Story time... Anyone who has been boating for any length of time will know that boating is not a cheap pastime. Today I was running the video take over to OIW at the Christenson boat basin and on the way out of the marina with T-3, I heard the CG do a MARB, a Marine Assistance Request Broadcast, where they tell of a disabled boat near the I-5 bridge, a quick 2 minute run brings me alongside of a 19 foot runabout with two women and one 6 year old child aboard, just upstream of the lift span of the bridge. I take them in a side tow and ask what the boat problem is. The owner is messing with the ignition switch that is loose in the dash (spinning around) and the boat is making clicking noises like a dead battery. She describes how the boat would barely start at the ramp and then died once she went out in the channel. Im curious why anyone would leave the safety of the ramp dock, if the boat just barely started, its not like you can walk home. She went on to complain that she took the boat to a mechanic 3 years ago to fix all these things and was upset that it didnt run now. I suggested a more suitable maintenance schedule might be every year at least. Expensive, I know, but you can pay the mechanic, or you can pay me, either way, boating is expensive. We also talked about anchoring when things go wrong and having a suitable anchor, with at least 10 foot of chain and a minimum of 100 feet of line. Her anchor might have worked in Battle Ground lake. After I get the boat back onto the dock, I offer to help her put it on the trailer and she walks up to get the truck and trailer. She walks back in a few minutes and it seems that the truck battery was dead too. Should I mention that I towed the same boat last summer...? OY!
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 23:19:15 +0000