Memorial Day Weekend - first one away from SLR

[chathamsolutions]

The wind had been reading upwards of 30MPH at San Luis Reservoir for the past couple of days. The water level is also at a historic low for this time of year. Our 3rd annual trip to SLR wasn't looking good. We had talked to a couple of other friends with boats and were hoping to make it there Memorial weekend.

When I called Saturday morning and the wind reading was 7-29MPH I knew we were going to have to stay local. I was worried that this would happen and tried to get a reservation on Anderson Friday night - but the reservation service only allows you to schedule a reservation 2 days in advance. I knew that was a bad choice anyway, Anderson is usually a zoo on the weekends during the summer. My hope was to go to Coyote and make the best of it.

My brother and his friend had driven up from SoCal for the day. They arrived late Friday night just to go boarding all day Saturday. Pressure was on to provide a good day...

Friday night the CFO and I had talked about the options - SLR or Coyote. Our girls had invited 3 friends to come with them. And we'd arranged to barrow our friends Big Mama tube, because the kids love it (but I hate it, waaaay to big when it's not in use. Takes up too much space.)

Saturday morning one of our sons had a fever and we decided the CFO would stay home with the two boys - it was me, my brother and his friends with 5 girls under age 12.

As we pulled away from the 76 Station in Gilroy headed toward the hills a lady in her Camry was making a 3 point turn on the two lane in front of us. A Suburban pulling a flat bed passed her and then she decided to finish her turn by backing into my lane - apparently scared to drive onto the dirt. It forced me to hit the brakes. I didn't have to light 'em up, but pretty close.

Shortly after that we got to coyote and the signs at the base of the mountain said the launch ramp was closed. It had been a while since I'd been there. I called the ranger station and it had a recorded message saying the water level was too low and was closed until further notice. Bummer. That meant I was stuck trying to get on Anderson. It was 9:00am and this was the first weekend of the summer where you had to have a reservation to launch there. Ugh. It wasn't looking good. The only other alternative was to drive to Nacimiento - 2.5 hours from where we were.

I decided to try Anderson and see what happened. As we turned on the back roads we came upon two ladies walking on the side of the road, there was a little dog, Chihuahuaesque, that had run across the road to bark at them. As I got closer it decided to run back towards it's home and then back to the ladies in typical 'I can't make up my mind, I'm a stupid little dog' style. Well this time I had to lock 'em up. If I didn't I would have totaled the dog with at least four tires. The ladies would have witnessed a serious dog squishing and the 5 little girls screaming in my ear to not hit the dog really forced the issue. I looked back and saw the smoke coming from my tires and once again noted how I hated little rat dogs as it scurried to the side in safety.

As I was making a turn about 1/4 mile later I was locked up again - and since I was pulling away from a stop, I knew something was amiss. Some of you will remember the escapades I've had with my brakes in the past. This was on the starboard side though, the side I'd completely replaced the calipher on.

I stopped in the road and saw that the calipher was wedged against the wheel and causing the wheel to skid. Ugh. I wasn't going anywhere for a while.

I had to get it off the road, and of course there was a MPH sign just in front of my car, so I had to pull up far enough to pass it and then off the road, so the whole time I was thrashing my trailer tire, making a bald spot. We got off the road and pulled out the Expedition jack and lifted the trailer, pulled off the wheel and threw it in the back. I decided I'd just drive slow for a few miles to Anderson and deal with it there.

When we got to Anderson there were two rangers. One at the gate and one with a clipboard. I knew this wasn't a good sign. The clipboard guy asked me for my name and glanced down at the clipboard. I instinctively thought I would give my name as Smith or even Perez - thinking there'd have to be one of them on the reservation list - but no go. I said I didn't have a reservation. He apologized and looked at my full car, 'Man you're loaded.' And yes I was, the girls were getting tired of sitting in the car and this guy had just said I couldn't come back until noon when it was first come first serve. Well, it was 10:00. I decided to park in the exit parking lot - just outside the entrance and park in such a way as to be the first to leave the parking lot when the time arrived.

We got out and after just a few minutes another boat pulled up behind us. Guy complaining about how he didn't know he needed a reservation that day and how we were all going to have to wait, yada yada. Soon there were a lot of boats behind us - all in line to get on at noon.

We looked at the calipher, apparently one of the bolts that held it on had wiggled itself free, so when the calipher was engaged the pressure wedged the free side against the wheel and forced it to stop turning. We decided to pull off the calipher and bungee cord it to the axle until I could get it home and get it fixed. We then put the wheel back on and were in business.

The CFO and all the girls decided it would be better to go swimming at G-ma's house then have to wait to get on the lake. So the CFO came and picked them all up and left me, my brother and his friend and my dog to be on the lake all day.

The ranger came down at 11:30 and said they would let us on early. We flew up there and less then half the parking spots were taken. Much better than a few weeks earlier when I had a very hard time even finding a parking spot.

The day warmed up and we had a good time. I got in a good wakeboarding run (but had a REALLY good couple of runs the day before). We then surfed and surfed and surfed. I pulled the outside fins off my Broadcast and had a fun time with it. After watching the Liquid Force DVD The Truth I tried some toe side floaters and was able to pull them off. Definitely one of my best days ever surfing.

We set up the ballast as normal:

Manual Wedge

Full MLS

Rear locker had a Fly High 750 in it.

440Lb SL fat sac on the reat seat on the same side as the rider and the full 750Lb.

440Lb SL fat sac in the bow on the same side.

Rear locker opposite rider - empty.

The wake was nice.

I've been letting my pumps just run, because I haven't been able to figure out how the 750's are emptying. The drain has a ball valve and I don't think it's the vent or the pump, but it has to be one of them. So, leaving them on fill all the time seems to work good - but will eventually burn out the pump I know. So, haven't figured that out yet. Gotta find a way to deal with all that tubing back there. It gets all jacked up, need to organize it all so it doesn't get kinked and so I can get to the ball valves even when the sacks are full.

