Water Ride

So, where did we leave off with the story of Rick's new boating purchase? Oh, yes. Last we heard, the original shipper was arrested and making arrangements to get the boat up here through a secondary shipper. To get the first part of the story, click here. And click on his official title for a great picture of Capitan Rick.
Anyway, about two weeks ago, Rick finally got his boat up here. On the first day, he offered to take me aboard. So, we cleaned up a bit here and there and then noticed that there was a scratch on the port side of the boat. The boat had gone through so many hands in the past few days, you would think that it was a dollar bill. So, who do you blame?
But, why focus on that when you have a sweet yacht at your disposal?! So, we gave it a quick spit polish and then went off to get the license sticker. Much like a car, you need a license sticker in order to operate it.
So, we go to one place that is closed. Then another where the guy didn't seem to
know what he was doing. Finally a third place where they told us that Rick needed a registration card. In order to have a registration card, he needed to prove that he had paid the taxes on the boat. In order to prove that he needed to contact his next of kin, do the Hokey Pokey and guess how many beans there were in the jar on the counter. (That's an actual picture of the boat on the right!)
We were told that Rick needed to move the to a different spot, because the spot he was in at the time was for loading and unloading boats in the water. So we turned the keys. Nothing. Other engine? Nothing. Maybe the batteries needed to be charged. Nope they were both dead. So, with no stickers and no batteries, we were not going anywhere that day. But, at least things were cleaned up nicely and it looked pretty sweet.
Rick eventually bought new batteries and got the boat up and running. Moved it to the appropriate parking space (slip) and things were groovy. After waiting about a week and a half, Rick found out that the paperwork that he needed for the sticker, he had all along. The lady he had talked to about getting the sticker was just an idiot.
But, back to the fun stuff. Just this weekend, he went up there on a Saturday, spent the night and showed his relatives his new investment on Sunday. They were quite impressed.
So, yesterday, there were a few things that Rick wanted to get taken care of on his boat, so Andy, William and I offered our services to Rick. As soon as we got in, we untied the boat from the dock and were off. First things first, we needed to fill up the tank with gas. So, Rick dropped $500 in gas alone (Pretty rough, huh?!) while we helped by buying some beer, soda and whiskey. After we were stocked and set to go, it was time to open 'er up to see what she could do. Rick pushed the throttle and we took off. If you weren't expecting it, you could be pushed overboard. The force was that great. The pictures that you see were taken yesterday from the boat.
While the speed of the boat was being tested, I played Isaac and made drinks in the downstairs area. William was busy inflating the raft that he was about to enjoy. I took one look at the wake that was being made behind us and began to wonder about the safety of taking a raft out in it, but William was all about it and assured us that he was not insured, but of sound mind and body.
So, we slowed down. Dropped the raft in the water and tied it up to the boat. William jumped in, and it was go-time. The video here is an actual video taken yesterday with my phone of what happened. It is a bit deceiving because William did stay with the raft for quite a long time before the video was taken.

After two rides, that was about it for William, so Rick decided to just circle around the lake at high speeds and then began looking for a bar to dock at. The first one we came to was closing. The next one looked as if it were closed. We were well into the evening when we smelled something from the engines. They were over heating. So, William, being the trooper that he is, popped off the radiator caps and filled the radiators with water. Both were bone dry. Rick tried it again. We went a little way and then had to stop. This became our method of travel. Go about 2-3 blocks then stop. Have William fill up the radiators then wait. Once the temp. went down a bit, give it another shot.
Soon, probably out of frustration, William jumped out of the boat and tied a rope to his chest and began pulling the boat. The water wasn't that deep and he could touch bottom. This worked for a while and proved to be a quick solution to our problems. But, there is only so far that one can pull a 5 ton boat. I'm surprised that Rick didn't have oars for us in the cabin for us to row with on the way back in.
It was probably a good thing that William didn't pull it all the way in because, where Rick is docked, the water is pretty stagnant, and not the best to be wading in. It was 3:00 in the morning before we got the boat into the harbor. It was about 3:30 before we hit the road. We stopped to get some iced tea and once more for McDonald's and made it in about 4:40 this morning. I had my McGriddles and passed out around 5:00.
But, on the list today - buy swim trunks for the next ride on the raft. That looks like a heluva lot of fun. Who's with me?!