Grace Land Cottages

The boat and motor worked as expected and seemed reasonably maintained, though the boat looked like it hadn’t been used for a week and hadn’t been cleaned after the previous renters. On the windy second day, we anchored near a promising fishing spot. It took a few minutes to get the undersized anchor to catch in the soft bottom, and it held in some weeds for less than five minutes before we started drifting. When I pulled the line, it had come untied from the anchor. Whoever tied it didn’t seem to know knots. We were charged $100 for a replacement. I offered to send them the right one for $49, but they refused. Hopefully the next renter gets the right size, tied on properly. Check your lines before using them. Jill and Grace were pleasant, accommodating, and made the rental easy despite our changing schedule. There was some confusion about whether life jackets were included. We were told they weren’t, so we drove by our boat on Lake Simcoe, picked up 12, and reserved two more with Jill. At pickup there were already plenty of jackets on board, so we didn’t rent the two or need to bring ours. We could have saved that trip. Make sure you clarify whether the jackets are included or extra. Given the anchor experience, I don’t think I’d rent from Graceland again.

The boat was okay for the reasonable price of $240 including tax, and we did enjoy a day on the water. We rented their Sun Tracker pontoon on a Friday in July 2025. It was a bit dirty and rougher than I’d hoped. The real trouble came with the $1,000 security deposit. When we returned the boat, they didn’t mention any concern about its condition, but said they were too busy to e-transfer the money and would send it the next day. Nothing arrived then. Over the next few days, I called, emailed, or texted Jill, Grace, and Larry, and each assured me it would be sent soon. We finally got the deposit back on Wednesday, five days after returning the boat. I still don’t know what was going on. I wonder if they had a cash flow problem and used my deposit to pay someone else, then couldn’t return it until they were paid. Chasing them for days to get our money back made for a horrible experience.

Grace and Larry, thank you so much! My wife and I had a mechanical problem with our pontoon on Lake Nipissing this past weekend. The owners of Graceland Cottages happened to be passing by in their boat, stopped to check on us, and went out of their way to help. He fixed the problem and got us moving again in no time. We’re very grateful. Things could have turned disastrous, and it’s not every day you come across such wonderful people. Gary and Lorraine Pike

The water was dirty and full of weeds, so this wasn’t a great place to swim. They were also strict about who could visit our cabin, even making our guests stop by the office. Then, after I’d used the fire pit near my cabin all week, Larry, the owner, came over on our last night and said we had the wrong pit. He wanted to move the fire, but we declined. The other clients saw what was happening and told us it was okay.