Amethyst
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2008
- Messages
- 12,672
Sharing 23 years of Frugal Retirement
- Thread starter imoldernu
- Start date
Looking4Ward
Full time employment: Posting here.
Count me among the many who are glad to see you back! I always look forward to reading your posts!
Free To Canoe
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Some current thoughts....
Watching the shakiness of the world markets, and our own US skyrocketing debt leads me to think about the neartime coming years, and then beyond, as I don't expect to be here.
Since DW and I are looking at a relatively short horizon.. (probably 10 years at the most, and statistically, more like 6 or 7) we feel we can survive a economic downturn, without too much strain. At the same time, our kids are looking at a 30 to 40 year time frame.
They haven't asked me yet, but I expect that the subject will come up... What to do in a down period.
Since I'm not into investing or portfolio management, I couldn't give advice on the money matters, but would approach the future by encouraging them to build their own safety net, by asking them to take a look at their lifestyle as a way of leveling the cost of living, to become more secure by learning to appreciate life, with lower spending habits and avoidance of debt.
Sounds simple, but maybe not... Lifestyles build over a period of time. What seems logical to me, in retrospect, is not what many younger people understand. Here's the way I'd approach the mental exercise of planning for a downturn:
First, the "shock" approach.
Your job just disappeared. Your pension is in danger. You investments stop earning. Inflation is coming into play with no guarantees on how high it will go.
Build the safety net from there:
There's a macro and a micro.
The macro:
Where you live. If you need to stay employed, does it require staying where you are, or can you move to a less expensive home in a lower cost of living area? Should you take SS early? Major expenses... child in school.. afford?
The second car... really necessary? Ongoing optional costs... phones, internet, cable, memberships... golf, time share, travel.
The micro:
The "eating out" which became second nature... fast food, Starbucks. Cafeteria vs. sandwich... Delivery pizza. Excess daily travel... limit/combine shopping trips. Haircuts, beauty parlors, manicures, pedicures, massages. Exercise... memberships, trainers... High end meats, foods, beverages. Hired services... lawn, cleaning and car dealership services, car washes.... and the list goes on and on.
The point to be made is a reality check... to establish a lowest spending number. A safety net number. My own plan is built on a base that theorizes an absolute minimum income, knowing that people live and continue to survive at the poverty level of $11,770 for one and $15,930 for 2.
If you want to see how your community stacks up on the economic stress scale, here's a website that tell where it stands in your state.
http://eig.org/dci
While this seems a negative approach, having a plan... whatever plan and whatever level brings peace of mind.
So while we feel confident that we can handle a spending level of $30,000 or less, we use this only as a fallback. The point is that we know what to do and how to do it. From our current spending level, we know how to cut $25,000... what to sell, what to keep, and what we can do without.
This probably sounds like a no-brainer, and yet, given a change in the economy, do you have an actual plan? Here are the US historical inflation rates.
Historical Inflation Rates: 1914-2016 | US Inflation Calculator
The 1970's and early 1980s inflation rates really happened. Our near 20 Thousand Billion dollar debt calls for inflation. An hour or so of looking at a way to cope will be time well spent, and that's my plan to torture my kids.
They'll only hate me for a week or so.
Watching the shakiness of the world markets, and our own US skyrocketing debt leads me to think about the neartime coming years, and then beyond, as I don't expect to be here.
Since DW and I are looking at a relatively short horizon.. (probably 10 years at the most, and statistically, more like 6 or 7) we feel we can survive a economic downturn, without too much strain. At the same time, our kids are looking at a 30 to 40 year time frame.
They haven't asked me yet, but I expect that the subject will come up... What to do in a down period.
Since I'm not into investing or portfolio management, I couldn't give advice on the money matters, but would approach the future by encouraging them to build their own safety net, by asking them to take a look at their lifestyle as a way of leveling the cost of living, to become more secure by learning to appreciate life, with lower spending habits and avoidance of debt.
