Adventures in Rick’s boat

My boat has provided many hours of pleasure. I have taken it to many different lakes. I have confidence that I will be safe in my boat, but the learning curve to that confidence was quite steep.

The first year I took the boat to Lake Bloomington.  Even though it was August when I bought the boat, I bought a permit for that season. I did this so I could operate the 25 hp motor which was illegal on Lake Evergreen.  I asked Robert to join me on my first trip out.

The boat came equipped with two batteries. One operates the electric trolling motor, one operates everything else, including the starter. There were also a set of battery cables in the back. At that time I had no way to determine the charge on the batteries, so we just went out. Unfortunately neither battery was fully charged. We fished for a while and I moved us using the trolling motor. Then a wind came up we started to drift into shore into some trees. The trolling motor died and we kept drifting. I tried the starter on the big motor and it wouldn’t start either. The motor has a pull rope, but pull starting a 25 hp motor is extremely difficult. I tried, but couldn’t get it to start.

Then I realized why there were extra battery cables. The former owner would hook the two batteries together when the charge was low. With both batteries too weak, I wondered if putting both together could get us out of the trees. I connected the two weak batteries in parallel, and we got enough charge to start the big motor. We headed back to shore with a lesson learned. Buy a battery charger.

My boat is about the same length as Don’s, but much heavier. This is fine when it is windy, if I can run the big motor. The first spring after I bought the boat, my daughter, Sarah, came to visit from Chicago. I really wanted her to go out in the boat, even though it was a cold windy March day.

I wanted to fish Lake Evergreen, but there is a 10 hp limit. My plan was to use the 2 hp motor, known as a kicker motor, I acquired as part of the boat purchase. This would be a legal motor on Lake Evergreen. Connie and Sarah and I put the boat in at the main lake ramp and headed southeast. The wind was out of the northwest so the trip out went well. After about 30 minutes the wind picked up to around 20 miles an hour. We decided to return to the ramp.

Unfortunately the 2 hp kicker would not push the boat forward against the wind. We were pushed sideways towards the far side of the lake. When sideways against the wind, the boat hull acts like a sail. I struggled with trying to get out of the wind and was afraid of tipping over.  I could not stop the drift. The situation became quite scary as we approached the far shore where there was no way to slow down and no help.

Finally Connie convinced me to break the law and use the big 25 hp motor.  Since Don got a ticket for open battery caps on this lake, I figured I would be in big trouble using the 25 Hp motor. I fired up the illegal 25 hp motor and kept it at idle. I figured I would try to convince the deputy I wasn’t interested in speeding on the lake, just surviving.

The illegal 25 hp motor got us back to the ramp. I knew the 2 hp kicker was not sufficient and I would not be able to fish Lake Evergreen in my boat. As we finally reached shore, Connie said to me the words every fisherman wants to hear from his wife, “You need a bigger motor!”

So I bought a used 9.9 hp kicker motor for Lake Evergreen!

I bought my 9.9 from the dealer who had it on consignment. Amazingly the motor belonged to Paul C., the fishing guide. I now had his former boat and kicker motor. With my 9.9 hp kicker, fishing Lake Evergreen became my primary use of the boat. I fished every day I could. As my confidence grew, I started to fish alone about half of the time. Unfortunately I was still learning about handling all the aspects of the boat.

The first summer I dropped my anchor over the edge to fish near the shore. I was in about 20 feet of water. I saw the anchor rope play out and go overboard. I had forgotten to attach it to the boat.

I was never any good at tying knots. When it is windy, the boat will pull hard against any knot used to tie it down. I was fishing on the northwest side of Lake Evergreen, when the wind picked up and I decided to get off the lake. I had not seen anyone else on the lake. I tied a quick knot to the dock and jumped out to get my truck and trailer.

As I pulled from the parking lot to the ramp, I saw my boat drifting out into the lake. It was already over 50 ft. out by the time I got down to the dock. I didn’t know what to do. Fortunately there was an elderly couple who had come from the other side of the lake. They had just loaded their boat on their trailer and were preparing to leave.

I asked if they would be willing to take me to my boat. They agreed, and put their boat back in the water. I crawled into their boat with gentleman and we chased down my drifting boat.

When he pulled alongside I rolled from his boat to mine. Fortunately I didn’t fall in. I hollered thanks as he pulled away from me. I fired up my motor and headed in. They were gone by the time I got to the ramp. I never did find out their names.

I learned two lessons that day. Attach a carabiner to the tie up ropes to snap into the tie up rings on the dock and check the knots for slippage. The bigger lesson is fisherman assist others when they are on the water, regardless of the inconvenience to them personally. I have faithfully followed both of these.