Last week we spent Tues through Sunday morning on our 35 Myacht. Thur afternoon we ran some errands and dropped by the house for a bit. I got on the comp and found a 10' Bass Tracker bass buggy for a good price and gave the guy a call. It sounded good and I told him to hold it and I would come by Friday and take a look and pay him. He lives on a near verticle lake side lot with a dock. No way to get the thing up the "cliff" he called a backyard. <br /><br />The weather was slightly iffy so I told him I would come by Monday or Tues with the boat and tow it to our slip. On the way back to our marina the weather improved quite a bit so I decided to use my 14' bass boat to tow the boat that day instead of the houseboat on Monday or Tues. The bass boat is a "work in progress " ebay special and currently I am using a 3 gal remote tank to run the 55 hp Evinrude. I had recently cleaned the carbs but didn't replace the gaskets and the one carb with an aftermarket kit in it was seeping some gas. The carb with the old OEM kit was dry.<br /><br />Anyway, I gas up the tank and take off up the lake at 22 mph +/- . I just checked and it's app 8 miles to the guy's dock. I get there and tie up some tow ropes and start back. Due to the relationship of the various tow eyes I have to chug along at about 8 mph. Not even registering on the speedo. About 1/2 way back I take a look at the fuel level in the tank and am aghast at how low it is { I do have my cell phone and portable marine radio in the pockets of my coat 
}. I start keeping a close eye on it and it is not going down very fast so I decide that the 22mph run up the lake is what used most of the fuel and I should be ok.<br /><br />I keep chugging along. And chugging. Watching the navigation markers creep past. Singing the Beverly Hillbillies song because that's what I feel like with these two old boats . Still chugging. Old 77 model OMC running like a top. Finally I reach the marker where I turn hard a-port and head towards and under Browns Bridge. The weather is starting to close in a bit and unfortunately the fuel is obviously not going to make it. <br /><br />I get turned around a bit and end up slightly off course eastward of a small pair of islands that I should have been on the west side of. Then silence sets in . I slosh the rest of the fuel over into the pickup area and the 55 fires right back up and we resume chugging. I finally figure out that I made a slight mistake in my navigation. I pull out my chart and see that I am fairly close to a boat ramp I saw a couple of weeks ago during a "scare the wife" first "speed boat ride". I start heading directly for the ramp and the motor quits about 50 yds from a nice sandy beach beside the ramp. I flop out the newly installed trolling motor and cruise on in.<br /><br />I had already talked to the wife twice, the first time to tell her that I was on the way back and the second to say that I was not going to make it. Now I called her up and told her to borrow a can and bring me 2 gals of straight gas as I had some oil. The funny thing is that the road to this ramp begins right beside the guard house to our marina. She didn't have to drive more than a 1/2 mile. If I hadn't got off course I would have been at least a 1/2 mile or more from the ramp and may not have seen it as the best solution. <br /><br />I mixed up my gas, filled the tank and chugged the last mile or so around the point and back to our slip. By that time the weather was really starting to get with it in preparation for the 20 to 25 mile winds with 33+ mph gusts we had on Sat.<br /><br /> It will be awhile before I live this one down with the C dock community
}. I start keeping a close eye on it and it is not going down very fast so I decide that the 22mph run up the lake is what used most of the fuel and I should be ok.<br /><br />I keep chugging along. And chugging. Watching the navigation markers creep past. Singing the Beverly Hillbillies song because that's what I feel like with these two old boats . Still chugging. Old 77 model OMC running like a top. Finally I reach the marker where I turn hard a-port and head towards and under Browns Bridge. The weather is starting to close in a bit and unfortunately the fuel is obviously not going to make it. <br /><br />I get turned around a bit and end up slightly off course eastward of a small pair of islands that I should have been on the west side of. Then silence sets in . I slosh the rest of the fuel over into the pickup area and the 55 fires right back up and we resume chugging. I finally figure out that I made a slight mistake in my navigation. I pull out my chart and see that I am fairly close to a boat ramp I saw a couple of weeks ago during a "scare the wife" first "speed boat ride". I start heading directly for the ramp and the motor quits about 50 yds from a nice sandy beach beside the ramp. I flop out the newly installed trolling motor and cruise on in.<br /><br />I had already talked to the wife twice, the first time to tell her that I was on the way back and the second to say that I was not going to make it. Now I called her up and told her to borrow a can and bring me 2 gals of straight gas as I had some oil. The funny thing is that the road to this ramp begins right beside the guard house to our marina. She didn't have to drive more than a 1/2 mile. If I hadn't got off course I would have been at least a 1/2 mile or more from the ramp and may not have seen it as the best solution. <br /><br />I mixed up my gas, filled the tank and chugged the last mile or so around the point and back to our slip. By that time the weather was really starting to get with it in preparation for the 20 to 25 mile winds with 33+ mph gusts we had on Sat.<br /><br /> It will be awhile before I live this one down with the C dock community 
