Who's ready to go boating?

I am.
Unless it looks like this.

 

I'll stay on the trailer. To many crazy's and therefore accidents. It only takes one......

 

My boat goes in next week! Let them hit me, I want a newer boat!

 

My season is over .... too many assholes with wake boats about to descend on the lake. Takes the pleasure away. I'll be back in the fall....

 

An annoying part of our summer season is the kayakers. 20 years ago or more Buffalo didn't have much going on downtown at the water front. My dad and I use to take his boat and go up the Buffalo River. Back than, no such thing as a kayaker. We'd cruise past all the abandoned grain silos leaving behind a lengthy wake. It was so much fun. Now? So many kayakers are in the water you can't get above 6mph. Did I mention the rowing teams that are down there now? I liked it better when nobody was there. I don't like going slow!

 

I feel lucky to be in my location. I have kayakers, and sail boats and big and small power boats, houseboats, jetskis, bass boats and more. Somehow we all share this portion of the Ohio river with the barge traffic and we do just fine.
I had hopes of boating this weekend but weather is not cooperating. So Memorial day weekend will be the first time floating for this boater. Can't wait.

 

An annoying part of our summer season is the kayakers. 20 years ago or more Buffalo didn't have much going on downtown at the water front. My dad and I use to take his boat and go up the Buffalo River. Back than, no such thing as a kayaker. We'd cruise past all the abandoned grain silos leaving behind a lengthy wake. It was so much fun. Now? So many kayakers are in the water you can't get above 6mph. Did I mention the rowing teams that are down there now? I liked it better when nobody was there. I don't like going slow!

Dan you need to move down to my end of the lake, Monday thru Thursday it is your own private lake.

West Sister Island and Davis Bessy in the back ground.

 

While out west my son and his wife took me on a nice dinner cruise on Lake Pleasant. I noticed as night started to settle in that not many of the boats had running lights, or the people running the boat did not know how to turn them on. Kind of like the people that don't know what a directional signal is for. The one thing that I have learned from all my years of being on the different lakes out there is, that Phillbo is one of the few true boaters. On the week-ends it seems to be every man for himself. As much as I love the west and what it has to offer, I will never give up my Great Lakes for it.

 

This is the east side of Lake Erie still weeks away from official boating season along with very calm winds……and cold. No kayakers as they usually stick to the Black Rock Canal or the Buffalo River. There are always a couple of knuckleheads around here but it doesn’t compare to what you described out west. I’ll stay here too.

 

I feel lucky to be in my location. I have kayakers, and sail boats and big and small power boats, houseboats, jetskis, bass boats and more. Somehow we all share this portion of the Ohio river with the barge traffic and we do just fine.
I had hopes of boating this weekend but weather is not cooperating. So Memorial day weekend will be the first time floating for this boater. Can't wait.

Same with us on the upper part of the Ottawa river in eastern Ontario/western Quebec. Lots of "day" boaters and a few more houseboaters but not as many cruisers as previous years. Makes for nice quiet beaches, campfires and acoustic guitar jam sessions with good friends under the stars though.

 

We were able to get out yesterday for a couple hours - will stay away the rest of this weekend with all the crazies that come out.

 

Today was a bitter sweet shake down cruise, or Murphy's Law, what can happen will happen and usually does happen.
My old girl was on her best behavior, no surprises, she never missed a beat.

Can't say as much for her transportation. I hooked her up and drove to the gas station for her 1st fill up of the season. Everything was fine, as I was turning off my Acadia, I noticed that little car on my dash with the little squiggly lines under it, and a notification that said my traction control was off. I played with the switch, and nothing, so I said ok and proceeded to top off my girls tank at $390.9 per gal. 89 oct. with 0.03 cents off with my Kroger card. Lol And now the adventure begins.

Getting back on the road I noticed that I had no, or very little acceleration power. At 55mph I was at 3300 rpms I am usually at around 2000rpms in trailer mode, which I no longer had. And now the list, I lost:
No power to auto tailgate
No back-up camera
No cruise control
Service traction control
Service stabilizer track
Not sure what else I don't have
So on to the ramp, I got half way down the ramp and decided to see if I had power to get back up, good luck with that.
So what to do, you guest it, backed my girl in the rest of the way, because we are going for a ride. I had enough power to get the Acadia up the hill without my girl. Had a beautiful time on the water. Got back to the dock, called a wrecker service (closest one was 15 mi and a half hr. away) great.
That gave me enough time to get everything hooked up. Wrecker came pulled me out and $265.00 later I am on my way home to put my girl back in her room and park her tow vehicle until I can get some answers as to what happened. If there any mechanics out there I would love to your input, because I do not have a clue. Thanks

Welcome to trailer boating.
It's all good, just building memories.

This reminds me of another story, which will wait till later.

 

Today was a bitter sweet shake down cruise, or Murphy's Law, what can happen will happen and usually does happen.
My old girl was on her best behavior, no surprises, she never missed a beat.

