It is 2009 as I sit down with my granddaughter to write what our Lake Front cabin means
to our family. Sixty-five years ago my experiences on the lake first began
when my parents rented a cottage several weeks each summer for our vacation.
My dad fished, I went horseback riding with friends, swan, hiked, kept busy
all day. Both my mother and father and I had the same friends that kept
drawing us back each year, too. My family loved it so much that in 1956 they
bought property on the lake and built our cottage that still draws my whole
family even today. My two daughters and son have come here since they were
babies and have grown to love it from those childhood days.
Now my married daughters and son are coming here with my ten grandchildren.
(My son bought his own place.) The children begin their days fishing off the
dock, swinging in the hammock, riding on the zip line... Next there is
horseback riding, boating, waterskiing, tubing and hours of swimming... They
are happy here and the ten cousins "love" it when they can be together at
"camp". (They spend hours scheming of ways to get back here together.)
Very few places afford this simplistic life style where the quality of
shared time, so valuable to relationships, can be experienced differently
than almost any place else. How blessed we are to have a Lake front cabin where there
is always refuge and a place to find release from cares and responsibilities
when they pile up. When this place gets in your blood, it becomes a second
home!
Carole S.

This is a hard subject to write about as there are so many variables. Because of this, I am going to assume some things. You can modify them to fit your needs.

1. Lake size: Less than 1200 acres (smaller then Lake George, but big enough to need several hours to explore).

a. Usually you will not sleep in your boat on this size lake.

b. Usually you are doing activities that are 2-4 hours at a time

c. I will assume that you are doing some fishing and water sports.

d. I will assume that it is of general use for family.

e. That you need enough power to tube and water-ski

f. But enough economy so that an average middle class person can afford the gas and purchase.

g. Price range $5,000 (used) to $30,000 new

h. 16 to 20 foot in length

I. All require a trailer to tow them, possibly a truck.

2. Question to ask and research:

a. How much horse power?

b. What size boat?

c. Inboard or outboard?

d. Two or four stroke?

e. What brands?

What boat you pick depends on your needs and wants, as well as your wallet. I will describe how I made my purchase, answer the questions above with the assumptions in place.

My lake is 500 acres. It is in the top 10% of largest lakes in Vermont. There are about six or so lakes that are two to three times the size of my lake. Most people on my lake have a 17 foot “runabout” with a 70hp motor. In a general sense, this boat will tow a tube, pull young water skiers, and you can fish from.

My first boat was a 16 foot smoker craft stinger 161 (16 foot) with a 50 hp 2 stroke outboard motor. This boat was on the smaller size, but good for a 500 acre lake. You could not water ski, but you could pull a tube and fish. The boat would seat 5 people. This boat would top out at about 30 mph. It was hard to “plane” it if you had 5 people in it. It was good on gas. You could afford to buy and drive this boat. No complaints. This boat is probably a bit small for lakes bigger than 900 acres. The bigger the lake, the bigger the waves. Our kids were little, so we could fit all six of my family. It was a nice to fish off. You need a swim platform if you plan to swim away from your lakefront area. Cost $9000. This boat was purchased new as a left over in 2003.

My second boat was a bit bigger. I thought I wanted to fish more, and I wanted to water-ski. My kids were all teenagers. I purchased a 17 foot Smokercraft Mellentia Leftover, with a 90 hp. 2 stroke outboard. It was rated for 5 people. This boat was not as good on gas. When gas was around $4 a gallon, I was having a hard time filling the tank….25 gallons was $100. The 16 footer will fill for $50 and the gas lasted longer! This boat had a 4 speaker stereo system, and that I really enjoyed! It also had a swim platform. This was also fun as it was nice to swim in various parts of the lake, I could water-ski with this boat. It top out at 42 mph. It was a great fishing boat. While you could Water-ski it was not the greatest at this. If you are really into waters-skiing, I think that an inboard and/or more horsepower are needed. purchase in 2007 for $14,000

They make boats that specialize in pulling water-skiers. So if that is your main focus, focus on those boats.

So here is my recommendation based on the above assumptions:

ü 16 to 19 foot in length.

