I broke the #1 rule of boating.....

 Keep the water on the outside of the boat.....

The dark area of the carpet is the water line.

All right let me go back a little bit. This week I had everything ready for the maiden voyage, and instead

of running to Lake Michigan I decided to put in on my lake first. 

Really good move on my part....

So I went over and dropped the boat in on Tues.? After parking the truck I got to the boat and worked on starting the motor. A guy pulled in and backed down the launch and started his boat just to run the motor. We were talking while I tried to start my motor, it finally started. It definitely took longer than I would've liked but finally got it going. I untied backed out and started onto the lake. The boat was feeling a little weird, the steering was really sluggish. I looked back to see the motor and noticed my boat was filling with water😱😨. I wasn't that far out, I turned around and headed back to the dock. The guy was on the launch talking to a guy that was shore fishing. I tried to honk to get his attention but finally yelled, "I'm taking on water." He pulled his truck out, asked if the keys were in my truck, and which truck was mine. I got to the dock, and held on while he got my truck and backed it down the ramp. I slid back and over and loaded the boat. He connected the winch and winched me up. When I got out of the boat I went back to see where the water was coming out, it was coming out of the exfill for the livewell. As a matter of fact it was coming out just as fast as when I pulled the plug. 

WHEW..😒...

So now I've got an appointment to bring the boat to the Marina that fixed the gas leak to fix it again. Then when that's done I have to drive it to MI to another Marina to get the hose from the livewell fixed. I'm also hoping to have them check out the poor steering and see if they can fix that.

By the way the hose that leaked isn't the hose I drilled through and fixed......✋ nice try.

So, I'm not sure when I'll get my boat back😢, and when I do I'm going to raise my kicker up 3 or so inches, since it's already off the boat. 

One of my buddies, who now lives is Wis., (my boat guru) has a laser "engraver" sent this to me...

I thought it is pretty cool, I'm going to hang it on the wall.

I did get the battery situation all figured out and simplified but I have to pull 'em so the Marina can get to the access panel for the live well.

Here's the starting battery...

It's a little better than it was.....

On the bright side🌈🌄, the gold at the end of my rainbow is.... I got a call last week and someone turned in their draws for SD and Jake and I got them. 

I'll be SD bound in May to try for my Merriams.

 

Well......

 Honestly if I was starving and needed to go fishing to get some food.. that could be done. However as it sits I really need a couple days to one more week to get the boat completely locked up. So after seeing the weather for next week and the need to shoot my turkey gun.... I have made the executive decision to probably not fish and continue the work on the boat, and get over to the gun range. 

I was notified today that I did not get drawn for turkey this year, so same as last year. I'll try for no show's and a couple small chunks of public that don't need drawn for.

As for the boat I am redoing the battery hookups on both the starter and trolling.

I have no idea which hookup to hookup to which hookup. He really made this much harder than it should be.

 I also have to get the old hull numbers off and put new on. I got the boat registered and the registration sticker is here so that's all good to go. Really I don't have much to do to be ready, but I think I do need a couple more days.

Here's what I got done this week.

 

I spliced the water supply hose for my live well, that I drilled through while installing my rigger bases, last week. 

OOPS

I got my trailer guides finished and mounted.

And last but no least I got my kicker motor mounted and ran the trollmaster wire.

Is it kinda low.... yes

Does it still tilt up... no

Do I like either... not really

Is there another way around it... can't think of one 

So we'll put it in the water next week and see how it will work. If it's not catastrophic I plan on running it this year.

 if it needs changed?..... well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Runnin out of time

 Well, it's coming down to the wire with the last week in March next week. The good thing is I only have two more big projects to get done before I can get the boat out. I have to get the guides done on the trailer, I'm re-carpeting them, and I have to get my Kicker motor mounted on the boat. Which scares the heck out of me cuz I'm drilling holes in my boat, but this has to happen. No pics this week, got quite a bit done. I'll have a picture show next week, before the ShakeOut Cruise the first week of April. 👍

I think I should be able to make the first week of April. 🤞

Better at the destruction aspect

 I can prove it too....

picture of both taillights removed waiting for new (which I do have)

picture of one rail (the other is the same way) with everything removed and ready for install of rod holder tracks, rod tree track, downrigger base and stern rod holder bases.

outside of alot of stuff piled on my wheeler, the sides for my trailer that need re-carpeted (I do have the carpet) and I think I'm going to use new 2x4's also

Now keep in mind I do have all the necessary stuff to finish all these projects but I just really enjoy taking it all apart.... I guess if I have to give a reason it's because I can't screw it up during the demolition stage... 

I did get one thing done that I'm really happy with....

I got my big board reels off my mast and on the rails. Which will make deploying my boards much easier. I had to fab them to make it work but it was pretty easy.

 

So... next week I should be able to finish all the projects I started this week. I also had to order new tires because on the way home from the Marina I noticed one of the tires was really out of round. Fortunately it was just the tire and not the rim, or hub.

Have you ever heard...........Well, I went over budget but it will be worth it?

Yeah........

Workin' on the boat... need to clean the garage

 Going back and forth for tools to work on the boat, cleaning the garage would make it alot easier. However... Hold on there... getting the boat ready is first and foremost on the list. So, here's the progress....

yep I replaced that.... took 20 minutes

And I cleared both those rails, that took a minute also, considering the hunt time for tools.

 I'm not going to really do a whole lot to the set up until I fish it for a while. The next thing will be getting it outside to see where the Bimini will set so I can take that last track off, and start putting on rod holder track, and downrigger bases. Then I'll get into the taillights which need changed and I've got to replace some marker lights that are broken. With the weather taking a spring like turn next week I should be able to make some progress.