I haven't written for a while what with COVID and all. This will hopefully capture what has been happening.
The old saying among fishermen is "A fisherman's happiest days are the day he buys a boat...". I experienced that 19 years ago this week. You can read my blog post "Rick Buys a Boat" to see what I mean.
Last year I finally decided that my truck deserved to stay in the garage space occupied by my boat for the last 18 years. I sought out boat storage. I was to find that storage for a boat the length of mine was not readily available in Bloomington. I did find a unit somewhat near home, but it was a very tight fit. If I put my boat in at an angle I could just squeeze it in, and then only if the motors where as far down as they can go. I thought this location was good because I could back in even though the door width was almost exactly the trailer width. It was also on a slope. This proved fatal.
While removing the boat the first time, my truck was on the slope above the storage unit. This put the motor scraping on the floor. When I tried to raise the 25 Hp motor the power tilt barely moved and it squealed loudly.
Don and I went fishing and then I stopped at the repair shop. I took the boat into Erick, my boat mechanic, and he said I had blown the seals on the power tilt and it would need to be sent to Florida for a rebuild. He estimated the cost to be over $700 and said it would be a long time because the company was very busy. With COVID, people were buying boats and spending lots of money for repairs. He took off the power tilt and said I could use the motor, but not in reverse. The power tilt held the motor down and kept it in the water when in reverse. I didn't know this was to be a problem with trailering the boat as well.
Since there were no other storage units available at the first site, I started looking for another farther from home. I found one that was 5 feet longer, but it was not a straight shot to back into. When taking the boat to the unit, the first time the 25 HP motor bounced off the motor support and hit the ground. It also bent the support. I was able to get it back on the support, but it was badly bent. Fortunately the prop didn't hit the ground. The motor fell off two more times while heading to the storage unit. Connie went with me and helped me put it in. When I went fishing with Don, I struggled to return it into the unit. After much maneuvering and some help from Don I was able to get the boat in the unit. This unit was also on a slope, but down hill.
When I went to take the boat out I asked Connie to help since I couldn't see both sides of the unit in my mirrors. She was reluctant, but I assured her it would only take a few minutes to get the boat out. It was too tight to pull the boat out with the truck, so we rolled it out by hand. Unfortunately the downhill slope pulled the boat to the right wedging it against the side of the storage unit. We couldn't move it.
After more than 30 minutes trying to push it back by hand and with the truck I lowered the trailer wheel and was finally able to get it loose enough to get the boat out. Connie was not happy. I decided to take the boat home for storage. I tried different ways of securing the motor support and none of them worked. It drug on the ground and was badly bent again, but again the prop did not hit. I bought a full length mirror to prop up so I could see both sides of the unit from the truck. It didn't work.
The next trip out, I found the 25 HP wouldn't turn. Scott was with me and noticed the steering cable was kinked. We straightened it out and got some movement. It turned out to be a temporary fix. Back to Erik, who replaced the steering cables. $200 more and the power tilt still wasn't back.
In late July I was riding my bike past the old Eureka Williams plant and saw an ad for boat storage. I stopped in. Storage rent was for 6 months rather than the standard monthly rent. Rent was cheaper than the other units and the storage space was large. It was shared with several large RV's and another large boat, but it was easy in and out. The salesman, a former student of mine, said I could use one of two bays off to the side. There was water on the floor, but he said the roof was being repaired. I signed a contract even though I would be storing the boat at home before the 6 months were up.
The first rain storm proved the roof wasn't fixed. Fortunately I had kept the boat cover on. I switched to another bay when I returned the boat. When the season was over I took the boat to be winterized at Erik's. The power stilt was still not back from Florida. I took the boat home for the winter.
By the end of the season I had spent almost $1000 on storage units, another $500 on repairs, and was still on the hook for the power tilt.
Then came 2022. I returned to the storage place in April and rented for the 6 month period. Writing a check for nearly $900 started making me reconsider the worth of boat storage, but I was already committed. By the end of the month, the power tilt was finally back. It was over $700. The weather in April was so cold, rainy, and windy, I never took the boat out of storage.
The temperature quickly increased to over 90 degrees for several weeks. From winter to summer in a few weeks. There wasn't time to fish. When I did get a decent morning I would ride my bike instead of fishing. I went fishing only 2 times between April and July. I was also becoming aware that I wasn't confident in going fishing alone in the boat. Too many close calls made me only confident if one of my friends was available.
Then last week happened. We got some cool weather and Don and Paul were available. I picked up he boat and saw the roof of the bay where I had the boat was leaking. I took the boat home because I needed to charge the trolling motor battery. When backing in the garage I felt something hit. I was Connie's car. I had knocked a trim piece off and it was sitting at 90 degrees.
I charged the trolling motor battery for a few minutes while I removed the trim piece from the car. Fortunately it came off in one piece and was not broken. I knew I would screw it up if I tried to replace it. I decided to not try and charge the starting motor battery because it had been fine on the last trip.
When I picked up Paul, then Don, I told them this looked like it was going to be one of those days.
When I put the boat in the lake I did it without help, as Don and Paul were trying to figure out how to put on the life vest I loaned Don. I had tied the rope to the dock so it would keep the boat at the dock as I backed the trailer in the lake. As I pulled out the trailer, the rope caught under the rear bunk and snagged under the water. After some back and forth Don was able to get it loose.
When I walked back from the parking lot, I could see Paul was struggling with stating the motor. When I got to the dock, I could see the starter wasn't working. The starting battery was dead. All of us have bad shoulders, but Paul decided he could pull start the 9.9 HP we were going to use. Eventually he got it started and we fished for a couple of hours. We only caught fish late in the morning. I was concerned because the wind came up, and the boat is difficult to put on the trailer in the wind. What worked best is to use the larger 25 HP motor, but that is almost impossible to pull start. Then Don caught his line in the 9.9 motor. We couldn't use the 9.9 either.
We didn't have enough battery to use the trolling motor all the way back. So we used the wind to drift back towards the dock. We used the trolling motor to make adjustments, but the battery was getting weak . Finally we asked a guy who was just going out for a tow back to the ramp. It was difficult maneuvering to do this in the wind and we never did get connected for a tow. We continued to drift in and got close enough to dock.
I had a spare set of battery cables in my boat storage. When I bought the boat, the owner had used the cables to connect both batteries when the trolling motor battery was dying. I hoped I could use the little remaining trolling battery charge to start the 25 HP. After several tries and many pumps on the fuel line, the motor turned over. A couple more tries and it started!
We loaded the boat and headed to lunch. When I got home I pulled both batteries out of the boat and hoped I could get them charged. I also removed Don's line from the 9.9 propeller. I put the boat into a different , hopefully dry, place in the storage building. We have had 2 big storms this week.
The batteries are charged up, but the hygrometer shows them to be very weak. They are $100 each to replace. It's too hot to fish until September. I found out I can rent a boat at the lake for $75 a day. I am really thinking I am at the point of pursuing my second happiest day.
"A fisherman's two happiest days are the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it!"
