Does your floating dock pivot like a teeter-totter when folks step off the boat? For maximum stability, a floating dock should be long, wide, and heavy, with a low centre of gravity and its flotation near the edges.
If your dock is at least 8′ wide—the minimum builders recommend—check the location of the floats. Can they be moved closer to the edges? If your design is essentially a deck perched on top of floats, it will have a high centre of gravity. Build a wood subframe below to house the floats and add weight. Now your dock has a lower centre of gravity—and more stability.
Sometimes, you can improve performance by connecting dock sections in a T- or an L-shape. Sometimes that just creates a wobbly letter-shaped dock. Bottom line? Any floating dock that’s less than 6′ wide will probably never have a stable relationship with people. Maybe you should repurpose it as a ramp for a new dock that is long, wide, and heavy.
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Sometimes, it’s the little things we do that best show our affection. In celebration of Canada’s most beloved paddling vessel, here are three easy ways to care for your canoe that will boost its longevity.
Illustration by Jacques Perrault
1. Install skid plates
A canoe’s stems, the curved ends, see more rough treatment than any other part of the hull, especially if your paddling style involves scraping over rocky river beds or running ashore. When the gelcoat wears thin at the bow and stern, or if you’re planning some abrasive whitewater paddling, it’s time to install skid plates—strips of Kevlar felt, applied with a two-part resin to reinforce and protect these vulnerable areas. It’s a job that you can do yourself with kits available from your canoe’s manufacturer. The plates prolong the life of the canoe while minimally impacting weight and performance.
Illustration by Jacques Perrault
2. Apply a protectant
As with human skin, UV damage will age a canoe’s gelcoat. Canoe manufacturers suggest applying a protectant to the exterior of your hull to reduce fading and cracking at least three times a season. Nova Craft Canoe, a canoe manufacturer in Ontario, recommends 303 Aerospace Protectant, a water-based formula that works like a spray-on sunscreen, protecting surfaces from UV rays. It can also be used to protect paddling gear, including life jackets, helmets, and neoprene wetsuits.
Illustration by Jacques Perrault
3. Oil the gunwales
Glistening brightwork makes the heart sing, but that gloss also protects exposed wood. Left untreated, wood gunwales—which are usually ash—weather to a rough, grey surface that eventually rots. Don’t use polyurethane here; gunwales need to flex, which will cause varnish to crack. Instead, use boiled linseed oil or hemp seed oil—Canadian-grown because you’re feeling patriotic. Start by sanding off any grey. Apply two or three coats of oil using a lint-free rag, allowing the finish to dry overnight between coats. Freshen three or four times a year by running an oiled rag over the rails.
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Every winter when Lake Suwa in Japan freezes, locals believe that the Shinto male god Takeminakata crosses the frozen lake with his dragon to visit the female god Yasakatome. He leaves only his footsteps on the ice in the form of a sinusoidal ice ridge called the omiwatari.
In 1397, Shinto priests began celebrating and recording the appearance of the omiwatari. They used the direction of the cracks left by the omiwatari to forecast the agricultural harvest for the upcoming summer. In the first 250 years of the ice record, Lake Suwa froze every year, except for three years during which time the region saw widespread famine. Since the turn of the millennium, however, the lake has only frozen seven times.
If the ice cover in northern lakes continues to decline at the same pace, it will have severe ecological and cultural consequences.
Lakes in the Northern Hemisphere are losing their ice cover faster than ever. (Midge Eliassen), Author provided
Lakes losing ice at rapid rates
Ice duration was more than two weeks shorter per century, on average, since the Industrial Revolution, with lakes losing up to 34 per cent of their total ice cover. In the past 25 years, the loss of ice escalated with lakes losing ice six times faster than any other period in the past 100 years.
Around 15,000 lakes, including Lake Suwa and the North American Great Lakes — Lake Michigan and Lake Superior — are beginning to remain ice-free in some winters. Lakes situated at lower latitudes and in some coastal regions, where winter air temperatures hover around 0 C (the freshwater freezing point) in addition to large, deep lakes in colder regions, are most sensitive to experiencing ice-free winters.
Large, deep lakes, such as the North American Great Lakes, require sustained cold temperatures to sufficiently cool their waters to allow ice to form, as deeper lakes take longer to cool in autumn due to their immense thermal mass.
Larger lakes with a longer fetch — the area over which the wind blows — also tend to freeze later because they are more sensitive to increased wind action breaking up the initial skim of ice on the lake surface.
Why does ice loss matter?
