A Shakedown Cruise

Billy eased the Fuelishness back into the water, I fired the engines and
checked for leaks. Nothing appeared out of order and the sweet
humm of the supercharged 502's had the hair on back of my neck
standing on end. We all talked and waited as the engines temp
gauges crept ever closer to operating temprature, after a few
more minutes I did a final check and closed the engine hatch.
As I did I felt the boat slide fully off the trailer. We were now
floating free of the trailer and on our own, back in the element
from which we had came. I rounded up the crew and cast off.
As we headed out to the channel our mission was dual purpose
of sorts, our primary mission was to shakedown the Fuelishness
and find any weak spots in her armour that we needed to tweak.
But the secondary purpose we were out to fullfill was to find a 
beautiful spot in the river for my long time friend Dennis Berry
to get married, thats right married !!!  
So we cruised for a bit and Dennis pointed to spot in the river  that
we don't often stop at but has a great view of the bridge. I pulled 
the throttles back and we explored the area looking  for good depth
and slow current. We found what we all agreed would be the ideal
setting. I took some mental notes of land points as the plans we have 
for Dennis and Jessie's wedding include me being the first on scene
to mark the spot for others to gather. More on that later.
Right now I'm ready for a boat ride...

And I cant think of a better crew to have : Dennis and Dustin Berry 
with Ronnie Thorp manning the camera.
             
Join us for the shakedown ride---click the link below---Courtesy of Ronnie Thorp
 https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=522501287826790&set=vb.100002007693402&type=2&theater

It was a great day !!!!

Up Next : A Boat Wedding ???

Take me to the River

The day wore on and problems seemed small after the garage door affair.
Small things came and went all day ,like zippers on the Bimini top that
 just gave up due to age. Thank god for Paul Buntenbach, after the first
zipper split open I called him and he came down and stitched them closed
so we could use the top. Paul is the upholstery person we used to create
our custom Tommy Bahama bedding and pillows. Paul is super talented
and is capable of doing just about anything and is best known for custom
enclosures and his EisenGlass work is second to none.
At the end of the day around 5pm Billy came back and we started our trek
to the river, Ron Thorp joined us and helped out strapping the boat to the 
trailer. 

The way Billy had the Fuelishness strapped down you would have thought we going
to Lake of the Ozarks. When I questioned Billy about this and if it was over kill, he
responded that it makes no difference if its 5 miles or 500 miles, the process is the same.
I seem to always learn something new and this day would be no different, Billy
explained to me that if the boat was snug on the trailer not only is it safer, but the
trailer flex is reduced and the possibility of failure is also minimized. After the fact
I realized that the answer is really pretty obvious. " Here's your sign " .

So strapped and ready to roll here we are. The moments to come will be some of the
happiest and proudest in a long time. People often opine that the 2 happiest days
of a boat owner are the day you buy one and the day you sell one. I must say that
today does qualify as one of those happy days in a boaters life. Between all of  us and
for lack of better words, we will add "the day you relaunch one" and say there
are 3 days involved.
So we hit the road for a 15 minute ( If that) drive to the marina.

On the way to the marina I followed the Fuelishness and during the ride I thought
about all the time and effort that went into the project and the new people we met during
the reconstruction. I wondered if the boat would be somehow transformed and different.
When we got to the marina and Billy backed me into the water I got my answer.



Up Next : A Shake Down Cruise


  

                 
 
 

Launch Day - All Day

Launch day started early, around 8:30 am I think it was when the Truck
rolled into the parking lot and proceeded to align with the trailer.
In thought , Billy and I had figured that pulling out was no big deal,
We figured the big deal was getting in. (Calling to mind "a very Lucky Guess")
from almost the very beginning of the blog. What was to happen next would 
surely go down in history as one of my most head scratching moments ever.
Billy backed in and hooked up to the trailer , he and I are talking and
laughing in a very light hearted way as we begin to slowly creep the 
Fuelishness ever closer to the outside. As the windshield passed under the 
garage door opening the arch scraped the brackets that attach the 
garage door to the opener, I yelled to Billy to stop. 
I looked at the top of arch , the scratch was minor but the confusion was 
beginning to mount, because when the boat came in the arch was nowhere 
near the opener. The light heartedness of the moment began to fade away
and be replaced by two guys looking at the arch which is now almost 4 inches
higher than the door opening. Yes that's right 4 inches too tall. How does this
happen? This is the same doorway we came through months ago and all we did
was bend the rain deflector and shazam we were in. What to do - What to do???
I'm beginning to sweat (really) thinking maybe we will have to lift the boat and
drop the trailer bunks , but we don't really have that much clearance from the
boat to trailer fenders. What to Do??  What to Do??
I'm kinda staring at the arch and standing on the side of the boat with my head
right up by the top of garage door, I mean I'm eye balling the heck out of this 
problem , like staring at it is going to make it go away. 
Then I hear billy ask one of my shop techs if they have a valve core tool. 
The slow hiss of air from the rear tires seems to make no difference and I begin to 
contemplate how we are going lift this boat. Billy asks about the height, I say
no change. The air hiss now begins from the center tires , we wait, I watch and
after a few minutes of that staring thing , I think its working --- maybe.
I move away from the arch and look over the side to check on the tires and talk
to Billy for a moment, He tells me to check the arch again as the tires are getting
prety low. Once I get up there and  look I'm shocked because it looks like we are
with in an inch to an inch and a half of clearing. Now as I watch I slide my hand
up on top of the arch, we are for sure with in an inch or less. Billy stops the
air flow of the rear tires and we wait for the centers to catch up, and as they do
we now have the arch just level with the opening.
We need another inch to inch and a half to clear all of it.
The rush of air starts again and now I can see the arch move quickly down to a 
point that I'm sure we will clear. Billy now locks off the valves and starts up the truck.
Slowly we creept out  , getting under the door easily. Once the arch was out we stopped
and re-aired the tires. 

