Lake lessons: 1-3

Life on the lake is high maintenance. Here are a few lessons on the lake that you just don’t think about. I, or someone I know, have learned these lessons the hard way. If you have some lessons to share, please  feel free to share them by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of this page. It’s a three-part series. Here’s part 1:

1. If you have water run to your boat dock or pier, more than likely the piping is PVC. More than likely, a lot of it is exposed.  If you didn’t turn off your water back in December, you will probably now not only have water, you will have a shower. There are probably holes all along the pipe where it has filled with water, frozen and burst. I learned that lesson the hard way and if it wouldn’t have been for George, I’d probably still have a shower instead of a faucet. He’s handy with that kind of thing.

2. Don’t cover your boat for the entire winter…or summer for that matter.  Critters just appear on the side of the lake. Among the worst — squirrels. I had one neighbor who left his pontoon boat covered for six months. When he uncovered it, he also uncovered the fact that squirrels had chewed and clawed into EVERY SEAT and either hidden nuts there or just made themselves a fine little nest. The boat’s interior  had to be totally rebuilt.

3. Another neighbor left his boat unattended for a long while and a friendly momma squirrel found a little opening under the console and made herself a nice little nursery for her newborn. There were some old electric wires and the like in the way, but no problem — she chewed them all off and moved them. If you have your boat on a lift, always lift it up where critters can’t get from your dock into your boat. Raccoons are the worst. For some reason, they think names like “Ranger, Bass Tracker, War Eagle, Bennington, etc.” all mean “Coon Potty“.     — more to come