I know guys that have them back at lodges and camps that are from, you know, the early 80s and they've been sitting at an outpost camp under a 14 foot aluminum and all they do is get the bottom end changed once a year and the oil changed. That's it, man. Those, those motors continue to run and run and run and run and run, and I was glad when we bought our camp that they had them and I.
Speaker 3:One of the first things I did was I wanted to meet our rep. Who's the guy going to be dealing with us? So I ran up to Red Lake and I walked into Lakeside Marine, who Bob, the old owner of our place, recommended I go and talk to you in person and see you. And I remember the first thing he said when we walked in. You know it was like it was just it was. There was no pitch. Just like, just like talking to Tim Dawson there, there was, there was no sales pitch, it was just straight up.
Speaker 3:We supply camps, our business is made off of camps and and it's not a shot to anyone with a purse in the Omaha, andrew gets them out just as fast. But I tell you right now, the first thing you want to hear, when you're a young family going into a place with one of the most crucial parts of your business and you're meeting the guy that's going to be dealing with those sales and service, that's the first thing you want to hear. That positive face and that attitude was amazing and and uh, yeah, that's. That's pretty much how it went down. I think our first meeting eh, yeah, it was it was exactly that.
Speaker 2:I had no idea who you were, never met. You seen, you had a quick conversation on the phone and that was. That was just it. I mean it's um we we've got some some really amazing clients in the lodge world and Willie's right there. I mean we've done so much business with Nordic Point in the recent past, that it's, and even Rainbow Point, as it was. As I said, bob, the former owner. We've been involved with that camp since Lakeside started in the 80s, so it's uh, hearing the feedback is always really nice, right, it's um, we service anywhere between 65 and 80 camps in the area and um that's what my question was going to be how many are there?
Speaker 3:because I'm an owner there and I'm, you know, and I'm I deal with, uh, with noro lots, d&o and Jerry in town there in Kenora, with Sunset County, but I really don't know the exact number of how many active lodges there are and that is the number, eh, I mean that's just the ones we deal with.
Speaker 2:There are other businesses in local that do have some. But yeah, we service somewhere between 65 and 80. I mean, it's up and down a little bit all the time, changes of ownership and everything else. But it's much like the lodge world, right, you establish a relationship with a customer and something drastic really has to change before they ever say now we're out, type of thing. The business has been built and has repeat customers for a reason. We try to offer the absolute best service we can to our camp customers and it's a lot of work, it's rewarding.
Speaker 3:You're the best at it, man. You are the best in customer service that I know Right now. I had a. You know I folks we had a. We had a breakdown one time. That actually the first, our first actual unit we purchased off you. We purchased it off and I think there was a warranty defect or something and it ended up going down in the bush and Andrew's guys and we were probably talking about.
Speaker 1:Well, we're talking at.
Speaker 3:Nordic point lodge up by the bush, just just just north of the lodge, and we were probably and what are we talking about, will? We're talking at Nordic Point Lodge, up by the bush, just north of the lodge, and we were on a trail, yeah, but an outboard a. No, we were on a trail, on a. It was a side-by-side.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, Now I understand what you're talking about a side-by-side.
Speaker 3:Sorry, yeah, I was just getting into the, into the, uh, yeah, so we were back on a trail on a side by side and this unit we had just purchased it, it had a uh, it ended up having a warranty issue. Anyways, andrew's guys ended up coming all the way from red lake. So it was an hour hour and 10 minutes to get to where we were and instead of us coming out of the bush an extra you know 8, 10 kilometers his guys came into the bush, into the bear stand with the side-by-side dropped it, grabbed the old one, hooked it onto it with a winch and drug it back out and they ended up getting in neutral and pushed it back out. That's to not disturb my guests and not disturb our hunters. It was incredible.
Speaker 3:It was the level of service. Right then I was like not only did I like you when I first walked in there for the professionalism, the quality of your product, but now to go to that extent to help us. It's unheard of, it's a lost art and it needs to be recommended highly. So thank you very much for that, buddy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate that a lot, man, it's those types of situations that it sort of sets you aside in that business world. I think, as I was taught how to run this business, the same way that you're talking about the way we run it, and we'll do everything we can to make sure that the situation works for you guys. Your business has 16 weeks a year in order to be profitable. 16 out of 52 is not a lot. And if you guys, there's lots of my, lots of my customers that that work for those 16 weeks here and then weeks on either end and shows, but but that 16 weeks is go time, if I'm putting you down for weeks at a time, uh, it just doesn't. It doesn't work for you guys. And and we gotta, we gotta take all of the resources we have in order to make sure that we can, all of the resources we have in order to make sure that we can, we can accommodate your needs. And sometimes it's not fun and not easy and it's stressful, but man, it's uh, I never go into these situations thinking, man, I got, I'm not going to be able to do this. I mean, it doesn't work out as rosy as it did for Willie all the time. But, um, I've had lodge owners that sold uh, this.
Speaker 2:This year I sold a guy an F 70 Yamaha. He got it up to his camp I think he's about 160 miles North of red Lake, paid to have it shipped up there, flown in there. He's got a warranty issue and I'm like that's not good. So he's like what do we got to do? Man, I got like I got guests in camp, I need this motor, it's my, it's my gear boat. So we had to go out and find another 70 for him, phone around to six other dealers, finally find one. Uh, my yamaha rep actually offered to pick it up in manitoba and drive it to red lake in order for us to PDI this thing, turn around, get it on the plane and get it delivered up there and then take his warranty unit back and get the proper work done on it so that he had the least amount of downtime. Those are those types of situations where I think it means a lot to the lodge owner to see that we're able to do those types of things for them.