Lake Superior is one of the fastest warming lakes in the world. Since 1867, it has lost over two months of ice cover. By removing the “lid” of ice, evaporation rates can increase in Lake Superior, as well many other lakes across the Northern Hemisphere, further affecting water availability. As lakes transition to becoming ice-free and the physical barrier between the lake surface and the atmosphere is removed, the potential for evaporation to occur year-round increases.
Less ice cover, warmer temperatures, and increased storm events deliver more nutrients to the lakes, leading to widespread summer blue-green algal blooms, also known as cyanobacterial blooms, which were once thought to be implausible in the cold, deep and pristine waters of Lake Superior.
In some lakes, algal blooms are becoming particularly thick, decreasing the amount of sunlight that reaches deeper waters. With less sunlight, photosynthesis is reduced, ultimately leading to a decrease in the concentration of dissolved oxygen available to support aquatic life.
Some fish communities rely on long winters. For example, following short winters, Lake Erie yellow perch produced smaller eggs and weaker young fish that were less likely to survive to adulthood. Fish life stages most sensitive to temperature changes in the earlier part of the open-water season include embryos and spawning adults. Furthermore, an earlier start to summer (i.e., due to earlier ice loss) can cause mismatches in the timing of critical activities, such as spawning and foraging, often with widespread ramifications across the food web.
Reducing greenhouse gases and slowing down climate change is the only way to save lake ice cover, and protect the local ecology and culture that depends on it. (Johanna Korhonen), Author provided
Our research has shown that the global decline of lake ice cover in recent decades can only be explained by increased greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution. There is no magic solution beyond limiting greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change and ultimately preserve lake ice cover.
For northern communities, ice cover provides a way of life in the winter. Countless Canadian kids have learned how to skate and play hockey at nearby lakes, local ponds, and backyard ice rinks, just as hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky, did in Brantford, Ont. Warmer winters are contributing to shorter outdoor ice hockey and skating seasons.
Ice fishing tournaments are increasingly cancelled, with widespread consequences for local economies. For example, the winter ice fishing season in Lake Winnipeg alone generates over $200 million each year.
The ice ridges on Lake Suwa form an integral part of the community’s spiritual traditions and culture. (Satoe Kasahara), Author provided
Finally, for the Shintos living in Suwa, protecting ice cover is essential to preserving the spiritual traditions maintained by generations of Shinto priests. At current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, climate projections predict that the lake will rarely freeze in the very near future, and following 2040 will never freeze again.
However, slowing climate change and limiting temperature increases below 1.5 C will allow Takeminakata to periodically cross the frozen lake to visit Yasakatome as he has done for centuries.
The Northern cardinal is a cheery pop of colour against the winter landscape. Unlike so many other bird species, cardinals don’t moult their bright red plumage, so they stand out at bird feeders year-round. They’re one of North America’s most recognizable species—who can’t ID a cardinal? Even the females have a sharp, spikey crest and a cherry-coloured beak. Pretty, pretty bird!
The Northern cardinal is unusual for another reason: it’s one of the few female songbirds that actually sings (usually in spring and summer, on the nest). Ornithologists believe this may tell their male partners when to bring them food. (“I want pickles and ice cream! Right now!”) A female Northern cardinal also typically sings longer and more complex tunes than the male—again, unusual in the bird world.
In winter, cardinals are largely quiet. But they do form large flocks, for foraging—sometimes they’ll gather with other species such as dark-eyed juncos and white-throated sparrows. They’re pretty easy to attract to winter bird feeders; with no insects to hunt for, they’ll eat almost any seed you put out. (That said, they’re big fans of black-oil sunflower seeds.)
Although mated pairs that hooked up the previous spring will often stay together for the winter, about one fifth of couplings break up by the time the next breeding season rolls around. Aww, divorce sucks. Newly split, both male and females are ready to find a new mate.
Have you ever seen a cardinal attacking its own reflection—in mirrors or car windows, for example? That’s because in spring and early summer, both males and females obsessively and fiercely defend their territories. Including from themselves. A cardinal isn’t smart enough to realize that it’s fighting its own reflection, and will attack a shiny surface for hours.
This essay about the chickadee was originally published as part of “The Great Canadian Creature Feature” in the June/July issue of Cottage Life.
Chickadees are so abundant at backyard feeders and neighbourhood parks across Canada, it’s easy to forget that they are wild animals that live in almost every treed habitat in our country. Perhaps you’ve even seen one and thought, It’s just a chickadee. It’s a common bird, but that familiar sight is also an extraordinary one. Not only are chickadees an animal we can get close to, they are so emblematic of what it takes to thrive here that they deserve a new title: Canada’s National Animal.
Let’s start up close, because we can bond with chickadees. They make eye contact, and if you can whistle, you can have a conversation with one; they will respond. As children, we learn to sing with them, “Chick-a-dee-dee-dee.” And if we’re patient, they will come to our hands.
