Everett McLaughlin: Getting his boat ready for winter was not easy

To The Daily Sun,

In telling this episode, I wanted to lighten the seemingly everyday negativity in the news these days and hopefully bring a smile or a laugh at my expense to anyone who reads this.

Last month I decided to put my bass boat up for the winter off to the side of the end of our driveway as usual. Our driveway slopes toward the road with a field and lawn on the sides, but trees and bushes at the end, and the side where I store it also slopes down a field toward a wet area that is bordered by briars and shrubs on the road side and a high field on the other.

I attached the boat trailer to my truck and backed down the driveway, turning to get it off to the side. When I had it in position, I released the lever holding it onto the truck and cranked the wheeled trailer jack up to get the trailer off the ball on the truck. It wouldn't come off. Five more tries repositioning and jumping up and down on the truck proved futile, so I pulled it back onto the driveway to take it off so I could grease the ball. I cranked up the wheeled trailer jack and it came off immediately. Unfortunately, with the slanting driveway, I now had a trailer with my bass boat heading for the road! Yep. No chocks behind the wheels. A short attempt to hold it back was quickly eliminated so I grabbed the front of the trailer and shoved it to the right, forcing the trailer's back to go into the field on the left, rather than onto the road.

But now I couldn't get the ball on the truck under the trailer that now sat at a 90 degree angle to the driveway, so I attached a chain to the front of the trailer and pulled it with the truck back onto the driveway. I chocked the wheels, greased the ball and reattached the trailer. I repositioned the trailer down the side, raised the trailer jack and voila. It came right off. Except this time with no chocks behind the wheels it was now heading down our field toward the wet area. Repeat performance and I once again pushed the front of the trailer hard and the boat and trailer crashed into the briars and bushes next to the road. Bad angle again and another chain pull, but this time the very limited angle made it extremely difficult to get the ball under the trailer. It took 11 tries to get it EXACTLY centered over the ball. Finally locked on and repositioned, the bass boat is under wraps for the winter, albeit too close to the wetland.

I may need help in the spring.

Everett McLaughlin

Gilford