Speaker 1:Especially when they're that isolated. Do you remember what the issue with the engine was on that 70?
Speaker 2:That was an oil pump failure.
Speaker 1:Oil pump failure. Yeah, and another question I have, and as a former lodge owner, when I owned Chaudière, I owned them for 10 years. And as a former lodge owner, when I owned Chaudiere, I owned them for 10 years. And before I owned the lodge, I heard rumors and folklore about how I think at the time it was Merck had a camp program where they would lease engines and you could swap engines out and you were always with new and this wonderful sounding thing. But when I operated between 2009 and 2019, there was no such deal in any of the engines and I had a lot of. I had Yamahas. When I bought the place, I bought five 20-horsepower Mercs and, with my two Alaskan Lunds, had one 15 Mercs and two 16-foot Lund. Oh, I forget what they were. I forget what they were, but anyway they come with Mercs and by the time I sold the lodge there was one Merc left and everything went back to Yamaha. But is there a program out there now where it's like a camp program?
Speaker 2:There is definitely a camp program, but it really comes down more to the purchase and maintenance of the product. The camp program is a buy 10 engines, get one free deal.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, I did take advantage of that with Yamaha Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Buy 10 engines, get one free.
Speaker 1:It's a great program, yeah, and I tried to buy 10, 15 horsepowers and get one 225 for free, but they didn't seem to think that that was a good idea.
Speaker 2:Day for effort. Steve, Day for effort.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know that's what they said Buy 10, get one free. I said, okay, I'll buy 10, 15s. I want my 225 delivered, yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's so awesome.
Speaker 2:I like your style man, and you wouldn't be the first one to ask either.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, probably not.
Speaker 2:So, uh, just to give a little bit more history to your, to your comment about the lease program. So Mercury had this like super sexy program out there for lodge owners was? You essentially leased an X number of motors and then every year, I mean you paid a certain amount for each one to lease. At the end of every year you gave the motors back to the dealer. They had to refurbish them, repackage them and then send them back to Mercury.
Speaker 2:The following year the camp owner got a whole new slew of engines that went away with the end of the two-stroke. So, with all the credits and stuff that the companies had built up, I think Mercury and Yamaha were able to run until 2012, until they had to stop making two and switch solely to the four stroke world A lot of government involvement and stuff like that, with programs about environment and bettering the system, not consuming the oils and things like that. So I mean, the lease program itself was ended for two reasons. The four strokes are that much more reliable. Um, we've got camps putting 7,000 hours operating hours on engines and I've got a couple of guys running fifties here that that have been running them since 2007, every year, all year long, 16 weeks nonstop and 7,000 hours on a,000 hours on an engine is almost unheard of.
Speaker 3:And lots, Andrew, lots of these camps. Not one, no, there's definitely several.
Speaker 2:I mean it just the product doesn't need that lease program anymore. You don't need to run a brand new engine every year. It's more of the camps, I mean the Yamaha guys have been discussing all this stuff and it's how do we get you know better turnover? Well, make crappier product. If it's going to run for 7,000 hours, why are we buying a new one every year?
Speaker 1:So it's probably like I mean, a lot of it is the quality of product for sure, but there's got to be a certain amount of that that is also attributed to proper care of that engine. And maybe for our camp owners and our cottagers and people that have these four-stroke engines, let's maybe talk a little bit about proper care to get those 7,000 hours out of those engines right. And maybe there's a difference between I know, if you're running an engine consistently for weeks, you're more in tune to that engine and sometimes, maybe, if they sit for a while, what are the ramifications of sitting at a cottage for, you know, eight months and then you use it for six hours and then you put it away? And how do we maintain and try and get? Let's just have a conversation about proper maintenance in these situations.
Speaker 2:Let's just have a conversation about proper maintenance in these situations. Proper maintenance is probably the single most important thing for maintaining, for being able to have longevity out of a product you get. We sort of work in three stages with the outboard world is you know your start of season, your mid-season maintenance and then end of season? You know your your start of season, your mid season maintenance and then end of season. So preparation for winter and and and that sort of stuff is its own game. But at the start of every season, uh, what a lot of people don't do, um, is check their lower units.
Speaker 2:So the lower unit is the gear housing on the bottom that holds the propeller, um its enemy. If water gets inside that sealed gear housing, all the bad things happen. Um, the biggest, the biggest thing that causes problems there is big fish. So your american customers are out there, somebody sets the hook and it's like I got a big one. Well, the prop just ate the fishing line and it's really not that big of fish and everybody's high-fiving them until they all realize that it's just not going away. And all right, oops, I caught the motor. So that fishing line getting in there actually turns in. As the prop turns, it eats the seals, so it goes right into the whole engine On the prop shaft.
Speaker 2:Yeah, gear oil comes out, goes in heat, gets generated rust and then all kinds of bad things happen. So, checking that, if you've ever caught that big fish and finally figured out what it was, make sure that prop comes off of their fish line out, that's. That's one of those things that really starts these problems is if in the wintertime you don't check it to see if you have a water and built up in that gear case it freezes, pushes the bearing carrier out, breaks the whole lower unit you're into with thousands of dollars in repair for your, for your motor. So making sure that you have fresh gear oil there in the springtime, that you have.
Speaker 1:And how do you do that?
Speaker 2:So there's two screws on the bottom of every lower unit, a drain screw and a fill level screw. Take the bottom screw out If there's any water or your lower unit gear oil looks like a double-double. That's problematic, right. You'll know right away that there's something not right there. If it looks good, the gear oil is happy.
Speaker 1:And it looks like oil.
Speaker 2:Drain it right out and refill it. Take the top drain screw out. As soon as the oil comes out, the top drain screw, put it back in bottom one in.
