becca’s neighborhood is officially freaky. i suspected this before, but after last night, i’m certain of it. our story begins with a boat…
we bought this boat (and trailer) a week and a half ago for a really great price from a guy named bob. it’s a 17-foot ~35-year-old modified sailstar, a.k.a. the old mutt boat. we haven’t yet worked out all the towing issues yet, as becca and i both have small sedans, so cari was kind enough to volunteer her truck, her stick-shift skills, and her odd work schedule to help us pick it up.
the first attempt was made on tuesday night, but alas, the ball attachment bought specifically for cari’s trailer hitch for the boat pickup was too low to the ground.
strike one.
the second attempt was made on wednesday morning, with a ball attachment dropped into the hole in cari’s bumper. the boat made it successfully back to becca and cari’s house, where cari left it in the driveway, ready and waiting to be wheeled into the garage.
wednesday night, becca made the first attempt at housing the boat. at this point, while i was blissfully (or at least diligently) running on the treadmill in the luxuriousness of las palmas, becca discovered that the mast cradle was about 2 inches too tall for the garage door in its current configuration. as the mosquitos began to bite, becca decided another night in the driveway couldn’t hurt a boat that had been stored outside for the past few months anyway.
strike two.
thursday dawned. we came to work. we worked. we watched tropical storm claudette. we made plans to sail this weekend, and thus left work determined to get the boat into the garage if it was the last thing we did.
i arrived at becca’s house to find her in conversation with her next-door neighbor, who promptly commented “wow, the homeowner’s association is letting you keep this in the driveway??” hmm. this is freaky neighbor number 1.
we got out the hose and scrubby sponges, and laid the sails (soaked after sitting outside during yesterday’s rain) out to dry on the lawn. we hosed and scrubbed, scooped out handfuls of leaves and twigs and other icky things, hosed and scrubbed some more.
a grandmotherly woman wandered over from across the street. her first comment was that our boat reminded her of when she used to sail. her second comment was “well, ha ha, you know you can’t leave this in the driveway, chuckle chuckle.” this is freaky neighbor number 2.
we brought huckleberry/hunter the puppy outside to observe the boat activities. he was returned because the woman who adopted him decided to listen to her neighbor, who said the dog was a pitt bull that would grow up to attack small children and strangers. ooook. this is freaky neighbor number 3.
while the grandmotherly lady was still hanging around watching us hose and scrub, the man from across the street wandered over with his dog. his first comment was the astute observation that one of the puppies was back. his second observation was “ho ho, good thing you’re not planning to leave this in the driveway, or you’d get a letter, chortle, ha ha.” this is freaky neighbor number 4.
(side note: what is it with these people and their homeowner’s association? a person can’t even live in peace in their own neighborhood? a person can’t keep a boat in their driveway for a single day without 3 separate warnings about incurring the wrath of the homeowner’s association? it’s downright freaky. their comments are made in polite, laughing tones, and yet you can hear the threatening and/or fearful undertones. it’s like some horror movie. i expect the neighbors to turn into zombies who attack becca, cari, and kennda one night moaning “nooooo boooooats, moooow the lawwwwwwn…..”)
eventually, we couldn’t hose and scrub anymore, and were forced to deal with the reality of trying to get the boat and trailer into the garage despite the too-tall mast cradle. an earlier trip to west marine (where we bought 4 life jackets for a mere $20, so you can all feel safe when you come sailing with us, and so we don’t get fined) had resulted in no immediate trailer-lowering solution. but we had an idea!
it turned out to be surprisingly easy, compared to what i’d expected. it’s definitely a two-person job, but only takes about 5 minutes. we roll the trailer up to the garage door, and take a deep breath. one of us plays superman, lifting the tongue of the trailer high enough for the other person to release the pin and swivel the front wheel into its storage position. this lowers the front of the trailer about 8 inches, which, as it turns out, is juuuust enough. with me pulling from the front and becca pushing from the stern, we pulled the 800+ pound trailer and boat three feet into the garage, at which point we could do the superman/wheel swivel trick again, and use the front wheel to pull the boat the rest of the way into the garage. final result? trailer tongue about a foot from the back wall, mast about an inch away from the back wall, stern about a foot from the garage door. the boat is entirely inside the garage.
home run!! (the pictures are at the link above.)
so tomorrow, we test the boat out on the water for the first time. matt, george, and rich are all coming along for laughs. wish us luck!