Marine One – Buyer Beware!

After several comments on Aquatica Marine and Galleon Marine (Langley), I had to add just one more post to this otherwise boring blog.  As you can see by reading all of the comments, there are many people out there who have been taken advantage of by the unscrupulous people at this Langley boat dealership.  I have no personal knowledge as to who the new owners are of this new iteration of the business, but would recommend you be extremely cautious if you are planning to buy a boat from this dealer.  Please read all of the attached comments.

If anyone has any concrete information about the new ownership, please share it here.

Aquatic Marine (formerly Galleon Marine) – same bad service!

I love you all for searching out Galleon Marine.  My absolute disdain for this boat dealer is off the charts.   We, too, we’re at the Vancouver International Boat Show this weekend.  My husband and I saw Galleon Marine – Langley, and it was all we could do not to make a huge scene.  Please, please, do not try to buy a boat from this dealer.  I have to add, as I understand it, Galleon Marine in Richmond is not associated with the Langley store.

We finally bought a great new boat this weekend and had great service from a dealer in Abbotsford.  As soon as I take delivery of the boat, I’ll give all the details.  Unfortunately, after all of our crazy, BAD service, I am hesitant to endorse a dealer until we see actual delivery.  Stay tuned… And stay far away from Galleon -Langley.  Seriously.

Thanks to those of you who let me know that Galleon have changed their name to Aquatic Marine.  As I understand it, Walter is the new owner, and he’s the guy everyone had problems with, so don’t expect to get the service you deserve if you go there.

Inside Update – HUGE Progress

A couple of weeks ago we finished the ceiling, no small feat, I have to say.

The Ceiling

It took all three of us to do it and we worked pretty good together.  Did I mention that Katelyn was great with a nail gun and compound mitre saw?

Starting the First Bedroom

Within about 15 minutes of finishing the ceiling, high fives all around, we nailed or first piece of pine to the back bedroom wall.  Hmm, looks pretty good.  Hey wait, they go on waaaay faster on the walls!  By the end of the night, including the ceiling and walls, we put in 12 hours and made a dent in the first bedroom.

We now have two complete bedrooms, ceiling, walls, framing, crown moulding and beds in place.  Yahoo!  Check it out.

My New Weekend Bedroom

Gun-Toting Katelyn

About a month ago, before we even took possession, we found this really cool bunkbed for Katelyn’s room.  The whole thing is made of wood.  No, the whole thing!  There are no screws or nails and it weighs at least 500 pounds.  But how perfect is it?  This room is Katelyn’s but will work great when we have guests.  We had two double beds and a single in her room.  In our room we have our bed and a single bed so she can bunk with us if there is company.

The Bunkbed

Last weekend, we had four straight days so got a lot done.  In addition to the bedrooms, we managed to put paneling up in the whole place.  It looks like a whole new place.

This was a big job, but we finished it up just in time to head home in the daylight.  It’s also a challenge that the days are so short.  It’s really hard to work in the dark.  We still manage to put in really long days, and at the end, barely have a place to sit.  But not for long, the couch has been ordered and will arrive next week.  Then it will be harder to work when there’s a squishy couch to chill on.

Boat Update – I can’t Even Talk About It

No seriously, I can’t talk about it.  So I’ll just make bullet points and you can make up your own story.

• Come get the boat
• Wait, the covers weren’t shipped
• Loan boat leaks
• Loaner boat almost sinks
• Peter demands refund of deposit
• 911
• Back of the cruiser, sir
• Bail me out?
• Fuckers
• Official dispute filed with Mastercard, no promises

Boat Update

Remember all of that stuff I said about Galleon Marine? Still true. Remember the November 4th delivery date? Came and went. Peter called on the 3rd to see if everything was okay, he was told that it wasn’t there, but someone yelled (rudely) in the background that, “that boat is coming in to tomorrow!”. Nope. Another lie.

Seriously, the 4th came and went and NO BOAT!

On the 5th, Peter decided that enough was enough. In the truck, drive to Langley, and in he walked. He was pretty puffed up by the time he got there, and caught the tale end of a conversation concerning our boat. IT’S STILL IN EDMONTON!!! Okay, seriously? By the end of the face-to-face conversation, Peter left with a loaner boat, brand new off the lot. I mean, brand new. Peter said the guy cried a little when he drove it away, begging, “please don’t scratch my boat.”

So now, I think we are finally going to get the stupid boat. They have to be more motivated now that we have their brand new boat on loan. Right?

Stay tuned!