Speaker 1:Now you have fresh gear oil for your season and one thing I always like to do during that process is that nine times out of 10, that bottom drain screw has a magnet on the end of the screw and when you pull it out, even if the oil looks good and just like you're saying, andrew, when you get water in with that oil and it's like a dishwasher in there, like there's shit moving everywhere and gears are meshing and stuff's flying and that if you've got water, it really it's going to look like a milkshake.
Speaker 1:You can't, you can't miss it. But if it looks good, always take a look at that magnet and see if there's filings, metal filings on that magnet. And you know it's not a terrible thing because natural wear between your gears will produce a little bit of filings and things. But when you should become maybe a little more concerned is if you, if it's not filings now and you see a couple of chunks and um, uh, I don't really know if there's a whole lot you can do with it other than put fresh oil in it and baby it and hope for the best.
Speaker 2:Maybe you can speak to that um, there's, I mean, it's always a fine line, man it? Uh. Yeah, I guess, once you get enough experience to seeing what these things look like as they come apart, it's uh, any, my, any metal filings on there are not great. Um, if you notice an accumulation over a season, um, if you're starting to put higher hours on and and you're not using, uh, if you're not using the right gear oil we've run into this one a lot where guys are hey, I'll go grab a 75, 90 from the canadian tire off the automotive shelf.
Speaker 2:These aren't the same products. The yamaha, brp, mercury, brunswick. They invest mega dollars into making sure that these oils are constructed for the use that they're being applied to. You get lots of people saying that's a bunch of hooey, but I mean, as a dealership, I got to do training courses on oils just so that I can give my customers the right information on these things to ensure that they're using the right product. I mean, sure, I'm the dealer, I'm the guy selling the OEM stuff, but I'm telling you there is so much engineering and time and money that goes into making this stuff that's built for these engines. Buy OEM stuff. Yeah, I agree, it's a huge difference.
Speaker 1:And even as a recreational boater now, I owned a lodge. I had a lot of stuff to do. I did a lot of my own maintenance. You know bottom end gear oil, all of the stuff that we're talking about at this point. But it is a little more expensive. But if you go about doing it the way that I do it, I feel that I'm saving money because I'll go out and I'll buy it in a five-gallon pail and that'll do on my 115 Yamaha. That'll do years of oil changes. But what it does is I got my five-gallon pail put away.
Speaker 1:I always have access to it. I've got my pump because you can actually buy a pump where you just screw into the bottom hole on the bottom end. Then you take your air bleeder off the top and you pump the oil from the bottom through to the top. When it comes out the top you put your plug back in the top and listen. Folks, always, always, always replace the washer for that. It's a blue washer, it's a sealer. It seals that crank case and for the I don't even know what they are now call it two bucks For the two bucks to put a new seal in and not risk water going around. An old seal, buy the new seal.
Speaker 2:The way we sell it is it's two bucks to save you two grand. Yeah for sure it does exactly that. We see, probably I'm going to say lower units coming through the shop, somewhere between three and 400 units a year, and that's probably one of the biggest culprits, for that is just the $2 washer pays for itself time and time again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know what. I want you both to remember the point that we're at right now. We're talking about the bottom end and everything else, because I have a wonderful story to reiterate what we're talking about about cheaping out on the wrong equipment. Okay, and as a young man I was a huge angler and we would do a trip to Lake Nipigan, and that's not quite as far north as you guys. I was a huge angler and we would do a trip to Lake Nipigan and that's not quite as far North as you guys, but it for for me at the time it was the great white North and we were fishing for like world-class speckled trout and and I would and the trip and this is back late nineties, early two thousands. So I would invest, I'm gonna say three thousand dollars on this trip because it was a, it was like 1200 bucks. We we'd go up and and go on a floating uh, tugboat was our floating cottage and we we pulled, we pulled four um aluminum boats behind and uh, spend, you know, 600 bucks on booze and and travel 15 hours to get there, and you know just so much and to to catch a world-class brook speckle whatever you want to call it and uh, this one year, um, we, we were up there and I was with my buddy, mario jardinadzo, in the um, in in the, uh, uh, oh yeah, good, a good irish name and uh, mayor, and I, um, we were, we were fishing this one day and Captain Dan, he, he was the guy that owned the, the, the, the boat, and and and was our guide, or he was. He was the lodge owner really, because the, the 48 foot or 52 foot tugboat, was our lodge. Anyway, it was a little bit rough and we were parked in a in a river, a creek mouth, and all of our buddies went into the creek mouth to fish for walleye. And as we were leaving, captain Dan said Are you guys going to wimp out, just like all your dumb friends, and go fish for walleye? Are you going to go out around the corner and brave the water and fish for speckled trout? And I looked at Mario and I said, well, I didn't come here to fish for speckled trout. And I was looked at mario and I said, well, I didn't come here to fish for walleye, did you? No steve, let's go.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, we jump in the boat and we go out and we're fishing away, fishing away and, uh, it was rough, like we had it. We were in a 14 foot aluminum and probably, you know, along the shoreline they were, they weren't breaking but they were three and a half foot rollers and I was trolling at spoons in like 15, 20 feet of water and we're, like you know, on Nipigan. You could be like 30 yards off the shoreline and you're in 20 feet of water and mare's casting out the front. I'm trolling out the back and we're trolling these spoons and when you troll, captain Dan would say if you're not hitting the bottom and losing baits, you're not fishing right. So you had to be down on the bottom right.
