The Boat

Along with Old Blue came “The Boat.”  A 1970 Wolverine <14’ aluminum “V” hull with a 15hp Gamefisher motor and a somewhat rusting trailer to tote her with.  The trailer was white and rusting a bit, the boat was tinged in green paint splatter from some DIY adventure and the motor was surprisingly clean!
The boat was towed from Wake Forest NC home to Tennessee without incident and put away.  Now, by “put away” I mean my then husband thought it sufficient to put the motor in the garage (reasonable assumption), the trailer beside the garage (in the weather uncovered?) and the boat upside down behind the garage (fairly reasonable idea – or so it seemed at the time).

A Ladder? Seriously?

There the boat sat. And sat… And sat…

Life got in the way of living – or is it living got in the way of life?  I don’t know, I just know the boat sat for well over a year, unused, unloved and uncared for  before I said “dammit, this is a waste!” 

This year I was in the midst of my infamous divorce and clamoring for projects to keep me busy. I had gone camping a few times and got the bug to go fishing (more on fishing later). I started talking to my friend/Saturday Boss and found out he had resources for helping me get the boat up and running.

Sad....

Out she came.  My then soon-to-be ex-husband had to help me get the boat up on the trailer and I towed her with “Blue” to my Saturday job at a drag car builder.  No – not a builder who wears ‘drag,’ a genius who builds dragsters and motors. I always seem to manage to ‘drag’ him into working on one thing or another…

Now, something you have to understand is – I have towed a trailer only a few times in my life.

1. I towed a U-Haul trailer with my ’89 Integra from Morgan County Tennessee to Pennsylvania filled with a bedroom set and appliances.  I could not pull the trailer up a hill in the rain very easily – that car was NOT meant for towing anything!
2. I towed a Sea-doo personal water craft twice with the Integra. That went well enough.
3. I towed my ’89 Acura Integra on a tow dolly behind the biggest U-Haul truck I could find – from PA to Knoxville TN in the middle of the night. Yea, same bedroom set and appliances and everything else I owned were in that truck!  I should never have moved to PA!
4. I towed a triad of dirt-bikes on a shade-tree mechanic trailer behind a Chevy 2500 from Windrock Mountain after a ride.
5. I towed a 14’ utility trailer loaded with my daughter’s dirt-bike behind a Lincoln Continental – from Mom’s to the farm (all of 5 minutes away) and back.
6. I towed, I towed, wait, that was it…  The sum of my towing experience from about 1993 until this year.

After getting her loaded up behind Old Blue, I took off down the road and made it maybe 3 miles when the stress hit!  Questions were flying about like flies on cow manure! Are the lights hooked up? Is the tongue locked down properly?  Will the trailer come flying off? Is the motor really screwed down? Will there be mass casualties on Pellissippi? Am I going to be on the news? Will there be ambulances involved? 

Yea, it got all ugly up in my head!

I stopped on the side of the road and did a quick inspection to make sure all was right in my little world. A quick check of the light connection, tongue and motor proved to me that all I had to do was drive, carefully.  In the mean time, as I was readying to pull back out into traffic, a semi-truck pulled over up in front of me.  All I can figure is the driver was concerned that I was having an issue because as I drove past him, I waved, he waved, he pulled back on the road and we were never to meet!

When I arrived at my Saturday job, my boss/friend, Jim, came out to see what the noise was.  Me, my truck with no muffler, and a boat – a poor sad little boat, trailer and motor had arrived. I pulled in facing away from the roll-up doors and hopped out of the truck.  Jim looked, shook his head and asked just exactly how long this contraption had been sitting dormant.  He walked around, poked about and popped the motor cover.  Sweet mother and all that is holy – the stench was horrific!  The motor had developed an “odd smell” that brought tears to my eyes.  It did not take long to figure out it was from the MOUSE’S NEST that had been built in it.  I am still working on cleaning that…

After the quick inspection and  not so kind comments aimed at the poor little unloved boat, Jim told me to back the trailer up to the doors and we would roll it into the bay. Yea, back it up.  Me.  It seemed like a simple enough job.  I had managed to get the boat to the shop unscathed – so backing it STRAIGHT should not be a problem. Right?  Let me just say, I was wrong.  The driveway is rutted and slopes heavily and THAT, my friends, was a problem for me.  I tried to back that puppy up 3 times before I jumped down out of the truck cursing like a sailor and 2 seconds from throwing things.  Jim climbed in (he is all of 5’5” maybe?) and backed it right up to the door.

Show-off.

We unhooked the trailer and rolled it into the bay. I was hot and went home. Done for the day.  I guess I missed telling you it was Sunday. I did not have to work that day!

Two weeks passed and I showed up at work to find a trailer-less boat in the bay – all up under a car-lift with an old school flip-top dragster over top of it.  I wish I had taken a photo of that!  The trailer was gone. Jim had stripped it and taken it to a buddy to sandblast the paint and rust off. He then had moved it to another guy to powder coat it. It was in process. 

Another week goes by and I drive to work – and what should come into view? The trailer, white powder coat, red and blue hand painted pin stripes to match the wheels from WallyHell and the wench reattached. I took one smiling look at the trailer and told Jim the trailer was so fancy looking, it would probably pass the truck up. More aerodynamic with all that pin-striping you know!

That day we worked on cleaning the grunge and tarnish off the aluminum on the boat.

During the next weeks, I went over and worked on the little boat’s interior – trying to make it cleaner and prettier. Used some semi-trailer chemical to clean the metal. Used the air sander to scrape out the loose old anti-skid paint. Used lacquer thinner to get the bulk of the green paint off (still need to work on that more), applied more anti-skid paint to the floor in medium grey (not to dark which collects heat and not to light so it doesn’t reflect light up into your eyes). Jim worked on not killing me as I used his air sander on it and I worked on not killing him as he wired the new trailer lights on. My best  “person” came by and worked on wiring the battery for the new trolling motor and on the light wiring.  He even  brought a battery, battery case and a new light bar as a donation to the fishing cause! I was determined to take that boat that weekend.  We did a lot of sweating.  I guess we call it sweat equity?

What did I learn from this adventure?

1. Know the chemicals you are using and wear gloves.  Lacquer thinner hurts!
2. Always wear safety glasses when using a sander! Luckily I have Oakley sunglasses that are ANSI rated!
3. Anti-skid paint takes a long time to dry when the relative humidity is 4 million %!