June 17, 2011.

We woke up to a really high windblown tide this morning.

Just some random photos from around the yard. There were some performance issues. This might be the first tune up ever done with a barnacle scraper….

The Savages are in town and having their bottom fancied up.

I love our hard dodger and bimini but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the beauty of someone elses. My photo doesn’t do justice to the size of this enclosure. Four people can be seated under the dodger with protection from the elements……really nice.

I had the opportunity to do some extensive work on a small Bayliner Bowrider this week. The guy has a boat lift in his backyard and he decided to save some coin and winterize his boat himself. It’s a pretty simple boat as far as systems go so he accomplished his task successfully except for one small detail. He forgot to pull the plug out of the transom. The devil is in the details.

This left the boat sitting up on the lift with no path for the rain and snow to drain off. The bilge pumps float switch failed, there was no divine intervention on the bilge pumps behalf and the boat filled up like a fishbowl.

Enter me.

At its height the water rose half way up the engine block.

There was a distinct high water mark throughout the boat. The battery, the alternator, the starter, the starter wiring, the bilge pump float switch and the hydraulic pump for adjusting the outdrive were all destroyed.

The corrosion really ran amok when the water rose high enough to get the starter cable under water. Entire pieces of wire were reduced to a piece of insulation sitting in the bottom of the bilge with no evidence of them ever having been attached to anything.

I replaced the battery and then pumped the bilge dry. At that point I realized that there was no battery switch in the boat. I had no idea that you could actually buy a boat in the states that doesn’t have a way to shut off the batteries. The owner seemed surprised that boats ought to have a battery switch but after weighing the benefits he quickly approved the installation of one. Then came the new alternator and starter and their associated wiring.

A new float switch had the bilge pump working again followed by the new hydraulic pump.

There were a few hours of “chase the intermittent problem” as I removed rotted wire and corroded connections.

After several hours chasing electrical gremlins the boat fired right up and purred like a kitten. So the owner is once again off enjoying the water although wiser for the experience. I guarantee that he NEVER forgets the drain plug again. And if he winterizes his boat himself for the next 9 years he’ll just about break even from the first time he winterized his boat. The devil is in the details…..