Eric’s Blog

After eight years of sitting on the trailer and not being used, we got the boat in the water this weekend!

The last time we used the boat, we’d taken her to the Pocomoke River just up the road from the house and ran her around, then we brought her back, and winterized her. That was when I’d just started working at CVW-3. I was a weekend Dad and on sea duty, so I didn’t have the time to run her like I wanted. Last year, I rebuilt the brakes, hubs, bearings, and tires on the trailer but while I was retiring from active duty, I still didn’t have the time I wanted to run her. For a time, I was contemplating selling her, but she’s paid off, so other than the insurance once a year, she really wasn’t costing me any money.

This year, Sarah asked me if we were going to run the boat and I made a commitment to her and to myself to get the boat running again. We brought her home from the storage unit she’d been sitting in and cleaned her up. It’s going to take some more effort than just once to get her back to that showroom look she had when we first bought her, but we have the time and the money now to bring her back to life.

I took stock of the mechanical and electrical parts that need replacing and tried to get them through West Marine. After an unsuccessful attempt to put after-market switches in the console, I found a Sea Ray dealer and ordered the OEM parts through them. I had them wired backward at first, so after blowing through a couple of fuses, I got everything replaced and properly connected. Good news, everything was working!

I replaced the fuel filter and put a can of Sea Foam in the tank. I also had to replace one of the light bulbs on the trailer, but it’s not quite right. The bulb I got will blink when the turn signal or hazard lights are on. And it will turn on when the breaks are pressed or the headlights are on, but it won’t do both. After filling up at the gas station next to work, we fired her up in the driveway and got her turning and burning! Next stop, Pocomoke River.

Adrianne and I had her out yesterday with no equipment on board except for the required safety gear. The kids always want to take all the toys along, but we just wanted a simple boat ride with minimal gear onboard. Now that we know the boat is running well, we’ll put a lot more of the gear onboard.

I was a little concerned about the temperature at first, it was up around 210, but after I hit the gas the impeller started drawing in cool water. The engine temperature lowered to 140 for the rest of the day. We ran her from Shad Landing to Snow Hill, MD, then down through Pocomoke City, and all the way out to the first few markers on the Chesapeake Bay. That’s when we drifted out of the channel and got stuck on a sandbar for about 20 minutes. We worked to get her off the sandbar and ran her back up through Pocomoke and recovered her at Shad Landing. We put about three more hours on the engine than we started with, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. We even saw a few bald eagles while we were on the river.

There’s still more work to do. She needs a coat of wax or two, I want to replace the bearing buddies on the trailer, along with the nose roller on the front of the trailer. The winch is in good shape, but there are some areas that could use a wire wheel and some oil. As far as the boat goes, I bought a marine radio and antenna I want to install, but that is going to take me some time to get it right. It will involve drilling into the hull and cutting out a spot next to the console for the radio to be mounted. I want to ensure the placement is correct before I do any cutting or drilling. I’m also not entirely sure I need the marine radio.

If we’re going to be on the bay, then, yes, we will need the radio. After our encounter with the sandbar, I’m not sure we should be going out on the bay. The channel is only 75 feet wide and only five feet deep leaving the Pocomoke River going into the bay. The sandbar we hit took a chunk out of my skeg and prop. I’m more comfortable in the deeper water of the river or a lake than I am in the ocean or bays of the Eastern Shore.

I’m looking forward to using her more. Gas prices are completely ridiculous right now but I’ve waited so long to be able to use the boat and we were all confined to our homes for the last two years, I’m not going to let expensive gas prices stop me now. It may not be a trip up and down the whole length of the river each time we go out, but we’re going to go our more than we did last year.