Since contracting for the dock I had planned to put a floating end on it. This would serve a couple of purposes. First, it would extend the dock into deeper water. Second, it would allow us to be close to the water. The decking on the fixed dock had to be high enough above the surface of the lake so that it would still be above the water even when the lake was at its highest. This meant that the top of the dock was normally about two feet above the surface of the water; in the Spring it would probably be about one foot above and in winter, about 5 feet above. I liked the feel of the raft rocking back and forth, up and down, and I wanted the same feeling on the floating dock.
Next to my parents' cottage in Virginia was a similar arrangement. My mother had sent photos of the hardware used there. The floating part was fitted with sleeves at each side that encompassed two vertical pipes about three inches in diameter on which the float rode up and down. I was unable to find the proper hardware, but I thought I could improvise. I bought the largest pipe I could find (2 inch diameter) to affix to the outermost piles of the dock with elbows at each end. I knew I would have to do the job when the water was at its lowest in the dead of winter. I made several attempts before I was successful. The water was only about 18 inches deep at the end of the dock at that time. I would need to drill three holes in each pile and screw a flange to each. I had bought a hand drill and tried to drill the holes from the canoe. The drill just wasn't strong enough, however, and the water was too rough to manage even with a sturdier drill. The next time I went out I had high boots and Dave's inherited brace and bit, but the boots weren't high enough. I really needed waders, but I couldn't justify buying them for just one job. I also learned that the water was rough even when the air seemed still. The next time, I chose my day carefully. There wasn't a blade of grass stirring. I hadn't bought waders, but I put each of my stockinged legs into a couple of thick trash bags, then put on my extra large "wet" sneakers so the bags wouldn't rip and waded into the water. So far, so good. I drilled the holes as quickly as possible and quickly again screwed in the lag bolts which would secure the flange. My feet weren't quite numb and were only slightly damp by the time I was done. I had donned a life jacket before wading in and everything I had needed was handy and half the job was done. After my feet warmed up a bit, I returned and finished the top end of each pipe.
The foam floatation that I wanted to use was expensive so I used what was under the raft and ordered enough to make up the difference. I planned for the float to be six by fourteen feet. The raft had always been too heavy for me to pull up on shore without help. I would build this in two section that could be bolted together and make each lighter than the raft had been. I started working on it in the garage at home.
I was determined to buy a boat this year, but I still needed a hoist first. Most of the boats on Cayuga seem to be kept in hoists. I could still have the one I'd put a deposit on last year, but I had looked into new hoists during the winter and had decided that it wasn't going to cost much more for a new one if I assembled it myself. I'd also get one which could support a larger boat. I arranged to have one delivered as soon as the road was passable again.
I'd been looking at used boats as Spring approached. I made a list of what I wanted: fiberglass for easy care, motor powerful enough to pull two water-skiers, a tri-hull for stability if possible. I hoped that I could have the previous owner launch it for me since I had no way to haul a boat currently. I had called about a number of boats and looked at half a dozen. It was April 29 when I saw the boat I wanted. It was parked along the main highway beside the lake. It was 10 years old with an 85 hp motor, fiberglass with an open bow. I arranged to take it out for a "test drive" the next day. Jim and his girlfriend came with me. It couldn't have been a nicer day and we loved the boat. We knew it had a few problems and, looking back, I think we knew about all of its problems when we bought it. I had called a local boat shop and they'd taken a quick look at it. It would need to have the transom replaced in the Fall, but would probably make it through the summer. The floor had been replaced, but still felt somewhat "spongy". The motor stalled easily and spewed forth white exhaust. It leaked somewhat around the bolts that held the motor to the transom. The propeller was chopped up. And it was difficult to steer in one direction. I put a deposit on it and arranged to pick it up in two weeks. They would put it in the water for me and deliver the trailer to the cottage.
I needed the hoist before I could get the boat. I arranged for it to be delivered and planned to assemble it the next weekend and put it in the water the weekend after that. Thank goodness our daughter, Cathy, visited the lake from Rochester that weekend. The hoist had been delivered in three packages to the parking area. I had to split the packages before I could lift them. I managed to take them in about three trips in the car around to the beach road and carry them across to where I wanted to assemble it. It was a miserable day. There was cold rain almost constantly; it snowed 10 inches in Rochester and 7 inches in Buffalo that night. The hoist was heavy and unwieldy and the assembly instructions were soaking wet before long. Cathy had warmed up one room of the cottage nicely with a space heater before I arrived and I took frequent breaks to warm up. She needed to get some reading and studying done, but held pieces of the hoist in place when I need help and I don't think I could have done it without her. Finally I was satisfied that I'd done as much as I needed to do that weekend. We left it on its side at the edge of the water like a beached whale. I would need to attach pulleys and string cables the next week, but the major assembly was done.
