Hey! My Tilt Doesn’t Work.

I hauled my bass boat from Florida to Ohio, because I wanted to do some fishing this summer. We arrived home around April 11th, 2014 and I’ve never had it in the water since.

It’s still on my to do list, but for some reason we can never find time. It’s not like Florida where you can walk down to the dock and fish within 5 minutes or less. I fish just about every evening on Lake Clinch.

Let me explain the difference between wintering in Florida and living in Ohio.

I was having trouble with boat one sunny afternoon, the electric tilt just wouldn’t let my motor down into the water. I had charged my battery and put it back just the way I had taken it out. So I thought.

I grabbed my tester, a few tools and tried to find the cause? Within minutes, I had three guys helping me with my dilemma.

“Are you sure all the wires are connected?”

“I’m sure,” I reasoned.

We tried everything four guys could think of including prayer. “I think it’s in the hydraulic,” one guy suggested. “You’ll probably have to take in for service.”

All four of us agreed, and just like that, they all disappeared. I tried a few more things, including kicking my engine. I decided to walk back to the trailer to get something to drink. I needed refreshed and time to think about this puzzle?

When I arrived, I noticed we had company. It was Ginger’s sister Sandy and her husband Rich. “What’s up?” Rich greeted me a smile.

Rich is one of those guys who can tackle just about any kind of job, and make it work. You know the kind, they can build a lean-to shack out of trees and limbs, while stranded in a jungle. The MacGyver type.

Rich agreed to walk down to the boat and take a look at my problem. Within three seconds, he asked me to give the electric tilt a try. Instantly, it worked.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“You didn’t have one of your wires hooked to the battery,” he mused. “Just remember if you have three wires on the negative, and need three wires on the positive. The wire was dangling behind the battery,” he grinned.

This week’s bottom line: Sometimes it takes five men to fix a boat.