Not a Good Boating Day

 

We brought the boat home Friday night after a water test out in the open waters.  It ran just fine then, of course.

Saturday morning, we loaded the boat and hauled it a few miles to Bahia Honda State Park.  We had a little trouble in the parking lot because a huge boat was straddling three trailer parking spaces, making it difficult for us to find a place to turn around to back into the water, and then to park the truck and trailer.

We finally got the boat into the water and I waited with the boat while Al parked the trailer.

He got into the boat, turned the key and it turned over, but wouldn’t start!   What????   This is a brand new motor and it ran fine the day before. Nothing he did seemed to help.

Finally two seemingly knowledgeable men came over to offer their suggestions.

One guy came onto the boat dock in a walker with wheels and a chair for him to sit.  I was a little worried he would roll off the dock and into the water, so I kept a close eye on him, as he appeared to be a bit frail.  He seemed to know about boat motors and offered a few suggestions. Before I knew it, he got up from the chair portion of his walker and got down into the boat.  He seemed to be very mobile, which surprised me.  He took the engine cowling off and did a few things, but still couldn’t get the engine to start.

We called David at Markey’s Marine, where we bought the motor, but he couldn’t offer any suggestions and was baffled at what the problem could be.

He offered to send someone to pick up the boat, but we decided to wait until Tuesday.   They are closed Sunday and Monday, and wouldn’t be able to work on it until Tuesday.  It it’s home, Al could do some work on it that he’s been wanting to do.  We’ll either tow it back to Key Largo on Tuesday, or let them pick it up.  They assured us they would check it our right away.

We were disappointed, but not angry. It was a beautiful boating day, but stuff happens and we are confident David will make things right.  We hope it’s something minor.

In the scheme of things a brand new boat motor that won’t start is a minor inconvenience.  The man who helped us with the walker has much worse problems.  He told me that he had been diagnosed with spinal cancer and that his life changed dramatically last year.   He was a nice man and I felt really bad that he was dealing with cancer.   If you’re so inclined, please say a little prayer for him.

So…..that’s how our first day “boating” went.   

 

No boating today, but we did go into Key West and did a little sightseeing and stopped at the botanical gardens.  No boating, but we found plenty to occupy our time.

Check out this interesting kayak.  This couple that own this kayak, remind me of Merikay and Craig.