Air Temp 82F, Dewpoint 74F, Winds NE at 4 knots. Light swell.
We put a new lead acid battery in WILLOW and got some fresh gas with Merine StaBil added, time to take her out for a Functional Check Float (FCF). Lowered her cradle lift and headed towards the river looking for dolphin, they were either sleeping or were good at hide and seek. The motor ran great, water was flat once we left the bay and got into the river channel, so WILLOW stretched her legs and sped up to about 20 mph. We took a long sweeping turn past a townhouse we used to own and headed back to the pier. Florida outings are not lasting too long this time of year, heat index was already approaching 100F when we got everything put away.
The wooden lapstrake hull is holding up well, she needs a repaint some time in the next year as we are starting to see a few paint pops over fasteners that need attention. This paint was RustOleum Topside Oyster White, it's been our favorite Oyster White and it has been on the boat since 2014, with a lot of time in the Florida sun. I'm not sure if a more expensive paint would have held up longer, and I am not sure how many coats, primer, etc went on with this finish. So when it comes time to repaint we'll evaluate what colors are there and decide if we are going to use Topside again. We'd need a color just as beautiful to switch.
Bow lines. We like em. When we launch and retrieve I drive the tow vehicle and Skipper handles the lines. We have a nice long bow line, she grabs it before WILLOW goes in the water and then she can stand clear of the vehicle and trailer. At our ramp next door she has enough bow line to walk over to the dock and tug WILLOW behind her while I park the trailer, bow line is probably 18 feet long or so. We have also found a long bow line handy for different docks, plenty of room to get to cleats and some left over to act as a spring line. We also have 4 other dock lines on board, 2 aft and 2 amidships. We normally don't need them but don't like not having them.
We are also confused by the number of boats that we see launch next door that don't have lines, or boat hooks, people do some strange acrobatics to try and keep control of their boats next to the ramp and dock, many times dangerous stunts. We saw a young woman trying to fend a boat off the pier recently, no lines, no boat hooks, all she had was her arms and legs. She actually fell in and hit the boat with her head on the way down, luckily a glancing blow. ANd talk about acrobatics, you should see the lengths people go to to keep from getting their feet wet, climbing in and out of truck beds, over bumpers, across wet trailer tongues, up and over bows.....people, just bring a towel and some ramp shoes!
The Suzuki 25 still runs great. We are on the list to get some Preventitive Maintenance done in a few weeks, oil change, impeller replacement and we are going to maybe get an On/Off switch put on the battery box.
She's looking pretty good for age 61.
Log of WILLOW.
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