Speaker 1:Well, mare casts out towards the shoreline and he's reeling this spoon in and the water is beautifully clear, like, even though it's rough, you can still see, and he starts squealing like a schoolgirl, like whoa, oh Steve, oh, my God, look at this fish. And there's this massive. I didn't see it, okay, I didn't see it, but, mayor, he, you know he's he saw some good fish. Um, and I know by his reaction that this fish was a dandy and he was calling it like a 12 pounder and I said no, I don't think. No, like a 12 pounder. And I said, no, I don't think no. Anyway, as he reels it in, the fish goes under the boat and I marked it on the sonar and as I'm trolling by, don't I get this fish on.
Speaker 1:And now I'm excited because it's heavy. It feels really, really heavy and Mare's like, holy fuck, steve, you caught my fish. Oh my God, you, son of a bitch, that's my fish. And I'm like, no, it ain't Mare, and I'm fighting this fish. And got it maybe 15 yards from the boat and it broke water and I saw it for the first time and it was.
Speaker 1:I've caught, you know, six pound speckled trout up on Nipigan. This thing dwarfed it. It dwarfed it, I bet you, it was close to eight or 10 pounds, I really don't know. But it come out of the water. It went down. My rod was loaded, man, it was loaded up. And then, just like you know, a violent storm burns out right in front of you and the wind just goes. Whew, my rod tip just ever so beautifully, just comes straight up with no, nothing on it. And I'm like, oh my God, mayor, I lost it. And I reeled in and when I looked at the end of my line, my 30 cent snap swivel opened and straightened out.
Speaker 1:And it was at that point that I learned a very, very hard lesson, and that is you know, you've got to focus on the weakest link in your equipment. And I had spent, like at the time, you know, $400 on a rod, which was a lot of money. You know, $380 on a reel. So I've got a rod and reel that's worth near $1,000 in the year 2000. Okay, I got $80 fishing line and a fucking two cent swivel and a fucking two cent swivel. And that was the difference between my trophy speckled trout and not. So after that, instead of buying a pack of 100 swivels for $3 on the shelf, I was buying a pack of two swivels for five bucks because they were the best.
Speaker 1:And that comes circles back to the replace your seals on the bottom end. You know, I've been in a situation and I've been lucky and I haven't, but that's because I'm on an island in the middle of the French River and I've got guests that need that engine, like now, and I had to put them back on. But as soon as I had an opportunity I changed them up. So there's that, now that we're on that topic and we're talking about how to get the maximum amount of hours. I don't want to say 7,000, because that is freaking crazy. That's like just to give you an idea. That's like putting what like 700,000 kilometers on a vehicle. Really, in every angler's heart lives a fishing paradise, with stunning scenery and wildlife, on a trophy, multi-species fishery, having outstanding accommodation and a food experience to die for. They treat you like royalty, tailor-making a package that works for you. Nestled in northwestern Ontario, nordic Point Lodge is that paradise, and Will and his team can't wait to show you a luxury outdoor experience with five-star service. So follow your heart, book now.
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Speaker 1:So are there any other little things that you can do that are fairly inexpensive, to help the longevity of that engine?
Speaker 2:It's just the regular maintenance man. It really comes down to the number of hours and the use you're getting out of your equipment per year. Um, any, the average consumer, average consumer in in the in the market, um, regular customers, uh, bigger boats, you're putting on 100 hours a year. That is like a. That's a good use year for, for for your average person. Even even the tournament guys aren't doing a ton more than that. I mean, you think about the actual runtime these tournament guys put on their motors and in a, in a, you know, you fit pre-fish for three days, your tournament fishing for two. The amount of time that big motor spends running, just it isn't that much. You may put 20-25 hours on and in a week, right, it's, yeah, what really gets. What really becomes important is your let's call it your your pre-season and your your end of season. So the pre-season one is what we talked about checking the lower unit, check your engine oil, make sure it's topped up in the hash marks, ready to rock in the winter time. Now you get into the position where, um over maintaining isn't bad, uh, the the happiest thing you can do for your motor.
Speaker 2:Uh, we get into the two different worlds of carbureted versus fuel injected. Lots, still lots, of carbureted motors out there. Um, the carburetors should be drained. If you're're going to put sea foam in your gas, run it through your engine if it has carburetors. Once you run it down, drain your carb bowls. The enemy to our world now in this environment is the quality of the fuel. The amount of ethanol in there, the better. Your equipment will be much happier if you get the fuel out of those carb bowls.
Speaker 2:Screw goes back in prime, it a few extra times on the ball in the spring, fills up with fresh gas and you're ready to roll. Um, the other thing is oil changes in the fall. Happy motor fresh oil, that's what you want to think about in that regard. The lower unit, it doesn't care. As long as there's no water in it, you check that bottom drain. If there's no water in it, you check that bottom drain. If there's no water in there, just button her back up and leave it until the spring.
Speaker 2:Do your gear oil in the spring, because what can happen over the winter is that you can have a bit of moisture inside that gear case it, uh, it ends up freezing. It might not mix with your oil, it just could be sitting in there and then it can pop the seals out. So you'll go to check it in the spring. You'll spin your prop and you'll have oil on the ground or something like that. That's when you got to get those prop shaft seals replaced and then get some fresh oil in there and then you're good for the season. You don't get that surprise of dumper in the water. Fire up, you make it five minutes and you're done. Yeah, you've just bought yourself a, you know, a two, three, four thousand dollar lower unit so that winter time of getting some fuel stabilizer into your system, getting the lower unit, making sure the lower unit gear oil is happy and putting fresh engine oil in there is just that fuel stabilizer.
Speaker 1:You can just get that a canadian tire and then you dump it in the fuel and you run it through the four-stroke engine.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I also sell it too.
Speaker 1:And you sell it too. Yes, that's great. I'm talking for a fellow like me.
