After selling our 22FT Angler my brother and I realized how impossible it is to live without a boat. Many people say the best day is the day that you buy your boat and the day you sell it but I think we were both heartbroken as our boat brought us years of incredible stories and tons of amazing pictures. The search began for a new toy that was bahamas ready.
We looked all over the numerous websites for something that the whole family liked and finally ran across a very nice boat with a single issue. The distance between us was over 1000 miles. After running some numbers through our heads (All of maybe 15 minutes) we both left work early and headed home to begin the journey. I picked up my road trip wheels and took off the big wheels and tires of off my truck. I had a local shop quickly swap them over as time is something I did not have much of. We threw whatever we could in the truck that we thought was necessary and off we went. By this time it was already 4PM. The GPS put our arrival time as early afternoon the following day in PA. Normal people would have just paid to have the boat shipped and surveyed but I did not want the deal to fall through and we truly fell in love with the boat and planned on towing it home.
THE FUN BEGINS
We did not get much sleep (2 hrs) each that night, maybe less. We stopped for fuel and kept going. The truck loves 93 octane but still managed over 18MPG on the highway (6.0L). I looked up the towing capacity of my truck 10 minutes before we left on the trip and the escalade was rated at 8500LBS. Things were going great until we reached somewhere in North Carolina. I look under the hood and see a liquid spilled on the right side of the engine bay. Yep brake fluid ... I look over and the master brake cylinder is leaking, about 1in drop in brake fluid at this point. I buy an extra can of brake fluid and we are on our way. No time to change it in the middle of no where. As we were nearing our destination the terrain suddenly began to change. No longer were we just cruising at 75 on cruise control down I95 but it was now hills and 45MPH to 25MPH speed limits. I hear a noise coming from the rear of the truck... what now. As I slow down and approach a crosspath BOOM goes the rear starboard side tire. We stop and go outside to assess the damage. 5in cut in the tire, looks like the sidewall could not handle the heat of this insane nonstop ride (Nexen Tires). Living in Miami you get to see the ugly side of people. Most of the people living here are selfish, if they do not see a benefit to them they will never offer a helping hand. I may not speak about everyone, but I speak about the majority. In Miami if you want to change lanes and put your blinker on, people speed up and give you the finger. As we got out of the truck every single car passing through the neighborhood in PA stopped and asked if we needed help. One of the local guys came out of his house and came by to take a look. My brother took the jack out of the truck and we realized that we not only were missing the long handle to drop the spare from underneath the truck, but also a lug nut wrench that would fit. Luckily the local guy had all sorts of tools (Thanks Martin!). He said I can get that tire off from under the truck but Ill have to cut it down. Took all of maybe 15 minutes with a sawsall and we had our spare.... at my expense. I was holding the tire underneath the truck so it would not fall on martin as he was cutting the cable. In turn I pulled something in my back. As I sit and type this I'm suffering from pain, quite a bit less then initially. What else could go wrong?
The spare was not the right size. It was a bit off, just a tad bigger than my actual full size tires. AWD vehicles like identical tires on all 4 wheels I call the boat seller and mention to him my ordeal and my delay which should last me just about 1 more hour. I grab my iphone and start calling all of the local tire shops. Keep in mind we are in farm country, PA. "No sir we don't have that tire size" followed by "Sorry, out of stock" I start to become desperate. Finally I find 4 tires in stock in a Tires Plus just conveniently located 14 miles from my location. My quote is $540 for 2 tires, bridgestone. So after I get scammed for these $540 tires which I will most likely not need again I read the label on the hitch, "Class 3, 5000LBS". Stupid foolish me never realized that the truck may be rated for 8500lbs but the hitch is still a class 3!!!!!
Could anything else go wrong?
We arrive outside of town near farm country PA and I look at the boat and it is perfect! The seller and I agree to meet the following day to meet with a notary to do a title transfer. We pay for a hotel room for the night and I start calling shipping companies to quote me on getting the new boat back home. $4000, $3700, $3200.... A little more than I expected and all of them are giving me a 9-14 day pickup window. Great. I realized that a guy from another mustang forum I post on is a freight broker. I quickly give him a call and he gives me a much better quote. He tells me that the transporter will be able to pick the car up the same day!!! He told me to stay put and that I should receive a call from the driver in a little bit. So here we are 1200 miles from home waiting in the middle of a field for a driver to arrive. Losing reception here and there I get an email from the shipping company with their information. I call the number and there is no answer. Hmmm. Then I call the driver listed on the policy and he answers right away! Unfortunately dispatch has not told him anything about picking anything up! Good thing I called or I would have been waiting in the field for nothing. Long story short he agrees to drive from Washington DC to PA and pick me up. He did me a huge favor as he had just come back from florida towing another boat. I check the tires on the trailer, 34PSI. I pump them up with my cigarette adapter walmart pump. I will let you guess how long it took me to pump up 4 16in tires to 60PSI with a 6000LB boat sitting on top with a walmart cigarette lighter pump operated by myself with my messed up back LOL We tested the trailer lights... good to go! Things were finally looking up. The driver arrives earlier than expected. His 5.7 Toyota Tundra did a great job of pulling the boat home, our driver Issa did an amazing job. We got home the following day.
Now what?
We ask Issa if he could drop the boat at the marina 1/2 a mile away from home and he obliges. When we arrive it is high tide and the water has risen really high. We tell him not to worry and just drop the trailer in the parking spot but he insists on helping us out. He didn't even have to do it! If you guys need someone to haul your boat anywhere do not hesitate to give this guy a call, he was very professional and 100% on point the entire 18 hour haul home. We used GSW Construction and Transport Inc and our driver was Issa (973)356-4772.
What I have learned...
Never leave anywhere without putting thought into the scenario. Make sure you have the capacity to complete the task at hand and do your research before jumping to conclusions and behind the wheel. Next time I will have a fully inflated spare, the right tools, and a backup plan just in case things don't go exactly to plan.
And the boat it replaced...
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