On Aug 24, 11:31*pm, Tim wrote:
I had a blast. The wife gave me clearance to go out on my own, because
she was just too tired. *So I loaded up and headed over. the water was
great and the little 140 mercruiser ran just fine even with last years
gas. *I decided to park out in the middle of the lake after chasing
some sea gulls and coots, killed the engine and decided I'd call John
H on the cell phone. he seemed pretty excited that I was finally
getting some water time, but he and his mrs. had to leave for a dinner
engagement, so after answering some questions about how Bridget was
doing, we hung up and I took off and made some laps around the lake.
beached the boat at a favorite hang and caught up with some friends I
hadn't seen in a while and ate a grilled burger with them. i came upon
a 28' Harris pontoon loaded with people *that were stranded because
they got too close to the shore and busted their prop on their 90 hp
Suzuki on something, and I had the opportunity to tow them for about
1-1/2 mi. to where they had docked. We didn't tow fast, but steady.
Got them in just fine and they offered to pay me "something", but
that's just something I can't accept.. you never know when *you might
need a favor too.

Anyhow, the little Chris Craft ran fine the water was about as perfect
as anyone could want. In places it was like glass, but a little bit of
chop mostly, that is until a couple big tugs would race through and
you had to fight a few wakes, but all in all. I had a blast! If
nothing springs up to ruin the plans, the 23' Marquis will probably go
out next weekend.

One thing to note about towing the party barge. I had a bonified tow
rope up in the bow which came in handy for the ocasion. It beat trying
to dink around with a ski rope. and so I thought well, I need a
spotter to keep an eye on the pontoon. some people were saying "that
won't pull this" and I said, "well, if I can't I'll get someone who
can" OK. So I told them I need a couple people up with me, one to
balance out the boat and I somebody to watch back. So I got a teenage
lad to put on a life vest and I opened up the center windshield and
told him to sit right there on the bow. and another fellow about my
size hopped in to ride passenger. This not only gave balance but
weight to help keep the bow down. I slowed forward to get the line
taught, and then eased into the throttle. Man did that barge pull
hard!, but after we started moving, everybody on the pontoon started
cheering. LOL! Getting past the squiggling around, we hull speeded
in at I'd say about 10 knots by guestimation.

Anyhow, that was the good feeling.