Hey guys ,
Just returned from a Craiglist Retrieval that involved towing an empty trailer to the Delta,pulling out a 25` Swedish Power sailor,and finally prepping it for the long journey back up I-5 to Seattle.
Getting the hull strapped and blocked took some effort but we were armed with Boattands,jacks ,blocks,straps and wedges galore.
Getting thru the Sacremento crowd on I-5 was pretty un-nerving ,but after the suicide road they call the "Levee Road " which resembled the Anacortas hwy only built on Peet with maybe 8 foot 6 of road each way.
Add the camber from multiple road failures all the way along the 12 miles and it was hard to look around ...which when you did,revealed "Sitzmarks" where cars and trucks had plopped and wrecked almost every 100 yards or so.
Once on I-5 ,the speeds of cars and trucks around us seemed over the top.
Then a Woman riding a Harley passed everybody doing maybe 100....in a tanktop!:shocked4:
It took a little longer to get the rest of the way home after going thru some "technical" difficulties,namely my Truck having first a weak fuel pump,then a blown waterpump after a couple summits past Redding Ca.
Luckily our first stop brought us literally to the roll-up door of the GM service Dept.The Manager showed up Sat am but said he couldn`t do anything until Monday am.Had a Starbucks across the street....nicest bathroom along I-5.
So we dug in and tore out my fuel tank to replace the chincy pc of metal and plastic.After just filling (and regrettebly adding some STP injector cleaner which loosened up crud or just plain screwed it up) we had to siphon almost 20 gallons of fuel.
While doing this ,a helicoptor buzzed by so close ,it swirled the trees around us and made it a little scary since it was directly next to the High Power Electrical lines overhead.Guess they were inspecting or scaring birds....and humans.
Got it running good ,proceeded over two summits ,only to have the service light come back on as we limped into the one exit with anything for 80 miles.Even had microbrew on tap....but no starbucks.
We got a ride to town from a good guy who ran the Klub Klondike at Lakehead Lodge and we set ourselves up with a U-haul ,needed parts and headed back to the rig.
After a quick waterpump job,we headed out and made it home with no more troubles.
Felt like David vs Goliath towing the sweet boat home.
Ironically,my wife and her family broke down not 5 miles from the same spot,twenty years ago during the Goodwill Games(100` at UW stadium,115` in the shade at Redding) ,right before Dunsmuir Ca.
Really pretty rivers ,resevoirs and bodies of water down there.
Hopefully we`ll make it down there to meet some of the Golden State group as they really have some special places to boat.
The boat we brought back had some features we could use on our cabin hulls,namely the table for the cabin which slip up /down a stainless roof support off to one side slightly.When not in use ,it slid up and flush to the ceiling making a nice pc of wood visible from below.
The rear cabin sleeps two with areas that extend under the side benches in the cockpit.The inboard Diesil puts out 30 hp and sips .5-.6 gallons per hour ,at 7.5 knots.
Marty would appreciate the boats name, "Skol" which is Cheers in Norwegian.
The funny part was ,my buddie`s wife asked him "if it had a place for him to sleep?" when he told her we were to go get it.Little did we know how soon we`d get the chance.
The things we get talked into........Skol.
Tim M
Just returned from a Craiglist Retrieval that involved towing an empty trailer to the Delta,pulling out a 25` Swedish Power sailor,and finally prepping it for the long journey back up I-5 to Seattle.
Getting the hull strapped and blocked took some effort but we were armed with Boattands,jacks ,blocks,straps and wedges galore.
Getting thru the Sacremento crowd on I-5 was pretty un-nerving ,but after the suicide road they call the "Levee Road " which resembled the Anacortas hwy only built on Peet with maybe 8 foot 6 of road each way.
Add the camber from multiple road failures all the way along the 12 miles and it was hard to look around ...which when you did,revealed "Sitzmarks" where cars and trucks had plopped and wrecked almost every 100 yards or so.
Once on I-5 ,the speeds of cars and trucks around us seemed over the top.
Then a Woman riding a Harley passed everybody doing maybe 100....in a tanktop!:shocked4:
It took a little longer to get the rest of the way home after going thru some "technical" difficulties,namely my Truck having first a weak fuel pump,then a blown waterpump after a couple summits past Redding Ca.
Luckily our first stop brought us literally to the roll-up door of the GM service Dept.The Manager showed up Sat am but said he couldn`t do anything until Monday am.Had a Starbucks across the street....nicest bathroom along I-5.
So we dug in and tore out my fuel tank to replace the chincy pc of metal and plastic.After just filling (and regrettebly adding some STP injector cleaner which loosened up crud or just plain screwed it up) we had to siphon almost 20 gallons of fuel.
While doing this ,a helicoptor buzzed by so close ,it swirled the trees around us and made it a little scary since it was directly next to the High Power Electrical lines overhead.Guess they were inspecting or scaring birds....and humans.
Got it running good ,proceeded over two summits ,only to have the service light come back on as we limped into the one exit with anything for 80 miles.Even had microbrew on tap....but no starbucks.
We got a ride to town from a good guy who ran the Klub Klondike at Lakehead Lodge and we set ourselves up with a U-haul ,needed parts and headed back to the rig.
After a quick waterpump job,we headed out and made it home with no more troubles.
Felt like David vs Goliath towing the sweet boat home.
Ironically,my wife and her family broke down not 5 miles from the same spot,twenty years ago during the Goodwill Games(100` at UW stadium,115` in the shade at Redding) ,right before Dunsmuir Ca.
Really pretty rivers ,resevoirs and bodies of water down there.
Hopefully we`ll make it down there to meet some of the Golden State group as they really have some special places to boat.
The boat we brought back had some features we could use on our cabin hulls,namely the table for the cabin which slip up /down a stainless roof support off to one side slightly.When not in use ,it slid up and flush to the ceiling making a nice pc of wood visible from below.
The rear cabin sleeps two with areas that extend under the side benches in the cockpit.The inboard Diesil puts out 30 hp and sips .5-.6 gallons per hour ,at 7.5 knots.
Marty would appreciate the boats name, "Skol" which is Cheers in Norwegian.
The funny part was ,my buddie`s wife asked him "if it had a place for him to sleep?" when he told her we were to go get it.Little did we know how soon we`d get the chance.
The things we get talked into........Skol.
Tim M
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