Sounds simple, but maybe not... Lifestyles build over a period of time. What seems logical to me, in retrospect, is not what many younger people understand. Here's the way I'd approach the mental exercise of planning for a downturn:
First, the "shock" approach.
Your job just disappeared. Your pension is in danger. You investments stop earning. Inflation is coming into play with no guarantees on how high it will go.
Build the safety net from there:
There's a macro and a micro.
The macro:
Where you live. If you need to stay employed, does it require staying where you are, or can you move to a less expensive home in a lower cost of living area? Should you take SS early? Major expenses... child in school.. afford?
The second car... really necessary? Ongoing optional costs... phones, internet, cable, memberships... golf, time share, travel.
The micro:
The "eating out" which became second nature... fast food, Starbucks. Cafeteria vs. sandwich... Delivery pizza. Excess daily travel... limit/combine shopping trips. Haircuts, beauty parlors, manicures, pedicures, massages. Exercise... memberships, trainers... High end meats, foods, beverages. Hired services... lawn, cleaning and car dealership services, car washes.... and the list goes on and on.
The point to be made is a reality check... to establish a lowest spending number. A safety net number. My own plan is built on a base that theorizes an absolute minimum income, knowing that people live and continue to survive at the poverty level of $11,770 for one and $15,930 for 2.
If you want to see how your community stacks up on the economic stress scale, here's a website that tell where it stands in your state.
http://eig.org/dci
While this seems a negative approach, having a plan... whatever plan and whatever level brings peace of mind.
So while we feel confident that we can handle a spending level of $30,000 or less, we use this only as a fallback. The point is that we know what to do and how to do it. From our current spending level, we know how to cut $25,000... what to sell, what to keep, and what we can do without.
This probably sounds like a no-brainer, and yet, given a change in the economy, do you have an actual plan? Here are the US historical inflation rates.
Historical Inflation Rates: 1914-2016 | US Inflation Calculator
The 1970's and early 1980s inflation rates really happened. Our near 20 Thousand Billion dollar debt calls for inflation. An hour or so of looking at a way to cope will be time well spent, and that's my plan to torture my kids.
They'll only hate me for a week or so.
Last edited:
Free To Canoe
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Good stuff. Particularly the stress scale info. Doing taxes gets me an economic view of the rural community where I live. Not so prosperous a place. Apparently we are booming when compared to the eastern part of KY and many places down south.
Forced job changes over the years have caused us to implement the mental exercise you discuss. We are better for it and the knowledge has served us well.
Forced job changes over the years have caused us to implement the mental exercise you discuss. We are better for it and the knowledge has served us well.
LitGal
Full time employment: Posting here.
Some current thoughts....
.
But we won't. Your posts always provide much food for thought. Thank you!
Last edited:
Some current thoughts....
Watching the shakiness of the world markets, and our own US skyrocketing debt leads me to think about the neartime coming years, and then beyond, as I don't expect to be here.
Since DW and I are looking at a relatively short horizon.. (probably 10 years at the most, and statistically, more like 6 or 7) we feel we can survive a economic downturn, without too much strain. At the same time, our kids are looking at a 30 to 40 year time frame.
They haven't asked me yet, but I expect that the subject will come up... What to do in a down period.
Since I'm not into investing or portfolio management, I couldn't give advice on the money matters, but would approach the future by encouraging them to build their own safety net, by asking them to take a look at their lifestyle as a way of leveling the cost of living, to become more secure by learning to appreciate life, with lower spending habits and avoidance of debt.
Sounds simple, but maybe not... Lifestyles build over a period of time. What seems logical to me, in retrospect, is not what many younger people understand. Here's the way I'd approach the mental exercise of planning for a downturn:
First, the "shock" approach.
Your job just disappeared. Your pension is in danger. You investments stop earning. Inflation is coming into play with no guarantees on how high it will go.
Build the safety net from there:
There's a macro and a micro.
The macro:
Where you live. If you need to stay employed, does it require staying where you are, or can you move to a less expensive home in a lower cost of living area? Should you take SS early? Major expenses... child in school.. afford?