Well, I did discover one problem when the pumps were on fill. If the vent host comes off and you don't know it, then your bilge just starts to get full. And if your fill pump is stronger then your bilge - well, you could end up with more water IN the boat then emptying out the boat - which is what happened.

I thought the drain pump had come off, as I'm still using the quick connect Fly High connections. But as I inspected it - underwater of course, because the storage under the seat was full of water at that point - I saw that it was still connected. I quickly turned the fill pump off and started draining the starboard side. I assumed that would fix the problem. I was finished and started filling the port side so the other guys could surf.

After about 15 minutes I couldn't get the Perfect Pass to engage. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I would hammer down and it would only get to about 9MPH - as if we were so bogged down we couldn't go any faster. I stopped and pulled off the rear port rear seat. The storage under it was completely full of water. I pulled off the seat over the VDrive and the bilge was completely full of water, I'd never seen it that full before - and it scared me. I shut down all the pumps - remember, I had kept the fill pumps going so the 750's would stay full. I reached my hand down into the water in front of the 750 and the drain pump was off. Wacky, because it too had unthreaded. The quick connect was still connected, the connect that was threaded into the sack had worked it's way out - just as the vent one had done on the starboard side - both had unthreaded.

The boat was full of water. And the rear corner, carpet area had water in it as well. I just turned the drain pump on and let it drain as it floated in the storage locker while I fitted the quick connect back into the 750. By the time I'd worked it back in and got the drain back on it was 2/3 drained into the boat. Needless to say, the auto bilge was going for a while.

I let the bilge run for a few minutes and then filled the port locker 750 - but didn't let the pump stay on fill the whole time. The wake on that side of the boat - once we got up and running again and the PP was engaging - was intense. Biggest I've ever seen behind my boat.

We were totally sore by the end off the day. Pulled off the lake around 4ish, the wind was picking up. Pretty sure I saw hyperlitenerd and his family's all white WS23LSV out that day, waved at them a couple times.

The drive home was boring though.

What a way to start the summer.

[hyperlitenerd]

Man you had quite the day! I thought a flat tire was bad. After I get my new sacks in, you'll have to come ride with me some time.

[chadwick02]

Wow. Glad the day ended well!

[NorCaliBu]

...I pulled off the seat over the VDrive and the bilge was completely full of water, I'd never seen it that full before...

I predict a steering cable replacement in your future. Everytime I have ever filled a bilge to the point where the steering cable is submerged...the following winter the steering cable freezes up.

Glad it all worked out OK. Your long posts always worry me a little when I first start reading them.

[dmx434343]

wow what a start good thing it ended up alrigh and ur boat is still afloat!!! happy MEMORIAL DAY TO USSS!!!

[BlastRlxi]

Good story, I'm glad everything worked out well. Be careful braking hard for small animals. I don't want to upset any dog lovers, but I wouldn't risk an accident that could injure your family for a dog.

I know what you mean when you talk about the big tube being a PIA to store when it isn't being used. I've found that it is better to deflate it and reinflate it later when you need it again. With the Response Lxi, a tube takes up way too much room, otherwise.

[chathamsolutions]

...I pulled off the seat over the VDrive and the bilge was completely full of water, I'd never seen it that full before...

I predict a steering cable replacement in your future. Everytime I have ever filled a bilge to the point where the steering cable is submerged...the following winter the steering cable freezes up.

Glad it all worked out OK. Your long posts always worry me a little when I first start reading them.

I hope I don't have to replace mine. My bilge was completely full - only time will tell I guess.

Hey, this one is less than half as long as the others...

Good story, I'm glad everything worked out well. Be careful braking hard for small animals. I don't want to upset any dog lovers, but I wouldn't risk an accident that could injure your family for a dog.

I know what you mean when you talk about the big tube being a PIA to store when it isn't being used. I've found that it is better to deflate it and reinflate it later when you need it again. With the Response Lxi, a tube takes up way too much room, otherwise.

Ya, braking for dogs... If it hadn't been for the 5 little girls in my ear screaming to stop I think I would have just let it do the 'bump, bump, buump'. But I didn't...

The kids just LOOOOOOVE the Big Mama - that's the problem. It's big enough to fit all the kids on it, we've had as many as 12 on there at one time. It is a blast, but really a tube that needs a beach to go with it IMO.

[mrothwell]

I have a question, maybe I should make a poll.

Andy can't go anywhere without a mishap, close call, or at the minimum being a witness to some calamity. Do all these things happen to everyone, but they don't report them to the forum? Or is it JUST ANDY? Maybe I'm just lucky (knocking on a simulated wood grain finish, even as I write this).

BTW - glad the day ended OK for you.

[chathamsolutions]

I have a question, maybe I should make a poll.

Andy can't go anywhere without a mishap, close call, or at the minimum being a witness to some calamity. Do all these things happen to everyone, but they don't report them to the forum? Or is it JUST ANDY? Maybe I'm just lucky (knocking on a simulated wood grain finish, even as I write this).

BTW - glad the day ended OK for you.

An interesting poll it would make...

There's no way I can be the only one that experiences this kind of stuff. I probably put twice the normal hours on a boat a year that the normal person does - so that could account for some of it. But there are many more people on here that put a lot more hours on their Bu's than I do.

I just keep my eyes open for things I can write about on the crew. Unfortunately a lot of them happen to me personally. Like me backing my trailer into the 6" high section of a wood fence last night $%&*#^@! Only hit the corner of the prop guard, but still... That's a terrible sound of backing into something and hearing things break. Fortunately it was only the fence.