Margie Robinson's May turn on the boat

It's great to be on the lake again. I thought this would be the best way to report our trip and the issues we encountered.

We showed up on the 6th in the morning only to find out that we couldn't find the boat. After playing pass the buck, we found the boat at Off Shore dry dock. Not knowing when the boat was supposed to be put back on the lake, we could only try to get them to take care of it ASAP. I had to get rooms at Ticabo and wait until someone came to work the next morning. At 12:30 ish, the Belinda was put in the water. As I tried to warm up the engines, the port engine batteries were completely dead. As we got under way, and just outside the wakeless area off the boat launch, I discovered I didn't have any steering. I noticed the bucket under the helm catching oil, so I added steering fluid and soon have a little better control. We took the boat over to Bullfrog bay and tied down. Not being able to get any water through the faucets, we took the pump off under the sink, cleaned all the sand out of it and re-assembled it. It still didn't work, so we went to the boat shop and bought a new pump. That solved that one. On Friday, we jumped the port engine and it wouldn't stay running. Checked the oil, and it was bone dry. Added oil and then it would stay running, however, the alarms on the helm ( like when you turn the key on, but don't turn it over) continued to wail so I turned it off. It wouldn't start again.

We did check the transom board and bolts and they were still tight.

We need more oil for the motors, we used the last of the gallon bottle. Also, we used the last of the steering fluid, I think it still drips - but not sure. The remote for the stereo needs a new watch battery. I didn't have one on me. You still have to jerk the wheel now and then to get the steering to work.

On the upside, the weather was great. We only had wind one afternoon but wasn't enough to worry about. We had temperatures of high 80's - 90's during the day and about 50's over night. The water was a little nippy, but it didn't stop the kids from having a blast.