28 July 2024 – I’ve always loved working boats, starting with the sturdy little Dorval Island ferry of my young childhood. The MV Aurora Explorer is a recent addition to the list, for all the reasons given in my previous post, At Work & Play.

But, I must confess, she is not my very most favourite of all.

That honour goes to another boat working the Discovery Islands area — more specifically, to one tied up by the Bear Bay logging camp in Bute Inlet.

This boat.

I hung over our own meticulously cared-for railing, and fell in love with every rusty, battered, grubby, dented, faded — and still functioning! — square millimetre of her.

And I had no idea what I was looking at. I asked my boating friends for help.

She is a boom boat — used to sort logs and push them around. “Super fun to drive,” fondly recalls Commodore C., as relayed by Commodress (sic) F., “and super effective and efficient. They go sideways, forwards, backwards. There are even boom-boat rodeos!”

This relic is still in service because she still serves, not because the company couldn’t replace her. The most basic internet search turns up sleek new models, boasting for e.g. a “fully enclosed wheelhouse” and promising “special focus on safe navigation and low noise levels.”

Don’t care. My heart is with this one.