With a new set of head and exhaust gaskets, it looks like I'll be back fishing sometime this next week. At least, the spark plugs no longer are showing any water, the boat idles like a champ, and it doesn't cut off when you put it under a load either. All that remains to be done now is to pay my friend for his labor bill. I've already settled up the parts bill.
When Wayne completed the work today, we both had grand plans to take the boat to West Neck Marina and take her for a ride, but it took only a cursory look around the parking lot to realize that wasn't a good decision...by any stretch. There were cars and trailers parked every which way, with no rhyme or reason to any of it...and still more turning into the parking lot nearly every minute. In short, it's what one can typically expect to happen when no one is minding the store.
Someone always needs to be in charge...and God help you if you happen to be in a foreign country, trying to communicate with local business folks when you don't understand their language, nor they yours. I still remember an occasion many moons ago when I was assigned as public affairs officer for Commander Middle East Force in Bahrain. I was tasked with preparing a "Welcome Aboard" package for the admiral to send everyone with orders to his command. After several weeks of horrible communications back and forth between the local printer and me, I was jumping for joy the morning I finally saw the printer's delivery truck coming down the pier toward the flagship LaSalle.
My joy quickly turned to disdain, however, when I realized that the considerable communications difficulties we had experienced suddenly had become a nightmare. Instead of providing the requested 1,000 copies, the printer had interpreted the request to be for 10,000 copies. And the bill was a real "bank buster." Thankfully, the admiral was a level-headed guy, and he managed to resolve the dilemma without creating an international incident.
In the short time we were at West Neck, I witnessed several cars with trailers simply drive down around the loop, come back up the other side, and head on down the road, looking for somewhere else to launch...by far, the best choice under the circumstances.
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