More of the Inside

Behind the Wall with the Shelves is the Bathroom

"Master" Bedroom

Kitchen Part I

I keep telling people that the cabin is rustic, and it is.  The interior walls of the cabin are OSB.  Good OSB.  The funny thing is that the OSB is the wood from Ski-Doo crates.  I think that’s hilarious!  On the inside of the bathroom walls, you can read the stamp saying Ski-Doo.  I think that can be classed as rustic.

In the meantime, here are some shots of the rustic interior.  There is a teeny kitchen.  The funny thing is, it actually has more workable counter space than our house kitchen.  We only have a three burner cook top and an RV fridge, but hopefully we’ll manage until we can upgrade.

We also have two good sized bedrooms.   We have our bedroom and Katelyn’s/guest room.  We bought some gorgeous double bunkbeds made from raw logs, very cabinny.  We should have lots of room for everyone, as long as you aren’t too fancy.  Putting those bunkbeds back together should take a whole day.  They are made without nails or screws, just dowels.

The Kitchen II

We do have a toilette. I think the french sounds more sophisticated, don’t you?  Running water rocks, especially in the winter.

I can’t wait to finish the ceiling and move onto the next step!

The Inside Work

So far I’ve focused on all the work that we have done outside to tidy the place up.  The big story is on the inside.  The first thing that Peter said when he saw the place was, “that ceiling has to go.  Who does that?”  Obviously the ceiling became priority number one.

The Drop Ceiling - "Who Does That?"

As I mentioned, the cabin is old, so you never know what you are going to find when you start to take things apart.  Friends of ours bought a cabin last year and thought they’d renovate, only to find out the whole place was so rotten it had to be torn down, all the way to the foundation.   So, I held my breath.

When the first tile came out, the biggest issue was really old insulation and lots of mouse poop.  Ick.  I mean lots of mouse poop.  Again, our friend Karen was an amazing trooper, put on her gloves and started hauling those ugly tiles out of the cabin.  Darn it, Karen, why didn’t I take pictures of that?  We got about a quarter of the way done on that first day before abandoning the ceiling for the sunny outdoors and the beach.

Coming Down

Peter went back to the cabin later in the week and took out the rest of the ceiling on his own.  You know he likes it better when no one is there, and for such as ugly job, I wasn’t about to argue.

Mouse Poop

The good news is that there is no water damage or rot, and other than the mouse poop, it all looks really good.  Cleaning the whole place took a huge amount of time, but getting it really well prepped made me feel like the whole place is cleaner.

Almost two weeks ago we started to put in the new ceiling.  We opted for pine tongue and groove.  At first we thought we would vault the ceiling, but once we got a good look at it, we quickly changed our minds.  We had the first couple of rows installed when our friend George called to say he was at the boat launch and would be staying the night to help out.  

George took one look at the ceiling and commented that it was a very daunting project.  Peter is an expert at “chunking it off”, and simply laughed off the comment.  Obviously we put George to work!

We cracked open the first bundle of insulation (mmm, new fluffy, mouse poop-free insulation) and the swearing started anew.  Frickin’ Home Depot loaded the wrong size.  15 bales!  All the wrong size!  This means that every piece has to be measured and cut in half to fit between the joists.  Just another slow down.  Oh, can you imagine 15 bales of insulation travelling up the lake in a 17′ ski boat.  We should have taken pictures.  Unbelievable.

During the course of that evening, we managed to burn a huge circle in the bedroom carpet, make burn marks on the bedroom wall and find out that working by camp stove light really sucks.  Remember, no electric.

We put up a good dent in the ceiling, made a great steak dinner on the new BBQ and settled in to our first ever poker game at the new cabin.  Three handed, and I think I lost 🙂 The table was left by the last owner.  At first we thought it was pretty cool, but it turns out that it is unbalanced and almost spilled our drinks several times.

This is how it looked after we took George home the next morning and got back to work.

End of Day Two

We spent the rest of the day making pretty good progress on the ceiling.  Once we got going, it started to roll pretty good.

We were there again for one night last weekend and with Katelyn, managed to get a whole lot more done.  Again, we spent a lot of time working in virtual darkness, but we did make a significant discovery.  Electrical lights!  We have a deep cycle battery to run our iPod (ha!) and the amplifier for the cell phone.  It turns out that there was wiring to attach that provided RV lighting for the bedrooms and the bathroom.  Happy days!  No more taking a flashlight to pee!

We only had few hours, because we had a commitment to go for dinner and see Grease in Vancouver.   It was all I could do to drag Peter away.  Just for the record, Katelyn is a superstar with the nailer and the chop saw.  Three sets of hands work even faster than two.  Progress at the end of another day.  We are past the dreaded half way mark.

