Boat Saga

It seems I lost track of a few days somewhere. Maybe Sunday? What the hell. I have no idea.

But forget that. What I am going to type about now is the saga of the boat. You might want to get a snack. This could be involved. It is OK, Ill wait for you to get a snack and a beverage before I go on.

- pause -

Friday I left Miami, with my parents. My dad drove a Dodge 4x4 and towed the boat. I followed in my truck with the kayak tied to the roof. No real problems. The drive was as uneventful as usual.

Now for some background information. About a week and a few days before it was time to leave, I noticed a little itty bitty smidge of hydraulic fluid. It seemed to have came from the power trim motor. The power trim is the boat thingie that raises and lowers the outboard engine for everyone who is not Herr Krokodil. You need this to "trim" the boat out properly when it is running. Lowering the engine brings the bow down - raising it brings the bow up. I think. It is very late.

Anyway if the boat is running "bow up" then it never settles in the water properly. You can tell the idiots out there that do not know how to trim the bow down because their boats look like they are trying to take off. The bow is pointed up and the stern is trying to go under water. And theit ride is rougher than it needs to be and they can not see where they are going.

Bow down and you tend to "barge". The boat engine has to work harder because the bow is trying to fight the planing effect and remain in contact with the surface.

A properly trimmed boat sits level - maybe with the bow just a tiny bit up. But mostly level. But the boat is skimming the surface.

See I told you you should have got a snack! But it is too late now. You can get up now but I will not wait for you this time.

So I see the fluid leaking. But the motor worked when I tested it. And I went out the Sunday before I came here in the boat and the thing worked like a champ. How bad could this leak thing be? Apparently not that bad. So I did not think any more of it.

Saturday my dad and I go to the Sanibel ramp to put the boat in the water. I trim the engine up for launching - so the skeg does not hit the bottom.

And once in the water - the engine does not want to trim down. It "bounces" when I try to use the motor. But I get the engine down. My dad pulls the trailer out and goes to the marina to park the trailer. I take the boat around to find out what slip I am going to be in. And get more fluid for the trim motor because I figure the thing must be low.

But it was not low. Not that low anyway. I pull out of the marina because I am going to need to be in the water to put more fluid in the thing. And I did not want anyone to see me create an oil slick. So I go off to a beach by the public boat ramp. And I add the fluid. And create a small slick. It was unavoidable.

And the pump still does not work. In fact, it is worse now. A lot worse. I can no longer get the engine down. The switch has no effect. I press it down - and nothing happens. Not even any noise. Nothing. So I use the F word a few times. And the pump tries to work. It sounds like it is trying to work but the battery is too low.

Except the batteries are fine. I conclude the power trim motor is garbage. I manage to get the engine down just far enough to get the prop under water, and motor back to the marina.

The guy there says I have a manual release for the power trim. WOW! I do? COOL! A simple turn of a screwdriver later and the engine is down. But now it will not go up.

So what to do? Option 1 was pull the boat out, park it here at the resort, and do not use it. That sucks.

Option 2 was try to get it fixed. But by the time someone could do that it would be time to leave. That sucks.

Option 3 was say fuck the motor. I do not really need it anyway. With the engine all the way down the boat rides about right. Close enough anyway. I usually trim the bow up just a little bit, but if I can't then I can't.

So I went with option 3. Fuck the power trim. The engine will just stay down for a few days. The boat is in a wet slip so I do not have to deal with the trailer in and out thing.

And what about the part of the engine that is staying wet? What about it. Out drives on I/O boats stay in the water. I can flush the power head - because the engine has a hose flush port on it. The only part that I can not flush is the lower unit. The gears are encased in gear lube - so there should not be any water there. The drive shaft will not be hurt . The prop is stainless steel - it will be fine. And so on. Nothing will get damaged.

When I get home Ill worry about getting the pump fixed. But for now the pump is on my shit list and I do not care if it is crying out in pain. It deserves pain. When I remove the old pump I am going to torture it with a cutting torch.

And now - marvel at the FIRST CATCH on the boat! Yes, I went fishing at night and got something that was not a beer fish.

These are some kind of snapper. I am not sure what kind. Maybe mangrove snapper? Anyway unless they are red or mutton snapper (I am pretty sure they are not) they are both legal size. Both these fish are over 12 inches. Mangrove snapper have to be 10 inches, lane snapper have to be at least 8 inches, schoolmasters have to be 10 inches, and vermillion have to be 11 inches. All others have to be 12 inches. I thought that the size limit was 12 inches. So if these are mangrove snapper, I threw back a few that were 11 - 11.75 inches long thinking they were shorts. But they would have been legal. Whatever.