What a strange year this has been! By now most of you will have heard the Canadian US border has been closed since the pandemic started. It remains close officially until September 21 but rumor has it that it will remain closed for a few more months. The Canadian Government updates the status of the border usually on the 14th of the month and extend the closure in 1 month increments. That has meant that all of the US boats that were here for refits last winter were stuck here and were unable to leave. Recently however officials have finally recognized that they can not “seize” US owned property like this and have made available wet border crossing at International Ports of Entry by commercial captain. Boats here are welcome to stay with us for the winter at no cost as long as they have there own insurance in place. We already have a backup plan in case the border is still closed to non essential services by spring of 2021… we will simply move the boats by water from Goderich to Port Huron by commercial captain and re-enter them there so they can get home in time for the 2021 season.
So far we have 3 more Gozzard Yachts coming back by truck for this coming winter – all 3 are getting new engines and with Beta Marine we have been able to extend some pretty good discounts. We will be designing and building a retro fit kit so the Beta engines can be modified and installed easily. North sails has also been working with us to try and generate some new sail orders.
And if you have not heard, the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis has been cancelled. I know a lot of you were planning on going and those vendors you were going to see will miss your business. If any of you wish to consult the experts, we still can help you out and I am certain there will be some pretty impressive discounts available on everything from electronics to props and everything in between. Feel free to contact myself or Liz and we will do our best to pick up where this extraordinary set of circumstances has left you.
Finally it looks like our new Pilgrim 24 is set to begin construction shortly. This will be a semi displacement diesel hybrid micro trawler paying homage to our classic Pilgrim 40 concept. And like the original Classic 24, this new boat is being build as a test platform for some new concepts and ideas including a brand new resin infusion technique. Look for details on this exciting project in the coming months.
Mike