Speaker 2:Any dealer, canadian tire HomeWire those guys are all going to have it. It's a generic model, it's just something to make sure that that fuel is going to stay of a good quality throughout the winter, and it's the ethanol that really screws everything up Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Now, even when you put the stabilizer in, do you still drain the fuel out of your bowl on the carb?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Gotcha Absolutely, because it's such a small quantity. Yeah, and then if your fuel injected, like a lot of the newer engines, you just put the fuel stabilizer in, run it until you're confident that it's run through the engine and uh, and then shut her down and you're good absolutely so.
Speaker 3:What's what's confident, just for our guests out there, so they know, is that like are we looking like a couple minutes or you know 30 seconds are you looking at? You're gonna let it run for 10 minutes. What do you do?
Speaker 2:a couple minutes is fine. I mean you run it for five minutes and you make sure that you have good water flow or it's in the water to some extent. What a lot of people do is just add the fuel stabilizer to their last full tank of the season and they just run that, for you know, if you're running it for a week or a weekend, then you know that that's moved through there. Add some fresh fuel to your to your tank and you're done yeah, that's exactly what I was gonna say.
Speaker 3:I I always throw it in um when I know I'm going to close the the cottage and you drive it there back, whatever, whatever, and it's, it's good, yep, great point the uh, andrew, one thing I wanted to ask you here, while we're still on the maintenance topic, is and I wanted to mention now uh, for the folks out there that need, like Steve's saying, not the lodge owners and not the guy that's just a recreational user in the marine industry or just getting into this, getting his first cabin, you know they can go on Yamaha's website and I believe actually Yamaha has YouTube links for all of their, of their maintenance correct on all their motors and, and we can do that there's, I mean google, he's a he's a pretty smart dude and uh, there's a lot of information out there that you can do your your own maintenance.
Speaker 2:If you've got remote and you're in the bush and and it's not, it's not a really difficult process. I mean, the big enemy for a lot of people is time, but there's benefits to doing it on your own and there's benefits to doing it at a dealer as well. I mean having a guy look at your equipment that's looked at thousands of them versus you and seeing your. It doesn't take a lot of real special tools to do this and the, the manufacturers design them this way so that you're able to, to be able to perform your general maintenance on your own well, that's what that's, that's what I wanted to give yamaha big props onto that, because I know I've a couple times I know, uh, you know some things.
Speaker 3:But just like steve, we usually do a lot of our own bottom ends. Knock on wood. Actually, I don't think I've had a bottom end two years now. You better knock on that wood. I did, but you haven't seen one come into your shop and I haven't had one go out.
Speaker 1:Well. Peralta's a little bit different than the Upper Fringe. I was good for two a year.
Speaker 3:I would disagree that Northwestern Ontario is pretty aggressive when it comes to rock.
Speaker 1:I would disagree with that, for sure, I uh, I uh, I know one thing uh, my first year I went through over 250 props and four bottom ends.
Speaker 3:I know it's. I think we're just getting. We're getting, we're having good luck and we're having good training is what I think is going on, because it's pretty young.
Speaker 2:The lodge owner's worst enemy is Canada man.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those shield fish.
Speaker 3:Yes, so we ended up. Where I was going with this guys is the Yamaha folks actually took a different step this year, andrew, and they went out of their way and they brought some folks over from Japan. And I've seen that once before where you guys brought over some engineers and some mechanics and some folks from overseas and toured them around the camp so they could see their motor and their products in use in an aggressive environment. And you know what and I'm guessing that other companies do that I was super impressed with Yamaha doing it.
Speaker 3:I was selected last year to be one of the places to come to Amazing, amazing system they have. You know, they'll give you every, every read off your motor on the computer end of it, uh, your diagnostics, uh, they'll walk you through any issues you got on location, any, any maintenance you want to system you want to set up um. But they took it one step further this year. Andrew, can you tell us what? What they decided to go and do? And I think it's awesome because our listeners, a lot of them, are lodge owners and camp owners and they they would love to hear what you're going to say.
Speaker 2:Well, so this year I mean it's definitely been a thing they've done in the past is it's they call it the camp clinic process. So there's a certain number of Japanese employees that get selected. It's like a lottery for them a once in a lifetime, once in a career option. They get selected to come over here and they take like two weeks and they spend time at the corporate office in Toronto and then they bring them to Winnipeg and then branch out from Winnipeg, they take them around and they visit these lodges and they actually look at the equipment. I mean, the program itself is pretty dynamic. It's changed over the years.
Speaker 2:But this year they actually what they did is they recognized the value and we've told them that it's a very good value of them coming and seeing these camps and how their products are used in the field.
Speaker 2:And then the told them that it's a very good value of them coming and seeing these camps and how their products used in the field. And then the camp owners themselves actually get access to these, to these Japanese guys, and and they can explain to them where the shortcomings are, what they're doing right, what they'd like to see change. And then the unique part about this year is they realized that Yamaha wants to start giving back a little to the lodge community. Right, I mean, this is a big part of their business. So they're actually starting to create the program where they stay at certain lodges. They select from a list as just like hey, we're going to stay here, here and here, and they actually put their people up and give back to the lodge owning community and it's uh it's something that they tried out this year, man, and it's I couldn't be happier to see how that worked out.
Speaker 2:I mean, they selected nordic point and uh, they, uh, they were, I think, uh, they had a place moose horn or something like that and, sue, look out, they stayed. So I, I mean, this is something that's never been done before in the camp clinic world, and man are we. I was really excited to see uh talk to my rep and see you know what? This is a fantastic idea, incredible. Yeah, we're talking about uh camp camp clinics in the future, doing fly outs with these japan guys, and what a, what a neat experience that would be for them too. Right, I mean, we got so many drive-in camps in this area, but the flyout business is just massive.
