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Posts: 1037
| This could have been entitled the trip that almost wasn't....
My wife and I wanted to get to Vilas County to fish in the Muskies Inc. Larry Kleeba outing/tournament. We live near Milwaukee....
So we packed up the Ranger and truck and were on our way. It was nice out, so our windows were down as we were driving through town to get to the highway. We heard the trailer make a few squeaks and pulled over to see what was the matter. Handle needed a crank or two, so we did that and were back on our way.
Noise wouldn't stop, so we pulled over at a gas station to further examine things. While there, I put some air into the trailer tires and noticed that the tires were a little worn, but nothing to be overly concerned about.
Off we were again. We were about 5 miles from home, near Sussex when we met our first good Samaritan. He and his wife were pulled a utility trailer and he pulled up next to us at a stop light and told us that our back passenger trailer wheel was wobbling. Away he went and we pulled over into a parking lot to check things out. I had the wife drive the truck and the wheel just didn't look right. I tried tugging on the tire and could move it a third of an inch or so. I didn't know how bad things were, but I decided the Ranger was not going north. Called MW Marine, they thought wheel bearings. I slowly drove the boat to Duchows (it was much closer than MW) and the service tech thought that something was "really wrong" and that we should leave it with him to fix. Both bearings, he thought.
So, we took our gear out of the boat and put everything into the truck. Undaunted, we headed north without the Ranger. Fortunately my father owns a 1992 LakeLand 1672 trihull boat that is great to fish out of. So we get north a lot later than we had wanted, but we were there and we had a boat to fish out of.
We got up Saturday morning and headed to North Twin. Hooked up the Lakeland to the truck and away we went. Hit one bump and heard a bad noise and felt something "push" the truck a little bit. You guessed it, I didn't have the hitch secure, so it jumped and was held on by safety chains. No damage done. Hitched everything up again, only correctly this time.
Launched off of Lakota on the Conover side. The Lakeland hadn't been run yet this year, but the plug was in, engine had oil and we had a full tank of gas. Engine turned over and we ran across the lake to start fishing. After about four casts, I look over my shoulder and see that the carpeting on the floor is getting wet.
I told my wife we were going in. She saw the water and knew something was up. I tried starting the engine. Of course it didn't start for about thirty terrifying seconds. While we were moving, we turned the bilge on and got the boat on plane to drain the water.
We ran to the launch and dropped my wife off so she could back up the truck. I ran the boat around the area, keeping water out. Another couple came to launch and took up the entire launch and my wife had to wait for them. I took the boat to the dock, told them we were taking on water and asked that they move. They did. We got the boat on the trailer and a little bit of water drained out.
Plug was in and very tight. My wife was looking under the boat for a crack or leak, couldn't find a thing. That is when the second Good Samaritan came over and helped out. He looked at the back of the boat and saw that the aerator motor had broken away from it's water intake. Water was free to come into the boat and not get stopped by the aerator. So that was our issue. I wouldn't have seen that without his help.
So we took the boat up to Land-O-Lakes to Northern Edge Sport and Marine. Their mechanic, our third Good Samaritan, was on duty and at the front desk. He told us to pull around back. He checked things out and agreed that it was clearly the aerator that was broken. He told us he'd have it fixed in 30 minutes. And he lied, it was more like 15-20 minutes. Total cost was a shade under $100.
We were back at the launch and fishing by noon. Unreal experience.
Ended up having a rotten fishing day on Twin, catching the only musky that hit and it was in the low 20's for inches.
But thanks to our Three Good Samaritans, we were able to sidestep some serious landmines along the way.
I hope that they read this thread and understand how much I appreciate what all three did for me this past weekend. Without them, things could have been a whole lot worse. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | That’s a lot of bad luck! On the bright side, thanks to several people and keeping your cool, you two were still able to fish and salvage a weekend that could have turned out much worse. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | Love the positive attitude. |
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| Well you had better luck on Twin then us! We had several follows, but nothing to commit. Would certainly have helped you out if we had seen what was going on if there was anything we could have done.. Glad to see you were able to make the most of the weekend. |
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Posts: 1037
| When water was coming in, I was seriously thinking about beaching it and checking the plug. My wife said we should get it on the trailer, and she was correct.
I think that she said it best..."Better us than you dad.", when it came to the boat sinking in the lake. With two of us, it was an issue, but not an insurmountable issue. Had it just been my 70 year old father, who doesn't swim so well? Yikes.
And the Ranger trailer? Easily could have had a story in which the wheel came off, crossed the center line and....disasterous. I'm amazed that we caught it before something truly horrific happened.
Again, all thanks to the help of a few good Samaritans out there.
I'm not known to be the most cool headed person out there. Especially while on the road or waiting at a launch. But I'll tell yah what, I'm going to keep my eyes open and try to "pay it forward" for the help that I received this past weekend. |
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Posts: 1283
| Good to hear there are still people that care! Hope the trailer repair isnt too bad on wallet. |
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Posts: 267
| So what ended up being wrong with the Ranger Trailer? |
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Posts: 1037
| Got the trailer back yesterday from Duchows in Pewaukee. Nothing was wrong with it. Except that one of my tires appeared to be pulling away from the rim. They suggested getting new tires and having them mounted and balanced. Bearings were all good to go.
So I went to Tires Plus in Delafield and got the tires ordered. They go on this afternoon. Should run about $200 for both tires. I was told that one bearing kit, without labor was $150. So I feel like I got off pretty lucky.
The service tech at Duchows said that the tires probably wouldn't have lasted the trip up north. Better safe than sorry, I guess. |
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Posts: 166
Location: Merrill, Wisconsin | Its good to see you keep a positive attitude! |
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