In about 180 hours the roads will be full of anticipation of the Minnesota Walleye. The traffic will be bumper to bumper heading for cabins and lakes. Lot of work to be done before sishing starts. But...are you ready for a safe trip? Already today I had a gentleman stop into my office and he was haveing trouble. I went out to see if I could help. A bearing had went out on the boat trailer. He had been driving about 25 min and he noticed smoke. I told him that it was unusual for a bearing to overheat after just being grease after being taken out of storage. "What do you mean grease the bearing?"
Ok...let's help everyone out. The guy had a boat and trailer that would have cost over $35,000 and had no idea he needed to do maintiance on it. So here is a partial list of things to do before you go to the lake.
1. If you are not mechanecally inclined, find someone who is, a dealer, realative ect. Not only the boat trailer will be in need of a once over, but the boat motor also.
2. Fresh gas, charge battrey's, both for the motor and for the gadgets.
3. Make sure you have all the boating required equipement. Life jackets, throwable floataion, fire extinguisher, ect. Without these, the fine could be more than a tank of gas!
4. Lights and turn signals need to be in working order, on both the trailer and vehicle ( I know that sounds funny, but...)
5. Check the hitch to make sure it is the right size and fastened on TIGHT. I see boats and other trailers every year in the ditch in a way that they were not parked.
6. Fishing gear...new line, sharp hooks landing net in one piece, live well working and bilge pump.
7. If you pull water skiers or float tubes, check the ropes for cuts and the attachements for wear.
This is a small compact list, but it should get you started...but, most of all, when you get there, be courtious...and when launching your boat be ready when it's your turn, have all the straps off, and motor raised ect. It is surprising how one person can be launched in 5 min. and gone from the dock, while the next is still scratching their#$#*$^10 min later and still not close to being ready to launch.
MOST of all BE SAFE!!!
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