Something
no one wants to read!
We had been in the middle of the lake the night before, but now?
The Telemark maintenance man, Mike, had seen the
boat at the dock and reported to the office that it was full of water: We rushed to the dock and it was actually on the muddy bottom at the dock. Ron started bailing, but
it did no good!
We did not know what
could have happened in one day. Ron pulled it up as close as he could to the shore, hoping that the water would pour out: but no!
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| The battery is covered with water and the gas tanks floating |
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| Ron still works in the dark |
It got
dark so Ron’s plan was to bring the van down with the trailer the next morning
and try to get the boat onto the trailer.
(There is no boat launch there, only mud and rocks and a soft damp
grassy shore. Joan did say, “It’s so heavy,
and… there’s no ramp!”
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| No ramp here to load, muddy bottom with rocks, soft grassy shore from rain. |
The Next Morning: Fixing the Problem
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| Mike pumping |
We returned early today, just as Mike drove up with a pump. He said, “This is my task this morning, to get
your boat out!” He said that after the
water was pumped out, Ron would have time (before it filled up again?) to drive
over to the boat launch ramp.
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| Ron and Mike deciding what to do |
However,
after several hours of pumping, it still kept filling up. We did not know why.
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| Mike decided to tow the boat to the launching
ramp with the resort’s pontoon boat. |
It was really hard to get the boat onto
the trailer, it was so heavy! Mike worked
so hard.
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| Can you see how low in the water the boat is, as it is at the launching dock? |
And the water poured out when
it was up on the ramp!
Identifying the Problem
When we told the office gal, Cari, what a great job Mike had done, she said: “We take care of our guests!” What a great attitude for a timeshare resort to have!
We looked carefully at what might have
caused the leak. Ron saw that the plug
for the live well had come out and was lying inside the boat cavity. And we noticed that the nut on the outside that should have help the plug in [forever] was gone: we had not known why that hole had been there. Now we do!
We looked carefully at the photos of when we had purchased the
boat four years prior (on Craigslist). Sure enough the outer plastic nut to
hold the plug in was missing then too.
So for four years, in the middle
of the lake, that plug might have come out!
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| A plug like this - but not this one, wrong size |
We towed it into Cable and had it repaired by the shop there: Ron figured it was too difficult to put the
plug in himself, and anyway, the one at the store (this pic) was the wrong
size. They had to order the correct size
(from Kentucky?) By the time it was repaired, we were pretty close
to leaving Telemark, so had no chance
to put it back into the water again to test it.
 |
| Fixed! |
Stu and Nancy arrived the 18th (they drove from Toronto) and we had such a good time. We love having a bonfire and so one night we roasted hotdogs.
Two great friends -
known each other – and kept up contact-- since pre-school in Albert Lea, MN. (how
many years would that be!!!????) 
