New Boat – continued, New Truck

Well, we got back the next week and the salesman warily loaded us up, backed into the lake, and off we went. It was great. The boat performed like a dream. It turned when told to, went fast, went slow, didn’t overheat, everything was great. We hooked up our now tiny Explorer (it had been our “big” vehicle up ‘til the day we saw it hooked up to the new boat), and started the long and winding road home – I promise that is the last time I’ll use that phrase for awhile. We were pleasantly surprised that the Explorer pulled the boat all the way home without a hitch (besides the one it was hooked to), even up our mountain. Next began the 5 year process to get her outfitted just the way we like her. That is an educated prediction – it took us about 5 years to get the previous boat just the way we wanted it, then we sold it.

We cleaned it within an inch of my life (see previous blog – elbow injury occurred while cleaning boat), then started the overhaul. Currently, the outside seats have brand new vinyl, the inside cushions have all been unstuffed, washed, restuffed and restitched where necessary. The trailer has been revamped to better fit the boat – they weren’t made for each other. New radio and cup holders have been installed. And new carpet is here, but not yet installed.

We actually took it out twice with the Explorer - once in December and once in January. The first time, no real problems, but the second time, I had trouble pulling it out of the water, even in 4-wheel drive. Later that same week, I had to drive the Explorer to work to pick something up bigger than our other cars could carry. It was acting funny. It didn't seem to want to go into reverse at lunch. Again, in my parking lot at work it hesitated before going into reverse, and again for drive. I handed her over to Hubby after work, and it did the same thing to him. Transmission was dying. In the past, Hubby had two different transmissions rebuilt, and neither one lasted more than six months. We had a friend recommend a particular shop and called for quotes. $2000 to rebuild the transmission - OUCH. We decided $2000 would go a long way toward the purchase of a bigger stronger towing vehicle and started shopping. We found several junkers in our price range, and three times, we found what we thought would be a great truck online, only to call and find out it had just been sold. Then, Hubby found the greatest truck online just up the road in Cleveland. I called and talked to a salesman and got a preliminary value on trading in the Explorer (yes I told him about the failing transmission) so off we went on Saturday to look it over. Long story short, the truck was in great condition, the Explorer made it all the way to the dealer even with the faulty transmission, and we left with the truck without breaking the bank. While it isn't a supersized truck by any means, it's big enough to pull the boat and we are very happy. Ram 2500 4 x 4 by the way.

New Boat

A few months ago, Hubby and I began looking at new (to us) boats. We have had a center console high sided fishing boat for the past 5 years, and thought we might be ready to try something new. At first, we were looking for a cuddy cabin boat with walk-around deck, but we weren't finding any used ones for sale anywhere near where we live. Next we began looking at other cuddy cabins with a long back deck to allow plenty of room for fishing. In October, we found a place near Lake Lanier in Georgia that had dozens of used boats for sale (Marine Liquidators if you are in the market for a new to you boat). So, even though it was a long and winding road, we decided to trek down there for a look around. We had seen one particular boat that we thought might do the trick, but knew they had several in the same category. We found the one in question, and three or four more like her, all with minor flaws, but not too bad. We crawled up onto the decks - which was a pretty big feat since they had boats stacked almost on top of each other with little room between - and down into the cuddy cabins. Once inside, I could usually lay down comfortably, but would never be able to sit up in bed without hitting my head. Hubby is considerably larger than I am and had to kind of wriggle into place to get in a position where he might could sleep. He's quite tall, so his legs hung off the end of almost every berth. We looked around a bit more, asked about prices on a couple of boats, and decided to go to lunch to talk about our options. We were worried about the closeness of the cabins, plus the amount of work needed to make each boat lake-worthy. We came back from lunch to take another look, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught another glimpse of this beautiful red and white cruiser I had noticed all morning. Hubby had told me many times before, and today as well that cruisers were not the kind of boat he wanted...not enough fishing deck. I knew we would never get it, but just wanted to see what it was like inside - it seemed huge from the outside and I was curious. I started climbing up the back onto the deck, and Hubby followed. The deck was pretty nice, two tiered with a captains seat, side passenger seat, and open back area about 3' by 6'. As I opened the cabin entrance and started down the stairs (yes stairs), I was astounded by how roomy it was. The cabin included the largest v-berth we had seen that day, plus a sort of 'fridge, alcohol burner and sink for a kitchen area, as well as a bathroom complete with marine head and shower. Also, the area under the main captain's post on deck was a small aft cabin behind the stairs complete with closet area with hanging rod. The v-berth converts by day to a couch and love seat. We sat down and had plenty of head room. I didn't even have to bend over to walk through the cabin, though Hubby did. The long side of the v-berth was actually long enough for hubby to completely stretch out in, while the short side was perfect for me. We both fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Out we crawled again to talk to the salesman. Surprisingly, the price was within our range. Just to be sure, we crawled back in one of the traditional cuddy cabins - we were sure. We placed a hold on the boat and drove back home to clean up our old boat for sale, call the credit union and start making plans. The only thing we weren't sure of was how it would run. They had cranked it up for us, but we wanted to be sure it worked well. We called the salesman and made arrangements to have him take us out on the lake the next weekend and test drive it before making our final purchase decision. Back down the long and winding road again we went that day. They had the boat all hooked up for us and ready to go to the lake. We rode over, put the boat in the water, started her up and listened to the purr of the engine (260 Mercruiser I/O). It sounded great. The salesman pulled out into the lake, past the no wake zone, and let her rip...for about 5 minutes, then she shut down overheated. We slowed her down a bit, the temp hand cooled off, and we started off again. Now Hubby took a turn at the wheel. We got her going again for about 3 minutes, then she overheated and shut down again. At this point, the salesman, who is also a boat mechanic, decided it was a bad impeller in the foot and said he and the other mechanic could fix her very quickly. We went back to the shop and Hubby and I went to lunch while they replaced the foot and the impeller. Back to the lake we went, loaded her in and started her up. The engine started up great and off we went, but the boat seemed to be heading off to one side on its own. The salesman tried to turn the other way, but the boat just turned in circles. No matter what we did, we could only turn one way and we couldn't go straight. After a long while, another gentleman came along in a boat and towed us back to the boat ramp. The salesman and mechanic determined that the steering rack had died and said maybe they had one back at the shop. They did, and they worked like Trojans to install it (this actually took a long time), but eventually we were back on the way to the lake. As dusk began to fall, we climbed aboard one more time and took off from the ramp. Everything ran great for about 5 minutes, then the boat overheated and shut off. I thought the poor salesman would jump overboard, but he just threw up his hands and said "I quit". Then he crawled into the motor bay one more time and determined that the overheat was being caused by a busted hose on the engine. He cussed a bit, but we asked if it could be fixed, he said yes, but it would take a week. We told him we still wanted the boat if they could fix it, so he took it back to the shop and assured us it would be ready the next week. At that point, he headed off for a very late birthday get together with his daughter (I felt terrible for making him late), and Hubby and I headed back home up the long and winding road.

I'll write more about the boat next week, but won't keep you in suspense - we bought the boat the next week.