The second car... really necessary? Ongoing optional costs... phones, internet, cable, memberships... golf, time share, travel.
The micro:
The "eating out" which became second nature... fast food, Starbucks. Cafeteria vs. sandwich... Delivery pizza. Excess daily travel... limit/combine shopping trips. Haircuts, beauty parlors, manicures, pedicures, massages. Exercise... memberships, trainers... High end meats, foods, beverages. Hired services... lawn, cleaning and car dealership services, car washes.... and the list goes on and on.
The point to be made is a reality check... to establish a lowest spending number. A safety net number. My own plan is built on a base that theorizes an absolute minimum income, knowing that people live and continue to survive at the poverty level of $11,770 for one and $15,930 for 2.
If you want to see how your community stacks up on the economic stress scale, here's a website that tell where it stands in your state.
Distressed Communities Index - Economic Innovation Group
While this seems a negative approach, having a plan... whatever plan and whatever level brings peace of mind.
So while we feel confident that we can handle a spending level of $30,000 or less, we use this only as a fallback. The point is that we know what to do and how to do it. From our current spending level, we know how to cut $25,000... what to sell, what to keep, and what we can do without.
This probably sounds like a no-brainer, and yet, given a change in the economy, do you have an actual plan? Here are the US historical inflation rates.
Historical Inflation Rates: 1914-2016 | US Inflation Calculator
The 1970's and early 1980s inflation rates really happened. Our near 20 Thousand Billion dollar debt calls for inflation. An hour or so of looking at a way to cope will be time well spent, and that's my plan to torture my kids.
As healthcare spending is one of the main causes of elder bankruptcy, it's also good to have a plan for investing in optimum health, to include diet and exercise. As many are concerned about LTC costs, here's an article on reducing the risks of entering a nursing home.
Tackle these 3 risks to avoid a nursing home - MarketWatch
Emphasis added
I originally wrote this as a response to a recent thread on downsizing, but decided that it belonged here, as a update to our philosophy of living in the later part of the retirement years.
..................................................................................
As we get even older, our philosophy has changed, bringing to mind an old proverb that I learned as a kid...
" Le temps, c'est l'étoffe dont la vie est faite", "Time is the stuff of which life is made" or loosely translated as "Time is money"...
We still have three "homes", full of the normal accumulation of "stuff". Florida goes this year, our lake place next year, and moving to our CCRC apartments, from our Villa, the next year.
No regrets for any of these homes, but we no longer place a monetary value on the belongings therein, so the plan is to turn all of it, over to the kids, to take what they want, and then have them hire someone to go through the clearing out process... ultimately to hire waste management trucks for whatever remains.
The twenty or thirty thousand dollars that may disappear during this process is a pittance compared to the anguish of handling it on a piece by piece basis.
There comes a point in time, when money is much less important than peace of mind, and when quality of life becomes a function of time.
.....................................................................................................
All of this comes as a result of integrating with so many people of our own age, (and those who are even fifteen to twenty five years older) who are enjoying a simpler, very happy life, in the CCRC apartments. A single monthly payment that covers all of the cares of home ownership. Meals, transportation, all utilities, and costs of home ownership as well as age related social activities.
Most recently, as part of this process, a friendship with one of the residents of my own age, who has been totally blind since age six. We are going through a mind bending experience of learning to use the computer without having sight. Since he is very smart, (has taught college history) the challenge is fun for both of us.
Another friend, still living in the Villas, also makes life interesting. He is now 97, and two years ago, renewed his pilot's license. Ten years ago, he finished building his own airplane in his garage. Le Pou de Ciel... the Flying Flea. It is hangered in a small airport fifteen miles from here. Next week, we're going up to check on it. He has a new engine to be installed. (BTW... not for him to fly, but as part of his hobby... the plane is built from 1931 plans for what was to be the people's plane, ala the Volkswagen.
Ooops... too wordy... a genetic flaw...
Not the kind of thing that we think of at age 60 or 70, but a philosophical change of heart that comes in the eighties.
