Boat Day

I called this post boat day but that is misleading. For one thing I bought the boats months ago as you know. I also took possession and looked at before. Today was really the day that I (emphasis on I) took control of the boat. Previously it was Big T moving it and the shop making moves on it. Now it’s real, now it’s mine. It’s not just a moment in time for me, I’ve long said that I consider owning a boat to be a sign of success. When the inevitable eyebrow of the questioner raises to that assertion I am obligated to explain that they are completely frivolous, very costly and overall a nuisance. They are expensive to run, to maintain and to store. Take up lots time and effort too. You can’t really enjoy a boat unless you have both time and money and I knew that I would have to be in a place with extra of both to get one. So here I am, a real boat owner.

I bought an older boat with a lot of work needed, a true fixer upper. The sale price was reasonable and I have the opportunity to take the “blank canvas” in the direction I want. I’ve got some plans in mind and long lead time to enact them. This gives me a nice project to work on in the winter months. I’ve already made a considerable investment to this point and I’m just picking it up. I will try to give a bit of an accounting of what I’ve done, bought, and am planning here and possibly on YouTube if I can figure out moving video and editing. So let start back at the start. I bought the boat, motor, trailer from a relative, sight unseen back in June. The Big T hauled it home before bringing it to a shop that I arranged. It sat there for a couple of months as they worked on it and waited for parts. I’ll try and pull together a cost table at some point to list out everything. But for the quick story, that was to get the motor operational. And a new fuel tank, a very small one at that. In the meantime, I bought all the required safety equipment and a cover for the boat, which was all expensive. I mentioned that I invested in a winch and jack previously too. So even before I got it, I had a decent investment on top of the purchase price.

The first priority now is to get the trailer up and running in a safe and legal fashion. First move was to replace the rusted old winch with the new one. I decided to paint the spot black now since I have no plans to remove the winch later. The debate is raging on what colour to paint the trailer overall but this piece is black. So in day one I started cleaning where the number will go and preparing to replace the winch. I’ll try and give more updates as we go.

The other story of the day is that I worked all day. I didn’t go for the boat until late afternoon. I was on my computer at half past seven in the morning and went until after three in the afternoon. It was a productive day. This allowed me to save a day of vacation, mostly because there were already a number of important meetings scheduled. Work turned into the boat adventure. Some sketchy steps were taking in the retrieval but I’ll elaborate on those later if I choose to. I was treated to some delicious homemade soup for lunch and we had an excellent dinner. My day ended in triumph also, there was a cricket chirping all afternoon while I tried to work and then again towards bedtime. I was able to search it out and end it. Peace was restored once more to the basement realm.