Why do you head for the water?

Even though the barge is out of commission for now, we are hoping to make the best of the time available this season.  Instead of getting underway, the family and I will be hanging out at the marina pool and kicking back with our slip neighbors this weekend.

We head for the water looking for an adventure.  Folks take to the water for many reasons; some look to relax and unwind.  One of my acquaintances tells me he uses his cruiser to watch NASCAR races over satellite TV!  Others buy or build a fast craft and live for the rush of a rough ride at high speed. Of course, a large number of boaters use their craft to pursue fish in salt water or lakes and rivers.

As before, we use our boat for adventures, but nothing dangerous or risky.  Simply going to the same cove to party every time would be fun once or twice, and boring after that.  Same with fishing or other activities – we need a change of scenery!  Sometimes we anchor offshore and swim, sometimes the fishing is a bit more serious.  Still, changing locations is a big part of our boat use.  After all, some places have bald eagles, some don’t…another place we visit has great fishing on an incoming tide, but after it begins to turn, forget it!

So, what about you and your crew?  Why do you take to the water?  Do you and the others you go with have the same ideas about what is fun on a boat?  Feel free to share in the comments!

Stranded yet again!

After a long time and a few false starts, the carburetor rebuild is complete and the engine allegedly runs fine.  Saturday last I went to the boat in the slip and she fired right up, idled normally and sounded and looked good.  I gave it a good cleaning and applied protectant to the vinyl seats.  I finished about 30  minutes before the skies opened and a thunderstorms passed through quickly.

I decided to wait out the storm in the marina store, talking with the dock master.  "So, did you find out why your boat was sinking?" they asked.  What?  My boat was sinking? When was this?

Apparently the week prior, during rainstorms on back to back days, the engine compartment filled about halfway and the repair techs pumped it out the day after.  The boat was never in any danger of sinking, since the engine compartment is separate from the pontoons, which are foam-filled and have their own auto bilge pumps.  So, why didn't the pump in the engine compartment do the job? And why didn't anyone tell me?

Most pontoon boats use outboard engines for power like the one pictured above, but mine has an inboard/outdrive, or I/O powerplant.  Here is the engine compartment after the old engine was removed during the repower three years ago...

A quick call to the service folks revealed that answer..."somehow" during the testing of the carb repairs, the battery was cranked until it died.  That left the battery with no juice to run the bilge pump.  I put the battery on a charger, but it was too far gone.  I replaced the dead battery with a new marine cranking battery; the boat started right up and ran great at the slip, so I gave my beautiful wife the go ahead to go for a ride after church.

We loaded our gear and bait, and the boat started up after a short squeak when I first hit the switch.  We headed down river, the engine running fine except for not reaching max RPM, about 800 short.  The boat hit 3600 RPM at a little more than 3/4 throttle, but advancing the lever produced no increase in power.  That could wait until we got back, as it was likely just an adjustment and we seldom use that much power and gas.

Anchoring was uneventful as the boat idled beautifully.  We swam and fished for about three hours and decided to call it a day as the skies darkened with approaching storm clouds.  I aired out the bilges, turned the key and...SKREEEEECH and nothing.  The battery was fine, but the starter was locked up. 

After a try with a booster pack, the starter was declared dead, and a slow tow home had us back in the slip before the storms arrived.

More on this later as we investigate the flooding and what killed the starter.

At last, it's fixed...we hope!

FINALLY, the shop owner says the barge is ready to run...looks like we will have some adventures this weekend!!