The best laid plans...

I had a plan: get the boat out of storage today.  I would call it a reasonable plan.  We drove out to our storage unit, pulled the motorhome out, got the boat ready to roll, and hooked up the trailer.

A 20mph headwind on the way home.  Typical.  I filled up the gas tank on the way home, and we parked the boat in the driveway.  While Joan went in the house to fix some lunch, I started getting the boat ready to go back in the water.  I hooked the hose to the outboard flushing ears, turned on the water, and climbed up into the boat to fire it up - started right up and purred like a kitten.  Well, a really loud kitten, because the exhaust is muted by the water when the boat is in the water.  On land, it sounds more like a airplane with straight pipes.  But, the important take-away: it fired right up and ran fine.

I let it run for a while, then turned off the motor, climbed down and turned off the water.  One last thing to check: the steering.  With mechanical steering, I can generally pull the motor side to side by hand when standing by it.  It didn't budge.  I lube the steering bar once a month or so, and make sure it is turning smooth when we put the boat away.  It was.  This isn't the steering bar, so more than likely it is an issue with the SeaStar mechanical steering cable.

I guess we will find out if this is covered by our "10 year warranty".  The first the dealer can get me in is Thursday morning.  So, the dolphins will have to wait for a few days.

We did, however see a couple dolphins on our way out to our storage unit when we got stopped at the bridge to get off our island by a tug pushing 4 barges inbound for the Port of Brownsville.

The dolphins were right by that piling in the right center of the bottom photo.  No, not in that photo, but that's where we saw them.

Yeah, I miss seeing those dolphins.

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As long as it's just sitting there...

It has been over 3 years since we had the pontoon bottom painted.  Living in the water while we're home, and going in and out of the water several times each year, I am pleased with that.  I was thinking I'd get the boat bottom painted again this season, but with all the "non-essential" stuff with the pandemic, we have stayed home.

Most of the wear in the bottom paint is right at the water line and at the back of the pontoons (where the afternoon sun gets to it)... I decided to get the bit of paint I had left and do a "touch up" on it in the driveway.    I didn't put it on thick, but it should help for the time we'll have it in the water.