As of October 1879, the Georgian Bay Transportation Company planned to replace the Waubuno with a boat with "more modern engines and boiler" in time for the spring 1880 season. So by November 1879, the aging Waubuno was finishing its final season of cheap pleasure excursions. According to a 24 November report (two days after the boat sank), the Waubuno was "by many considered quite unfit for the route, especially at this season of the year". According to a 12 December report, the boat was equipped with the same false sides that had been installed in 1865 to make the boat "seaworthy at all", and "the boat was leaking badly and had to be pumped while lying at the dock the Sunday before her loss, in fact that during Saturday night the water got up to the fire hole. The Captain stated... that he was afraid to put her out in heavy weather as she was not fit; the engines are also said to have been in very bad condition."
