Last year my first outing was June 26, 2011. Same this year! It was a beautiful sunny morning, had just finished up the ballast project but wasn't dewinterized yet. It was starting to get a little overcast so I told the kids - "we can clean up the boat and make it all nice or we can go out for a test run."

"TEST RUN DAD!!!!"

So did the DIY Dewinterize in the driveway, hooked up the fake-a-lake and fired right up. All looked good so we packed up headed for the launch. The river has dropped 4-5 ft so it's getting better here. Water temp was about 60.6 a few feet down. 62 right on the surface.

The water is still high though! This is the first time I've parallel parked on a beach instead of a dock. Prop and rudder weren't touching at all.







There were still a few small pieces of debris floating downstream we had to watch out for...


Everything worked great - couple issues with the ballast wiring and a few drips I posted about already. But all in all a good first run of the year. Ready to go again now!