Quote: "just don't expect it to be like a big
marine store you sometimes find in the
USA."
Hullo Lantau :-)
You are right of course! NOTHING here is like the good ol'e USofA. We Canucks have striven mightily for threehunnert'n'fifty years to ensure that it wouldn't be ;0)!
To add to a comment made by someone else: Shelter Island is known to some of us as "the yard where boats go to die" because of the great number of
DIY jobs taken in by the yard for owners to finish that were then abandoned because the owners had bitten off more than they could chew. In that circumstance you may find some sort of explanation why many, many yards give "funny excuses" when a
DIY man asks for space. Though we are, generally, a less litigious society that the one to the south of us, yard owners nevertheless must consider their exposure to liability when an owner wants be closely involved in work in the yard. Contractors are not permitted to operate in quality yards without proof of liability
insurance or without proof of
registration with WorkSafe B.C. (workers' comp).
Harbour Chandlers offers a living, breathing example of that greatest of American idols: "The Selfmade Man" Not quite up there with Andy Carnegie, but still :-)! Started forty years ago by a local man. Still in
family ownership. As Andy contributed to the community's welfare by
funding libraries, so HC contributes to Nanaimo's welfare by employing local students. Now me - I don't have a problem chatting up a second year student-type dickie-bird on the pretext of teaching her nautical terminology or how to wire a
bilge pump. I contribute as happily to the edymication of the young
men I find there.
Be all that as it may, I wish you all possible success in your task. You may find that, overall, you will be more content in, say, Port Townsend. Haven't been there for years, but I do remember that little burgh with some fondness.
Cheers
TP