ü 50 hp to 150hp. (upper end for water-skiing)

ü Swim Platform

ü Outboard (allows you to change engine size if you wish)

ü Full windshield and Biminis top in case of rain

ü Stereo system

ü Live well for fishing

Brand? That’s a preference and financial decision. I can only say that I have seen and ridden in many high quality boats in this range of assumptions.

Search the different types of boats available. There are many websites that offer boats for sale. They also offer different categories of boats, so that you can pinpoint exactly which type will suit your needs. For instance, www.boatnationusa.com is one such site. In the boat search category, you can search for all types of boats for sale. Here you will find fishing boats, family cruisers, day boats, sailboats, and yachts. Remember the old rule about boats: “It’s a hole in the water into which you pour money.” Even a small boat will require maintenance, insurance, replacement parts, winterizing, etc. A small runabout boat can cost over $40 per hour just to run about, with gas prices high and likely to stay that way! If you’re not planning on using your boat for sports like skiing, and speed is not an issue, consider looking at boats with small motors. They go slowly, but inexpensively: $3.00 per hour of use.

Because I replaced my lake front cabin with a new house, I had to sell my 90hp boat. I now use what I started with. a 12 foot rowboat with a 9.9hp on it. This is a great starter boat. Can’t tube or water-ski, but you can get out the lake and fish. Less then a $1000 as my motor was used! Great gas mileage. The kids need to learn how to oar a boat before they drive. the basics are a kayak, canoe, and row boat. The motor boat comes later!

I loved my lake house the minute I laid eyes on it! After viewing the little mobile home I looked at for $80,000.00, this was a dream house. The price was a hefty $225,000.00 and it was worth it. 3 bedrooms, a large kitchen, an open dining room, cozy living room, even a little cove for the woodstove and a good size foyer. 1250 square feet in all, 2 outdoor sheds, crawl space under the house, new septic, new well and 110 feet of lake front.

As I stood on the long dock looking up at the impressive ledge bank that climbed straight up 20 feet from the water to the house I said to my realtor, “I want to buythis house, how much do you think I should offer?” We both thought that $200 K would be a good start. I was so excited that after hearing even more good things about the house (the furniture and house wares come with the house, and there’s outdoor lighting on the stairs, etc), I made the mistake (?) of saying that I was very interested in buying the house. About then my agent lead me swiftly by the arm out of the house, “Uh, we’ll talk about that later,” he said.”

I was a bit perturbed to find out that the realtor had not brought the paper work with him and while I waited about an hour for him to return my friend Pete took me for a spin in his boat out to see the house from the water. Well, just then I saw a woman standing on the dock looking up at the house and I gulped, “Pete,” I said, “That woman is going to buy my house.” It was then that I decided to make the owners a full offer! Sure enough, she put a bid of $220,000.00. I guess it was lucky for me that the realtor didn’t come with the paper work on this particular day, onlyhat was about where my luck ended for a while!

It seemed I waited an eternity to hear from the realtor. That’s because he was waiting on the primary realtor, Wenda Byrd of Century 21, to get back to him as to whether the owners had accepted my offer. Come to find out, Wenda had never given the owners the benefit of knowing that I was interested in their house because she had other notions as to just who would buy that house, especially since she stood to receive full commission for the sale by getting her client in that house. Finally, my realtor timidly asked my friend Peter to drop by the house to see what the owners knew, that’s when we discovered that the owner’s didn’t even know that there was another offer, although they do remember inquiring about “the lady from New York” who seemed so interested. Apparently, Wenda Byrd decided to keep that information to herself and I was lucky again when my friend Pete informed the owners of the truth, and since my offer was $5,000 more than Wenda’s client the owners accepted my offer, naturally.

The next issue was with the mortgage company (Magnum from LendingTree.com) after 4 weeks of grueling back and forth work, they dropped me 4 days before the scheduled closing. They simple stated, “We’re not doing this.” Apparently, they had never sold a 3 season, lake front property and were pressuring me to have a furnace installed (at my expense) to make the house into a cheap, makeshift 4-season home; Magnum Mortgage also wanted me to go with one of those prime rate mortgages but I was insisting on a traditional fixed rate loan. What made me mad was that I had asked them right up front if they had had experience selling 3 season, lake front property, to which they replied, “Sure we do,” NOT!

