BC ferries work for the smaller routes.

Steve, I've done those routes many times in the course of doing homeshows for my sunroom business, and building them.
They are all straightforward, just have to read the BC Ferries schedules carefully.
It's been a few years now since I used to do those runs, I doubt they have changed much.

If I was going to Powell River I would pay once at Horseshoe Bay. (West Van) That would get me to Langdale. From there I'd drive to Earl's Cove, where I would not have to pay to cross to Saltery Bay, a short drive from Powell. Same thing in reverse, pay once to make the 2 sailings getting back to the mainland.

Crossing from Powell to Vancouver Island, you pay at Powell River to cross to Comox and the other way too. From there you drive south to Nanaimo or Victoria to use one of the 3 crossing points to get back to the mainland. My preference was Duke Point. Half an hour longer, but a nice run, and a terminal kinda out of the way, more peaceful I found. I liked to use the ferry time to relax, enjoy the view and the pleasant smell of the open ocean air. I preferred crossing to Tsawwassen to avoid the always heavy traffic going east on Hwy 1 and over the Port Mann from Horseshoe Bay. Even after replacing the bridge there's a high volume of traffic there.

Doing the Powell/Comox crossing, a nice stop is Texada. Small island but it's a really nice drive going around there looking at the scenery. I built a big solarium on Texada years ago and really enjoyed the area. It's been years now and I cannot recall if you can stop at Texada without paying twice. You'd have to check the ferries website.

As a sidenote, I was coming back from Powell to West Van once and when driving through the beautiful community of Sechelt, I came across a car show! Well, right up my alley, I found a place to park my truck and TT and spent hours there looking at all the old cars. And there were lots of them. I had my camera and took piles of pictures too.

On the way to catch the last sailing from Langdale to the mainland, I severely blew a tire on the TT. Took me a while to fix that mess and I missed the last sailing. There is a nice little government CG near Roberts Creek, about halfway between Sechelt and Gibsons. I overnighted there and relaxed for a day before going home. That CG became a regular stop for me after that.

I live on the Island and have used the ferries many times. There is no problem taking a truck camper on them, I have done this for years, and also a 28 foot 5th wheel.
The schedules are posted on line and in the local papers, and they generally keep rigidly to the times. The crossing to the Island takes about an hour 40 minutes, to the smaller Islands takes less.
The ferries can be very busy in the summer. You can make reservations which costs extra, if you dont be prepared to wait a
occasionally.

happycamper1942 wrote:
I live on the Island and have used the ferries many times. There is no problem taking a truck camper on them, I have done this for years, and also a 28 foot 5th wheel.
The schedules are posted on line and in the local papers, and they generally keep rigidly to the times. The crossing to the Island takes about an hour 40 minutes, to the smaller Islands takes less.
The ferries can be very busy in the summer. You can make reservations which costs extra, if you dont be prepared to wait a
occasionally.

I lived on the island for 20 years, and have taken many a trailer across, the main ferry is not what my question is about at all. its the smaller southren gulf island one and the inland ferries where you pay for one or one way and not the outher but it is complacated to figure out on the BC ferry web page. for instance if you take the ferry from sidney to pender island its 50ish bucks for my truck and camper, but if I turn around and leave pender to go to sidney its free, but if I leave pender and go to van its 60ish bucks...... same for the inland farries I have discovered if you pay for the first, the second is free , and when you come down it is the opposit.. but no where in the web page do they just come out and say that, you have to enter the booking estimator for the second ferry then it will tell you the cost is 0.00 but no explanation so you think the page screwed up or something....

I'm not sure about leaving on a different route tp what you came on but it seems reasonable that you cannot save money by using a cheaper fare to a mid-point then continuing to the mainland for free. However I have not checked the website to try to figure it out.

happycamper1942 wrote:
I'm not sure about leaving on a different route tp what you came on but it seems reasonable that you cannot save money by using a cheaper fare to a mid-point then continuing to the mainland for free. However I have not checked the website to try to figure it out.

well kinda , I can see that, but you can leave vistora to pender and go back to victoria for free, why can you leave van for pender then go back to van for free? most of the little islands I have found out getting on costs money and getting off is free or next to it. just seams weird when there are two ways to get to an island the policys are not consistant.