For starters, here's a simple, inexpensive suggestion from Andrew Atchison, sales rep for dock builder Enviro Float Manufacturing in Victoria, B.C.: Anchor a mooring buoy offshore, just far enough out to float the boat at the minimum water level, and rig a rope pulley system to haul it in or out as needed.

This may solve your immediate problem, but if - like most cottagers - you want an arrangement that's more permanent and comfortable to use, Atchison suggests a floating dock (minimum 8-by-10 feet for stability), with a ramp (at least three feet wide) connecting it to shore. To keep the ramp at a safe angle at all water levels, it should be 20-40 feet long, the actual length depending on where it's attached onshore as well as on the steepness of the slope to the water's edge (fifteen degrees is ideal). It should overlap the floater generously, and ideally should be fitted with wheels so that, as lake levels go up and down, it glides across the floater without damaging it. (Enviro Float ramps start at about $150 a lineal foot, floaters at about $25 a square foot.)

You might also consider a marine railway. Kaye Naylor, of Naylor Systems in Cameron, Ont., which manufactures a variety of marine lifts and mooring devices, says that unless your waterfront has a really radical slope, a rail system with a 1,500-pound capacity should suit your outboard. On a sandy shoreline such as yours, elaborate anchoring is not normally necessary for the tracks, which tend to settle in and not shift around. Rails and cross ties are usually steel, coated with rust-preventive paint, though more expensive galvanized or aluminum track is also available. The system could use a manual winch, similar to the winch on a boat trailer and suitable for hauling weights up to 5,000 pounds, or could be fitted with an electric winch. (Prices are in the $2,500 range for a manual system with 30-40 feet of track, $4,000 for an electrical one. Additional steel track is about $195 for every 10-foot section.)

Here's one more idea: a rolling dock. These are modular systems, consisting of a framework of adjustable poles on wheels, deck parts of cedar, vinyl, or aluminum, and a winch or ratchet device for raising or lowering the end of the dock. Liz Scavo, of Boat & Dock Marine Equipment Sales in Markham, Ont., says her company often supplies them for use on Ontario's "hydro lakes," where the power company controls lake levels that sometimes vary as much as 2.5 metres. The standard 16-foot-long aluminum dock is light enough that Scavo can push it around by herself. Though it only adjusts five feet, a deep-water kit can be added that increases the adjustment to eight feet. Extra sections can be added as needed.