Can't say as much for her transportation. I hooked her up and drove to the gas station for her 1st fill up of the season. Everything was fine, as I was turning off my Acadia, I noticed that little car on my dash with the little squiggly lines under it, and a notification that said my traction control was off. I played with the switch, and nothing, so I said ok and proceeded to top off my girls tank at $390.9 per gal. 89 oct. with 0.03 cents off with my Kroger card. Lol And now the adventure begins.

Getting back on the road I noticed that I had no, or very little acceleration power. At 55mph I was at 3300 rpms I am usually at around 2000rpms in trailer mode, which I no longer had. And now the list, I lost:
No power to auto tailgate
No back-up camera
No cruise control
Service traction control
Service stabilizer track
Not sure what else I don't have
So on to the ramp, I got half way down the ramp and decided to see if I had power to get back up, good luck with that.
So what to do, you guest it, backed my girl in the rest of the way, because we are going for a ride. I had enough power to get the Acadia up the hill without my girl. Had a beautiful time on the water. Got back to the dock, called a wrecker service (closest one was 15 mi and a half hr. away) great.
That gave me enough time to get everything hooked up. Wrecker came pulled me out and $265.00 later I am on my way home to put my girl back in her room and park her tow vehicle until I can get some answers as to what happened. If there any mechanics out there I would love to your input, because I do not have a clue. Thanks

Welcome to trailer boating.
It's all good, just building memories.

This reminds me of another story, which will wait till later.

Before I had my current F150, I was dealing with my brothers 1996 Bronco. When it worked, it worked great but it was always something going wrong with it. If I had something repaired, sometimes within 24 hours something else would break. So far, I haven't had any problems while the boat is hooked up. Hopefully, I never will.

They'll likely have to pull the dash board out, drop the transmission, install new brakes just to find and replace the little blown fuse.
Cost: $2.99 for parts. $999 for labor! Brakes not included. Good luck

 

Before I had my current F150, I was dealing with my brothers 1996 Bronco. When it worked, it worked great but it was always something going wrong with it. If I had something repaired, sometimes within 24 hours something else would break. So far, I haven't had any problems while the boat is hooked up. Hopefully, I never will.

They'll likely have to pull the dash board out, drop the transmission, install new brakes just to find and replace the little blown fuse.
Cost: $2.99 for parts. $999 for labor! Brakes not included. Good luck

Ya, have you tried lately to by a stripped down basic stick shift late model pick up truck, good luck with that, slim pickens.

 

Today was a bitter sweet shake down cruise, or Murphy's Law, what can happen will happen and usually does happen.
My old girl was on her best behavior, no surprises, she never missed a beat.

Can't say as much for her transportation. I hooked her up and drove to the gas station for her 1st fill up of the season. Everything was fine, as I was turning off my Acadia, I noticed that little car on my dash with the little squiggly lines under it, and a notification that said my traction control was off. I played with the switch, and nothing, so I said ok and proceeded to top off my girls tank at $390.9 per gal. 89 oct. with 0.03 cents off with my Kroger card. Lol And now the adventure begins.

Getting back on the road I noticed that I had no, or very little acceleration power. At 55mph I was at 3300 rpms I am usually at around 2000rpms in trailer mode, which I no longer had. And now the list, I lost:
No power to auto tailgate
No back-up camera
No cruise control
Service traction control
Service stabilizer track
Not sure what else I don't have
So on to the ramp, I got half way down the ramp and decided to see if I had power to get back up, good luck with that.
So what to do, you guest it, backed my girl in the rest of the way, because we are going for a ride. I had enough power to get the Acadia up the hill without my girl. Had a beautiful time on the water. Got back to the dock, called a wrecker service (closest one was 15 mi and a half hr. away) great.
That gave me enough time to get everything hooked up. Wrecker came pulled me out and $265.00 later I am on my way home to put my girl back in her room and park her tow vehicle until I can get some answers as to what happened. If there any mechanics out there I would love to your input, because I do not have a clue. Thanks

Welcome to trailer boating.
It's all good, just building memories.

This reminds me of another story, which will wait till later.

Full disclosure, I'm not a mechanic but...

My old '09 trailblazer ran into a similar issue. It didn't go completely into "limp mode" like yours did but it did have to do with the ABS brakes and the stabilitrak system, from what I recall. It would drive ok and not lose power but when I accelerated from a dead stop (like when pulling into an intersection) there was a significant "hesitation" that could result in me getting T-boned. Also, when braking very slowly (like when pulling into a parking spot) the ABS system would pulse.

I discovered, after trolling a number of Trailblazer forums, that there is a large fuse/breaker in the main fusebox under the hood that controls the entire stabilitrak system. I found which one in the owners manual.
I pulled that fuse/breaker and never had it go into "limp mode" again. Mind you, I didn't have ABS brakes any more (I still had full brakes just not ABS) but I come from an era where that wasn't a thing anyway so it really wasn't missed. That and the dash was lit up like Times Square lol!

