I’m going to start off with a story that we hear about boat lifts, unfortunately, all too often. As a matter of fact, I was in the office a little early this morning and the phone rang. Usually, I take that time in solace to respond to emails and write the day’s tasks on the office whiteboard. But I had some time, so I picked up the phone to speak with Marianne who was dealing with a problem at the worst possible time.
As I talked with her she gave me her backstory. Marianne and her husband are retired, enjoying spending time with the grandkids on their new pontoon making those kinds of memories that we all cherish. Her husband usually takes care of all the “boat stuff”. However, he’s been dealing with some health issues. “No problem,” she thought, “I’ve got this!”
So she got their boat winterized. She stowed all the dock’s outdoor furniture cushions in the shed & locked it up. Then making sure the cover was properly attached to the boat, she gave their boat lift at Lake of the Ozarks some “fresh air” by putting it in the full upright position. And she even tied off the boat for good measure. With her checklist complete, she headed back to the house to “cook dinner and tend to the baby, er, I mean hubby…” (Her words, not mine!) With her work completed, she couldn’t help glancing at the dock and feeling very accomplished to see her dock looking neat and tidy with the boat all squared away and ready for any winter freezes.
Marianne woke up early this morning to see her husband off to another doctor’s visit in Columbia and to make some coffee. While enjoying the sunrise with her cup of java, she looked toward the dock to once again admire her handiwork. To her dismay, she was shocked to see the bow of her pontoon up in the air nearly touching the roof of the dock and the outboard motor down in the water.
Frustrated, she exclaimed to me on the phone, “I just don’t know what I could have done wrong!” Having heard this kind of story before, I assured her that I had an idea of what was happening and that this was most likely no fault of her own. After a few photos confirmed my suspicions I had to break the bad news, which, by the way, I never like doing.