Checking the dock

I went down to the boat dock this morning to check out all the things that could be wrong down there. To be sure, we look down at the boat and yes it is still there and the lift is still floating.

But you can not replace going down and getting up close and personal. All was well when I got down there. One of the neighborhood animals had decided that the dock was their personal latrine, so we had problems in that regard, but all else is OK. The animal in question could very well be a wild animal, such as a muskrat or something of that nature, as well as a domestic cat or dog.

It is fairly wild in the woods, and I have seen most everything. We do have egrets, blue herrons and geese as well but they make more of a splat. Well that's enough of that analysis. The rain will fix the problem after some time.

I used to have to go "air" the boat lifts every several weeks as they would proverbably loose it over time. They are open to the water on the bottom and the natural wave action seemed to introduce water into the lifts. Also temperatures change and the air condenses and is replaced by water. Anyway the lifts eventually will go down. Not good, if you are in KC at the time.

Two years ago, I purchased a new boat lift controller. It is automatic. It senses if the lift has gone down into the water and refils the lift with air. This also has remote controll with a key fob. Meaning you can lower the lift from the boat, after a day on the lake.

This may not seem like to big of a deal, but when you arrive and the lift is up, you have no place to park while you get out of the boat and go lower the lift. If someone is with you, they can jump out of the boat and go put the lift down while you back away and float around at a distance.

When you are by yourself, this requires you to get out along the outside of the dock, and tie the boat up so it doesn't float away, and then go over and work the lift. Once down, then go back and untie, well you get the problem.

This product is called a First Mate and is made by a company called Aqualogic. Not only is it a remote control, it is on guard all the time to keep the lift up when you are not at home. That was a really good purchase, as the boat has never been down in the water when we didn't want it to be since.

It was on guard, and the lift had full air, just as though we had used it yesterday. It had actually been five weeks. So all was well.

We drove back to KC after going to the court house and declaring all the things that had licenses. You know so they can tax you on your stuff. The bill will be in the thousands. Iowa never did this, but Missouri is old school and taxes anything that is of much value.

The drive back to KC was mostly in the rain, and the temps were in the lower 50's. Cold and overcast.

Tonight we are reading the blogs and have talked to a ham friend up in Iowa.

We did discuss our possibilities for the winter get away, on the trip home today, but have not made any decisions, other than we want to go somewhere different this year. Hummm. Florida is way too expensive! Must be West!


Retired Rod