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Page 8 Nipigon-Red Rock Gazette Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 NOTICE TO CREDITORS Any creditors having a claim against the Estate of the late Glenn Bazan of Red Rock, Ontario Please call 1-807-886-2664 Barbara Ann Boyd, Executrix Before February 22, 2008 The Intrepid Snowmobiler Craig Nicholson Getting Tow Legal (©2007 by Craig Nicholson. All rights reserved.) Special to the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs: Trailering isn’t as simple as it looks. Yet without thinking twice, thousands of snowmobilers and other powersports enthusiasts hitch up a trailer every weekend and hit the road to tow their toys to a destination of choice. Mostly, they successfully complete their full return trip, but who knows what undue wear and tear they’ve caused or how close to the line they really were? The challenge is having sufficient weight rating and tow capacity â€" and matching the two. Often, one or more of these are deficient, and that can lead to major problems. Problems start with risking your life and not being highway legal, but also include possible insurance headaches if you’re caught being illegal in a claim situation. And merely having sufficient capacity isn’t good enough. Smart drivers create a safety buffer by having plenty to spare. Otherwise, you may (or may not) get by, but could be causing unnecessary wear and increasing your odds of losing control in emergency maneuvers. Caution starts with determining the maximum weight you need to tow. Obviously, this is dependent on how many toys you own and how big they are. Don’t forget to consider any utility or work loads you may tow from time to time. This maximum number will determine what payload your tow vehicle has to be able to pull and how much additional safety buffer you need. The more towing and the longer the distances, the more crucial having plenty of buffer becomes. So what about your trailer? You need to know how much your trailer weighs and that its load capacity is more than enough to accommodate the weight of your sleds and anything else you may carry in it. Double-check that its tires are rated to carry that amount of weight too and, if not, upgrade them. And don’t assume that a bigger trailer automatically means you can carry more weight. Larger trailers weigh more themselves, so while more space may be available, that doesn’t always translate into more weight capacity. Once you know that your trailer is rated to carry your intended weight, and that the total weight of your trailer and sleds is acceptable from a towing perspective, you must match it with your tow vehicle. Start by reading the trailer towing section of your owner’s manual. Is your vehicle recommended for towing? If so, what is its tow capacity? This manufacturer-listed specification is the maximum for everything your vehicle is rated to pull â€" and carry. This means the combined weight of your trailer and sleds (and fuel), plus the weight of anything being transported in your vehicle, including passengers, personal belongings and a full tank of fuel. You’d be surprised how easily this tally exceeds a vehicle’s rating. Let’s assume that your weight total is within specs. So you can hit the road, right? Not yet...first better check your vehicle tires. Are they rated to handle that amount of weight? Now what about your hitch? Is it rated to handle the combined weight of the trailer and all of its cargo? Also, make sure your tongue weight is under the engineered specs of the vehicle hitch and falls within the recommended range of 10% -15% of the total trailer weight. Also make sure that your ball height allows your trailer to tow level and that the ball itself is the correct size and rated strength to handle your expected loads. If you’re getting a hitch installed, make sure it’s larger than the capacity you will typically need for towing. And if your new vehicle comes with a factory (or dealer installed) tow package, double check to make sure its rating is more than sufficient. In either case, a transmission cooler will help save your tow vehicle from undue wear. The preceding information is timely because authorities in many jurisdictions are stepping up inspections of trucks and trailers with tie downs, including snowmobile haulers. So be sure that you’re legal and that includes using tie downs with higher rated “working load limits”. Now, with proper and regular maintenance, you should be good to tow! Until next time, the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs invites you to Go Snowmobiling this winter. Check out trail status reports at ofsc.on.ca Craig Nicholson is the author of “Canada’s Best Snowmobiling: Your Ultimate Ride Guide” (order at: www.snowgoercanada.com) and the National Touring Editor for Snow Goer Canada Magazine. As “The Intrepid Snowmobiler”, he also pens a syndicated newspaper column and hosts a radio program, while appearing regularly on Snowmobiler Television. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. For more info, click on www.intrepidsnowmobiler.com One Very Small Bear Cub Bear Cubs are born when their mother is deep in her den, away from the cold of the January storms. She may be awake for the process; she herself may weigh about three hundred pounds - but the cub enters the world, weighing some- where under a pound, and is as unobtrusive as a newborn can be. The cub will suckle and sleep - the mother will tend it and sleep, until the snow goes away, and the springtime comes. And then the little cub will follow its mother out of the den, trundling like a small ball at her heels, and begin to learn about the world. Sometimes, however, twins will be born, or triplets - or even, rarely, quadruplets. Then mother bear will have a real challenge. Sometimes she may succeed in raising all of them - but, sometimes, only some of them. If she does not have enough milk, if the springtime does not provide sufficient food, if one cub is so much smaller than the others that it falls behind - is divided from his family by something like heavy traffic on our high- ways, then that smallest cub may not survive. So, when a cub much much too small for the time of year, was given to the sanctuary by the MNR at North Bay, no one knew for certain anything about its past - only that it was found wandering alone in the woods, very evidently starving, and very much in need of help if it were to survive. Though he weighed barely four pounds, he knew that the entire world was his. He could charm every human who saw him. His den was in the barn nursery, dark, and deep in warm straw. Ben, the human who would be his friend, rubbed his ears and his belly and talked to him very quietly. And fed him. Food was very very welcome. A long time had passed since he had had real food. He wasn’t taking a bottle - he wanted his esbilac in a Continued on Page 9 Hockey Night in Canada continued Continued from Page 7 hockey in Winkler, Manitoba, I never thought that one day I’d be playing in the NHL, and have my name engraved on the Stanley Cup,” said Penner. “Your wildest hockey dreams can come true as long as you’re willing to work hard, dedicate yourself, and be the best player that you can be.” Hockey fans can catch Ron MacLean, Cassie Campbell and Dustin Penner on CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada on CBC Television, February 9, 2008, beginning at 12 noon ET. Known as Canada’s unofficial hockey holiday, the eighth annual CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada celebration presented by Tim Horton’s, will celebrate “The Journey” and feature individuals and communities sharing their stories on a national stage. The 13.5 hour long broadcast will also include amateur hockey games and the traditional NHL tripleheader featuring all of Canada’s NHL teams. Special community events and an online auction can be found at cbc-sports.ca/hockevdav. ONTARIO POWER GENERATION MIKE MARTELLI PLANT MANAGER HYDROELECTRIC NORTHWEST PLANT GROUP John Murphy, Executive Vice President, Hydro, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Martelli as Plant Manager Hydroelectric, Northwest Plant Group. He is replacing Gary Whitney, who recently retired. Mr. Martelli has served in various capacities during his career with OPG in the Hydroelectric business including Plant Engineer in Timmins, Production Management positions at Chenaux Generating Station and DeCew Generating Station, Asset Manager in Niagara Plant Group and most recently he served as the Director of Engineering. Mr. Martelli has a BASc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. OPG's Northwest Plant Group, headquartered in Thunder Bay, operates 10 hydroelectric generating stations across Northwestern Ontario with work centres in Kenora, Ear Falls, Cameron Falls (Nipigon) and Thunder Bay. Ontario Power Generation Inc. is an Ontario-based electricity generation company whose principal business is the generation and sale of electricity in Ontario. Our focus is on the efficient production and sale of electricity from our generation assets, while operating in a safe, open and environmentally responsible manner. ONTARIO POWER GENERATION www.opg.com