2020 shakedown
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:52 am
Well to say the least this had to be the most interesting shakedown I’ve had in years. Got a crew together at the beginning of the week for Saturday. Got the boat uncovered early Friday and batteries charged by noon. Stopped home from work on lunch break to run the boat on the hose and make sure everything was ok. Boat started within 3 seconds PERFECT! We are good to go......WRONG, why is temp gauge climbing fast? Uh-oh here we go. So to make a long story longer...after a few phone calls and a couple different trips to the closest boat mechanic I got all the parts to rebuild my water pump in my apha 1 gen 1 outdrive. After getting it all ripped apart within a couple hours I ran into a snag when I couldn’t get the water pump impeller off of the shaft in the lower unit. Slightly hurt i went to bed with hopes of getting it back together ASAP in the morning. Woke up at daylight and made another phone call to my father and he was on his way with a die grinder, within 2 minute the impeller was free. Had a lot of clean up to do getting every speck of metal shavings out of the lower and then it was time To rebuild the water pump. Finally got everything back together and refilled with gear oil at about 12pm yesterday afternoon. All good no more overheating problems.
Grew gathered we headed for converse launch at around 1:15pm. One quick stop in fair haven for snacks and fuel and next thing we knew we were floating on lake Champlain in March! First for all of us aboard! We took a boat ride to whalens and set up a 6 rod spread and swung the otter boats close to shore with no luck. I didn’t like that the water temp was only 33-34 so we picked up and headed back to the VT side and set up again. Still shallow and the temp was a couple degrees warmer I had high hopes. After trying the new grill and enjoying the beautiful March day on lake Champlain for a few hours we decided it was time to head home. Loaded the boat pulled out of the launch and hit the first pothole and the drivers side fender on my trailer decided it wanted no more and popped clean off on one end. So after some handy ratchet strap work we were loaded up again and headed for home. My first time ever fishing Champlain this early and the first time I’ve ever left skunked! Fish long enough I guess that’s bound to happen! Still a great shakedown cruise and I’m already ready to head back!
Wondering if the port Henry docks are in too if anyone has any info on that....
Thanks for reading my long winded report and good luck out there!
FISH ON!!
-Tom
Grew gathered we headed for converse launch at around 1:15pm. One quick stop in fair haven for snacks and fuel and next thing we knew we were floating on lake Champlain in March! First for all of us aboard! We took a boat ride to whalens and set up a 6 rod spread and swung the otter boats close to shore with no luck. I didn’t like that the water temp was only 33-34 so we picked up and headed back to the VT side and set up again. Still shallow and the temp was a couple degrees warmer I had high hopes. After trying the new grill and enjoying the beautiful March day on lake Champlain for a few hours we decided it was time to head home. Loaded the boat pulled out of the launch and hit the first pothole and the drivers side fender on my trailer decided it wanted no more and popped clean off on one end. So after some handy ratchet strap work we were loaded up again and headed for home. My first time ever fishing Champlain this early and the first time I’ve ever left skunked! Fish long enough I guess that’s bound to happen! Still a great shakedown cruise and I’m already ready to head back!
Wondering if the port Henry docks are in too if anyone has any info on that....
Thanks for reading my long winded report and good luck out there!
FISH ON!!
-Tom
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