I was in for a shock when I strolled down to the beach the next week. It had rained heavily and the lake was probably a foot higher than it had been a week before. But what amazed me was that a huge boulder, probably about 4x4x6 feet had fallen from near the top of the cliff and was now resting about three feet from the dock. It had missed the hoist and the dock and the canoe. It had wiped out an old tree stump and brush that I'd been wanting to remove. As I took a closer look at the cliff, I saw that there were about a dozen other boulders that looked to be about the same. I'd thought this rock was well wedged in and would never fall, but now that it had, I was concerned about the rest. We all kept an eye on those rocks the rest of the weekend.
I rigged up the rest of the hoist. Dave and Jim and a lake neighbor helped tip it upright and move it into the water. Since the water was extra high and still extremely cold, we didn't get it as far out as I eventually wanted it, but I thought it would be OK where it was until the water was warmer.
The next day was boat delivery day. Jim would be able to come out to the lake later in the day, but not at the time I'd agreed to pick up the boat. I have never been especially interested in operating a motor boat, but I enjoy riding in one and water skiing. Jim had operated the boat most of the time when we took it out for a test run, and I hoped he had shown me what I needed to know. I had brought a full tank of gas properly mixed with oil (the previous owner had given us the instruction booklets when we gave him the deposit). He launched the boat for me and gave me a few operating tips. It was probably one of the worst days I could have chosen to operate a boat for the first time, especially alone. The rain and high water had swept a variety of vegetation and miscellaneous trash into the water. It was about seven miles from the launching site to our dock. The currents near the launching site seemed to have collected most of that trash. The boat seller had warned me that the current was strong near the outlet I'd have to go through on my way out of the small inlet where the launch ramp was located and I could see several logs floating in the inlet. I also remembered how easily the motor stalled so I was rather tense as I started out. As I left the dock, the seller and his daughter shouted a few more instructions; then I was on my own. I maneuvered around the floating logs OK and gave it a little more gas as I passed through the outlet. Even getting that far gave me more confidence. I'd been kneeling on the seat so that I could watch for floating debris and I didn't dare sit down, but I wedged a couple of boat cushions behind me so I could lean back and relax a bit more. I saw whole trees float by, but I managed to avoid them all. By the time I was a couple of miles away, the water looked a lot cleaner. The day was windy and the water choppy, so I still wasn't very relaxed, but I was beginning to feel much better about my first solo boat trip. However I was relieved when I finally pulled up at our dock. It took me about 6 tries before I was able to dock it. I tied it up and waited for Jim who was anxious to try it out immediately. We were now proud boat owners.
The previous Fall I had planted daffodil bulbs at the lake and now I divided bleeding hearts at home and planted some of them at the lake. It was a joy to see them each time I arrived at the lake. And the robins had returned; there were six nests lined up on a ledge under the cottage. But I also had the blisters of poison ivy again; I assumed that I'd touched some roots exposed when that large boulder had gone tumbling into the lake.
That boulder was a worry. I would like to have the others pulled down before they fell of their own accord. The first could easily have crushed a human; in fact, if there were a person laying beneath it now, nobody would ever know. I called for advice, but only got sympathy. I first contacted the Civil Engineering Department at Cornell who directed me to the Geotech people there who told me to call Cooperative Extension, also there, who sent me to the Soil Conservation Service in the community who thought the Department of Transportation could help. Then I left a message with the Department of Environmental Conservation who never returned my call. Next came the Environment Management Council, the Seneca County Public Works, the Seneca County Courthouse, and the Interlaken Highway Department. The Army Corps of Engineers was also very sympathetic, but couldn't help. If man had been attacking nature, it would probably have been within their realm, but when nature attacks man, it's just "nature". The highway department had suggested a couple of excavators, one of whom did come out to take a look. He said there was nothing they could do. If they were able to grasp a rock from the top it might pull their equipment over. If pulled from below, it might fall on top of their men or equipment. The only solution might be to use larger equipment in which would mean taking down trees which would only hasten the erosion of the cliff. He suggested a blaster. The only one I reached was between licenses and insurance and wouldn't be able to do it for a least a couple of months; soon afterwards I heard that a man of the same name had been killed in a boating accident. At the annual lake association meeting I asked others for suggestions. "If you find an answer, let us know. We all have the same problem." And they pointed out various rocks that had fallen through the years. They should have even more concern since their houses are under those cliffs. I guess we all live with an element of danger. Perhaps the secret is in knowing where it is.
The cottage was pretty well done now. About all it needed was woodwork - baseboards and trim around doors and windows, trim on the outdoor corners and soffit molding. It took me a while to get the knack of mitered cuts, but I think I finally did a fair job. Then I stained - woodwork, windows, doors. It gave everything a nice finished look.
A completed cottage and a boat brought the children to the cottage a little more often. It was very satisfying to see them having fun with their friends. As we used the beach more often I found that it would be handy to be able to store things out on the dock where they were being used - suntan lotion, deck chairs, ski vests, umbrellas. One weekend I used lumber left over from the cottage to build a "storage box" on the dock. It's been a most convenient addition.
