OK...I'm sure that you have had those times when something prevented you from doing something else? ... and so we say "it wasn't meant to happen".... this weekends boating trip truly "wasn't meant to happen!
We have had our boat sitting in the driveway now for 7 years! This year we decided it was time to get it back out and start enjoying it instead of just paying for it! So we have been checking it out, cleaning it up, and generally getting it ready to go. We had weekend reservations at Deer Creek and we were excited to finally get back out on the lake.
So for starters this week we had a flat tire on the trailer. We checked it out and it couldn't be fixed so we went to buy one...they didn't have one but could get us one by Saturday morning. We had planned on leaving Saturday but figured it wouldn't hold us up much if we could pick it up by about 8AM. So Friday night since we couldn't fix the tire we decided we would run the motor one more time and make sure all the water pumping was still working (water pumping was an issue a few weeks ago, first thing we fixed). We turned the engine on and heard a huge pop...we had blown the battery up! The battery was inside a battery box but we didn't have the box lid on so we did get some battery acid in the boat. We hurried and got the hose inside the boat and began running water to dilute the battery acid that had escaped. When we finally got the battery out (after the fumes died down) the entire side of the battery had blown off!!! So, off to the parts store to buy a battery...we decided to purchase batteries for the pick-up truck too as they were about the same age and close to replacement time. (truck takes two batteries) So, $300 later we get home, get the battery in and feel pretty good....go to bed, dream of lake! Morning arrives...pick up new tire, put on trailer, check motor one more time...everything working! YAY!
Now, we get the trailer hooked up to the truck and pull out...whoa...no trailer brakes! We take an hour or two working with that and adding fluid and finally we have brakes. We are ready to leave town now! It is only about 2:00 by now, plenty of daylight left for boating and we are spending the night so we can get on the lake early tomorrow!
We get all the way to Orem and are ready to head up the canyon and we lose our clutch! We make our way to the side of the road and I hear this horrible grinding noise. I jump out and look and pieces of belting are flying out from under the hood...we had lost the serpentine belt that turns most everything in the engine. So Michael figures that is what overheated the clutch and it would work again as soon as we got the belt fixed. (clutch has had a history of overheating occasionally and not working) So we get Brian & Jen on their cell (they are already at the lake waiting for us) and they come down and take Michael to a parts store...get a new belt. For the next 4 hours we sit on the side of the road (with Ellie who is enjoying the whole thing) and Michael lays on the hot pavement replacing the belt.
Then as he is replacing the belt he discovers another broken part, something to do with the idling. Back to the parts store....didn't have one...find another parts store! Success! Back to the truck, fix the part and try it out...still no clutch! At this point it was completely voted for going home....Jennifer said even if we got to the lake now she wasn't going out on the boat...we all decided someone was telling us this wasn't the weekend to go boating.
We finally nursed the truck back home and arrived about 9PM and went out to dinner. Boating trip "wasn't meant to happen" agree?