Chickadees are the central characters in my earliest wildlife memories. As a kid, I spent winter afternoons in our local forest holding out handfuls of sunflower seeds and willing them to come. I would stand until my fingers froze and my outstretched arm shook from the effort. Chickadees taught me the patience and stillness I would need when I became a guide and naturalist later in life, and I have never tired of them. As an adult, I return to the same forest, still waiting to feel the pinpricks of their tiny nails against my cold fingers.
By feeding chickadees healthy seeds, we can deepen our connection with them and help them to survive the winter and improve their reproductive success. Yet they don’t become dependent on us—they never forget how to forage for themselves. Chickadees don’t migrate. They can handle winter—an essential trait for a national animal—and though they only weigh as much as two quarters, they can induce a controlled state of hypothermia to survive the cold nights. By morning, they’ll be flitting around again, drinking fresh water from melting icicles.
While these birds are charismatic and approachable, they’re also tough enough to meet the demands of Canada’s huge and wide-ranging habitats. They have some nifty adaptations to help with this: their legs are so strong that they can feed hanging upside down; they have extraordinary spatial memory for the food that they cache; and they use at least 16 different vocalizations including the intense “high zee” which warns of predators so effectively that other species of birds also listen and react. Like many songbirds, chickadees are short-lived (they rarely see their fourth birthday) and experience about 50 per cent mortality in their first year. One of their main strategies to survive the hardships of their short lives is the very thing that makes them so remarkable: curiosity. You only have to watch a chickadee for half an hour to see this for yourself. They never stop learning, and that—more than any other trait—is what makes them my top choice for Canada. They are always exploring. This makes them more than an animal we can learn about; it makes them a companion we can learn from.
Zoom out from the cute little bird at your feeder and look at a map of Canada. You’ll find chickadees everywhere, in every province and territory: in Haida Gwaii, the Arctic coast, the fjords of Labrador, southwestern Nunavut, and downtown Toronto. We have five species: black-capped, mountain, gray-headed, boreal, and chestnut-backed. Between them, they have evolved to live in every major forest type in our country. They are all cavity nesters and partially dependent on tree seeds for winter forage, but they push those habitat requirements to the limit: some live at high elevations, others on the edges of the tundra.
So we might get to know chickadees for how common they are—our companion in nature, our national bird in the hand—but our moments with them might also be the closest encounters we will ever have with a wild animal. When you look one in the eye, you will see tenacity, intelligence, and poise— and an animal that knows our country better than we do.
Facts & Figures
How do you like my outfit? As with most birds that brave Canadian winters, chickadees can fluff out their feathers and trap a layer of insulating air around their bodies.
A tall tale: Chickadees have long legs—longer than other perching birds.
Nothing says love like bugs: Courting male chickadees present females with large insects—protein, yum!—in order to woo them.
Read more essays from “The Great Canadian Creature Feature” to read more of our favourite writers making the case for their pick for the most Canadian animal in the June/July 2021 issue of Cottage Life.
I have a septic tank built into the side of a hill with minimal protection from frost. A submersible effluent pump moves the contents directly to the weeping tiles. I have always removed the pump in winter for fear of damage caused by freezing. Is this necessary or can I just leave it in the tank?—Stumped by the Pump
“I’ve seen lots of pumps freeze solid in winter and then thaw fine in the spring,” says Dale McLure, the president of the Alberta Onsite Wastewater Management Association. Still, better safe than a mangled pump. “If you’ve been successful in removing the pump every winter, there’s nothing wrong with continuing to do that.” As long as you keep doing it correctly, taking out the pump guarantees nothing will happen to it and, as McLure points out, “it’s not really an exorbitant amount of time or effort.”
In general, anything you can do to shield your septic system from a winter beatdown gets the thumbs up from the experts. This includes protecting the line from damage (by having it buried below the frost line, so it’s insulated; by keeping it heated; or by draining it completely), and insulating the septic tank with, for example, a layer of 2″ SM insulation or extruded polystyrene foam overtop, covered with soil, says septic inspector Sandy Bos. “It’s good for the overall health of the system. Bacteria thrive in warm temperatures, not cold ones.”
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.
If you’ve ever been irked by tiny, silver bugs gliding across the floor in your home or cottage, you’ve encountered silverfish. These wingless, carrot-shaped insects get their name from the shiny, metallic scales that cover them, and while they’re generally harmless to humans, you definitely don’t want to have an infestation of them at your cottage.