Speaker 3:Well, just imagine, you know what, you know old Waney Clark there. He's going to be coming on the show here right away with us. You know, he's the he's the big dog up in our area when it comes to flyouts, old Wayne and and man, like if he was able to get those guys out there, they might have some just looking at his setup. And you know, maybe we could do this this way or I've seen this done this way and they might have some ideas that we haven't even thought about over here, that they see on a regular basis right in different areas. So I think that's a good idea and it really is.
Speaker 2:I mean the, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the cam clinics. I mean lakeside marina itself has made several recommendations to yamaha about how to make their product better and I mean I've only been there eight years but I've already seen some of the recommendations we've made start to show up in the product. I mean, nothing happens overnight in the in the manufacturing world, right like just so much time and effort goes into making these products the way they do. But to actually see some of your ideas come into the new designs and how they're changing things, it's just super neat to have that opportunity.
Speaker 1:That is really cool and I've experienced it a little bit on the Princecraft side with Ange and Pete Because, as you guys know, the Fish and Canada show is sponsored by Princecraft and a lot of Ange and Pete. Their feedback does impact the way that they they manufacture their boats and it's very, very cool to see that that you're doing it on on a dealership level as well, and that's that's awesome.
Speaker 2:That two way street is so neat. Like it to know that your opinion is valued that much in a, in an environment where you know it's. I'm in the middle of nowhere, man, you know, we're not a big potato in this world, we aren't a big shot, but they still listen and that's so neat to see that that's actually a thing that they're willing to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. So now listen, I've got another question and this is again for potentially lodge owners listening out there. But a lot of people out there that are looking to get into the boat market and engine market and because I've owned a lodge and I've been around boats for most of my life, a lot of my buddies, when they're looking for a boat, will call me and they'll say, hey, I'm looking at this 1968 glass boat, Electron, with a 19,. I don't know, white motor on the back, it could be a 30 or a 50, but it's big. What do you think, Right? So? And my answer to those are buddy, walk away quick, Get out of there, Don't even I'll tell you, go, Forget it. But there are a lot of people who want to get into a boating or a fishing activity and are looking and are in the market for used boats. What would be the best thing and what are some of the do's and don'ts when you're looking for them? And one of those do's may be buying a used boat from somebody like you who's a dealer.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's always a big benefit to buying from a dealer, the dealer again, I'll speak for myself and I mean a lot of us are the same as we actually invest the appropriate amount of time and money to look at these things and make sure that there isn't as good a quality as we possibly can heading out the door because, I mean, man, I'm, I'm putting my name on that, that is, that is a product that I'm selling to somebody. I don't want to put my name on something that's a piece of junk. I don't want it to fail for the customer. I don't want to have to write him a check back for the product he bought for me two weeks ago. Um, everything I send out the door, I put a, you know, a 30 day limited warranty on whether it's used in 40 years old or used in three years old. Bring it to a dealer. Even if you don't buy it from a dealer. Ask the other guy if you can get it to a dealer and have it looked at. You got to build confidence in the product that you're buying If a dealer can do the basics check the lower unit, check the compression, just to make sure that you've got some comfort level of what you're buying is this stuff isn't cheap and it's not cheap to maintain and it's not cheap to repair.
Speaker 2:Nothing about boating is inexpensive. There was a cost to everything. But being smarter and having somebody that knows what they're doing is really, really critical to buy in this stuff. Have somebody look at it. If you have a buddy that's mechanically inclined, at least do your homework on what you're buying. And the other thing is don't buy stuff sight unseen, because that's just a risk that nobody should be willing to take when it comes to this stuff. You can travel thousands of kilometers to go pick up something. If you've already sent a guy the money, it's not working out well for you. Make sure you put eyes on this stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a couple of those processes that I always suggest and if I'm buying used I always do and there's really three extremely important ones. Number one, on the four stroke pull the dipstick and check the oil. And you're looking for two things. Okay, you're looking for really rancid, bad oil, which you might see. Or if you see beautiful, clean, really really clean oil, that means that he just changed the oil and you're not sure exactly what's going on. So you know, check the oil, at least he's changed the oil. If he hasn't changed the oil and it's like super, it's thick, like glue, or, you know, always check the oil, even more so the bottom end. And if the guy's like, well, no, you can't, I don't want to check the bottom end because all the oil's going to come out, and then blah, blah, blah, well then that's not a good thing. And you don't have to drain all the oil out To check the bottom end. Really, all you need to do you'll need a wee oil dish. Leave the top air screw in tight, take the bottom one out, and then there'll be an air lock there. So the majority of the oil is locked into the bottom end and it's not going to pour out. Pull that screw, have a quick look for the oil, the color is it milky? Is there water in there and is there filings on that magnet? Put it back in.
Speaker 1:And lastly is a compression check. And if you don't know how to do that, take a buddy that does. Or, like you said, look at if you've got to drive six or eight hours to look at a boat and motor. Make sure you do your due diligence. Plan on a time that you can go and drive to Red Lake. You can call a guy like Andrew and set up a time that you can take that boat. As soon as you get to the guy's place you say okay, buddy, jump in my truck. I've already got it planned out. You've told him you take the boat in, you spend your hour and a half. Yes, it's going to cost you what? A couple hundred bucks maybe for an inspection on the boat. Like I'm not sure what would that number be?
Speaker 2:For me, if I'm just doing an inspection to check quality, you're probably getting away for anywhere between $75 and $100.
