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What to check before your first northern season: a pre-departure inspection guide

Every spring, somewhere along the northern shore of Hudson Bay or in the channels above the 60th parallel, a boat leaves the dock with a through-hull fitting that was last inspected three seasons ago. The skipper knows the engine runs. The skipper knows the VHF is charged. What the skipper does not know — not really — is whether the vessel is ready for water that sits between two and six degrees Celsius, in conditions where the nearest marine rescue coordination centre may be a two-hour helicopter flight away. The consequences of that gap are not always dramatic, but they are always real: a cracked raw-water impeller at the mouth of James Bay, a flare kit two years past its inspection expiry date, a chart plotter loaded with charts that stop updating where the depth soundings matter most. This guide is for the skipper who wants to close that gap before the season opens, not after it has already cost them.