Stone from July, 2009

Old Thursday Stone from July, 2009:

1. background: I have a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport. It is slightly smaller than a 4 door Explorer and is a bit light in the loafers, that is, this is not a heavy car; it doesn't have 4 wheel drive. It is perfect to pull behind our motorhome. 8 years old and 67K miles on it. but, it is not heavy....or strong....

2. I have this pontoon boat. When the water level in our lake started down last summer (2008), we pulled the boat out of the water. That was sometime in late August, I believe. We have not been in the water since that time - lake level is low.

3. With son Roger and family here and the Dock finished, we oil and greased up da boat. We attached the boat trailer to our little white car.

4. Our housing development area has a boat launch area, concreted.

5. Off we went to put the boat in the water. Rog & I backed the trailer into the water; Roger aboard the boat to drive it up to the house; me in the car. When the car's back tires hit the water's edge, I had only 12 inches of concrete slab left before falling into the mud with the car.

6. The lake is down about 4 to 5 feet. The trailer was in the water but the boat was not immersed at all. Obviously this wasn't working. I put the car in forward & applied the gas. The wheels sat and spinned - I thought I felt a little sliding towards the water. I am in trouble. I put down the car windows and unlocked the doors just in case I needed to swim out. Roger climbed off the boat through the car's back window & tried to push on the car for better traction. Nothing worked.

7. I called the wife. She hurried with the Marauder. I took a yellow rope and tied the two together. Yellow is a distress color, isn't it? Roger climbed in the black car & I in the little white car. He applied gas as I did the same. Slowly, ever so slowly, we started moving up the ramp, trailer and boat following suit. We made it up and out of the water. The boat wheels were covered in sticky mud.
Roger commented that, when told to barely apply gas in order to minimize slipping tires and both cars slipping slowly into the lake (backwards), the Marauder doesn't do anything slowly - it is either stopped or racing to the moon. But it worked.
A neighbor came over and pointed us towards a lake ramp (free & not covered in mud). We drove over there, my wife and the Marauder following dutifully. The other ramp was less steep and was much longer. So the boat is in the water waiting for passengers.
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I was glad Roger & family decided to stay a couple of days. He installed two ceiling fans on the back porch. him a good boy.
His wife Penney helped the wife this morning scrub down the boat - 9 months of gunk collecting under a boat cover. her'm a good girl too. Mtz