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