Marina Stories

No kidding there we were...

We had a 1988 Catalina C 25 sailboat that we kept at marina in a land locked 5,000 acre lake. The wife and I would stay and we'd have 3 kids and Butch the Cockapoo aboard for the weekend. I bought a 5 hp Briggs and Stratton air cooled outboard which lasted 3 seasons. She started right up and did things that 5 hp outboards are supposed to do, until she started just falling apart. So, I pulled the 1977 Johnson 15 hp outboard out of the shed. I used to call that 15 hp, old unreliable" for the many times, it would just die on me or wouldn't start. I installed the electic start on it this time, and she worked like a champ. 15 horsepower was fine in the C25, I could tear around the lake pretty good with it. Then it needed some service work. The shop there at the marina sent their guy and his boat with a hoist to service it.

After he took it off my boat and got it on his, his assistant motored away, and the mechanic, Marty was his name, began walking back to the marina office and as he went by another boat owner, who rented a slip there a few years longer than us, he went, "cha-ching!" My knees may be bad, but my hearing is pretty good.

That wasn't the only issue there, but when we pulled the boat out for the season, we told them we weren't getting winter storage or renting next year. The wife went by Marty and said "cha-ching!" as we left.

They lost their lease a couple years ago.