4th of July?

I brought the boat up from National Harbor to Gangplank Marina. Even though the marina and the surrounding area is under construction, it is one of the best places to watch the fireworks on the river. The nice part is that you don't have to deal with a 1000 once a year boaters smashing into each other on the river.

JD
 
HUMPH said:
my first reaction is to say "F" you. Your comment may be in jest but is pretty bad. I hope you meant have fun with fireworks. Remember, if we want Canada, we'll take Canada. You should choose your phrases a bit better.
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Ken, my apologies. I meant absolutely no harm. I guess it was a bad Simpsons reference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqfxmWbelcQ

I may only have ~750 posts compared to your 6000+, but I can't recall once where I have spoken bad about your country, ever. You don't know me from a hole in the ground, but if you did you wouldn't have made that comment. I don't need to explain myself, but in times of need, this lowly Canadian was standing in line to help my American brothers and sisters.

I'm not even going to get into your comment about "taking Canada".

Have a great holiday weekend.
 
Well we did it!
Yesterday for the 4th, we spent a total of 15.5 hours on the lake. We cruised down the channel and got a spot on the water for the fireworks show:
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Sun setting on Tims Ford:
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Fireworks going off after dark:
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And now, the bonehead move of the day! Can't blame it on anything really, other than probably my fatigue. We stayed parked out on the lake where the fireworks went off for a while after it was over, to let many of those boats go on their way. I did not want to be driving the boat for the first time at night, around 100's of boats trying to make their way to their respective ramps/docks. So we parked for a long time, then started our journey back to the ramp where we put in.

It was very late, only one guy ahead of me and no one behind me, so I was not rushed. But yes, I did it - forgot to raise the outdrive! Pulled the boat out of the water to the top of the ramp, then when got out of the truck to put tie down straps on, my heart just sank. I scraped the bottom of the keg. It appears it just mainly scraped the paint off the bottom, the keg is not bent, the prop is not dinged, and nothing appears to be damaged from looking at it, I think the main damage right now is my ego!
I just could not believe, as I always make absolutely sure the outdrive is trimmed all the way up before getting out of the boat after loading on trailer, that I missed this one!

IMG_0519.jpg


Well maybe now that I have that bonehead move out of the way, I will be able to make doubly sure I never do it again!
I will be taking the boat up to the dealer here in a couple weeks or so for it's initial 20 hour oil change, maybe I can talk him into touching up the bottom of the skeg with the appropriate paint... As it is now, I will be looking at the bottom of the skeg like an eyesore!

We were hoping to go back out on Percy Priest today, but after getting home at 1:30 am and sleeping in this morning, and still exhausted, think we are just going to enjoy a leisurely day at home. Well after getting the boat cleaned up and covered!
 
Don't feel too bad Don, we all do stuff that we won't do again:) Touch of paint and it'll be good as new. We went under a bridge that turned out to be too low once, with the last boat we had, with the antenna still up! Broke right off and had to replace it. Guess what, it's a family joke now, even when there's a 22' clearance up goes the cry, "do we need to take the antenna down":)
 
Been there, done that. You can get a little bottle of Mercruiser touch up paint for stuff like that. That's how I touched mine up.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1404574422.204969.jpg
 
Thanks guys!
I will get that touch up paint and get her looking good again.
 
dburne said:
Thanks guys! I will get that touch up paint and get her looking good again.
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LOL, is that a generic "guys", that includes gals?
 
We went up to DC and spent the night as part of a large raft up between the Roosevelt and Memorial bridges. It was a great time once we got there as winds were gusting up to 30 knots on the ride up on the 4th. The ride back today was very easy.

Here's some pictures.
 

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Mikemapva said:
We went up to DC and spent the night as part of a large raft up between the Roosevelt and Memorial bridges. It was a great time once we got there as winds were gusting up to 30 knots on the ride up on the 4th. The ride back today was very easy.
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Wow, very impressive Mike, I am sure it was awesome to be there and see that in person!

I will say this I have learned from my first boat ride at night - I absolutely do not much care for it. Granted it was really nice being anchored on the water in the dark, enjoying the fireworks with all the other boats around. But afterwards, when we had to make the journey a few miles back up to the ramp, even though we waited for the crowds to die down, it was terrifying to me. Thank goodness for my GPS though, made it much easier to see where I was in relation to the channel and where I was going, but looking out straight ahead to me was kind of scary, it was really dark. And there were some boats out and about that did not have very good lighting on them as well.

Don't know that I would do it again, but it was fun to do this one time anyway.
 
We love being out at night. But I've been on our lake since I was 9 years old...35 years now. Going out on a strange lake...on the 4th of July...at night...for your first time at night...is pretty adventurous. I'm glad you guys only had a minor mishap.

We went out for the 4th last night too, Lake Lanier has a great fireworks display. It was pretty packed and the ride back to the slip was crazy as usual. There are a lot of people that have no business driving a boat..much less at night.

 
Molson said:
Ken, my apologies. I meant absolutely no harm. I guess it was a bad Simpsons reference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqfxmWbelcQ

I may only have ~750 posts compared to your 6000+, but I can't recall once where I have spoken bad about your country, ever. You don't know me from a hole in the ground, but if you did you wouldn't have made that comment. I don't need to explain myself, but in times of need, this lowly Canadian was standing in line to help my American brothers and sisters.

I'm not even going to get into your comment about "taking Canada".

Have a great holiday weekend.
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No worries Jim. I sometimes get a bit patriotic and when comments are seemingly anti-American, I take exception. The number of posts means nothing at all BTW, I like Canada and have many friends from there as well as friends that stay there with their boats and they all say it is beautiful.
Now, take-off eh!
 
dburne said:
Hey gang,

So what is everyone here doing for the 4th?
I think the wife and I , are going to take our new Sport 190 for it's 8th voyage, to a new lake for us. Tims Ford Lake here in south central TN, ...
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I avoid the lake on amateur weekends. Tough I've never been to Tim's Ford, it's fairly close to us a well. Let me know the next time you run that way and we'll try to meet you. Headin to Guntersville today hopefully the hooligans are gone by now.
 
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Bama Boater said:
I avoid the lake on amateur weekends. Tough I've never been to Tim's Ford, it's fairly close to us a well. Let me know the next time you run that way and we'll try to meet you. Headin to Guntersville today hopefully the hooligans are gone by now.
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Will do! It is a beautiful lake and very deep as well.
We have the boat loaded and fixing to head out to Percy this morning, I too hope the hooligans have left by now.
Have fun!
 
Don, thanks, it was really great. We've been a lot of times at night, but I would never move my boat on the Potomac on the night of the 4th. Way too many crazy people out!. We saw a lot of foolishness while we were rafted up. No or inadequate lighting, going way too fast in the no wake zone, etc.


Don't know that I would do it again, but it was fun to do this one time anyway.
dburne said:
Wow, very impressive Mike, I am sure it was awesome to be there and see that in person!

I will say this I have learned from my first boat ride at night - I absolutely do not much care for it. Granted it was really nice being anchored on the water in the dark, enjoying the fireworks with all the other boats around. But afterwards, when we had to make the journey a few miles back up to the ramp, even though we waited for the crowds to die down, it was terrifying to me. Thank goodness for my GPS though, made it much easier to see where I was in relation to the channel and where I was going, but looking out straight ahead to me was kind of scary, it was really dark. And there were some boats out and about that did not have very good lighting on them as well.

Don't know that I would do it again, but it was fun to do this one time anyway.
Click to expand...
 
Mikemapva said:
We went up to DC and spent the night as part of a large raft up between the Roosevelt and Memorial bridges. It was a great time once we got there as winds were gusting up to 30 knots on the ride up on the 4th. The ride back today was very easy.

Here's some pictures.
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Great pics. We passed your raft up yesterday as we headed up to the north end of Roosevelt island for the day. A raft up and staying the night is the only good way to do the Potomac on the 4th.

It amazes me how many idiots are out on the river and have no idea what they're doing. Even though DC police put a large No Wake Zone banner on the 14th street bridge I can't tell you how many boats I saw speed under the bridges yesterday! Which is normally no wake anyways.
 
WDCboater said:
Great pics. We passed your raft up yesterday as we headed up to the north end of Roosevelt island for the day. A raft up and staying the night is the only good way to do the Potomac on the 4th.

It amazes me how many idiots are out on the river and have no idea what they're doing. Even though DC police put a large No Wake Zone banner on the 14th street bridge I can't tell you how many boats I saw speed under the bridges yesterday! Which is normally no wake anyways.
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Ryan, thanks. It was a lot of fun. This was the first time we went up there for the 4th.

You're not kidding. We saw a ton of boats go flying by us both Friday and Saturday that just had no clue. On the way home yesterday, the Spirit of Washington boat got on the radio and chastised one guy to watch his wake, and he acknowledged it and I guess he slowed down. 15 minutes later, the same idiot blew by me off Old Town going about 12 knots.

Mike
 
Mikemapva said:
Ryan, thanks. It was a lot of fun. This was the first time we went up there for the 4th.

You're not kidding. We saw a ton of boats go flying by us both Friday and Saturday that just had no clue. On the way home yesterday, the Spirit of Washington boat got on the radio and chastised one guy to watch his wake, and he acknowledged it and I guess he slowed down. 15 minutes later, the same idiot blew by me off Old Town going about 12 knots.

Mike
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People only slow down past Old Town when authorities are in the area. The no wake zone goes coast to coast, but we see bass boats and smaller boats fly down the DC side frequently.

We we saw a guy with a bridge boat hit the 14th St railroad bridge yesterday! He must not have been familiar with the bridges at high tide. Thankfully he wasn't going too fast and was able to stop and back up. He stopped right before the bridge tore his Radar dome off.

Mix in all of the kayakers and I'm shocked more people don't get hurt.
 
Hey gang,

Ok so we rounded out our 4th of July holiday with another day on the water today. So this week, we went out all day last Tuesday for about 8 hours ( was on vacation), then Friday we went down to Tims Ford and spent 15.5 hours, then today we were on the water at 7:30 am and got back a couple of hours ago.

But let me tell ya, was I done with doing dumb things? Heck no - so you know I scraped the bottom of my skeg on Friday with a dumb move, loading the boat up late at night after a long day on the water, forget to raise the outdrive up, no harm done other than scraping the paint off the bottom of the skeg and severely damaging my ego.
So what per chance, might I have done today?

Well, today we were anchored in a cove just relaxing, my wife was doing one of her favorite things - feeding the 4 ducks that had come to visit us. Of course me wanting to capture yet another unique moment, actually leaned over the side of the boat with my trusty i-Phone 4 s in hand, yes the phone slipped right out of my hand, went plunk, and I watched horrified as that puppy sank to the bottom of the lake. LOL, only me!

Well I reckon phones can be replaced, so no real harm done I guess - at least no one was hurt!

Lesson #2 learned today. And you can dang be sure, that drive unit was in the trailer position before I pulled the boat out of the water!

Oh, and we got back early so I could run down to the Verizon store - figured I would just get me the newer 5s, only to find out - I have 20 days - yes only 20 days, left on my contract before I can get the new phone as an upgrade. No flexibility, nothing can be done, either pay 650 bucks retail now, or wait 20 days and get it for much less. Thankfully the nice Verizon guy sent me to a store that repairs and sells used phones, got me a used 4 for 120 bucks. He said if I get the 5s in three weeks, I could bring the 4 back and he would give my 80 bucks for it...

Ahh, what a week and weekend, but still I had a lot of fun!! Dang I sure love being on the water!
 
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