Boat Tow (Friday, August 5th, 2016)

We are once again in Lake Havasu City, enjoying time with friends. This time of year that usually means hanging out in the lake.  The temps are hovering around 110 - 115 F in August, so lake water or air conditioning are a necessity.  

A usual day at the lake

We went out with our friends Alan and Linda this morning on their boat, and pulled down to a cove about half way between the island and the Parker dam.  We set our anchor and just hung out in the cove all day.  It was a fabulous day.  We had the whole cove to ourselves with nothing to do but relax!

When it was finally time to pull up anchor, we tugged at it a few times, and it wasn't budging.  So Alan put his boat in gear, and we gave it another tug.  Nothing.  So he put the boat in reverse and backed up pretty fast to try again to get the anchor to release.  Just then, we got a big backfire, and the engine stopped.  He tried to start it again, and all we got was a big thump.  Nothing. 

After a few times of trying, we decided that it had hydrolocked, which basically means it got water into the pistons.  What happened was, when we backed up quickly the water started to come in through exhaust pipes. When the motor stopped the water was able to flow back into the exhaust tips and get into the motor. 

It's not a bad situation, but it's a situation where you're not going to get the boat started again until you dry it out.  And if you don't dry it out, you'll ruin your motor. To solve the issue you need to pull the spark plugs and then turn the motor over with the starter to force the water out to the cylinders.  Then reinstall the spark plugs and change the motor oil.  With luck all should be fine, which it was for us once we got home and were able to work on it.

Although we were certain of what had happened, Alan didn't want to be towed in (he's boated lots for 30+ years and had never needed to be towed back by a tow company!), so he fretted for awhile trying to figure out if there was another way.  We were all thinking.....we have a stuck anchor, and a hydrolocked engine, and if we don't make a call soon, we're going to be stuck out here for the night.  It's really warm out, and spending the night wouldn't be that bad, but Alan finally decided to give Boat Tow US a call.  

You can buy an annual membership with Boat Tow US, which costs $72 for the year, and provides you with unlimited tows.  Alan had a membership, so it wasn't a big deal.  He made the call and tried to describe where were were.  Steve sent them an email with a pin of where we were, so they would know exactly how to find us.

You have to love technology.  This is what Steve sent to Boat Tow US.

They told us it would be 45 minutes to an hour before we would see our rescue boat, so we sat back and relaxed and waited for our tow. We finally saw him out in the main channel of the lake and flagged him down.  He came in and hooked up to us.  He told us that his name was Ross, and we told him that not only were we broken down, but we also had a stuck anchor.  He didn't have a problem with that at all. 

Alan reaching over the front of the boat to hook the tow rope on

Captain Ross gave us a few good pulls, and our anchor finally gave up.  We were free, and he started towing us in.

We're not sure what our anchor was hooked on, but it was hooked well.  It was completely twisted when the lake finally gave it back to us!

We sat back and enjoyed our tow in

As we made our way in, it continued to get darker, and we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset!

Everywhere we looked, the sunset just got more beautiful!  I don't think I've ever seen sunsets more beautiful than those you find in Lake Havasu City!  Such a fun and relaxing evening, thanks to Captain Ross and our tow to the boat ramp.  He dropped Linda off at the ramp so she could go get the truck and trailer, and then he loaded us right onto the trailer.

Alan heard later that without the annual membership, this tow would have cost over $400, but since we all have our boat tow insurance, this was a very beautiful, relaxing night!