Don’t Buy a Boat From Aquatic Marine (formerly Galleon Marine – Langley)

So Here Is the Boat Saga – So Far

Early on in the cabin process, we realized that the pretty yellow 17′ ski boat we bought 5 years ago just wouldn’t do.  It was in pristine condition, had very few hours on it, and was never built to haul 2 x 4s and insulation.  Thus started the search for a boat.  I had NO idea that an aluminum river boat was so expensive!  I thought pretty ski boats would be way more money.  Alas, I was wrong again.  I spent weeks looking on Craig’s List, and was shocked at the prices for used boats.  Very discouraging.  At least we had some idea where to start, and one wet Friday, October 1st, went shopping.

I checked the Yellow Pages and off we went to Chilliwack, BC.  We went to two dealers there, absorbed sticker shock, took notes and went on our way.  This led us to Galleon Marine in Langley.  We spent a good amount of time there, asking lots of questions, taking a look around and getting ideas.  The price range of the boat we wanted was $45-50K.  YIKES!!  See ya later!  As we were ready to leave the sales guy said that they had a brand new 20′ Hewescraft SportJet at another dealership in Edmonton.  It was a 2009 that had been demo’d by the owner and they could give us a good deal on it.  They said we could have it for $32,000.  Still ridiculous, but getting better.

Another week went by, a couple of trips to the cabin with a pretty yellow ski boat load with compressors, BBQs, furniture, dishes, etc., made our situation more pressing.  I had looked at more boats on Craig’s List, had no luck.  I spent the week looking on the internet for boat reviews and listings for similar used boats.  Turns out that $32K is a really good deal.  Off we went, back to Galleon, spun our yarn and eventually made a deal for $30,500.  This included shipping from Edmonton.  Hurrah, boat ordered, deposit given.  That was the 9th of October and they said it would take a few days, we should have the boat by Tuesday or Wednesday.  Even though it was way more than we thought we would spend, it was good to make a decision.

Wed. October 13th – ho-hum, no call, no boat

Fri. October 15th – no call, no boat.  We called Galleon, were told that there was a problem with a broken down truck and they didn’t have the boat yet.  The sales guy was getting married in Prince George, so they would get the boat to PG and bring it back at the end of the weekend.  They would get it ready on Monday, and we could pick it up.

Mon. October 18th – no call, no boat.

Tues. October 19th – no call.  I called them.  Mad.  No sales guy, he’s still honeymooning, no manager, he’s in Vegas.  Vegas!?  Arggh!  The guys who answers the phone said our boat isn’t there, but there’s a truck coming in and it might be there on Friday.

Friday, October 22nd – Peter finally reaches Walter, the manager.  They haven’t shipped our boat yet.  It’s still in Edmonton, or so they say.  We originally told them we would make a deposit but not promise to buy until we had seen it up close.  Walter says that since we didn’t commit, he didn’t get it shipped.  What?!  Peter says, send the F*&King boat!  Okay, says Walter, I’ll be in touch when I have the details.  Nope, another freakin’ lie.  No Walter, no call, nothing.  This is war.

We have decided to play good cop/bad cop, with each of us making contact every day until we get results.

Monday, October 25th – I email the sales guy, politely ask for an update on our boat.  He responds, telling me he’ll check up on it and get back to me.  No further emails.

Tuesday, October 26th – Peter calls again.  Peter offers to drive to Edmonton to get the stupid boat himself.  They negotiate $1,000 off the price if Peter goes to get it.  Peter tells him to find a driver, or call him back.  No return call.

Wednesday, October 27th – my turn.  I email the sales guy again, now I’m not so polite.  I’m hardly even being the good cop anymore.

Thursday, October 28th – present day.  I get a snippy email back from the sales guy saying we were told our boat would arrive on November 4th.  Funny, nobody told us that.  I guess they bought themselves a reprieve for a week.  Those bastards.  I’m not even sure there is a boat.

So here we are, almost three weeks since they processed the deposit on the boat, and the only communication we have had has been forced by us.  Don’t buy a boat from Galleon Marine – Langley.

Here It Is

The Deck on the Island

The Cabin

I thought I’d start out with some photos.  The cabin itself is waterfront, boat access only.  Somebody already said that’s great, since you can manage who drops by uninvited 🙂  It’s quite amazing how many friends we have all of a sudden!  We first saw the cabin in July, 2010, and visited it almost every weekend throughout the summer and into September.We had checked out all the cabins on that lake with for sale signs, but this one kept drawing us back.

Okay, so maybe it was the price, but we really were drawn to it.  The benefit of not buying it right away is that we had a chance to see all of the changes that took place over 3 months.  The water level fluctuates wildly, even from one weekend to the next.  It is really high in the spring and early summer, but then drops off again as summer goes by.  Right now it is as low as we have seen it and the results is a HUGE beach.  You’ll see we have our own island.  Well, to be fair, right now it’s more of a peninsula with the water so low.  But on top of the island is a great little deck, perfect for watching the world go by on a sunny afternoon.

