Re: Season's over??? NNNAAAH!!!
Stic88,
I signed on a few hours ago, typed out a long detailed response, previewed and proofread my response and when I clicked submit post, the site told me I had to log in again. after doing so, I found that my entire response was either gone or I simply couldn't get back to it... So here we go again.
How did it go?... it goed incredibly!!!
It goed like H, E, Double toothpicks(as they say in the south)
. Most of my boating experience is scuba diving and fishing on the ocean off the northeastern coast. My buddies in and around New York all keep their boats at marinas at a slip. My only boat ramp experience is with fire department rescue boats only about a dozen times. other than that, I loaded and unloaded my Chaparral for the second time yesterday. The first time was about three years ago before my Father-in-law gave it to me. We put it in, and I took it across the lake to his dock while he took his truck and trailer back to his lakehouse. I met him and our family on the dock and we had a great day on the water. Now the boat is mine, and my family and I went to that same boat ramp yesterday. I pulled into the parking area, prepped the boat and got everything ready for the ramp. If it weren't for the fact that I forgot about the dockline, it would have taken less than three minutes. When I got out of the truck and started to unhook the safety chain, I realized... the dockline is in the boat. A minute or two later, it was tied to the cleat, led through the starbird guide, and tossed into my wifes hands where she waited on the dock with Logan and Sam. Thanks to my wife, who, unlike me, has been doing the boatramp thing all her life with her father and younger brother, it still took less than five minutes. The ramp went really smooth. My wife took the truck and boat trailer to the house, and I took Logan and Sam in the boat to my In-Laws dock where my wife was waiting. She got in and we cruised around for a couple of hours when I got a call on my cell phone from my Father-in-Law. We went back to the dock and picked him up. We cruised around for a while longer before we dropped anchor in 21 feet of water and my two sons and I went swimming for about an hour. Logan, my seven year old described it as the greatest time of his life. Sam was loving it too. We cruised and explored some beautiful places and I let Logan drive for a half hour or so on the "big water" (the main lake). He actually asked me to slow it down a couple of times
. I don't think I would have asked that at seven years old
. Logan's a realist. He's extremely responsible for a seven year old. He's a lot more responsible than the average adult today. But anyway... The motor ran beautifully. With three adults, two children, a cooler full of drinks,fruit, and thirty pounds of ice, at 5000rpm, the boat ran 45mph according to the GPS. The speedometer claimed 52mph, but we all know how boats tend to exagerate!!!
. WOT on plane with the outdrive trimmed to the level position, is 5200rpm. The water was a little choppy and I guess due to the weight distribution in the boat, it was porpoising at 5200rpm; so I trimmed down until it smoothed out and the tach now was at 5000rpm. We had and incredible time.
On the way home, we saw plenty of deer as usual. At around 1:30am we saw three right by the side of the road. I slowed down and stayed my course. The smallest one ran out right in front of us and we just missed it. I then heard a thump, and felt the boat and trailer shift. I pulled over at the first safe place and inspected the boat and trailer. One of the larger deer ran right into the first of the dual wheel fenders on the driver side and tore it off. It left a bloody mess down the port side of the hull. It also gouged the paint and gelcoat in two places. My wife called the sherriff's department and reported the incident while we drove back to find the fender. We found the destroyed fender on the side of the road along with the dying deer
. I thought I was going to have to put it down myself, but by the time we pulled the truck and boat around and pulled off the road, it had already breathed it's last breath. My family and I are fine and the boat and trailer can be repaired. The day was so fantastic, this did not bring me down. I'm still trying to figure out how to post pictures, so I'll just post this without them and then add them on if that's possible. If not I'll put them in a new post. I'll try it right now.