Well, I finally got a local mortgage company when my realator (Gilbert of Poultney) exclaimed “We get mortages on houses that are falling into the lake; I’ll bet they’ve already sold your mortgage.” So, I prayed that the owners agreed to wait another month for a new mortgage, this company (National City Mortgage) was superb and very creative.

I am a person that enjoys projects. I have a good feeling when I complete a project. It’s an opportunity to know that I can create, change and positively impact my environment. Of the many projects that I like, building and staining decks is of great fun to me. This might be because I have a worldview that thinks everything is fun on the lake, or it might be that I am outside in the nice weather. The other part is that I like creating and enhancing items around my lake front.

Staining my deck allows me to create a beautiful finish that will protect and enhance the aesthetics of the deck for years to come. Here is some reason to stain your deck:

• Protects from mold and mildew (that green stuff)

• Maintains the natural wood look (Using clear stain)

• Reduces splinters

• Without staining the wood goes grey and looks old (driftwood)

• Adds years on to the life of the deck

• Aesthetically, enhances the beauty of the deck.

• Over long periods of time, will help the deck maintain strength.

• Helps to protect deck hardware (Screws, lag bolts)

I have stained about five decks in my life. I do not claim to be an expert, but I am willing to pass on my insight.

The first deck that I stained I did so with a solid color. I was looking for a deck stain that would last at least five years without re-staining. I used a brand called Sikkens, I followed the directions to a tee. I individually sanded each board. I made sure that the lumber was dry. I purchased the lumber from an indoor lumber yard, paying a bit more to make sure it was dry.

I stained each board before assembling the deck. Of course there is some waste in this as you have to cut some boards. This was a 10 x 12 foot deck with an out cove for my BBQ grill. I also had a built in bench. Because of the sanding and painting prior to assembly, it took three times as long to build this deck. I know of no contractors that would sand and paint each board prior to assembly. This was fun, but tremendous work. I was very pleased with the outcome of the deck. Three years later it still looked great! By the fourth year, the paint had some minor peeling. This would leave spots of bare wood against the solid stain color. By the fifth and sixth year, more peeling had occurred. I was still happy with the deck and stain, but now I was going to have sand and re-stain. Without doing this, the stain was in contrast to the bare wood.

My next job was to stain a wood fence. For this I decided to use a water based wood protector. Thompsons I believe. This went on easy, cleaned up easy, but did not last more the 2 years. I learned that you would have to apply this almost every year to keep the wood looking nice.

I decided that I wanted a clear oil based stain that would not show such a contrast when it wore off, such as described above with the solid color stain. I decided water based products were not effective enough for me. For staining my lake front deck I decided on a product sold at Lowes called Olympic clear stain with a 2 year guarantee. I was not happy to think that I would have to re-stain every 2 years, but the only way to increase that time was by getting a more pigmented stain, this reduced the visibility of the wood underneath. Cedar tone might go three years, redwood four years, etc. But with each step up, the closer you were to a solid color. I wanted to see the natural wood.

The nice thing about using a clear stain is that you can’t really mess up. Because it’s clear, if you go to light or heavy in application, it looks close to the same. If you were to miss, you would barely notice it. I have had all my teenager kids help me. You can’t really go wrong in application (unless it rains within 24 hours of application). This stain tends to make the wood designs (knots or grain) stand out more, so that you get the wood look. This stain tends to make it shine, a bit of a yellow tint and provides for a smooth feel. I have used this stain for about 8 years now, and I am able to go three years before it is noticeable that it needs to be restrained. My dock has gone five years since last using this product, and you can clearly see that it is starting to “grey out”. This Olympic 2 year guaranteed clear stain is in a blue gallon can at Lowes.

partially stained

This is a tough question to answer due to the variety of people, their experiences, and their world view. The kind of people that like lake front are those people who have some positive experiences with water activities. I will try to list a few perspectives of people who might like waterfront, and then a few people who might not like waterfront. Use it as a starting point to determine if waterfront is for you and/or your family. Also, consider if the person you invite up to your lake front is a match.
People who might like waterfront are:

…People who have had positives experiences with water activity

…People who are “outdoors” people.
… who like camping
…like exploring
…like living close to nature
…like water sports
…like the feeling of getting away from the “hustle and bustle” of a busy life
…like to maintain property
…like to rough it
…like fishing and swimming
…like the sun in their face
…like a campfire
…like board games on a rainy day
…are willing to share with bugs, birds, bees and animals.
…can tolerate some inconveniences
…can live without TV, Internet, texting, and many other instantaneous devices.
…can live without a mall nearby
…are willing to give up some home community activities to go to the lake on weekends
People who might NOT like waterfront (mostly you can’t change people):
…People who have had traumatic experiences in the water.
…People who are happy staying inside and watching TV
…who dislike camping
…solitary sedentary type of people.
…who have never lived near nature and may be fearful of it
…who need the busy life and feel empty when they don’t have it
…who do not like yard work or property maintenance

…who need all the conveniences such as dishwasher, washing machine and public water supply

…like swimming in a pool with chlorine as they do not like plants and fish.
…worried about the effects of the sun such as cancer (even with sunscreen)
…that are afraid they will get diseases from the outdoors
…hate bugs
…hate inconveniences
…cannot imagine life without instantaneous media or communications.
…have to have everything right now, live close to malls and stores so they don’t have to wait.
…Have community commitments that will not allow you to get away on the weekends
…often run their lives around their kid’s neighborhood activities (birthday parties, sports, etc.)

Lake friends

Over the past ten years of owning my lake front property I had always thought of it as the best place to enjoy with friends and relatives. As many of you may know, childhood experiences play into our beliefs about how the world operates. This, in psychological terms is called our world view.
As a child, I was the relative and guest at my grandfather’s lakefront, and then as a teenager, at my Mom’s husband’s lake front. Many people would gather with us to enjoy the activity of the lakefront. It seemed to me to be the center of fun and community. I could not understand why my grandfather would occasionally complain “Everyone is happy to come and use my boat, motor and equipment, but no one is around when it comes to maintenance”.
Having guests over to your lakefront property is very different then having them over to your house. The obvious answer is well of course there is a lake! This also brings about some very special and unique considerations that you may want to take into account while entertaining.
First of all, many people have had very negative experiences around water. Unfortunately, some people have had experiences around near drowning, which contributes to phobias around water. I know this well, when my wife was a child of about six she was at Coney Island Beach in Brooklyn with her family. She and her mom were on the water, it was a swimming lesson in progress. However, both were pulled under the ocean current by a huge wave. My wife recalls someone carrying her to safety just in time to observe her mother lying on the sand with a lifeguard trying to revive her. In the end both were ok. Some years later, while swimming with friends at Jones Beach (Long Island) she was pulled under the current by a wave. She recalls feeling disoriented and unable to breathe. Events such as these will forever scar an individual’s ability to be comfortable around water and related activities. I can still hear my mother (Social Worker by occupation) saying to me “Pete, when you are with the kids in the lake always be close enough so that you can grab them if their head goes under the water…Once they have a negative experience they will not want to swim”.

