4- Sunday, March 6, 1984 - North Shore News TO MAKE a very long yarn short, it came to pass that I decided to sell my boat, Venator, a lovely little 26-foot wooden cabin cruiser. If this sounds tike a plug for the boat, shame on me! But it’s not. I'm just reporting the end of a love affair. I have to explain how beautiful she is, and how sad it is to part. But how it is also sort of a relief, I have to admit. Relationships with boats, like marriages, are linear. Not too many guys have more than one boat at a time. And they require a lot of attention. There is one other parallel with marriage: the boat knows when something is wrong between you. Venator, for instance, knew immediately that | had decided to dump her. Don’t ask me how this happens, I might attempt an Answer. _ Tie Sly-wheel was suddenly splitting and hissing, shut her down and . pumped by hand until’ he had enough water out to start the engine j up again...”’ SRE EES _ Just two days later, the phone call from the boat club fell brutally upon my head: ‘‘Hunter, yer damn boat's leaking gas!”’ Just five months before, I had shelled out mucho hard cash to . have the gas tanks fixed. Fair enough. ‘They were 20 years old. Brand new stainless steel tanks went in to replace them. The back deck had to be torn up and rebuilt, of course. And all of it added up to time and money and time and money, and money, and Lord, she was in beautiful shape by summer’s end! But the terrible truth is, there was another boat in my thoughts. It seemed at the time to make such sense to sell Venator as the first step to getting the next one,- that I didn’t even cry about the decision. Well, snivelled perhaps. And now she was leaking gas, | Canada Trust Reattor | so tne mechanic : despite all the summer's work. How could this be? The ink on the bills had barely dried. Since she’s a gasoline boat, the guys tied up around Venatror were all soon nervously pulling their boats away and there was talk about moving mine out to the end of the dock in case she went up. I knew right away: the boat knew. She was doing this. In due course — which is to say, operating in a panic — with my wife and the mechanic and the commodore rushing about, the proolem was tracked down and solved. It was electrolysis — some- thing about the ‘‘bonding’’ not having been done properly, so the new tanks had rotted. Which meant taking the back deck apart again, etc. All of which was achieved in re- cord time, a day before the broker came down to check her out. Jt was strange... She wouldn't start. Never had « problem starting her before. Not. once. But now, well, maybe it was the battery — the huge 12-volt battery. _T knew better, And 1 should have known bet- ‘ter, with Venator in that kind of ’ mood, than let the mechanic take her around to Fisherman's Cove one peaceful Sunday morning just before the worst sou’wester of the season came tearing in. Next thing we knew, somebody was on the phone reporting that Venator had broken down off Point Atkinson and the coast guard was going out after her. We eventually learned that while the tank repairs were going on, a bunch of junk must have got left in the bilge so the pump clogged up and she started taking too much water. The fly-wheel was suddenly spit- ting and hissing, so the mechanic shut her down and pumped by hand until he had enough water out to start the engine up again and finish the run with a following sea nudging him into the cove. Ah yes. Epic stuff. The fury of a vessel spurned, conjuring the gale. A brave if slightly hexed mechanic. The weeping owner ashore, digging through the insurance papers. It all ended well with everybody involved having a new boating adventure to talk about, and not too much harm done, except, when I went down to take my personal stuff off, I could feel Venator sulking. A proud, older beauty. Rejected because of my wandering eye. I tried to start her up but I knew what the answer would be, She would not turn on. I wasn’t surprised. I kissed her goodbye from the dock, clutching my tool box, knowing that soon she would be humming and sparkling again, but it would not be my hand upon her helm. And Iran. © REAL ESTATE CAREER - Considering a career change to Real Estate - Pre-licensing tutorials are available now. - Newly licensed - inquire now for our next “quick start to success” A in our Career Development Program - Excellent benetits. : : ‘+ Experienced - up fo 80% split. - Check out the Canada Trust opportunities. For more information please call PAT MUNROE - Mgr. Van. 986-6131 GARY BAILEY - Mi gg O& or W. Van. 922.1244 fl Newtsuit makes sales NORTH VANCOUVER’S International Hard Suits Inc. (HSI) has made its first big splash in what could be a multi-million dollar tionary Newtsuit diving suit. The company announced this week that it has signed a letter of intent to sell two of its $250,000 Newtsuits to Japan's Fuji Co. Ltd. International president Phil Nuytten said Wednesday worldwide response to the Newtsuit ‘‘has been great. We've had tremendous interest.” The aluminum-skinned Newsuit, which uses external water pressures as a counter-balancing force on its 36 rotary joints and thereby greatly increases diver mobility under crushing deep-water depths, was develaped by Nuytten from 1979 to 1986. A patent on the rotary joint was taken out in 1984. The prototype Newtsuit. was displayed in the Canada Pavilion at Expo 86. Its design allows divers to work at depths of up to 1,000 feet without the expensive cocktails of mixed breathing gases and the decompression time that must be Jogeed when using conventional dive suits. Underwater applications for the JHSI suit include offshore oil ex- ploration, salvage, underwater mining and a varicty of military uses. Fuji, according to International general manager Aris Mor- fopoulos, will use their Newtsuits for company marine construction projects. He said IHSI has been getting international market for its revolu- By TIMOTHY RE News Reporter inquiries from all over the world about the suit. Current company estimates for Newtsuit sales over the next six years run to 200 suits, or approximately $60 million. {HSI was formed in 1986 as a marketing and production facility for the Newtsuit. Its largest share- o No Diets Waves holder is Can-Dive Services Ltd., the North Vancouver company currently at the forefront of world underwater technology. 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