Last day

Kerry thought that we needed a family photo on the last day. Aren't we so cute! We don't look too bad for spending four days out in the wild roughing it.
I saw a bass when I was snorkeling in this cove yesterday and I decided to try to see if I could catch it. I cast about 5 times and lo and behold.....
I caught it! I am not sure what kind of bass it is but it was fun to catch it. Once again we didn't measure it since we were going to throw it right back in. I guess we figured out the best way to catch fish. First find them while snorkeling and then go get them.

We had an enjoyable 4 days. I am sure there will be many more. It isn't a big boat but if someone wants to come and share it I am sure that we can figure out how to accommodate you. Kerry did a great job of cooking every day and we certainly didn't go hungry. We made it the whole time on two marine batteries and one propane tank. I am sure we will be able to do it for a week at a time during the summer.

Day three

Here is a good picture of the ski boat tied up next to the houseboat. On the second night Taylor and I were playing with our underwater light at the back of the boat. We threw out a minnow net and caught a minnow. I put the minnow on a hook and we watched it drag the sinker around. We got tired of watching the minnow and went to bed.

That night we kept hearing something thump the boat. We couldn't figure out what the noise was. In the morning Kerry and I got up and went to investigate what would make the thumping noise every once in a while.
This is what was on the end of the line. I am glad that I put the pole through the railing. It was the pole catching the reel on the railing that was making the thumping noise. I almost lost my rod and reel to this catfish! I really didn't expect to catch anything this size.
I didn't think to measure it. We weren't planning on doing anything with it so we released it as quickly as possible so as not to harm the poor thing. The fishing gloves came in handy.
We have a surface supplied air system so we can dive without scuba tanks. We spent a little time cleaning up the bottom of the cove that we were parked in. We didn't even scratch the surface on the cans and bottles at the bottom. Kerry spotted the anchor with 4 feet of chain attached. It is worth about 40 dollars. Taylor cleaned up two pair of the sunglasses we found and was wearing a pair around. Only other thing in the bunch of trash was two golf balls. I forgot to bring the metal detector so we only found things that were obvious.

Day two

Kerry thought the mist through the trees was very pretty.
Taylor liked going on the roof and jumping off. The water was about 15 feet deep at the back of the boat where she was jumping.
Kerry thought it was fun too. You have to jump out just a little bit so you can clear the railing.
Erin was the toughest to get to jump. She finally did but only did it once.
Taylor was the first one to catch a fish. She caught a small bluegill near the shore. She was really excited. We released it.

Day one

Kerry and the girls were off for fall break so we took out the houseboat to find out what it was like to spend time on it. It took me a little time to get ready because I had to fix the plumbing for the 60 gallon fresh water tank. It had some galvanized fittings and patched up copper tubing running from the tank to the pump. I replaced the the fittings under the tank with some ABS plastic fittings and a drain valve and ran PEX tubing between the tank and the pump. After I got the water tank working we headed out to find a cove.This is the cove we tied up in. You just run the boat up on the shore and then tie the long ropes from the back corners to some trees. It is a little harder to drive a 40 foot pontoon boat than it is to drive a 17 foot ski boat. The GPS in the ski boat said that we were going 6 mph though.
The fall leaves were very pretty.
This is a shot across part of the lake. It is a pretty big lake on the Kentucky Tennessee line.

Kerry's birthday!

It was my beautiful wife Kerry's birthday today! We had an angel food cake with strawberries to put on top. We only put one candle on top to represent her secret age.
Kerry was able to blow out the representative candle on the first breath! It was nice to have an angel food cake for an angel. We also had the strawberries which were sweet just like her.
This is the booty that she hauled for her birthday. She got a new watch, an emergency crank weather radio, the book "Brisingr", and a 5.0 cubic foot chest type freezer. Of course, the best present of all was the fact that I was home to share it with her!

Houseboat II

A shot of the front of the boat. I think this area is plenty big enough to put something up to sleep more people if they want to come and stay.
This is the back of the boat. There is a ladder to the roof. There are two swim platforms on each side of the motor. The boat is 14 feet wide and 40 feet long. It sits on two steel pontoons.
This is a picture from the back door. Kerry was trying to get out of the way. I took another picture without her in it but it was too dark.
This picture Kerry took from the front door. I think they are leaving almost everything you see in the picture. They said they were just going to take their personal items with them.
Here is the picture of the sofa that folds out into a double bed. There are drawers everywhere. Every place is a place for storage.

We couldn't decide if we should buy it or not. It finally came down to a matter of "rock, paper, scissors". I told Kerry that we had to play the game and if I won we would buy the boat and if she won that we wouldn't. I did paper and she did rock. We decided to buy the boat.

I called and told them that we would buy it if they fixed a couple things. I think it is in pretty good shape for a 1969 boat. We will be open for visitors as soon as we make the purchase.

Houseboat

We went to look at a houseboat this weekend. It is down on Dale Hollow Lake on the Kentucky/Tennessee border. The lake is really clear and we plan on using the boat as a scuba diving platform.
It has a bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower pan. There is no plumbing to the sink or the shower but I am going to be able to fix that pretty easily. I have some pex plumbing line that will work very well.
This is the kitchen sink and the range. It is a propane 4 burner with a gas oven. Kerry fixed us scrambled eggs on it for breakfast on Saturday morning.
This is the captains console. Of course this is where I will be sitting. The people that are selling the boat said that they usually put the chair outside when they were not moving so there was more room.
This is the dining area. The air conditioner is in the lower left corner and there is a microwave and toaster oven on the storage area. The two bunk beds in the back are like super singles.
This picture is of the refrigerator. It is a propane/electric. In the background there is the back door and the door to the bathroom.