The floating dock didn't work out quite as I had envisioned. I had bolted the two parts together, but the two pieces of lumber that were bolted together started working loose from the other parts of the float to which each was attached; the two halves were moving independently of each other. Also, the constant movement was making the nuts work themselves off the bolts. But the biggest problem was attaching it to the pipes. I had drilled holes through which I inserted cable to loop around each of the pipes; each was fastened to itself with a cable clamp behind the board. The stated work load of the cable was more than sufficient, but the friction against the wood frayed the cables and caused it to snap within a couple of weeks. I bolted lengths of lumber to the two long sides, put on self-locking nuts, and used eye bolts and chain instead of cable and had better luck. Still, the chain links that fastened the chain to the eyebolts kept working open and had to be screwed closed frequently. I had tied the float to the piles with rope at each side and that saved the float from being lost several times, but it wasn't a good permanent solution since it didn't keep the float in good position. I have more ideas to try next year.
Meanwhile Cathy's friends had moved the hoist out to the end of the dock where it belonged. Jim is a good mechanic and he had replaced the spark plugs in the boat motor and adjusted the idling speed. It was running better, but it still smoked a lot. We took the boat to the marina across the lake for a motor tune-up and a problem with the gears sticking sometimes. They said that water was leaking into the bottom two cylinders, but they couldn't see how. They finally replaced a gasket to solve the problem. The sticking gears were easily fixed by tightening a few screws in the forward throttle/shift mechanism. We had thought we could fix the steering problem by adjusting the trim tab on the motor, but that hadn't done the trick; they thought it was because the motor was hitting the back of the boat, a problem that would be fixed with the transom repair.
We had hoped that the transom would last through the summer and the kids had been warned not to ski double until it was repaired. It didn't quite make it. Jim had been having his friends out about once a week on a weekday. While pulling one of them on skis, he simultaneously heard a crack and ran out of gas. He quickly switched to another gas tank, told the skier to hang on, and headed straight for the boat hoist. He had called me at work to tell me the leaking had gotten worse, but I didn't realize how much worse until I saw his girlfriend later in the week and she asked me what I thought about the boat. She implied that they'd been lucky they hadn't sunk. After that preparation I was somewhat relieved when I saw the actual damage. The motor bracket had bitten into the transom until it finally broke through.
Jim said the previous owner had already applied some sealer to cracks there, but I hadn't noticed it until I made some temporary repairs to allow us to get it to the nearest ramp and out of the water. There was a heavy metal plate across the inside where the bracket bolts went through the transom; I switched it to the outside where the pressure was being applied by the bracket. It was a difficult job since the motor was very heavy; I was able to "hang" the motor with a chain from the top of the hoist enough to pry the motor out to the point where I could slide the metal strip under it with the help of the neighbors. The closest boat ramp was a couple of miles away at a restaurant and they were very willing to allow me to take it out there.
I still had no way to haul a boat so I reserved a rental vehicle with the correct size hitch and read my "trailering" instructions carefully. I was a bit surprised to see that the rental vehicle was a small moving van. I was glad to have Jim with me. Neither of us was experienced at backing a trailer, but he was better at it than I, and this was a monstrosity to maneuver for amateurs. I had to get the trailer inspected first since I'd never had a way to haul it. The rental dealer had not given me any way to hook up lights and I was too ignorant to ask so they did that for me at the inspection station. When we got it to the launch ramp Jim practiced backing a few times and then parked it in a position from which it would be easy to back it down the ramp. We returned for the boat. Jim stuffed rags around the crack and we lowered the hoist. The first few minutes I bailed as fast as I could, but once we got moving little water came in and the leaking appeared to have stopped by the time we arrived at the ramp. We successfully pulled it out of the water on our first try. We emptied it of everything loose and took it straight to the boat repair shop; they did a beautiful repair job - for a price. I had hoped they would have a used propeller to replace our chewed up one. I had hesitated to get a replacement earlier because I thought we would chew it up more during our learning period, but we'd never hit the bottom. They didn't have one so I had the old one rebuilt - it now looked like new. I have often heard that the boatowner's two happiest days are the day he buys his boat and the day he sells it. I've also heard a boat defined as "a hole in the water into which to throw money". Despite the problems we had during our first year of owning a boat, I was still happy that we had it.
The last repair job would be the floor. When I got it home I stripped the inside, removed the plywood that the previous owner had put down, and found a hole about 18 inches in diameter. The wood supports in the floor had rotted as badly as the wood in the transom. I've cut a large part of the floor away and think I'll be able to replace the floor without too much trouble once I remove the rotten wood, but I'll have to wait for the water in the boat bottom to thaw before I'll be able to do it. Only three more months until Spring!