Preparing for the maiden voyage.... Well.... not really.
I have had her in the water twice before, each time to adjust the trailer, and of them only once did I actually get on the boat to test lower the centerboard.
Then as I look at the hull, she has definitely been used before, she has a number of repairs from previous damage spots, so someone has sailed her before, so this couldn't be the maiden voyage -- but it was for us.
After burning my fingers enough, and worring about catching the gas or boat on fire, I am looking for a viable alternative to cooking on a small boat. At last year's palacios raid, John Cody shows up and when I asked him where his stove was, he smiled and offered me an oreo. He and his son just brought "open and eat" food. Dang, that is such a simple idea (why didn't I think of that?) - and my kids are always spoiling their dinner by having too many snacks, wonder what they would think of just eating snacks all weekend?
So I moseyed on down to the grocery store and picked up a bunch of stuff that I thought the kids would like to eat. They have so many friends come over and eat snacks, that I am sure the food won't go to waste. They took turns, each putting one item into the food bucket till it was 2/3 full. At that point, we had enough food for a month.
Huntsville State Park is a nice family campground that is very cheap to get in.
Only cost me $3 for a day use pass, the kids were free, and an additional $2 for overnight fishing pass.
Since we were sleeping on the boat, we didn't need to reserve a campsite.
They only have one ramp, and here it is. Wasn't sure if I would have enough depth to launch, or would have to do the disconnect and push trick, but I was able to launch just fine, didn't even have to bubble the tail pipe.
I know that she is 19' long, and looks really big on the trailer, but feels as simple and easy as a little dinghy.
Motoring out, the lake regulations state that you can only use a motor at idle speed.
This regulation is the reason we were out here, being labor day weekend, I won't go near the big patches of water because of all the drunken power boaters.
I only had enough time to chlorox and clean one side of the boat, the other side is fairly disgusting still.
Figured it would be better to go sailing and sit on one half of the cockpit, than to spend another good weather weekend at home working on the boat.
Look girls, there is the beach !!!
Thank you, thank you...
We briefly anchored out in the middle of the lake and changed into our bathing suits. And used the potti.
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