Many people do not know how to swim. My wife’s family, I love them dearly, but many of them have lived there life in New York City and are non-swimmers or limited swimmers.
This is challenging for me as I have such a different worldview and experience. As young child my family would have fun trying to sink each other’s canoe! King of the dock was as much fun as wrestling could be. Diving off a variety of rock formations and swimming in cold deep water was fun and exciting. As a child water was my play ground, but for my wife, it triggers fear and anxiety. It is hard to recognize that people can have an almost alternate world view from yours.
Recently my wife and I had two foster kids ages 6 and 9 up to the lake. The 9 year old claimed that she was a good swimmer and eagerly walked into the lake. These claims were quite the opposite. She had very little swimming experience, and had never been over her head. She was so afraid of the deep water that she refused to take the YMCA swimming test.
I had a situation where an adult did something similar; she asked to drive a 9.9 hp tiller outboard on a 12 foot row boat. Within minutes it was obvious that she did not have prior experience driving a motorized boat. Later, she stated that she had never drove a boat before, and she admitted that she actually had certain phobias about boats and motors. I wish that I had known that prior to the boat ride! She became terrified during the course of this “at dusk” boat ride.
Lastly, I have a good friend who knew how to swim and was a capable driver of many vehicles, including being a pilot. He asked if he and his wife could drive the 17 foot boat with a 90 hp. This is a person that I trust. I said “have fun”! I neglected to show him a map of the lake and where to avoid the rocks. I looked up from my dock to see a boat squeeze in between two islands where the water was only about 4-6 inches deep. I said to myself, there is another person that doesn’t know the lake and they are going to be buying a new motor! Then I realized that was my boat! My heart went through my stomach. At this point I prayed quietly. Amazingly enough, perhaps because the boat was on a plane, he missed any damage. He returned the keys to me with smile none to the wiser about the danger that he had just missed.
There are many other areas that are vastly different for entertaining at your lakefront then from your home. Many people do not understand the compromises that you must make to live on the water. A septic system may be one of them. No washer or dishwasher may be others. I converted my “grandfathered make shift” septic system to a holding tank. Being about 40 feet from the lake, it is not comforting to know that your sewage enters the place you might swim. Many state and local laws are now very strict about what you can and can’t do around lakes. So when you entertain at your lake front you also increase the use of your well and septic system. It’s not free. You pay in terms of money, impact to the lake and environment. We have a rule that we ask people to follow, “Yellow mellow, brown flush is down”. This combined with a low water usage toilet allows having our holding tank pumped only 2 times per year at a cost of $500. Many people who have visited us don’t like this rule. Yes, it can make the bathroom smell. Remember, indoor plumbing did not happen in the US for most households until the early 1900’s. That hundreds of years of using out houses.
In conclusion, entertaining can be fun and enjoyable, but entertaining lake side is vastly different then entertaining at your home. Screen the people you invite. Some people are just not “lake” people.

LuAnn and Lances Lakehouse

Partial view from deck

Dear Peter,

I just wanted to take a moment to update you on our lake house. If you recall, you helped me through the decision process. Thank you so much for answering all of our questions about the Lake. We are beginning our second summer “on the lake” and can’t tell you how happy we are that we bought a place on the Lake. We found a cute little place in our price range that has great frontage for swimming, boating and relaxing. I’d like to share a few things with you and your readers to update them on our purchase.

It took us four years to find the right place at the right price! One of the things we thought about as we looked for a place was the distance from our house. I had my heart set on a cabin at a lake about 4 1/2 hours from home. We ended up at the Lake which is only 2 1/2 hours from home and are really happy we did. Being so close makes it easy to get to the lake most weekends. Even a day trip to take care of a problem is an easy thing to do.

Although I worried about making this decision, it has turned out to be wonderful. I have learned to kayak and find myself out in my kayak at least once every day. I even kayaked around the entire rim of the lake last summer (and that took some time on an almost 500 acre lake!) We have wonderful neighbors and are making new friends at the lake.

No place is perfect and we are finding out that there are quirks to owning a seasonal lake place. We have finished up many little maintenance jobs that needed to be done (always get an inspection, buyers!) and had a great time choosing new little odds and ends for the place. I’d like to recommend freecycle.org and craigslist for finding free and inexpensive things that are in terrific shape. Everyone tells me the little jobs never end, but so far they seem fun. All in all, it was a great decision and nothing beats sitting on the dock right next to the lake with a glass of wine! So, Peter, I’ll see you soon “on the lake”. Thanks for all your help. LuAnn

Purchasing a new Outdoor BBQ Grill for your Lakefront
It was the start of a new season at my lake front home in Vermont. I had just recently replaced my seasonal 700 square foot cabin with a modern day 3 bedroom 1000 square foot vacation home (1500 square feet if you add the walk out basement). See the section on replacing your seasonal cabin with a modern vacation home.

My wife and I have four teen age kids and it had worked out so that we had this weekend to ourselves. Yep, a sunny spring weekend at the vacation lakefront away from the worries of the world including kids! The increases your expectations of a great weekend!

