What, and be a quitter? Nah. Not gonna happen. :der: I'll buy stock in a prop company and get them wholesale. I thought about getting a rowboat when I started this rigamarole, but ultimately decided against it. It would have been a lot cheaper. Problem is, it takes forever to travel between points. A 20 minute run with the engine would be two hours with oars. Plus, how do you do donuts with a rowboat? :eyebrows:
The canal water is...canal water. Would you drink water from the canals near you? Yeah, so probably not here either. There are Asian silver carp that live in the waters and are fished by the locals. Here, they're a native species and not invasive (a shocker, I know). I wouldn't eat them, though. It's not like the water is filthy and stinks. There are constantly patrolling trash boats with one man driving and another standing in the front with a net to pull floating debris out, so it doesn't get that bad. Some waters can be stagnant, although the local government is pretty good about putting bubblers and sprinklers everywhere that happens so that the water doesn't get deoxygenated. People do throw junk in the rivers, though. Out of sight, out of mind.
I do have the motor unlocked, thanks for the advice.
It kicks up when it hits something. It also tries to come out of the water when I go in reverse. Oh well!
Took the boat out Monday. Ran into new and exciting obstructions!
A canal lock. Fortunately it was open. Just as fortunately, I have a flat-bottomed boat with a low profile, so it fits through this narrow spot. Handy!
Caissons blocking off the river due to construction being done further down. Had to turn around for this one.
This bridge under construction, which had an extremely low iron bar across the water. It was a tight squeeze, even for my boat. We had to do the limbo and bend way down to get under it. But we got through!
Beyond the low bridge was some kind of duckweed restricting access to a very narrow channel. Once again without a jonboat we would be turning back.
Aaaaand just for good measure, a picture of a pagoda. The ensign in the corner is that of the
Beiyang Fleet, a personal favorite of mine. An American, Philo McGiffin, captained the battleship Chen Yuen and is a historical character in China. But that's a naval story, not a boating story, so you can find it yourself if you like.
So I would have missed out on all that without going in to unknown waters! My buddies in the boat club all have big power boats and pontoon boats. But they can't fit into the tight spots I can and thus they miss out on all the fun. All they do is cruise back and forth around the big main waterways. Borr-ring! When I told them about my adventures in shallow water, they just laughed and said I should buy a jet ski. :crushed: But those only hold a single passenger and are three times the price of my little jonboat. I had three people out and we all had a blast. It's the beginning of a beautiful summer. :congratulatory:
