Boat & body in the water
Dropped the boat in the water yesterday. What a beaut; the first hot day on the lake is a definite rebirth every year. It hit 85.3 °F at 4:39 PM here at the weather station. The water temp rose to 67 °F for a bit in the cove and it felt great, but I can tell you it’s not that warm out in the main body, but it’s really not too bad. A lack of rain can get this lake balmy pretty quickly.
Tried out my (annual) new prop, and I think I’m probably going to be glad I mangled the old one. This one’s pitched for 2000 lbs of ballast, and it’s nice for getting planed quickly and it brings the nose down on the Air Nautique, which has always annoyed me about this boat because I need a booster seat to watch for logs and swimmers (and rocks)! I already prefer it to the stock prop without any water in the tanks, but we’ll see after 2000 pounds of ballast. I’m surfing without a rope this year, no matter how much weight (money) I have to throw at it.
Has anyone else had gas stolen from their boats during the week? One of my neighbors had their entire tank stolen off their pontoon…yes tank and all, cut the lines and everything. Luckily our gas was only syphoned out but still rediculous, I know gas prices are pretty high but come on!
From your dock? What part of the lake? What kind of boat? Any idea if it was day or night when they stole it?
Wow. I’ve never had a problem with anything going missing and our dock is a good way away from the house. Perhaps it’s the webcam on the dock.
Yeah from our dock, well right out of the pontoon. We don’t know if it was day or night but it was during the week when unfortunatelly we are not there. Looks like they didn’t want to mess with the speedboat as it was all covered up but the gas cap for the pontoon is accessible even with the cover on. Our neighbor has an older pontoon that has the plastic gas tanks that you can unhook and take with you but the lines were just cut and tank taken. We are across the lake from the dock cam a few coves over from the house with the crows nest.
I have had my dock on the lake almost 17 years. During that time I have had several incidents. The first was the theft of a Weber grill I had up on the shore behind a tree. Another was the theft of a neighbors jon boat. It was an old boat with a barely working motor but somebody wanted it.
I have noticed an increase in the deviant activities of kids when the lake levels are down. This makes all of the “abandoned” docks more accessible via ATV’s. I have always kept my dock furniture cabled to the dock with locks. One time I found all of my neighbors lawn chairs, floats and anything else loose thrown in the lake bed and weighted down with rocks. They had found a truck tire and put it on my table on the upper level. That must have required a lot of work getting it up there.
Based upon the above, I am considering getting a fuel tank lock. I have found one in the $25 range that sounds promising - Perko Fuel System Locking Insert
http://www.marineengine.com/products/accessory.php?in=2820525
Is anyone familiar with it?
Great idea. Here’s another one for the week enders w/ pontoons: get a used 2nd tank with some, ahem, “low octance” fuel in it and snap it in when you head home for the week.