                                     This shure beat lifting the boat and dropping the bunks.

So into the daylight we now rolled, this was the first time  the Fuelishness has been in
the sun in almost 2 seasons. All the buffing and waxing that looked good inside the
building would now be put to the final test. I have worked under the shop lights and
proofed everything with a sun gun, but how would I do under the real sunlight ???

I pondered this question as I climbed down out of the boat , walked slightly away
and turned to find that my hard work had paid off -- Big Time !!!
The Fuelishness has never looked this good the entire time we owned her.
                   

       


Next Up: Take me to the River

             

Launch Day

I could have sworn that I would have been able to post a little something
everyday, but not so. These last days have taken on a life of there own.
It seems that once the boat came out of the building the project intensity
really jumped up there, way up there. So I have decided that I will post this
short snippet so that you know that we have not abandoned the blog and
to also say that the Fuelishness is in her dock at Alton. We could not be happier.


Next Up: Launch Day - All Day       
    
   

The Final Days - Monday

The final days are upon us now and I will likely post everyday until
the "Fuelishness" is in her slip. The past days have been filled with 
feverish reassembly and final prep. Suzanne and I have tried our 
best to "Think it all Through" so we wouldn't be doing stuff twice.
Suzanne has gotten the cabin looking great and that part is now
off the list of need to finish items. Truth be told it'll never be really 
totally done as she will always be tweaking this or that, or adding this
or that as time goes on.
Some of the past days have been spent working on the drives and 
getting them back in shape. Dennis has outdone himself  with this part
of the project and I cant tell you how proud I am to be able to show you
the following photos. We all remember how bad the drives were and 
how devastateing  it was for us to deal with. 

        

     This was before

This is after

The difference is like day and night. The real difference is the care and quality

that has gone into the repairs and restoration of these drives. I'm not going to 

get up on a soap box and preach the word, but I firmly believe that we all would 

agree to the statement of  terms that you only get what you pay for and often we find 

ourselves paying dearly for less than professional quality. 

I have asked myself this question a hundred times, " Why would you put $12000.00

worth of hardware in  a known corrosive enviroment with out at least checking to see

if the factory provided countermeasures "Mercathode System" was in working condition?

And I have come up with a hundred different answers and 99 of them have a direct link

to non-professionality. The single take away that I might venture out to all my friends

would be to inspect with your own eyes the work you are getting. Many contributing

factors in my situation could have been seen with a simple inspection by me before

launch and corrected quickly and easily.

"And thats all I have to say about that" (Forest Gump 1994)

The real fun was last night as Bill Moyer came by and we loaded the Fuelishness on 

the trailer for her ride to river. There is no turning back now. 

These are the jacks we used to lift the boat and hold it up so we could get the trailer

under it ( 2 used on each side ) 

 These are the oak cubes that the " Fuelishness has been sitting on for the last year,
note the ropes looped around the cubes. When we raised the boat we used the ropes
to pull out blocks, because i'm not getting under the boat - no sir !!!

   

There ya go - cubes out, I had to add this shot . Thats 14000 Lbs of boat  kinda

hanging  in mid air sorta. This gives me the willies. It was no big deal to Billy,

he does this stuff all the time, he says you'll get used to it.

This pretty much says it all , "fits like a glove" . Heres the Fuelishness ready to roll.

Now I  have to get some fuel delivered and test run the engines, a final check and we

be getting the  " Fuelishness" to her new home at Alton Marina dock J-1. 

    

Next Up : The Final Days - Tuesday

See ya tommorrow !!