Stick a 2X4 through your own tongue!

Our boat is out of winter storage, finally. There was no hurry. It has been raining ever since Noah beached the ark.

During the winter, we bought a small outboard motor to supplement the little inboard diesel, which drives the single screw. A displacement boat with a prop, dead in the water, with the wind blowing, or the current running, is something like a bumper car, so our hope is that we can use the little outboard for maneuvering in marinas.

Today we took the boat to a lake, not far from here, just to put it in the water and determine the imaginary water line at the stern. It is imaginary because the shape of the hull--something like that of a sail boat, puts the transom up in the air; not where it is on boats that are driven along on the surface.

I had almost forgotten about the trailer. It has surge brakes. I brake the pickup, as usual, and the trailer, which has something like a telescoping tongue, slips forward a couple of inches, braking itself. It is as smooth as being kicked in the tail, or having your leash yanked.

Think, now, about what happens when you try to back up a hill. The trailer surges forward, downhill, and sets its brakes, while the pickup does its darnedest to back up the hill. I know how to handle that: I stick a short 2X4 through the tongue, preventing the trailer from surging. But that is stupid stuff, in the age of Aquarius and Edison and Bill Gates. So I called the trailer manufacturer, who thoughtfully left his telephone number stenciled on the trailer.

"Stick a 2X4 through the tongue!" he said.

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