“This Tom Thomson isn’t losing its life in the water,” said Stephen Wyllie, owner of Algonquin Cruises and the Tom Thomson tour boat, the morning after news began circulating that the boat had sunk in the Muskoka River.
A crew worked furiously into the evening to get the boat floating again and clean up any spills. They were back at it this morning and the boat was upright once again.
Wyllie explained that a thru-hull valve had been left open, which resulted in the boat slowly taking on water and eventually sinking.
“It took nine pumps and a lot of determination and the coast guard was great, they helped a lot,” said Wyllie of getting the boat upright and cleaning up any oil in the water. He said there was a “very minimal” amount of oil spillage because the boat was not in the water long, and because everything is sealed any spill would be slow. “Everything’s sealed so it’s very slow. It all floats up to the water, there’s ice there so there’s nowhere for it to go so we’ve been mopping it up,” he assured. “As soon as we got there we put down an oil sock.”
The boat was obviously insured, he said, but insurance only goes so far. The good news is that damage to the boat was not too extensive, according to Wyllie. “We’ve just got to get water out of the motor, get some heat in there and change the oil three or four times… I could have it ready and good-to-go if I wanted to in three days.”
The boat will continue to be docked at its current location by Alberto Salon and Spa.
“The boat’s much nicer on the top of the water,” quipped Wyllie who despite having to spend a significant amount of money to clean up the mess and get the boat upright, seemed to remain in good spirits. “You know when you have a boat they go to the bottom sometimes,” he concluded.
Read the initial story here: Tom Thomson tour boat sinks off docks by Canada Summit Centre
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Docks are unmaintained and inaccessible in winter. Ramp is taken out and no maintenance on dock, nor on ice build up on boat can be accomplished.
Fuel leak and discharge was not covered quickly, please see photos of dyed fuel in water on Muskoka 411.
I went over to take pictures and was met with hostility from the owner for simply taking photographs. This is now a federal issue and the Canadian Gov’t will be overseeing clean-up. The Coast Guard has been amazing.
The Tom Thomson boat seemed to be a good idea, however, poor management, an inadequate docking facility, and not pulling it out for winter in order to save a buck, has led to an environmental concern which we hope the Canadian Government can now clean up.
Stephen Wyllie is right, boats do sometimes sink, however, when they are left in ice with no bubbler in a Muskoka winter, at an improper docking site that sits in freezing and thawing current, where no maintenance can be performed in the shifting, dynamic ice, it doesn’t take much to recognize that possibility of sinking well before the fact.
The Tom Thomson gets a failing grade. Sustainable decisions need to be made to ensure our natural environment, (on which we all depend), is not compromised for a dollar.
We all rely on the tourist industry for our livelihood here.
When some see dollar signs instead of sustainable and smart practices, we all suffer.
Residents have been fighting this marina, annexation of public parkland at 20 park Dr. and enterprising since 2010.
It’s an unpopular conversation to some, however, one that Huntsville citizens (who care about their environment and sustainable practices within it) are willing to dialogue and continue to fight for answers.