Speaker 1:So, like I mean, that goes back to the snap swivel story, that goes back to the seal story on the bottom end, why are you going to make a huge I'm not going to say the biggest investment of your life, but a fairly large investment on a piece of equipment that you want to work? Why are you going to cheap out on that for a hundred bucks? For a hundred bucks, a hundred dollars buys you. And again, anything can happen with these old used boats, that's just the way it is. But at least that hundred dollars buys you the comfort of knowing that the oil is good, the compression is good, it runs, it doesn't leak so much you know like it, it's, it's um, for that kind of money, uh, I would never. I would never do it any other way, although I do have a mechanic, buddy, scotty hamp uh, scotty, you're the best, um, and he's, he's very good. And, uh, I keep him tied to my hip whenever I'm buying shit like this.
Speaker 3:Scotty's your.
Speaker 1:Andrew, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Andrew's on my speed dial, brother up at the lock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, that's great Willie. Any other thoughts?
Speaker 3:You know, I just wanted to. If anyone out there is looking for, like I say, that top end service that I've only seen. I've been in the kenora area a long time now uh, you know, I've guys are coming to you from here to buy bolts camps. If there's anybody listening, that's in anywhere from thunder bay to winnipeg in Northwestern Ontario. Andrew can service you and he is the best that I've seen in any business in customer service, so please reach out to him. Lakeside Marine. Andrew, thanks for coming on. We got lots more stories. We're going to have to have you on again because we got some fish tales from the boat. We got some boating accident tales.
Speaker 1:Wow, hey, we've got lots we tails from the boat. We got some boating accident tails Wow, we've got lots we can go on for. We don't have to jump out of any boating accident tails Like I mean, why don't we hear one of those?
Speaker 2:Wow, we're scratching the surface, man. There's a whole lot more we can talk about, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:We've got to leave some. Yeah, we've got to leave some.
Speaker 2:Wow, here's one for you. We talked a little bit about the world, of chewing up on some Canada, so I had this lodge owner that was having a particularly challenging year with his guests. You know, hitting rocks, and it's a very real part of the business, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's unfortunate when it happens, and it's not a cheap fix. But in light of finding some humor in it, he began writing in sharpie the excuse he was provided for why he hit a rock next to a marker. So the one day, um, I get, he walks in with head down. He walks in with three lower units in his hand for for 50 horse yamahas and the skeg's gone. The the prop has no, no blades left on the other one. And then there's the writing. It goes um, it was the marker must have moved or I'm ed, the marker must have moved. And then the second was I'm with Ed, I was following too close. And the third one was I'm also with Ed. And three votes in a row, the same rock. If the camp owner had been standing there watching it, I think he just would have gone overboard. Man, how do you not just lose your mind with this?
Speaker 3:Oh man, I would have beat my head against the wall.
Speaker 5:Well, the question is how does the second and third guy.
Speaker 1:well, obviously the second guy was following too closely, but the third guy, you'd think he'd get it off plain before he hit the rock after seeing kapow one, two kapow, oh wow, it's my you know, you just can't make this shit up, man you can't.
Speaker 1:I saw many of it like I mean, I had the same guy. Okay, uh was there for a week now. He was in cedar strips with uh, with the old yamah that I had, but he hit a rock and you know, at that time I think I was charging a thousand bucks for a bottom end and he smashed her up. Good, so I replaced that, while I took it out of service and then give him another boat and he was a little bit it's always hard because at that time a thousand dollars was what I was charging for his week trip. Right, so he just bought another week.
Speaker 1:Wow, a day later he come back in and I saw him. He was rowing and I thought, oh no. And I was out and from my office window I could see out on the river. And then I saw this guy rowing and I got my binoculars and I saw who it was and I thought, oh no. So I went down to the dock and I met him and this fella he was a great guy near in tears. He said, steve, you're not going to believe this.
Speaker 1:And I said what he said I hit the same damn rock and like I mean, and it's one of those things, where it was behind an island, in a channel, and there's no reason that you really need to be back there Like there's a hundred different ways to go safely, but this one spot in behind this island and it's like like I mean it wasn't even like I tried to in my mind justify the fact that he maybe didn't know where he was and got turned around, but like I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a place right.
Speaker 3:I love the excuse game.
Speaker 1:That's the best part here so this guy had no excuses?
Speaker 3:No, no, but I mean they always do, like Andrew said, but you know what they usually do, so thank God your guy didn't.
Speaker 1:This guy, every other one did, every other one did yeah.
Speaker 3:We had one at T2 one year, stevie, and it was a double rock same rock, double hit within like a couple days. But it was a guide that was new up there, so the guest had actually uh, the guest and him were talking is what it was, and he was so new he was able to convince the guest that that the islands and the rocks float and we're moving. So this guy came back and this is no bullshit. The guests come back to the lodge and I'm in the bar making a drink for him and he's like Willie, I'm going to ask you something. He's like I never heard about these floating islands and these floating reefs. But this kid is bound and determined, he is 100% determined that this kid is bound and determined. He's, he is 100 determined that this reef is floating. And I'm like, hold on a minute. So you guys both think and this is the knowledge that you got from him that the island in the middle of the water that like, if, if you take a rock, a pebble and throw it, it'll sink to the bottom, and that's like 50,000 pebbles is going to float away. And they just looked at me and he goes, and this is no bullshit. This is the whole conversation. So now I'm playing with them, right. So I'm like, yeah, man, in the wintertime we have to GPS them. So we used to take channel markers, but now we just it's so great with GPS, we can just GPS the island and when we come back we just make sure we put it back where it goes. So then the guest knows.
Speaker 3:And this went on. I swear to God, this went on for like fucking 20 minutes. And then finally the guy clued in and he's like you know what I'm talking about? Tugboating islands across the fucking Titu River. He's like okay, this guy's pulling shit down.
