The ice went out on my lake!!! YAAAYYYYY
But unfortunately, I have to make at least one repair on the boat before it goes back in. In the fall, pulling one of the drain plugs, it didn’t so much un-thread as “fall out in my hand in a pile of rust and corrosion.” It’s not a salt water boat, but I guess maybe this plug hadn’t really been out in a while, or ever. I was trying to be thorough. Now over the winter I purchased a new plug along with a proper thread tap, and have to put both to work (hoping I got the sizes right) before I have any hopes of the above image.
Also, to be fair, it’s still REALLY cold out on the lake. Even if it’s 65 on land, the water is still super cold and therefore the air around the lake is cold, especially with a breeze. So logically, I should wait. But man, I just really want to get out there.
Of course, I also have a long list of things I *should* do before launching the boat. This happens every fall, when I put the boat away; I create a “spring punchlist” of all the stuff I notice when winterizing. I diligently write it down and source parts so that come spring, I’m ready to rock and roll.
What actually happens is, we get a nice weekend and I say “f-it” and skip over ALL the non-essential items, and just launch the boat.
This is a recipe for trouble, though, because one of the things that made my last boat so reliable was my obsessive preventative maintenance. I intend to keep this boat up in the same way, because our time out there is precious. I can’t be spending hours tinkering with a run issue out in the middle of the lake on a Saturday when the kids are tired and hungry and the sun is setting. Nope, not doing that.
Two years ago I took a day off work and spent 6 hours straight doing punchlist things on the boat. I’ll probably have to do the same this year, based on my list.
Anyway, hopefully soon.