Until last September, I’d never have had an injury that left me much above the minimum definition of partially disabled for little more than a couple of months. Then, around Labor Day, an irritating twinge in my left leg sent me to my local doctor.
This entire page isn’t big enough to fully describe what happened next.
The ultra-condensed version is that after one misdiagnosis, two totally ineffective pain “management” drugs, a correct diagnosis, three spinal injections and one ineffective surgery, it’s now June 22, and I’m sitting at my desk writing this column while my left leg is doing its best to add new numbers to the pain scale.
I’ve never been a big fan of severe pain, but it’s not being able to hunt or fish or plant a garden that’s turned me into a very impatient patient. To be honest, the promise of a second, as of now unscheduled, major surgery hasn’t done all that much for my mood, so I recently decided to consult “Dr. Boat.”
As is the case with all cliches, there’s a germ of truth in describing a boat as “a hole in the water into which you pour money.” Happily for small boat owners like me, the amount of money is (sort of) directly proportional to the size of the hole. Besides, not only was I making “much needed” improvements to my boat, I was doing it outdoors.
I had finished the 2016 boating season on a wing and a prayer as far as the wheel bearings on the boat trailer were concerned, so that seemed like a good place to start. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that four-bolt hubs made to fit one-inch spindles were harder to find than the Beaman Monster. Of course the trailer was up on jack stands when I found this out. Where did you think it would be?
Tractor Supply’s online store saved the day. Check one project off my list.
I knew there was a problem with the bilge pump’s wiring, but why stop there? One good reason might have been that a former owner had used approximately a quarter-mile of electrician’s tape to bind all of the boat’s wiring into a single bundle from the console to the battery. It took two pain-constrained days to clean it all off. On the other hand, I had nothing but time on my hands, so it didn’t really matter.
As it turned out, it was time well spent. Back in direct current wiring 101, I’d been taught that red insulation indicated positive and black indicated negative. My predecessor had obviously attended some other school. The boat’s wiring was a hodgepodge of wire in a rainbow of colors, spliced together with no system I could see.
Starting with the recalcitrant bilge pump that had set this whole project in motion, I completely rewired every electrical circuit on the boat except for the trolling motor and the depth finder, which I had installed myself earlier. When I finished, every circuit was protected by its own inline fuse, and all of the wires associated with each circuit were taped together at intervals with a single wrap of tape. Everything works, and if something quits working, finding the offending wires will be easy.
Since a previous owner had installed a sturdy mounting plate on the bow, installing an electric-powered anchor was easy. It can be operated either from the bow or from the steering console, which should let me get back to my beloved catfishing months earlier than I might have otherwise.
After convincing my frugal side that the boat’s seats were practically worn out, I had little trouble talking myself into new ones with high backs. Talk about something I wished I’d done years ago! When I bought them, I thought of them as a luxury. Even though I’ve only sat in them off of the water, I’m already convinced they’re necessities.
Under “normal” conditions, it’s easy to drive my boat straight onto its trailer. However, strong crosswinds or currents — especially on a dark night — may be common, but they don’t qualify as normal. I haven’t had a chance to try this is the real world, but my theoretical solution is installing 2.5-foot vertical extensions to each end of the trailer bunks. On my boat, 1.25-inch heavy PVC pipe fits into the hollow ends of the bunk supports. I attached the pipe with sheet metal screws and drove wooden shims into the gaps to make the fit rock solid.
I’m quite pleased with the improvements I’ve made to my boat, but the mental therapy the projects provided was even more important. Now if I could find an able bodied angler to go along, I’d go fishing.
