Hello Gents,
The launch of the boat took place last weekend. If you told me that I would be launching the boat in October I would have told you that you were crazy, however that is what happened. The weather was surprising warm and sunny most of the four days we were at the lake. Here are the pictures:
We arrived at my friend Spencer's cottage on The Lake of Woods in Ontario. This is the morning of the launch, we are just getting the boat ready to take to the boat launch.
At the boat launch doing final preps. Making sure everything is ready to go.
Me climbing into the boat for the big event!
And splashed for the first time in four years. It felt pretty good.
The passenger is Spencer and the pilot to get me back to the cottage. I didn't mount the fish finder yet, nor did I bring my trolling motor. This trip was just meant to get the boat in the water and see what it could do.
Safe arrival back at the cottage. The boat ran well, but the idle was a bit low. Gordie played around with it and got the idle setup. You can see Spencer's 21' Lund and his pontoon boat.
Nice picture taken from the pontoon boat. I think she looks great!
The four of us went out for a quick rip. That's Gordie in the bow. My son Garrett is taking the pics and Spencer is guiding us safely on the water. With four adult males in the boat I was able to get it up to a top speed of 32 mph.
The 60 was running like a champ!
One of the nice things about launching in the fall were the colours. It was amazing, and the water was very smooth. Odd to be wearing T shirts and shorts in October.
I had to get one night shot in. I Love the deck lighting!
We ended up going fishing the next day anyway. Spencer's son Pierce came out on the Friday, so we took the Lund and my boat out the next day. We dropped anchor in a calm bay (about 12' deep) with the sun bearing down on us, it was a beautiful day.
Gordie up on the bow, shoes off enjoying himself. We got our limit in about two and half hours. All Walleye.
The live well worked like a charm, however I forgot to mount a screen on the aerator pump intake. The fish kept getting to stuck to it when I turned it on. It was actually pretty funny, one the walleye got his face sucked into it.
This is the end of the fishing day, and it was truly a great day. The boat worked as planned and we both got our limit! Note that the nav lights are working.
A great four days. I still have things to do to the boat like the fish finder and wiring for the trolling motor, but I am more than happy with how things turned out.
I want to thank everyone on here that have helped me along the way with this project. I really appreciate the support and advice with the restoration.
I was also fortunate enough to meet Budski and his son John, both of whom were a great help with the boat and trailer. Naturally my neighbor Gordie, who was a regular fixture in the garage whenever I was in the there playing around on the boat. It was usually a good excuse to have a couple of beers.
There will be more posts once I get around to doing the finishing touches on the boat. Thanks again everyone, cheers!
FIGMO
