Hello from the Cereal City

[kingfish]

I'm just now joining the Classic Parker forum, though I've had a Parker since June, 2001 and through ParkerSal, have been aware of this site for a number of months. I live in Battle Creek, MI, but Our Parker is kept in Ontario, Canada, in the North Channel of Lake Huron, between Little Current on Manitoulin Island and our family island, Neptune (after which our Parker is named.) Neptune III is a 2001 2520 MVSC with an OX66 225 that I ordered and picked up from the Beaufort Boathouse in Beaufort, SC. I have toured the Parker plant in Beaufort, NC with Robin Parker, although strangely enough *after* Neptune III was already plying the waters of the North Channel. Sometime last summer another Parker showed up in Little Current that looks like a 2520, but it has twins on a bracket and I'm betting it's a DV; I haven't yet gotten very close to it and haven't met the owner.

As I said earlier, ParkerSal introduced me to this site; I have never met Sal personally but I also have a Boston Whaler Outrage 22 and have been active on the ContinuousWave website for Classic Whalers (since its inception), where Sal and I became acquainted. While we've never met, I enjoy Sal a lot, especially his sharp and quick humor, and consider him to be a friend.

I hope to be an effective contributor here.

 

[Parker]

Kingfish - Welcome aboard! I also appreciate Sal as he is a great asset to this site. As another fellow Parker owner would say "We need Boat Porn" I beat Megabyte to the line this time. Any we look forward to hearing from you and seeing some shots of your neck of the world.

Brad

 

[Porkchunker]

Welcome to the site. I believe you will find more than enough material here to keep you busy for a long time.

BTW, I believe CP is to Parker what CW is to Boston Whaler. I've been to that site a number of times, and it is truly amazing to see the amount of restoration work that is displayed there. CP is just starting, but I would hope that after 5 years, we would have a reputation and a portfolio as good as CW.

BTW, I was in Canada this summer to do a church project. It was in Cornwall, along the Seaway. What a beautiful chunk of water you have up there. Only problem, is that your water gets hard in the winter...unlike here where most winters, we can get away with no ice, or a little ice in the creeks that goes away fairly quickly.

By saying that, I probably jinxed our winter, and we'll be able to walk from Annapolis to Kent Is.

 

[cbigma]

Welcome aboard Kingfish!

You have an interesting set of boating circumstances. You must deal with a different set of rules of the road (Are Canadian rules similar to US inland?) and presumably a different set of Marine Safety Regulations. 8)

I'm also jealous of all you guys who run in fresh water....you never have to flush your OB!. :shock:

Do you have issues with bottom growth like we do in salt water?

Anyway....pull up a keyboard and help yourself to a ParkerFeast.

...John

 

[Megabyte]

As another fellow Parker owner would say "We need Boat Porn" I beat Megabyte to the line this time.

I had a new member awhile back that was a little put-off with my 'boat porn' line until I explained that boat porn was a good thing.

That said... Welcome aboard Kingfish, and show us a little boat porn... er... photos of your ride. 8)

 

[kingfish]

Thank you all for so warm a welcome - what an extraordinarily friendly bunch of guys (and gals?)

I meant to add in my initial post that I will try to get some photos up soon, and I will. I have some from the Canadian waters Neptune III inhabits in the summer time, and a few on the trailer, in answer to a thread I think I saw on the site somewhere.

I have found in my 50 plus years of boating in our part of Canada that things are very much the same as in the States, with a few exceptions. There is a new law in Ontario (this year I believe) that a DUI offense will cost you your drivers license, which doesn't bother me a bit. That is to say I support the idea. Channel 68 is reserved for Marina traffic on the VHF up there. Probably a few other minor things I'm not thinking of, but nothing major. The Canadian people I've met, if I can generalize without hurting anyone's feelings or sensitivities, are about as helpful and courteous as any people you could find anywhere on earth. I would be a better person if I could emulate some of them successfully.

Yes it is an advantage to not have to flush the motor. But on the other hand, our species of fish are limited and none of them can eat you. The latter may also be an advantage too, I suppose, but it limits the excitement derived from hooking up to some kind of underwater freight train that takes a while to even know there's something on the other end of the line from the tasty snack they just gobbled up. And yes sadly we do get growth on our undersides. Kind of a brownish scum that is fairly easy to manage if you don't let it propagate for the whole season.

More soon I hope-

 

[Themis]

Kingfish,

Welcome aboard from your humble friend and student! Gents, this kind man exchanged many emails with me before I bought my Parker; he is as generous a man as you will find. I learned much from him about boating and seamanship from his posts on continuouswave as well.

You will find that this site is extremely similar to CW in that there is an atmosphere of collecting and sharing high quality content. I have yet to see one "tiff" on this board, and it is not due to vigilant moderators keeping order, but rather it is due to fine examples being set by Daleh, Megabyte, cbigma, parker, TomS, 96TL, .......

Everyone posts pictures, project ideas, problems, and their solutions. Occasionally I am allowed to post, as well. Members here often marvel how incredibly informative my "I installed a coat hook in my pilothouse" project was, as well as some lesser- worthy projects posted by Megabyte (bilge pump upgrade, thru hull install, etc).

I hope you enjoy the site as much as I do! And thanks for the "sharp and quick humor" comment. I know my wife disagrees.

 

[kingfish]

OK, here's my first try at uploading a photo of Neptune III, as a test. I'm finding I wish I had a better collection of photos from which to choose; these aren't going to be up to the standards I've seen around here, I don't think, and Neptune III is currently 500 plus miles away and put away for the winter so better shots will have to wait until next season. javascript:emoticon('')
Sad

So here's the first one, a low resolution shot of my cousin piloting Neptune III from Neptune Island to Little Current with the LaCloche Mountains of the North Shore of the North Channel in the background.

 

[Megabyte]

Nice job posting the photo Kingfish! 8)
She looks good!