Sat. Oct. 23rd - the rain stopped for this magic moment

The cabin itself is quite old, but very solid.  It’s almost 800 sq. ft. on 1/4 hectare.  The island was logged a few years ago and we read that there are perrigrine falcons, bald eagles, mountain goats and even moose.  We’ve seen the eagles and one afternoon, were visited by two seals.  It’s really private since we are in a little cove and the closest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away.  We have running water and a tankless hot water system (we don’t know how to use it yet) and a toilet – yippee!  However, there is no hyro, so we are running off of a generator and deep-cycle battery.  It works pretty good, but eventually, we would like to go green with a full solar system.  Ah, one of many projects for down the road.  The view from the huge patio door is pretty spectatular.  We are east-facing, so the sun come up bright over the mountains in the mornings.

The first time we went there and stayed the night we ended up working outside all weekend.  Because we are in a cove, a lot of debris floats in and gets hung up on the shore.  We spent two full days hauling wood and debris and burning it to get everything cleaned up.  We still aren’t quite finished, but we made a huge dent in the project.

Crazy Suspension Bridge

The Skinny Ramp

Our friend Karen was there to lend support and all of her muscles.  See that ramp leading up to the island?  Karen helped Peter carry a 200 lb. generator up that ramp and across the suspension bridge.  No easy feat as the bridge is about 2 feet wide.  Katelyn and I also carrying a 150 lb. Weber BBQ up from the dock to the cabin, piece-by-piece, and assembled it on site.  Again, no easy feat.  You have to plan everything quite differently, you can’t just call you neighbor and get them to lend a hand.  Oh yeah, Karen is our neighbor, and she did 🙂

Three Hard Lessons – October 25, 2010

Number One – Always Close the Door

So last week Peter wanted to run some things up to the cabin while the weather was good.  He was pretty pleased with himself when he called me and told me that he was standing out on the deck, overlooking the beautiful blue water and could see a seal in the distance.  I quietly cursed because I was jealous that I was stuck in the office, and told him to hurry home. 

That evening, while sitting on the couch, Peter sat bolt upright and swore aloud.  He left the patio door open!  This is NOT good.  It was already getting dark, we had to hook up the boat, drive back out to the lake, launch in the dark and Peter had to calm me down the whole way as we maneuvered it the dark.  I didn’t really like it.  Close the door, back in the boat, back down the lake, re-trailer the boat, back home.  Not really how we had planned to spend the evening.  Peter probably won’t forget the close the door again.

Number Two – Never Lock the Door

We were really excited about getting started so decided to take our chances and go to the cabin on Friday night when Peter returned from work.  He got home at 8:15 after a long day, we bundled all of our stuff and two dogs into the truck and away we went.  After a couple of runs back to town to empty the truck, we made beds and tucked in for the night.  It was so fun!

The next morning, Peter had to go to work so we agreed I would get up, take him to town and Katelyn and I would spend the morning getting organized and building the BBQ.  I was nervous about driving the boat, but managed to get back to the cabin only to find Katelyn and our puppy, Joey, waiting for me.  I was happy she could help me pull into the dock, but was surprised to see her out of bed so early.

The last thing Peter said was, “get up if you want to lock the door.”  We knew there was no key for the doorknob, but had locked it the night before.  Katelyn had locked herself and Joey out, and Jack in.  NOT good.  Peter wasn’t going to be back for hours, Jack was barking up a storm and it was cold outside.  We learned how to break in.  Not pretty, not ideal, but we did it.  Don’t lock the door.

Number Three – Always Check the Gas Gauge

Peter decided yesterday that he would take advantage of another gorgeous fall day, load up the boat and head back to the cabin.  He had gone to work at 5:15 am and was already pretty tired from two days of hard work, but away he went.  I received a voicemail from him in the afternoon simply saying, “if you want to know the latest cabin adventure story, call me.” 

The boat ran out of gas.  NOT good.  He was alone, our boat is 17′ long and meant for skiing, not paddling.  It’s October, there are no other boats on the lake.  Uh-oh.  So paddle he did.  Paddle!  You can’t paddle a ski boat.  Well, I guess you can if you have no choice.  Peter told me it took him almost two hours to paddle to the cabin, at about a foot a minute.  This could have ended very badly.  The only positive is that he was kept company by two seals the entire way to our dock.  I’m sure they were better company than I would have been.  Yikes!  Fortunately there was gas there and he was able to get back to town without his oar.  Always check the gas gauge.