..................................................................................
As we get even older, our philosophy has changed, bringing to mind an old proverb that I learned as a kid...
" Le temps, c'est l'étoffe dont la vie est faite", "Time is the stuff of which life is made" or loosely translated as "Time is money"...
We still have three "homes", full of the normal accumulation of "stuff". Florida goes this year, our lake place next year, and moving to our CCRC apartments, from our Villa, the next year.
No regrets for any of these homes, but we no longer place a monetary value on the belongings therein, so the plan is to turn all of it, over to the kids, to take what they want, and then have them hire someone to go through the clearing out process... ultimately to hire waste management trucks for whatever remains.
The twenty or thirty thousand dollars that may disappear during this process is a pittance compared to the anguish of handling it on a piece by piece basis.
There comes a point in time, when money is much less important than peace of mind, and when quality of life becomes a function of time.
.....................................................................................................
All of this comes as a result of integrating with so many people of our own age, (and those who are even fifteen to twenty five years older) who are enjoying a simpler, very happy life, in the CCRC apartments. A single monthly payment that covers all of the cares of home ownership. Meals, transportation, all utilities, and costs of home ownership as well as age related social activities.
Most recently, as part of this process, a friendship with one of the residents of my own age, who has been totally blind since age six. We are going through a mind bending experience of learning to use the computer without having sight. Since he is very smart, (has taught college history) the challenge is fun for both of us.
Another friend, still living in the Villas, also makes life interesting. He is now 97, and two years ago, renewed his pilot's license. Ten years ago, he finished building his own airplane in his garage. Le Pou de Ciel... the Flying Flea. It is hangered in a small airport fifteen miles from here. Next week, we're going up to check on it. He has a new engine to be installed. (BTW... not for him to fly, but as part of his hobby... the plane is built from 1931 plans for what was to be the people's plane, ala the Volkswagen.
Ooops... too wordy... a genetic flaw...
Not the kind of thing that we think of at age 60 or 70, but a philosophical change of heart that comes in the eighties.
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- Messages
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Nice reflection, imoldernu. I hadn't thought about it, but my mother was quite happy living in an apartment for the last 7 years of her life after always being in houses. And getting rid of all the accumulated STUFF in the house I grew up in wasn't hard for them when they were ready to sell it (other than the sheer volume of STUFF, including boxes that hadn't been unpacked from her parents' house after they died 40 years earlier).
I think your plan sounds excellent and hope it all goes as you wish.
I think your plan sounds excellent and hope it all goes as you wish.
Ed_The_Gypsy
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Many thanks to Options for those links!
Teacher Terry
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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- Jun 17, 2014
- Messages
- 7,086
I have been steadily downsizing stuff for years because I didn't want to saddle my kids with the job if something happened to us. I have had to clean out a few people's lifetime of stuff and it was not fun. I started in earnest in my 50's and will be 62 soon. It also feels so much better to live in a smaller space with less stuff. My Mom went into an apartment in her later years and like it very much.
Have you seen your spending decline as you age? Here's yet another study discussing declining spending patterns in later years, but I'm curious as to your real life experience.
Here's How the Average American's Spending Changes in Retirement -- The Motley Fool
Here's How the Average American's Spending Changes in Retirement -- The Motley Fool
38Chevy454
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
The observation about simplifying life makes a lot of sense. My father's aunt (whatever the official name of that in relation to me??) recently moved into a senior living place, after downsizing from her apt, which was downsized from a house of many years. She could not be happier and is doing well there. In her mid-80's, she says the others there should do more activities.
Amethyst
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2008
- Messages
- 12,672
Teacher Terry
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2014
- Messages
- 7,086
We retired at 58 and 53 and our spending on travel, entertainment has gone up. Other costs have gone down. WE want to do things while we can and the studies do show that people spend less $ in their 70's mainly because they don't feel like traveling so much. We are driving less then when we worked and I can imagine by our 70's being able to share a car.
imoldernu, I didn't post that well. This question was directed at you, given your years in retirement. It would be engightening to contrast your real world experience with the claims made in the article.
