May 2006

This should have been our 6th annual Boy's Weekend, but circumstances beyond our control forced us to cancel last years gathering. But we made up for it this year! Normally we'd arrive in Lake Havasu by 10 o'clock Friday morning. Trying to make up for last year, most of us decided to go up Thursday afternoon. What a difference that made! It gave us maximum lake time. The trip to Havasu sometimes can be an adventure all onto itself. However this years trip was uneventful except for one blown trailer tire, which Mitch admitted to getting, pulling out of his driveway. Thursday's activities were basically limited to checking in at Queens Bay and then dropping by the Boat Brokers to hassle everyone's favorite boat salesman, Wild Bill Gardner. Looking around the Boat Brokers  lot it became apparent, V-8 powered pontoon boats are becoming more and more popular, with many of them equipped with 496's. We also got a close look at Nordic's new 27 Thor cat. A nice looking boat! Anyway, as usual, one of the few differences on our Havasu trip without the significant others was that we were beached in the channel at about 8:30 Friday morning, ready to start the day! Check out some of the pictures shot by Donnie, Big Warlock (Rob) and myself.

Donnie is ready to go Friday morning, while Sean gets his 31 American Offshore hitched up.

Sean has been battling some wicked porpoise since he bought the AO. First thing we did was run down past Copper Canyon to video his run. On Friday, he had the head DCB cheerleader Chuck, with him for the day. In the smooth water of the morning, this boat really had a wicked hop. If you're on high speed internet, check out this short video (15 meg) VIDEO Then, you too will go "DAMN!"

After watching Mr. Rabbit hop up and down the lake we decided to head for a spot in the channel to further evaluate the possible solution to Sean's ride. OK, so at 8 in the morning, it wasn't hard to find prime beach space. Sean had no lack of horsepower with the twin 600 SC's, which were recently upgraded with a pair of Blower Shop 8-71's.

Using all of his boating knowledge, Chuck figured out the problem with Sean's boat. Once the solution to the problem was applied to the AO's hull, the boat ran like a champ with a much more stable ride. The prop rotation was also switched, but we were confident that was of minimal consequence compared to Chuck's brilliant  evaluation of the problem and the execution of the solution.

Mitch had has new 28' Magic and Rick had his 25' Daytona. Of course we're on a vacation and Donnie and Rick can't keep off the cell phones to work. Turn the phone off!

After hanging in the channel for a while, we decided it was time for a run to Topock for lunch. Rob shot these pictures form his 38' Donzi. Of course there's none here of Mitch because his throttle was stuck in the WFO position apparently the whole trip up river!

Ok, there's Mitch. Donnie and I secretly  wondered if Mitch's boat was going to be the first to experience a mechanical malfunction given his never say lift driving style! But his Whipplecharged HP500 made it through with out a glitch.

After lunch we cruised over to Park Moabi for a little while. Sean, get over it, Chuck made your boat run better, next up, zip ties

Rob and his crew with the 38' Donzi. This is one big boat inside, you could practically stand up anywhere in the cabin.

Patrick (roln20s) showed up Friday night with his new 26' DCB.

Saturday, Sean thought they could continue yesterdays remedies courtesy once again of Chuck! More and more pontoons equipped with big outboards or I/O's.

Late Saturday morning we left the channel and headed for the Sandbar.

Well, Sean had to over do it with the DCB stuff, the hat pushed him over the limit. On the way to Topock for lunch Saturday, Sean's AO started running real rough on one motor. After lunch I pulled the air cleaners and had him crank it up. Fuel was just flowing out of the bowl vent j-tube. Pulled off the bowl, removed the needle and seat. We found a tiny piece of brass wire stuck on the needle. Pulled that off and put it back together. Unfortunately, one of the gaskets on the float adjusting nut was bad and caused fuel to spray when the motor was fired up. Improvisation to the rescue, we used a piece of a beer carton and made a new gasket. Hey, it got him back without a bilge fuel of av-gas!

And finally just some miscellaneous pictures we shot over the weekend.