"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
10/28/2018 at 12:02 • Filed to: boatlopnik
2
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"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97)
10/28/2018 at 12:02 • Filed to: boatlopnik | 2
| 2 |
Saturday wa
s the day on
the lake this year and haul out day. It was a perfect 70 degree day in Southern NM, and there were only a handful other boats out on the lake. After some cruising around and lunch, it was a stop at an open
ma
rina to top off the fuel tank, empty the port-a-potty and winterize the sink.
Onc e back at the Marina where our slip is, I opted to attempt hauling it via beach instead of driving around five miles to the one ramp still currently in the water. Because the trailer lives on a concrete pad in my parent’s driveway (I ac quired an ownership interest in the boat via rebuilding the engine 10 years ago and about 15 years of maintenance and upkeep), they towed it down from Albuquerque via my olde e scalade that they now own. Because the escalad e was here, and GMT 400 escala des have a real 4x4 system with a low range, beach launching is an option on firm enough ground .
Elephant Butte is know for very deep, soft sand beaches along most of the shoreline, but there are places where it is much firmer sand. Combine firmer ground with a place with enough drop off at the waterline to get a big boat on the trailer without having to stick the tow vehicle too far down in the mud, and it is possible haul out 6000+lbs of boat and trailer from the beach. I’ve done it probably a dozen times over the years, and once actually won a bet from a park ranger over doing it successfully. Few people attempt to beach lau nch or retrieve boats this heavy at this lake.
After fogging the engine, t he retrieval was successful, and it was undoubtedly the first time the Escalade had low range engaged since I owned it.
Once out the water, the winterization was completed by draining the cooling system via pulling the plugs on the exhaust manifolds , criculating water pump supply hose, two lower block drains and pulling the oil cooler hose. The boat was a left a few miles away at the fibreglass shop for fresh bottom paint for next year. He’ll lift it off the trailer, sand down to gel coat, reapply the e pox y barrier coat and then two coats of ablative anti fouling paint. The outdrive gets sanded down and a couple of coats of non-copper containin g anti fouling paint, because galvanic co r ro sion is very much a thing.
adamftw
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/29/2018 at 06:41 |
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Winterizing when its 70F out????? Winterizing in New Mexico?????
Madness.
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ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> adamftw
10/29/2018 at 11:29 |
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70 degrees in the afternoon equals 40's at night. The living in the high desert means 20 -30 degree swings in temperature between day and night are the norm. It got down into the mid 30's last week when a weather system went through, which is to say that we’ll start dropping below freezing at night soon enough.