Maybe not as definitive as the article.
Re: housing... no mortgage so as to the part of our budget being equal to before retirement?.... actually quite a bit lower than the article posits. We bought a fairly new house in 2004, that was built in 2000. 1600 s.f., built specifically with features for the aged. Relatively low price in an upper class (in our town) neighborhood. $143K. Same house in Chicago suburb (Naperville) approximately $300K... (Our town family income $48K... Naperville $108K).
Conclusion? Location kept the price low, and as a newer home, less cost for repairs. Total since moving in.... $185 furnace control, $450 new Water Heater. $65 roof shingle repair. Our taxes... after tax freeze and homestead exemption $2458. The cost and the location were a major part of our later year planning.
Re Social Security... Played a BIG part in our plans, when we began receiving $23K at age 62. Alternative, was to spend taxable assets. Transportation?... Up until age about age 72, was a normal 15K miles/yr. Since then, a steady drop to about 6K mile/yr. Also, since most of our travel in the later years is local and low speed, our 20 year old cars look good, and run well. No major expenses. Actual cost to own over the period we've had the cars... exclusive insurance, registration, fuel and normal oil changes, comes to a total of $1306 per year. That includes purchase price and depreciation.
Re:Medical Expenses... For the two of us... When we retired in 1989, our expenses were about $11k plus additional out of pocket of perhaps $2000 for copays, dental and eyecare. That $13K total today would be approximately $25K, using CPI inflation. In fact, our total medical expenses (using Medicare A.B. and D, plus the out of pocket costs... the actual comes to just about $13K. Part of this could be luck... reasonable health.
Overall, though I'm coming at this from a slightly different perspective, am not sure that the housing and medical cost factors in the article apply to my own situation.
I'll hate myself in the morning when the devil catches up with me.
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Thank you! Yes, housing and medical are two cost areas I'm trying to control as much as possible. In the case of medical, through diet/exercise, and careful monitoring of health (though health will always be the wild card in retirement planning as you just never know). I'll control housing costs by moving to a lower COL area (which won't be at all hard moving from the area of Los Angeles that I'm in).
Thank you again for your real life perspective!
Thank you again for your real life perspective!
Sharing one day of my life from 1996 at age 60.
Preface
Living in our retirement park for 7 years, very active, and full of fun. We were still among the younger members of our community. I bought a refurbished 1973 20ft. Starcraft runabout, and kept it in our 53 slip marina, on Lake Griffin.
The lake is about 2 miles across and 8 miles long, but very shallow with an average depth of about 10 feet. The boat was classified as "fiberglas" but not the same fiberglas that we know today. It was simply a glassy fiberglas finish over a wood body.
Now, one more thing. Lake Griffin is well known for a large alligator population. Whether a gator or a log, I hit something hard @ about 40 m.p.h., and it left a thin crack on the bottom... almost unseeable, but 20 inches long and... a very small leak. I patched it with liquid fiberglas, and figured all was good.
The Adventure
DW and I would day-trip, exploring the five connected lakes and 212 miles of shoreline. One day, just across the lake, in a marshy area, we came across a giant alligator, which I named "Bubba". Estimate at about 14+ft. long and round as a barrel. We talked about it one day, while bobbing in our community pool, along with some slightly older ladies (widows). Always willing to share, I invited the five ladies for a gator viewing trip in my boat. The next day, we embarked on our adventure... Just me, and five (somewhat overweight) women.
Bubba lived next to the Methodist Camp, about 2 miles across the lake. Our trip across the lake (see map) was a little slower than usual, because of the added weight in the boat. I noticed that there was a little water coming out of the bilge outlet, but thought nothing of it.
As we neared the camp, I thought the boat seemed a little logy... We did manage to see Bubba, but as I looked at the stern of the boat, (open area below the rear seats), I noticed that there was water... several inches.
"Okay, ladies... we've got to go back". Protestations... wanted to see more.
