Pleasure Boating

Last fall I had to go out to the pontoon boat and get all the leaves off it before we put the cover on it.  The leaf blower made short work of the leaves but it takes extra folks to put that damn cover on it.

I don’t know where those button snaps came from, but it takes a nuclear powered thumb to make the button actually snap. When we got finished my thumb was an inch shorter and looked like the head of a ball peen hammer. There has to be a better way and I suspect there is but it’s gonna cost me.

This spring we took the boat to a nearby shop, Bud’s Marine. They have always treated us right and done good work. This year we got stymied by the Wuhan Flu and we were delayed getting it ready for the summer.

We finally got it into the shop and I told them I would rather have it right than fast. One of the things we wanted to do was have a trolling motor mounted onto the front of the boat.

We bought a trolling motor at an online auction. Brand new, still in the box. Thought it would be nice to have that when we’re out on the lake fishing.

Disclaimer. I knew that a trolling motor has a prop, and in this case, is powered by a marine battery. That’s it…that’s all I knew at the time I bought it.

Tip. Before you sink your hard earned cash into something you know nothing about, educate yourself. This particular motor was designed to go onto a transom and be operated using a hand-operated tiller. That’s everything I don’t want on a pontoon boat. And, it is also waaaaay underpowered for my boat. I now know much more about trolling motors including power ratings, mounting options and most importantly, how much they cost in a retail setting. The last two things I know about trolling motors is that,

1. The motor I have is for sale…cheap, and,

2. I can’t afford one that will push my fat ass boat around.

Anyway we finally got the boat back and my excellent half wanted to go fishing the next day. So we unsnapped the cover off the boat (I broke off one of the snaps – Don’t say anything to my excellent half.) The boat was filthy. So I had to get the power washer out to clean up the boat. That damn thing was buried in the back of the shed and after much cussing and moving crap around, I managed to get it out.

Well, I needed to tune up the power washer before I cleaned up the boat.  Nothing is ever simple. But after the tune up, it fired up on the second pull of the starter…gotta love a Honda motor. I proceeded to spend the next hour soaking wet, in 60 degree weather washing the Behemoth.

The next morning, we loaded up poles and bait and drinks and ice and drove to the boat ramp. My excellent half backed the boat down the ramp until the boat started floating. I lowered the motor into the water and tried to start it. Keep in mind I had not released the boat from the trailer. Good thing too as the motor would barely turn over. Initial diagnosis, dead battery.

We took the boat back to Bud’s and dropped it off for an additional set of eyes on it. They tried to charge the battery overnight and it would not hold a charge.  Final diagnosis…new battery and 150.00.

Paid the bill and took the boat straight to the ramp. My excellent half backed the boat down the ramp until the boat started floating. (Sound familiar) This time however, the motor didn’t even turn over. Initial diagnosis, bad battery. Just for grins, I checked to see if the battery terminals had not been tightened up. Shocked face, jaw dropped, laughter, they forgot to put the new battery in.

Took the boat back to Bud’s and they were mortified. I’msosorry, Iscrewedup, Ohmygoodness, I’msosorry. That battery was in the boat in 5 minutes.

Figured the third time is charmed…we took the boat back to the ramp. My excellent half backed the boat down the ramp until the boat started floating. I lowered the motor into the water and this time Behemoth came to life.

No fishing. We just motored around the lake at 3-4 miles an hour for the next two hours eating chips and drinking soda and enjoying 72 degree weather. And I got to spend time with my best girl. Pleasure boating at its finest.

Aftermath: My head got sunburned. It’s a little stingy. Major head peeling is in my future.