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New Boat - and not what you'd expect


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Some of you know about my health issues with the blood clots in my leg. They have resolved themselves, but I remain on blood thinners and have peripheral neuropathy in my right foot that is aggravated by sitting. So I stand all the time unless I can recline and almost lay flat. My foot is numb, which makes me clumsy for some reason, and occasionally gets that pins and needles feeling that drives me nuts. I have a lot of fatigue that the docs think is a reaction to the blood thinners, and I'm scheduled to go off of them in September, so perhaps that will change./

 

After giving my Weekender away to my brother I bought a Potter 19 sailboat. Nice boat, but the thing takes a full 45 minutes to rig, and then another 45 minutes to de-rig. And backing it into the side yard was a real ordeal. I have to back the boat up a grade, around the corner of the garage, and navigate between a gas meter and a fence that are 8' 6" apart. Because of the grade I can't see either the fence or the gas meter in the mirrors. The 8' 3" trailer made that a huge hassle. But the kicker was that I couldn't really rig the boat any more as the movements required . So we sold it.

 

Building another boat is out of the question. I toyed with it but I don't have the stamina to do much actual work. Maybe after I'm off the meds I can consider it again.

 

We bought a used Bayliner 175 bow rider to take in the harbor and put around. There are rare days here when the swells are 2' or under, and on those days we can use the "big pond" outside of the breakwater. Not sure I trust a bow rider in anything bigger. And we can use it on lakes or take it to Mission Bay in San Diego. The trailer is less than 8' wide, and the boat is lighter than the sailboat, so it makes backing it into the side yard much easier. We took it out on Sunday and launch was 15 minutes ... but I think that will get down to 10 or so as we get used to it. Backing it into the side yard only took about 15 minutes, only requiring me to get out, scratch my head and plan the next move 3 times. 

 

 

bayliner-175-home.jpg

bayliner-first-launch.jpg

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Thanks for the tips! The prior owner used the marine repair place about a mile from my house and the guys there know the boat. He just had it serviced, but they probably were not looking for that kind of thing. What I can see of the bellows looks good.

 

There's no hour meter on the boat, but it doesn't look very used. He had it serviced just recently, but just for a gear oil and engine oil change (which he did yearly, even if he hadn't taken the boat out that year). 

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   Congratulations on the new acquisition!  I'm a true believer of having a boat that is easy to get on and off the water.  If you can launch and retrieve the boat quickly and painlessly you'll go out more often.  It's a good feeling to throw the boat in the water after work and cruise around for an hour without having to work too hard.

   On the difficult storage situation: There are some powered tools that are used for moving small airplanes - A three-second search turned up this one:  http://www.powertow.com/Buyers-Guide_ep_28.html

   I'm not suggesting you buy aircraft tools because they are invariably expensive, but the concept might be good for a home-built project. You could probably come up with something similar that has a trailer hitch on it.

 

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Thanks, Ken. I've been looking at the hand powered Trailer Valet: https://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Valet-V211-Tongue-Silver/dp/B007G2IH4Q/

 

Still pricey, and probably not good pushing up a slope (even though they say it can!) We're also looking at moving the gate back a few feet so the gate opening isn't right across from the gas meter. There's a post, and then the thickness of the gate right at that point, so moving it back a few feet will free up another 8" or so of space right where it's needed. I should take a video of what I see when backing up.

 

To be honest, I think what would help the most is one of those drop cams or Yi cameras that I could position on the flat at the top of the incline and view it on a tablet as I back into the space. I may try that. 

 

 

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