As I gunned the boat, and started to go back, I realized the boat was porpoising...
Uh-oh... The extra weight cracked my fiberglas patch, and was filling the boat with water... and rapidly. The ladies didn't know this, and had no idea of what was going on. Because that part of the lake was all marsh, no place to beach the boat, except in the gator's home base.
With no word to the ladies, and in a wild inner panic, I decided to go for the nearest dock... across the lake but nowhere near home.
By now the boat was bouncing... nose up and down maybe four feet at a time.
"Slow down, Bob... this isn't fun!"
If they only knew how close they were to sinking, and being eaten by wild gators! But I smiled... "Enjoy the ride!.
As we neared the old, unused dock in an old mobile home park, the water was rising above the floor boards, and my ladyfriends' feet were getting wet. By the time we came alongside the rotting old dock, which was about six feet above the water level (lake was low)... the boat was sinking fast.
"Alright, Everyone... out of the boat, and up on the dock."
Unbelief! "What do you mean?" Two minutes of 'this can't be happening' and now the boat was on the bottom, with two feet of water inside. Five minutes of getting my healthy weight friends, up on the dock. All modesty aside, bum boosts and push and scramble and roll till they were all were on the now swaying dock. Missing boards and very shaky... but all safe. A walk to the nearest mobile home and a call to my buddy to pick up the ladies...
An adventure to tell the families about.
Denouement
It doesn't stop there. How to recover a sunken boat, with the engine under water? We had heard of a similar case, where a small barge had to be brought in, to retrieve a sunken boat. Cost... $1,000 at the time, a small fortune.... 'specially for frugal us. No way!. My buddy, "Dick" and I puszzled it out. We went to Walmart, and bought three small bilge pumps, and two marine batteries. An hour of hooking them up, and two hours of pumping, and the boat was almost empty.
The moment of truth... try to start the 351 Ford Interceptor Engine...
Success!... first try...
Now the most exciting part of the whole trip. Boat still leaking. The plan... to go across the two mile run back to our marina. Me at the wheel, and Dick in the stern, managing three bilge hose over the side. We looked like a fire boat. Full speed ahead. Started off fine... for the first mile. then, as the water gained on us, the boat began porpoising... "Whump, whump, whump!". The last hundred yards were the worst. My slip was on the inside of an "F" shaped marina, and we had to slow. The slips had sling lifts, to raise the boat out of the water to avoid the choppy waves on a shallow lake. As we neared the slip, I realized the sling was up too high to allow the boat to float in. Jumped out and turned on the lowering switch... Just in time. Actually, not quite... as we only got 3/4 of the way in, but just enough to hold the boat, and avoid that thousand dollar barge fee to lift it from the bottom.
END
Posting here, as I want to keep the memory, and to link it for my kids, who have never heard the story.
Preface
Living in our retirement park for 7 years, very active, and full of fun. We were still among the younger members of our community. I bought a refurbished 1973 20ft. Starcraft runabout, and kept it in our 53 slip marina, on Lake Griffin.
The lake is about 2 miles across and 8 miles long, but very shallow with an average depth of about 10 feet. The boat was classified as "fiberglas" but not the same fiberglas that we know today. It was simply a glassy fiberglas finish over a wood body.
Now, one more thing. Lake Griffin is well known for a large alligator population. Whether a gator or a log, I hit something hard @ about 40 m.p.h., and it left a thin crack on the bottom... almost unseeable, but 20 inches long and... a very small leak. I patched it with liquid fiberglas, and figured all was good.
The Adventure
DW and I would day-trip, exploring the five connected lakes and 212 miles of shoreline. One day, just across the lake, in a marshy area, we came across a giant alligator, which I named "Bubba". Estimate at about 14+ft. long and round as a barrel. We talked about it one day, while bobbing in our community pool, along with some slightly older ladies (widows). Always willing to share, I invited the five ladies for a gator viewing trip in my boat. The next day, we embarked on our adventure... Just me, and five (somewhat overweight) women.
