Hello from Gabriola Island, BC

[Greybeard]

We live on beautiful Gabriola Island, BC, just east of the coast of Vancouver Island (or Nanaimo).
My wife Carolyn and I have just bought our first trailer, a 17' 2000 Casita Liberty Deluxe. We are new to trailering and camping so this is all very new to us.
We are both retired and looking for a new adventure :-)
One of the options we are looking at is to go south for a month in the new year, so we have a lot of learning to do in the next few months and are going to ask LOTS of questions of all you seasoned trialer-ers.
Richard & Caolyn

[WildBirder]

HI Richard and Caolyn,

I love Gabriola, some friends just bought a home there this summer and I've been out a few times. Breathtaking. Out of interest sake there's an old Carefree fiberglass trailer on Taylor bay rd. that's up for sale. If you know anyone that wants a project the gentleman has an ad on Kijiji.

Cheers,
Mark

[Greybeard]

Hi Mark :-)
Thanks for the note.
We looked at the trailer on Taylor :-)
It seemed a bit small for us and at the time we looked, my wife was suffering from a sore back. The bed was a bit short and even though we are height challenged, she didn't think it would be what she would want.
We ended up getting something more and hope we can learn to meet the challenges trailering in general presents. Something very new to us.
Richard

[Carol H]

Glad to hear you found something Richard. Did you find it in country or did you end up having to import?

[Red-Dwarf]

Hello from Black Creek (in the Comox Valley).

Gabriola is a beautiful island. We usually go to the studio tours, whenever they're on.

All of us islanders should get together for our own meetup, sometime.

Noel & Grace

[Greybeard]

It was fate! :-)
Carolyn had to go to Vancouver for minor medical situation and I saw an ad for it in Chilliwack. While I wouldn't go from Gabe to Chilliwack to look at a trailer, this was an opportunity to kill 2 birds with one trip.
We looked at and bought the trailer, then we came back home and a friend and I went back and brought it home.
Since this is a "first" we are looking around it well and into every corner to see what is where. So far so good!
Richard & Carolyn

[DeeJ]

Hello to you from another Gabriolan!! There is supposed to be another couple on Gabe who also post on this forum. I looked at the Carefree on Taylor Bay road with a friend who's looking for a trailer too. Funny, small world.
I'm scared to ask how much BC Ferries gouged you to bring your new baby home? Our 13' Trillium will be just over $200 each way, we won't be doing that trip very often.
Welcome, Dee

[Donna D.]

Hi Richard and Carolyn, welcome to FiberglassRV. If you see an Escape 5th wheel on Gabriola be sure and wave. It belongs to members Ian and Paddy!

[bomni]

Hello on Gabriola!! Nice to see another new islander here (albeit a different Island).

My husband and I just bought a Boler and live in Victoria.

DeeJ, I knew BC ferries would be highway robbery but $200 each way??? Wow! Are your rates to Gabriola the same as the major routes?

[theresa p]

hi there!! there are 2 members on pender island, they go by the online name of ian-vicki. they have a 17 foot burro. i am sure they could offer a TON of camping info to you, as they blogged about their 18 week trip in 2010. they are wonderful folks whom we thoroughly enjoyed meeting on the maritime leg of that trip.
good luck and welcome to you!!

[Greybeard]

WOW!!
I thought we would be at arm's length from fiberglass people being on remote Gabriola. Obviously NOT!
I am real happy there are some people close by, where there may be answers or hands on expert knowledge for some of the problems and questions yet to come from us.
So far, I have opened the bathroom vent a bit, closed all the other openings, placed some drying gel in a container in the sink, oiled all the locks on outside compartments, re-blocked the jacks and tongue, opened the bathroom and closet doors, removed the battery and placed it on a solar charger (unassociated with the trailer), placed protective electrical grease on both truck and trailer connectors and covered the trailer with a tarp.
The unit had been winterized before I got it so all that is done. In my meandering around all the compartments I see the anode from the water heater has been removed and is in the exterior compartment.
That's it up to date.
I'm sure I may find things to do before we start to undo everything for our (hopefully) trip during the Blahs of Winter.
Thanks to all for a great welcome.
Richard & Carolyn
Gabriolics :-)

[Greybeard]

Originally Posted by DeeJ

Hello to you from another Gabriolan!! There is supposed to be another couple on Gabe who also post on this forum. I looked at the Carefree on Taylor Bay road with a friend who's looking for a trailer too. Funny, small world.
I'm scared to ask how much BC Ferries gouged you to bring your new baby home? Our 13' Trillium will be just over $200 each way, we won't be doing that trip very often.
Welcome, Dee

................................
The ferry was $137 from Tswwassen to Duke point and I can't find the Nanaimo-Gabe receipt. I seem to think it was around $50. The passengers were all seniors so if you're not, add $$
One of the options open is to just travel Vancouver Island although we are hoping to get to some place warm for a month early in the New Year.
Richard

[DeeJ]

Originally Posted by bomni

Hello on Gabriola!! Nice to see another new islander here (albeit a different Island).

My husband and I just bought a Boler and live in Victoria.

DeeJ, I knew BC ferries would be highway robbery but $200 each way??? Wow! Are your rates to Gabriola the same as the major routes?

Sorry, I was thinking about 4 of us, with the car & trailer. Greybeard is right, it's only about $100 each way on the big ferry & it costs us about $45 to bring it over to Gabriola with our experience card.

We just came back from Victoria today in the MGB, it was a bit chilly coming over the "hat"
Maybe we should have an "island" get together.
Cheers, Dee

[Greybeard]

Originally Posted by DeeJ

Sorry, I was thinking about 4 of us, with the car & trailer. Greybeard is right, it's only about $100 each way on the big ferry & it costs us about $45 to bring it over to Gabriola with our experience card.

We just came back from Victoria today in the MGB, it was a bit chilly coming over the "hat"
Maybe we should have an "island" get together.
Cheers, Dee

In Manitoba that would be called "Wind Chill" :-)

I was thinking of a Gabriola Groop too. We were thinking, a while ago, while considering buying a trailer, taking it to the local campground would be a way of "testing" our abilities and fine tune our "needs/wants" list before heading out away from home. That was when it was much warmer than now though.
Maybe we could look at something like that in Summer as a practice for Boondocking :-) I don't think there is much in the way of service there, is there?
I'm afraid that's maybe a bit off in the future though. We don't have "regular" trailering down yet.
We (all us Gabe's) probably know each other to see. Many people I know only to see, don't know names. Not that big an island and people do have to shop.
Richard

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by DeeJ

Sorry, I was thinking about 4 of us, with the car & trailer. Greybeard is right, it's only about $100 each way on the big ferry & it costs us about $45 to bring it over to Gabriola with our experience card.

We just came back from Victoria today in the MGB, it was a bit chilly coming over the "hat"
Maybe we should have an "island" get together.
Cheers, Dee

Its was about $140 each way to take my 16' to the island last trip with 2 people in the car. The rate may be cheaper mid week.

A number of people have suggested using the Victoria to Anacortes ferry as the rate is about $50 cheaper each way.

[Red-Dwarf]

For heading south, there's also the Black Ball Ferry Line from Victoria to Port Angeles, which I believe is even cheaper and gets you further south. I've never used it, but I'm told it's a good alternative.

Noel & Grace