Speaker 3:But it's unbelievable what people will think and the excuses that they'll make up at any moment to cover their ass with it right.
Speaker 1:It's like Well, there's a similar situation.
Speaker 1:This has nothing to do with smashing bottom ends or anything, but Chaudière was right out of the town of Doquisse one of the First Nations Great people there and there's a couple in the town.
Speaker 1:So as you're driving through town to get to the Doquisse Marina, to go onto the Chaudière boat and we take you back over, there's a couple who have this clothesline right at the side of the road and on the clothesline she's got like G-strings and underwear and shit like that.
Speaker 1:But they are like big, like really really fucking big, like as big as big can be, like the one pair of the one G-string she's got out there now and she usually makes new ones, like I think it's her winter project, but she's got a g-string out there that's got to be like four and a half feet like long, like I mean I'm talking like it would, it would, it would have to like for the person to fit these they'd have to be like 4 000 pounds, like they're massive, like they're obviously not real but they're huge, and there's like three pairs like a nice pair of uh, of uh women's older undies and a g-string thong and she's got these and in like flowery patterns and all this shit. And I want to thank that couple right now because that made more joy for me than anything, because the guests, they would see them and want to believe that somebody fits in them Like they would want to believe. Like you look at it and logically thinking, you know there is not a person on the planet that will slide into that panties.
Speaker 1:Not just as no. So anyway, I get guests come up to me and they'd say, steve, have you seen the underwear in Doe Keys? And I'm like, oh yeah, you mean old Betsy. And they'd say, oh really, yeah, yeah, that's old Betsy's underwear, I'll tell her to take them down. And they're like no, no, no, no, no, you're telling me that it's real. And I'd be like what do you mean? It's real. Well, like I mean, is it real? Is there somebody that fits those? And I'm like, oh yeah, betsy. Oh, I'd say, yeah, you haven't heard about Betsy. She's in the Guinness Book of World Records. She's the largest native woman on the planet, bar none. And then they go no. And I'd say, oh yeah, well, who do you think fits those underwear? It's got to be the largest. Oh, I guess that's right. I'd say yeah, and then, if I got them that far, I go in. Yeah, you know, the unfortunate part is betsy. Uh, two years ago she had a heart attack. Oh, no, but she's okay now.
Speaker 1:But you know, the fire department had to bring the jaws of no, yeah. And they'd be like, oh, my God, no way. And I'd be like, yeah, no, I'm just kidding, but you'd be surprised at how human nature, just in the case of hitting a rock, the mind drums up this story that, wow, you know, a lot of times I would get yeah, I bumped something, but I wasn't going that fast and you look at the bottom end and you know that it threw the back of the boat a foot out of the water when they hit it right. The back of the boat a foot out of the water when they hit it right. Or the human psyche sees these underwear and you just want to believe that something fits those and it was always fun to and it didn't take any convincing right. So thank you to those people in Doh Keys. You know who you are. You got those big underwear hanging out there and I, to this day, still tell people that those are real and I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:So big shout out to you guys Awesome, awesome, yeah, yeah, nice, well, yes, andrew, thank you so much. And listen, what's the best way for people to get a hold of you? And you know what I will mention. We are very close to entering a deal where you're going to support diaries and I'm so looking forward to that. We'll get you on once that's done, but we're excited about the potential to be working with you and helping each other out. It's a wonderful relationship that we look forward to building, and Will obviously has already put together a wonderful relationship and just tell people out there the best way to get a hold of you and the services that you can provide. We've already endorsed them. What you've done for Nordic Point has been amazing, but just reinforce that so that everybody else can reach out.
Speaker 2:Thanks a lot, steve and Will. It's been a great session here. Guys, I can't wait to do this again. Like you said, we're working on a partnership with Diaries right now and you know the thing that you guys are doing here really it hasn't been done in the industry and there are, you know, thousands and thousands of people that come up and enjoy this wonderful country and all of it that it has to offer in this industry and, man, the things that you guys are doing listening to your podcast. I love it. This is a great thing you're doing Again, like you said, lakeside Marina in Red Lake, Ontario.
Speaker 2:Look us up, get online. We've got all of our services listed there used new product, the things that we can do for the people locally and that own businesses up here. I mean, feel free to call for references. I mean we're good at what we do and we love doing it. So, um, give us a shout anytime. Email, it's all on the website. Have a look there. Um, this, uh, this partnership that we're growing, uh, I see it going a lot of really great places. So, uh, thanks again for doing um and I appreciate the chance to be fun. Oh yeah, thanks, andrew, really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Thanks, guys. Let's give a quick shout out to Yamaha Canada too. We thank you very much, guys, and that's all I got Stevie.
Speaker 1:Right on. Well, listen. Thanks again, andrew. Thank you to your wonderful business, lakeside Marine and folks. Thank you so much for listening to this point. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Subscribe like, write comments. Those are all of the things that help us do what we do best. And if you guys are out there and you've got businesses and you're looking to partner up with a great podcast, we've got a wonderful deck. You can reach out to Willie or myself, as always will, at nordicpointlodgecom or steven at fishincanadacom, and listen, guys, don't forget. Head over to fishincanadacom, check out all of the other podcasts on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network and get in on those giveaways. There are so many awesome giveaways on the dot com website. It just rocks, and unfortunately I can't enter in any of those, but I know if I could I would. So get out there guys. And if there's any guests or any topics that you guys are wondering about and think that we would do a great job covering, let us know. And until the next time. Thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. I'm a good old boy, never meanin' no harm.
Speaker 2:I'll be all you ever saw been railin' in the hog since the day I was born, Bendin' my rock stretchin' my line.
Speaker 3:Bending my rock all of my pals.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems, yeah.
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