Bubba lived next to the Methodist Camp, about 2 miles across the lake. Our trip across the lake (see map) was a little slower than usual, because of the added weight in the boat. I noticed that there was a little water coming out of the bilge outlet, but thought nothing of it.
As we neared the camp, I thought the boat seemed a little logy... We did manage to see Bubba, but as I looked at the stern of the boat, (open area below the rear seats), I noticed that there was water... several inches.
"Okay, ladies... we've got to go back". Protestations... wanted to see more.
As I gunned the boat, and started to go back, I realized the boat was porpoising...
Uh-oh... The extra weight cracked my fiberglas patch, and was filling the boat with water... and rapidly. The ladies didn't know this, and had no idea of what was going on. Because that part of the lake was all marsh, no place to beach the boat, except in the gator's home base.
With no word to the ladies, and in a wild inner panic, I decided to go for the nearest dock... across the lake but nowhere near home.
By now the boat was bouncing... nose up and down maybe four feet at a time.
"Slow down, Bob... this isn't fun!"
If they only knew how close they were to sinking, and being eaten by wild gators! But I smiled... "Enjoy the ride!.
As we neared the old, unused dock in an old mobile home park, the water was rising above the floor boards, and my ladyfriends' feet were getting wet. By the time we came alongside the rotting old dock, which was about six feet above the water level (lake was low)... the boat was sinking fast.
"Alright, Everyone... out of the boat, and up on the dock."
Unbelief! "What do you mean?" Two minutes of 'this can't be happening' and now the boat was on the bottom, with two feet of water inside. Five minutes of getting my healthy weight friends, up on the dock. All modesty aside, bum boosts and push and scramble and roll till they were all were on the now swaying dock. Missing boards and very shaky... but all safe. A walk to the nearest mobile home and a call to my buddy to pick up the ladies...
An adventure to tell the families about.
Denouement
It doesn't stop there. How to recover a sunken boat, with the engine under water? We had heard of a similar case, where a small barge had to be brought in, to retrieve a sunken boat. Cost... $1,000 at the time, a small fortune.... 'specially for frugal us. No way!. My buddy, "Dick" and I puszzled it out. We went to Walmart, and bought three small bilge pumps, and two marine batteries. An hour of hooking them up, and two hours of pumping, and the boat was almost empty.
The moment of truth... try to start the 351 Ford Interceptor Engine...
Success!... first try...
Now the most exciting part of the whole trip. Boat still leaking. The plan... to go across the two mile run back to our marina. Me at the wheel, and Dick in the stern, managing three bilge hose over the side. We looked like a fire boat. Full speed ahead. Started off fine... for the first mile. then, as the water gained on us, the boat began porpoising... "Whump, whump, whump!". The last hundred yards were the worst. My slip was on the inside of an "F" shaped marina, and we had to slow. The slips had sling lifts, to raise the boat out of the water to avoid the choppy waves on a shallow lake. As we neared the slip, I realized the sling was up too high to allow the boat to float in. Jumped out and turned on the lowering switch... Just in time. Actually, not quite... as we only got 3/4 of the way in, but just enough to hold the boat, and avoid that thousand dollar barge fee to lift it from the bottom.
END
Posting here, as I want to keep the memory, and to link it for my kids, who have never heard the story.
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Awesome Story Sir Imoldernu!
Love your style of story telling....EXCELLENT!!
For a while i was scared that the boat will capsize and the alligator would have a nice healthy lunch. So glad that it had a happy ending.
As always thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
Love your style of story telling....EXCELLENT!!
For a while i was scared that the boat will capsize and the alligator would have a nice healthy lunch. So glad that it had a happy ending.
As always thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
Meadbh
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2006
- Messages
- 11,401
Awesome Story Sir Imoldernu!
Love your style of story telling....EXCELLENT!!
For a while i was scared that the boat will capsize and the alligator would have a nice healthy lunch. So glad that it had a happy ending.
As always thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
+1
That was a great yarn!
Consider putting a link in the "Mistakes....." thread!
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