SINKING OF THE RAMP BOAT
July 25, 2007
We did the HISTORIC ARCTIC LODGE TOUR on July 15 2007 and featured the pictures on the www.kingofobsolete.ca including a picture of a sunken Ramp Boat. Everyone is asking how did we sink the Ramp Boat? All I have been saying is that it went down like the Titanic, front first and the back end came up and out of the water. We were all safe on shore laughing because it was so funny instead of taking pictures to mark the historic event. Now I will have to use words to tell how we sunk the Ramp Boat since we passed up the Kodak moment.
The ramp Boat spent the winter tied to the shores of Reindeer Lake after we delivered him on the RAMP BOAT TO REINDEER LAKE TOUR last fall. We had made no plans or organized anything on this trip because plans usually don’t work out after weeks of planning. The basic plan was to go to Reindeer Lake, load up the Ramp Boat. Then go fishing and visit the lodges that we have Cat Trained to. The Screaming Ford became the Double Dually with the weight box on for traction to pull the Ramp Boat back from Reindeer Lake. With earplugs in and the 8V-71 “screaming” Detroit making short work of the hills and curves. I was driving with one foot on the gas and one on the brake, just like those European rally race cars do. We drove the 100kms rally road from Lynn Lake, MB to Kinoosao, Sk in just over 2.5 hours because we didn’t let fear and common sense hold us back, LOL.
My friend Raymond had the boat and motor ready for the HISTORIC ARCTIC LODGE TOUR which I thought was excellent since we phoned just before we left the KINGDOM to see if he could boat us around. I asked Raymond if he could just pull the Ramp Boat over to the boat launch so we could quickly loaded it before we head to www.arcticlodges.com . No problem, he has a 50 hp motor on his 18 foot boat and the steel Ramp Boat will only take a second to move over. Then slide the Ramp Boat on to the custom made trailer with the 30,000 lbs wicked winch mounted on the back of the Double Dually. But we encountered a slight problem with the Ramp Boat being stuck on a sand shore because of the low water level in the lake and not to mention ¼ full of water. We tried bailing out the water but that was a lot of work with 5 gallon pails and the boat rolled over and more water came in. We even tried pulling the Ramp Boat but Raymond’s 50 hp boat motor did not seem to have the traction to get the Ramp Boat moving.
This is the part where we should have said “it is one of the 5 hot sunny days in the Great White North” and gone to the lodge for lunch and fishing, but no the “KING” doesn’t like giving up. Beside I bounced over that rally road in the Double Dually and not going home empty handed. After a quick trip to find a world famous jack-all jack (the greatest invention since sliced bread) the Ramp Boat was coming off the shore. With Raymond pulling with the 50 hp motor and us jacking and prying with a couple of toothpick trees, the Ramp Boat started to float away from shore. This is the part where we should have stopped Raymond but no, the fish and food at Historic Arctic Lodge awaits us. We wave at Raymond to keeping going with the Ramp Boat now ½ full of water. It was a ¼ full of water and getting off the shore increased the water level quite a bit (something to do with water flowing to lowest spot). This is the part where I must have been asleep in the science class 25 years ago. Water flows down hill and when you pull on a boat the front comes up so the water inside the flows to the back causing the boat to sink. With more water flowing over the back of the Ramp Boat we wave like mad to get Raymond to stop. Once he stops pulling the water inside the Ramp Boat flows forward and now the front of the boat starts to sink. Oh well, at least the Ramp Boat will be going down like the Titanic, front first and back end up and out of the water.
With tears rolling down our cheeks from the laughter, we forgot about Raymond in his boat who was tied to the Ramp Boat. Once Raymond seen the Ramp Boat start to nose dive, he hit the reverse level and got the rope loose enough to unhook. Good thinking on his part because we only need to salvage one boat, not 2 boats. Plus we needed his boat to go fishing and have lunch at the lodge. After we cleaned up the tools and parked the Double Dually heading in the direction of the KINGDOM. (people at these boat launches always seem to park so a guy in a semi can’t turn around) It was time to fish, relax and joke about how the Ramp Boat is safe on the bottom of Reindeer Lake.
thansk
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