Saturday, September 24, 2011

TRAILER REPAIRS
by Robin

As you may or may not recall, in January, we had a fender-bender on the way to the docks for fishing. All that was fixed in short order and thankfully, nobody was hurt.

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But, a couple months later, Jack moved our boat over to the marina because it was nearly cobia & mahi mahi season for fishing.

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We had originally thought we would keep it there 2 months and bring her home, but as it turned out, we enjoyed not having to haul it around. I enjoyed not having to load and unload her at the ramps. We ended up keeping it there through the summer.

However, lately, we've been thinking about bringing her home for the winter. She needs some minor projects done on her. Jack hopes to add many LED lights. I want to sand & revarnish some of the teak that is beginning to silver again. It is hard to drag all your tools over to the marina. Plus, the marina's hours are shortening for the season and we decided we'd like to fish those rocks in the evening more often. So, it became an obvious & easy decision for us to bring First Choice home.

Now..... we have had a trailer sitting on the side of the yard for several months. Jack pulled it out but all 4 wheels were seized up. Actually, the brakes were, causing the wheels not to roll. Salt-water had taken it's toll on the metal.

Jack put part of it in the garage. He changed out those white slide sticks (see photo) to another material that will help the boat glide up and down those wooden bunks. Then, he began trying to unlock those wheels. We got 2 unlocked pretty fast. The back two.... not as easily. The disk brakes shattered and splintered on the floor.

Long story (that I will probably not get all the names & parts right) short, Jack sent the trailer the next day over to Bob K's Marine Supply & Trailer repair. It took him a few hours and a blow torch to do the job! (Link to Bob K's store ) Thank you Bob K!!

I am so glad that Jack didn't have to do that job. He could have, but instead, he focused his energy on doing front & back brakes on our suburban. Thank you sweetie (Jack) for my new brakes.

So, now we're running safely and ready to pick up the boat in October. Yeah!!

Other than that, it's been raining, storming or hurricanes passing by the past 30 days of no fishing. This is very typical for the late summer. Fishing should be getting better with each passing month. We're also waiting on the fall cobia & mahi migration runs.

We also got a smoker for making smoked kingfish meat and other yummy stuff in the fall/winter.

God bless America and Happy Fishing,
Robin