It was 6pm and I had decided to cook steaks on the BBQ grill. I proceeded to light the grill using matches (How many of you know why you have to light your gas grill with matches?). I turned both burners on and dropped the match in. Sure enough, after a minute POOF! One burner caught and then a minute later the fire spread to the other burner….poof. Now, this procedure should encourage you to start you outdoor grill with a buzz cut. I liked this grill, or, perhaps I just liked grilling. Or, it just could be that there are not much better things in life then having a beer while you are grilling and watching the action on the lake from you deck!

I purchased the grill six years ago from Wall Mart in August. I remember the call to my wife “honey, WE really need a new grill and Wal-Mart has this Great Outdoors grill for $99 dollars on sale”. What happened to our last grill? Well, it caught on fire as the burner rusted out and caused more of torch in the middle of the grill. That grill did cook your food very quickly though! My wife commented that grill was only 3 years old (I paid $75 for that one. It had 1 burner!). Her answer was ok, as she rationalized the $99 dollars due to the fact that we did use the grill every time we were at the Lake front which was about 16– 20 weekends a year.
Back to the present. After my 5 year old “Great Outdoors” grill was warmed up, I put the steaks on closed the hood and walked away to water my flowers. Within a few minutes I saw a huge billow of smoke come from the grill. As I ran to the grill I could see that the plastic shroud that holds up the cast iron grate had caught on fire. It was burning very slowly and plastic was melting over top of the propane tank (stored underneath). Now at this point, I could envision my new deck going up in flames. I rushed for the hose. Turned it on and nothing! A kink….a #@#$* kink in the hose was preventing me from putting out the BBQ fire! Finally after 2 kinks I was able to spray the fire out (motivation to get a kink less hose?). What a mess. The worst part was that now I have to cook the stakes inside!! It’s like when you run out of gas!
After looking the grill over and trying it to see if I could cook using a single burner, my wife says “Honey, I wouldn’t try and use it now, it might start on fire again”. Now why would it do that? Then she says “I guess we’ll have to just purchase another grill”. DID I HEAR THAT! YES! How often do you get to look at your past years of experiences with grilling and then put them all into one purchase! I put on my Chef’s hat! YES…what a silver lining…a new grill!!
Ok…this was it! I was out to find the most serious grill that I could afford (or not afford). I was going to spend $500 dollars on this grill and get a good one!! Time to hit the internet and research. Google: Gas grills reviews. This led me to about.com top ten grills . Let’s see: Char broil, Nexgrill, Napoleon, Sunbeam, Kenmore, Weber, Broil King, Broilmaster, Vidalia, and about 10 other names I have never heard of. Wait a minute, an outdoor kitchen! YES! OOOOOHH that would be nice! OOH $5-10,000. Not this year!
A “Great Outdoors” grill was not in the listing of top ten grills!! But I liked that grill! After researching the company, I found out that it went out of business in 2004! Parts were not available. Hmmm?
I started to think about all the grills that I owned. I bet that I have purchased perhaps 10 grills in my lifetime. Then I remembered that I have a 2 burner grill at my house (back in the real world) that I purchased in 1999 or 2000. Wow, that’s a long time ago! That grill is going on 10 years old. Two years ago I purchased replacement parts, the grates and a burner. Initially I didn’t think about this grill as I do not cook on it much (I am always at the lake house on weekends). I think that it was called a Weber Spirit 500. It was ok. It always cooked well. 90% of the time the ignition switch worked unless it rained (I did not have a cover for it). It is a small 2 burner grill in basic black. No, let me find something else…there is nothing special about that Weber grill. Or, perhaps, it was because that grill was at home, where the everyday stress abounds, work calls, teenage kids and their problems, and free time is nonexistent. Well alright, I’ll consider a Weber in my grill search.
After reading up on all the various grills, two grills emerged to me as the best choice for my Lakefront. They were Weber (Weber website) and Napoleon (Napoleon website ). The entry level Napoleon grill was the Prestige for about $800 (what happened to $500?). Weber had several grills at all price ranges. The Match to the Napoleon Prestige was the Weber Genesis. First I’ll discuss the Napoleon.

