05 Oct 23:
WILLOW has not been in the water since 2021, right before she made the 900 mile haul from Florida to Virginia. We spent some time a few weeks back making sure she had fresh fuel, started, peed water, ran, etc... and was mostly free of spiders. We also had to get her Virginia registration and trailer plate.
The smart battery tender has done a good job keeping her battery topped off, and in order to do that we paid to have electrical run to the HEUER GARAGE, where WILLOW naps. We also tested the bilge pump and auto float switch.
We're not sure if this size Sorg had floorboards, we chose to not make any but added a sliding boarding floor amidships, shown retracted under the aft seat in this photo, so we'd have a flat spot to step on when coming aboard. WILLOW's middle and aft seatbacks also fold down.
We have to angle the boat just slightly to get her fit in the 12x20 HEUER GARAGE, with the pink tape on the floor being the guide points to park her. Today I was able to pull the trailer forward a foot, get the tongue centered over the midpoint of the shed floor and pull the rig straight out with our Ford Edge SUPER SANDY.
Plans are being drawn up to put in a bay window on the back wall, with enough space to host the outboard motor, that way WILLOW can roll straight back into the garage. We have widows left over from Sunfish Shack v2.0. We'll also be able to get some cross ventilation during the Summer.
Jones Creek launch, with a pause to see if she floats. She did, a few small leaks but no more than we experienced down in Florida. Our Learning Lesson today was that a boat hook in the boat does no good if it can't be reached, the boat hook needs to stay with the boat hooker. The fixed pier was a bit high for us, so Skipper commanded a slide to starboard and we climbed aboard from the floating pier. And now we know when we get King Tide, the water is up to the fixed pier and we could board from this side.
Since WILLOW didn't sink we went out for Sea Trials, a 30 minute recon of the creek. The Rescue, VA bridge is in the photo, a mile and half down creek from the ramp. Vertical clearance on Active Captain shows 17 feet, and there is a fun restaurant at the bridge.
Back up to the creek to the ramp, a fun mess about. We'll check it out again in a few weeks as the leaves turn, should be beautiful out there.
Marine Traffic Control Board updated.
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