Unfortunately, if you’ve spotted some of these quick critters on your floors, there are likely many more living under the baseboards, behind the walls, and in other damp hiding places. So to help you stop silverfish from becoming an issue, here’s what you should know about these common pests—and what you can do to get rid of silverfish for good.
What are they?
Silverfish, or lepisma saccharina, are flat, silvery insects that are about 1 cm long and have two antennas and three “bristles” at the rear. They’re mostly nocturnal—you’ll likely see them on bathroom floors in the middle of the night—they don’t hibernate, and they can live up to eight years. They can also be tough pests to get rid of completely, as they are able to survive Canada’s extreme cold, and they can go without food for many months.
What do they eat?
Silverfish love starch and carbohydrates, and they’ll eat everything from old books to cardboard boxes—which is bad news for the box of romance novels you keep at your cottage. They will also munch on fabrics, wallpaper, cereal, flour, food crumbs, and dead insects. Experts recommend cleaning up infested areas as much as possible, removing their food sources by vacuuming thoroughly in the kitchen, and wiping down areas like bookcases and window frames.
Where do they like to hide?
These little bugs are attracted to moisture and love damp, cool environments. If the conditions are right, they can hide under baseboards or in the subfloor, behind the frames of doors and windows, in bookcases, and on kitchen and closet shelves. At the cottage, you might find them in dark, damp storage areas like the attic and the garage, or near humid spaces like bathrooms and basements.
Are they dangerous?
Silverfish don’t transmit diseases or otherwise harm humans. But—besides being creepy crawlies—they can also cause damage to your property if left untreated. These insects can stain and destroy paper products, fabrics, and even wallpaper.
How can you get rid of them?
Start with Raid® Home Insect Killer, which will work right away on contact. Then do a thorough cleaning of the infested area. In the kitchen, vacuum up any dust and food debris, and wipe down surfaces like closet shelves, baseboards, and door frames, where silverfish may hide.
You’ll also want to make your property less enticing for these little critters. Remove any unnecessary clutter and paper products like cardboard boxes and old newspapers, and place items that silverfish might be attracted to, like flour and pasta, inside airtight storage containers. And finally, during the humid summer months, use a dehumidifier to help alleviate dampness and moisture in the space.
These days, many families are booking vacations closer to home—especially at cabins or waterfront cottages. The right cottage rental can comfortably accommodate an entire family, and it often comes equipped with all the amenities and extras that make their stay fun and memorable.
If you own a vacation home and are looking to make some bonus income, it can pay to know what amenities and features renters are looking for, so that you can be sure to add the right details to your Vrbo listing and make any needed improvements. A property that checks all (or most!) of the below boxes will get booked more quickly, and for a higher nightly rate.
Here are the key features Canadian families are looking for in a vacation rental:
A modern, charming property
Canadian renters on Vrbo are booking renovated cottages, chalets, and cabins that offer modern amenities like WIFI and air conditioning, but with a rustic twist. Things like check and plaid textiles, wood finishes, and stone fireplaces can create a cozy look that’s preferred for rural getaways. Charming décor and seasonally appropriate home accessories can go a long way in improving your rental’s overall appeal.
Group-friendly spaces
Compared to hotels or resorts, vacation rentals can offer families ample privacy and more space. Everyone can have their own bedroom and/or bathroom, and features like bunk beds and parking for multiple cars can be a big draw.
For big groups and extended family bookings, particularly sought-after amenities include a well-equipped kitchen for meal prep, and a dining area that’s big enough to seat everyone comfortably. So if you’re advertising a property that sleeps 10, make sure to have enough dining chairs and a table that can fit the whole group!
Popular seasonal amenities
In winter, renters are looking for seasonal amenities like outdoor hot tubs and indoor fireplaces. Looking ahead to the summer months, they may filter their search for properties with features like waterfront access, an outdoor grill, or a private swimming pool. The more amenities you can offer, the more likely your listing will show up in the search results. And by listing with Vrbo, you can ensure those amenities—whether it’s a hot tub or a king-size bed—are front-row centre through filters that help the right renters find you.
Points of attractions nearby
Based on popular search terms, in winter many Canadians want a rental close to a ski hill. Generally, your Vrbo listing should highlight any nearby points of interest and tourist attractions, seasonal and year-round. For example, is your cottage close to a provincial park or historical site? Or are there great hiking trails or a public skating rink within walking distance? Be sure this information is advertised in your listing.
A convenient location
A convenient location is very important for would-be renters; for example, many prefer a vacation rental with a grocery store or food nearby. In your listing, do mention the property’s proximity to grocery stores, shops, and restaurants. Plus, you may want to indicate typical travel times to the cottage from major urban centres, especially if it’s close to a major highway or through route and can be accessed quickly and easily.