I was attracted to the Napoleon Prestige for several reasons. Napoleon offered a Lifetime Limited Warranty that seems to cover everything. I could imagine problems with this grill in 5 years and having it covered under the warranty. I liked the heavy duty steel used in construction, the simplicity of design, and that the burner control knobs were in the front. That was important as I needed space to put my food while I was opening the grill cover. In general it seemed like this grill was constructed well. I liked the way the grill cover opened and the wave grill bars. I also liked the great website. I was able to view videos about assembly, maintenance, and grilling. I was also able to down load the instruction manual. I thought if the grill is as designed as well as the website, then I found my grill. One difference between Napoleon and Weber is that this was Napoleon’s entry level grill! Prices go up from here!

The next step was to go and look at a Napoleon Grill in person. Eagerly I clicked on the “Where to buy” tab. Typed in my zip code, and 2 locations came up. One dealer, Matchless Stove and Chimney, was relatively close about 10 miles away. The other was nearly an hour south. I followed a link to the Matchless stove and chimney site. Not one mention on their web site about selling Napoleon gas grills or any BBQ grills. I called and they said that they did not sell BBQ grills. Next I called BAC sales. Yes, they are a wholesaler but they do have a retail store. It was open 9am-5pm Mon – Friday and part of the day on Saturday (For which I am at the lake that day!). I expanded the zip code search. Next there was one near Lake George. But, when would I get there? I asked my wife to see if she could drive to BAC and look at one. But due to her work hours, she would arrive as the place closed. I think that you get the idea. Access is important. I was hoping to purchase a new grill inside of 1 week so that I could use in the upcoming weekend. Otherwise I would have to cook inside, yikes!

My first stop to look at grills was Home Depot. They had numerous makes, models and sizes to choose from. They had several Weber grills. I noticed that all their Weber Grills were models “E” without a side burner. Next I went to Wal-Mart. The selection was far smaller. They had the kid of grills that you buy and throw out in 3 years. I also went to Lowes. They seem to sell the same kind of grills as Home Depot.

My last stop was an outdoor store called Best Fire (Best Fire). They sold Weber grills. The sales person, Kyle, was very knowledgeable and helped me understand the difference between his Weber Grills and the ones at Home Depot, True Value, or Lowes. He called those companies “box stores”. Kyle explained that he sold Weber models that were “EP”, P meaning premium grill. At first seemed like a sales pitch. He explained and I corroborated on my own research that the difference between “E” and “EP” is the size and type of metal in the cooking grates and flavor bars that are just above the burners. In the “E” model, the cooking grates and flavorizers are cast iron. In the “EP”, they are both stainless steel. Stainless steel will last years longer than cast iron. There were a few other minor differences related to accessories (stainless steel handles, cook book, and more hooks for grill utensils). The price was also $50 more.
After years of thinking how nice it would be to have a side burner for corn on the cob, or beans, I decided that any grill I purchase needed to have one. Lowes and Home Depot only sold model “E-210” or “E-310”. This meant no side burner. Best fire had a model “EP-320” which included the side burner. True Value also had a model “E-320”.
Another reason that I decided on the Summit series Weber grill model “EP-320” is that I wanted 4 burners. Throughout my grilling career, I had always had 2 burners. That is great when you are cooking for 1-3 people, perhaps 4. But if you cook for 4 or more, or have guest over, you have cook in rotating shifts. You know, start the chicken first, then move it the side, start the burgers, then the dogs, etc. by the time you have finished, the first rotation is cold. The other problem is that 2 burner grills, especially the cheaper one, heat in the middle of the grill area. This causes you to have to shift the food around on the grill or the outside food might be really rare. With a 4 burner grill, I can choose to cook on 2 burners for just my wife and I, or, if I have guests over, I can cook on all 4.

In conclusion I looked at many makes and models of grills. I researched reviews on the internet. From this process I narrowed my choice down to 2 manufacturers. I chose between those manufacturers based on access, support and part availability. My choice was to purchase a Weber. The model that I choose was based on my previous grilling experiences. I wanted 4 burners and a side burner. I wanted my knobs on the front so that I had work space (that is why I move up to Summit series from the Genesis series). I wanted the “EP” models as I liked the stainless steel cooking grills. Best Fire discounted the grill $200 less than other places. Kyle was an honest sales guy.