The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
The last day of lobster season was gorgeous. My son and I prepped my boat the day before, checking fluids and making sure it ran perfectly. We installed 150 Qt cooler just behind the Captain's chairs, both for being able to take cold stuff as well as it being the perfect seat. I have put a lot of time and effort into this boat but it had yet to make it's first dive trip. This was going to be fun and I asked LowVizWiz to come out on the boat. It's always good to have someone who's amicable and that you can trust when you do something for the first time.
We planned to leave my house @ nine-ish and Wiz was there early. First we extricated the boat from the back yard. It's a rather tight fit. Then we finished loading the boat and we all piled into my Honda Ridgeline for the short trip to Pennekamp. I had planned that we would take the back route to Garden Cove and then head out to Cary's Ft. We could lobster on the way there and back but not in the SPA itself. I've only been there once on the deep side, and I wanted to go explore some more.
The launching was easy. We were in the water in a thrice. The engine started up and all systems were a "go". The ride through the mangroves was awesome, I was fiddling with the GPS and Wiz had to remind me to steer clear of the hidden hazards, like the shore. :shocked2: Yes, we were having fun and the boat was running well. I did stray off the channel at one point and we bumped bottom, but we were moving very slow and nothing got fouled. We did the slalom course coming out of Garden Cove and were about a mile past the concrete barge when we all heard a change in the engine's timbre. We were cruising @25 knots @4,000 rpm, so I backed it off and checked gauges. YIKES, the temp gauge was pegged. I turned off the engine, pulled the engine cover and checked things out. The oil was still clear, but you could really feel the heat coming off of the engine. I put on my new fins and splashed. Perhaps that small bump fouled the intake or dislodged the rough water pick up. That all checked out, so since it had been 10/15 minutes, I had my son put it in neutral and start the engine. It started right up and sounded healthy, though I noticed a bit of oil discharge through the exhaust. Within a minute I heard what sounded like steam and I had my son turn the engine off.
Wiz called Sea Tow on his phone. 20 minutes later Captain Mike showed up and we rode back in. Here's the fun part. I never felt that my day was ruined, and I don't think my son or Wiz felt that way either. We laughed and had a great time during the entire process. We enjoyed the ride back to the park and at one point, Capt Mike hooked us up side by side so we got to talk with him. We found out a lot about what happened on the Get Wet though there was a good portion he could not talk about. We saw a few dolphin as we cruised in and I saw a manatee tail break in between a bunch of weekend warriors who I am sure never knew how close their props came to hitting it. Retrieving the boat was just as simple as launching and later today I am going to diagnose the overheating problem. I think it's the head gasket although Capt Mike thinks it's the exhaust manifold.
We planned to leave my house @ nine-ish and Wiz was there early. First we extricated the boat from the back yard. It's a rather tight fit. Then we finished loading the boat and we all piled into my Honda Ridgeline for the short trip to Pennekamp. I had planned that we would take the back route to Garden Cove and then head out to Cary's Ft. We could lobster on the way there and back but not in the SPA itself. I've only been there once on the deep side, and I wanted to go explore some more.
The launching was easy. We were in the water in a thrice. The engine started up and all systems were a "go". The ride through the mangroves was awesome, I was fiddling with the GPS and Wiz had to remind me to steer clear of the hidden hazards, like the shore. :shocked2: Yes, we were having fun and the boat was running well. I did stray off the channel at one point and we bumped bottom, but we were moving very slow and nothing got fouled. We did the slalom course coming out of Garden Cove and were about a mile past the concrete barge when we all heard a change in the engine's timbre. We were cruising @25 knots @4,000 rpm, so I backed it off and checked gauges. YIKES, the temp gauge was pegged. I turned off the engine, pulled the engine cover and checked things out. The oil was still clear, but you could really feel the heat coming off of the engine. I put on my new fins and splashed. Perhaps that small bump fouled the intake or dislodged the rough water pick up. That all checked out, so since it had been 10/15 minutes, I had my son put it in neutral and start the engine. It started right up and sounded healthy, though I noticed a bit of oil discharge through the exhaust. Within a minute I heard what sounded like steam and I had my son turn the engine off.
Wiz called Sea Tow on his phone. 20 minutes later Captain Mike showed up and we rode back in. Here's the fun part. I never felt that my day was ruined, and I don't think my son or Wiz felt that way either. We laughed and had a great time during the entire process. We enjoyed the ride back to the park and at one point, Capt Mike hooked us up side by side so we got to talk with him. We found out a lot about what happened on the Get Wet though there was a good portion he could not talk about. We saw a few dolphin as we cruised in and I saw a manatee tail break in between a bunch of weekend warriors who I am sure never knew how close their props came to hitting it. Retrieving the boat was just as simple as launching and later today I am going to diagnose the overheating problem. I think it's the head gasket although Capt Mike thinks it's the exhaust manifold.