I also had a situation with a previous blazer that went into "limp mode" and lost mostly all power when on the highway just like yours did. Turned out to be a faulty throttle body position sensor. Replaced the throttle body with an after market unit (dead easy to do) and it was and never a problem again.

Couple of things you might want to look into...

 

Full disclosure, I'm not a mechanic but...

My old '09 trailblazer ran into a similar issue. It didn't go completely into "limp mode" like yours did but it did have to do with the ABS brakes and the stabilitrak system, from what I recall. It would drive ok and not lose power but when I accelerated from a dead stop (like when pulling into an intersection) there was a significant "hesitation" that could result in me getting T-boned. Also, when braking very slowly (like when pulling into a parking spot) the ABS system would pulse.

I discovered, after trolling a number of Trailblazer forums, that there is a large fuse/breaker in the main fusebox under the hood that controls the entire stabilitrak system. I found which one in the owners manual.
I pulled that fuse/breaker and never had it go into "limp mode" again. Mind you, I didn't have ABS brakes any more (I still had full brakes just not ABS) but I come from an era where that wasn't a thing anyway so it really wasn't missed. That and the dash was lit up like Times Square lol!

I also had a situation with a previous blazer that went into "limp mode" and lost mostly all power when on the highway just like yours did. Turned out to be a faulty throttle body position sensor. Replaced the throttle body with an after market unit (dead easy to do) and it was and never a problem again.

Couple of things you might want to look into...

Thanks for your input, that is what I like about this forum, someone knows something from experience or basic knowledge.
I talked with my mechanic this morning, and as you said it filters back to the ABS system. Next step is to hook it up to a computer. I will keep you posted.

I still remember my Dad, he never had power, seats, steering, brakes, windows, door locks, trunk, gas door, He always said that it was just something else to go wrong. He also never bought used cars, he said you would just be buying someone else's headache. He would buy a new car every 4 yrs and never bought brakes, tires or shocks. When I got out of service in 1964 he said they will give me $600 for it, do you want it. So I bought his 59 Edsel
3yrs later the trans mission went out. LOL

 

Today was a bitter sweet shake down cruise, or Murphy's Law, what can happen will happen and usually does happen.
My old girl was on her best behavior, no surprises, she never missed a beat.

Can't say as much for her transportation. I hooked her up and drove to the gas station for her 1st fill up of the season. Everything was fine, as I was turning off my Acadia, I noticed that little car on my dash with the little squiggly lines under it, and a notification that said my traction control was off. I played with the switch, and nothing, so I said ok and proceeded to top off my girls tank at $390.9 per gal. 89 oct. with 0.03 cents off with my Kroger card. Lol And now the adventure begins.

Getting back on the road I noticed that I had no, or very little acceleration power. At 55mph I was at 3300 rpms I am usually at around 2000rpms in trailer mode, which I no longer had. And now the list, I lost:
No power to auto tailgate
No back-up camera
No cruise control
Service traction control
Service stabilizer track
Not sure what else I don't have
So on to the ramp, I got half way down the ramp and decided to see if I had power to get back up, good luck with that.
So what to do, you guest it, backed my girl in the rest of the way, because we are going for a ride. I had enough power to get the Acadia up the hill without my girl. Had a beautiful time on the water. Got back to the dock, called a wrecker service (closest one was 15 mi and a half hr. away) great.
That gave me enough time to get everything hooked up. Wrecker came pulled me out and $265.00 later I am on my way home to put my girl back in her room and park her tow vehicle until I can get some answers as to what happened. If there any mechanics out there I would love to your input, because I do not have a clue. Thanks

Welcome to trailer boating.
It's all good, just building memories.

This reminds me of another story, which will wait till later.

Well I found out the answer to my electrical issue, (critters) Lol The positive part to all of this is, it is covered by insurance under comprehensive.
The towing falls under another part of the policy.

It's been suggested that car wires that are made from plant matter can give off a smell that attracts rodents, though it is more likely the warmth and scent of the insulation that attracts them. The most likely reason rodents chew car wires, however, is merely to trim their teeth. Rodent teeth are unlike human teeth.

So now I am out to buy some Pine Sol to spray as a deterrent I guess they don't like it.

 

While out west my son and his wife took me on a nice dinner cruise on Lake Pleasant. I noticed as night started to settle in that not many of the boats had running lights, or the people running the boat did not know how to turn them on. Kind of like the people that don't know what a directional signal is for. The one thing that I have learned from all my years of being on the different lakes out there is, that Phillbo is one of the few true boaters. On the week-ends it seems to be every man for himself. As much as I love the west and what it has to offer, I will never give up my Great Lakes for it.

The boaters on Lake Pleasant are mostly drunken west siders that do not know how to operate a water craft. The Sheriffs have a field days out there. I would never boat on that lake ever again!!!

 

Picture from Sunday - sandbar is usually 15-20 ft submerged.

 

Wrecker came pulled me out and $265.00 later I am on my way home

Well that sucks. on my lake if all you needed was a tow to the top of the ramp their would have been trucks lined up with straps in hand. And my ramp is almost a half mile long and very steep.