I read Drive Camps post anticipating the weekend, and others posted there that they had similar plans.<br />Well lemme share my weekend of boating.<br /><br />First.. I signed on here a few weeks ago after buying a 19ft Manatee, with a 70 HP Merc... all '78 vintage. The motor did run fine, but was not enough for this boat.<br />I shopped around, posted here, tried Ebay... I ended up buying from a small local yard that deals in used boats and rebuilds engines.<br />I bought a 115 Merc. (tower of power just like Drive Camps... I bet that 15 ft boat scoots!!) Saddly the Mechs couldn't make it run right. THey tore it back down, tried again with a newer<br />style gasket set. No good. <br />That ended up I was with out my boat for almost three weeks, but they put on a differant 115, this with the upgrade of power tilt n trim at no extra cost.<br /><br />Last Thursday, they met me at the river, we launched and it was all good. <br />Sunday was my first day out.... and it was righteous. My boat bucks the heavy wind chop on the Columbia River just fine, scoots on calm water real well.... and the engine was smooth as a top.<br /><br />Monday, I went back out... this time I just anchored up and hung out. I waited for the wind to die, listened to some baseball. I got on my cell and bragged to some buddies... "hey, I'm on the RIVER!!"<br />I decided it was too windy for warm swimming, so I pulled anchor and headed upstream to a calmer channel off the the main part of the river. There I anchored up, used my new swim ladder <br />I'd made from PVC pipe (had to do something while my boat was in the shop).<br /><br />Well the afternoon wore on and I decided it was time to head back. Here is when the adventure begins. I started the engine to make sure it was fine, put my canvas back up,<br /> pulled my ladder, pulled the anchor and was set to motor.<br /><br />I jump in the drivers seat, put her in gear ... turn the wheel and nothing happens. I'd lost steering. Not sure what was up, I immediately climbed forward and threw my anchor back out<br />. Further assessment showed my steering cable's outer jacket had shattered like bamboo at the rear turn where it heads for the engine connection.<br />I will say, the steering seemed less than tight, but a boat isn't like a car and I really didn't realize it wasn't right.<br /><br />None the less. I was currently in a bad way, at least 20 minutes from the nearest harbor (never mind I'd launched 45 minutes or more down river).<br />TO make a long post short, I disconnected the steering mechanism, strapped an otherwise useless plastic oar to the 115, and used it as a tiller<br />to get back to the nearest dock. Getting through the waterways wasn't the issue... I wasn't sure how making a controlled landing at a dock was gonna<br />go. <br /><br />Alls well that ends well... I actually did a decent job of docking, albeit away from that harbors ramp. A local yatchman took his little 6' Avon and towed me around to <br />where I could recover my boat once the truck and trailer were at hand.<br /><br />So... there's my tale of being a new boat owner, out on the Labor Day Weekend.<br />How did your weekend go?
