July 29 - August 5, 1989: Lake Powell, Utah, Reprise

One of many trip reports under the SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie Grow.
Email me at ajs@frii.com.
Last update: May 31, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1989_0729-0805_LakePowell.htm)

Adapted from email I sent:

Date:  Wed, 16 Aug 89
From:  Alan Silverstein <ajs>
To: wells@hpfcajs
Subject: "Lake Powell reprise"
Cc:  anny@hpfcajs, carol@hpfcajs, doug@hpfcajs

I don't know that I have it in me to write the National Lampoon version of our Lake Powell trip. But your letter did motivate me to try to summarize for myself just what the heck were all the things that happened or went wrong that week. Brace yourself, it won't be pretty... but I hope it is amusing. Sometimes you just have to laugh it off.

(Amazing how much I found to write down, even leaving out some personal tidbits.)

• During a week long trip two weeks earlier, the lower units go out on both engines. Captain Doug replaces them both ($4400), which maxes out his credit card.

• On Thursday the week before our trip, with a different crew aboard, the right engine seizes up. Shrapnel on the spark plug. Captain Anny tries to reach Doug, who's four-wheeling in the area, on the radio, with no luck.

• The lady who organized the trip has two flat tires on the way out from Colorado, must buy a new set in Grand Junction, and arrives about two hours late at the marina. Much concern.

• Saturday afternoon Doug hears about the engine problem from Captain Anny and chews her out for not dealing with it sooner and more effectively. We leave late, on one (presumably good) engine.

• The fresh water system is not working. The pump must need priming (bad assumption). We depart and will deal with it later. We discover later the tank is dry because the inlet hose was disconnected and whomever filled the tank apparently didn't check. (There is an overfill valve that indicates when it is full. They swear it backflowed. I wonder if the tank has a leak or something.) No problem, we have about 20 gallons of water on board in lemonade dispensers and can make runs for more. We'll fill up mid-week at Dangling Rope Marina. (We never get there.)

• The lake water system does not operate while under way. Reason: the hose has a crimp in it due to the 12-knot "wind" pushing on it. (I fixed it later in the week by replacing part of the tube and resecuring the hose.)

• Two guys brought a ski bike with them. They have continuing problems with the throttle and work on it intermittently, occupying the back deck and blocking the water slide, until they depart on Thursday.

• For reasons I can't remember, some carping starts by Sunday evening. People are not always getting along well. Some gripe at Captain Doug for allegedly being rude while giving orders during anchoring procedures. (It's all a matter of interpretation. Some of the crew are apparently prone to be bitchy. They don't like the music, it's too loud, etc.)

• At some point someone makes a run for water and ice in the ski boat (a long trip). Hence it's it unavailable for other uses.

• Captain Doug busts the radio antenna off the ski boat while sliding under one of the mooring lines. (I find the parts by searching the bottom and the antenna is soon repaired.)

• The green and red plastic cover on the ski boat's bow light vanishes for unknown reasons. (Never figured out.)

• On Tuesday, about 22 miles from Bullfrog Marina, the left engine dies. (Turns out to be an intermittent open in a power line.) The houseboat has the good fortune to tie up to a buoy in mid-channel without needing a tow. But everyone is cooped up on board except for me and a lady who went scouting in the ski boat.

• Later, giving up on quick repairs, Captain Doug sets up a tow with the ski boat. It's difficult to figure out how to do it optimally and safely. Some friction between crew members as he experiments with one line, two lines, etc. A tow rope breaks at one point.

• We tow into a safe haven, but the winds are tricky. On the way, someone loses a Walkman overboard when a gust of wind flops an air cushion on the roof. (24 hours later, across the channel, I notice it floating while out hiking, and we retrieve it. It almost functions. Awesome.)

• It takes two tries to beach the houseboat. Tension runs high as the wind pushes the boat against rocks (no harm done, though).

• Next morning someone is left on shore as we do a tricky tow out to cross the channel. He gets picked up by the ski boat.

• A mechanic is called out and apparently fixes the engine, but after ten minutes of use it dies again. The ski boat is out of radio range when this happens. Fortunately a passing boat lends the houseboat (now in the channel) a tow until it returns. Doug tows the houseboat a mile further downriver for the night. The same guy is left behind again (on his sailboard this time) due to lack of time, but is later retrieved (unhappy).

• We run short enough on fresh water that apparently someone makes a jug of tea using melted icewater from the softdrink cooler. It later gets dumped overboard. (I suppose they didn't want to make waves, literally and figuratively, by suggesting the ski boat be used for a long trip to get more water.)

• That night a couple of low-life characters arrive on our back doorstep with a dead battery in their boat. After much hassling and time consumed, they buy one new battery from us and depart.

• Later that night, a lady announces she has a severe bladder infection. She leaves the next morning by ambulance helicopter, which consumes several hours. While visiting, park rangers hassle Captain Doug about various maintenance chores needed on the houseboat.

• The two guys with the ski bike depart on it.

• While waiting for the mechanic, a large group goes out for a long ride on the ski boat. A bad thunderstorm comes up and they make a perilous, bruising return. (Dunno why they didn't find a safe beach and go ashore to wait it out.) Some damage to the ski boat, including a broken bracket on the radio.

• There are three gas tanks on board the houseboat. Two below feed the engines. A third on the front deck is for filling the ski boat(s) and the generator. Because we didn't get to Dangling Rope, it runs dry. To fill the ski boat, Doug has to siphon from the right engine's tank (very slow process). Later I rig a line from the right engine's primer pump to the front tank, and we send about fifty gallons up to it (slowly).

• The mechanic comes out again (late in the day) and makes good repairs this time. We start upriver and send out a scout boat. It runs out of gas, out of radio range. They hitch a tow back toward us.

• Later we meet Lowry's Luck in mid-channel for the exchange. They foul their prop with the line used to tow their speedboat. We help them get free, all the while approaching rocks. Finally we separate and are on our way, but with only half an hour left till darkness. We don't have time to reach our desired destination for the night.

• I go out in the ski boat to find a spot for the night. I find something acceptable, but the (handheld) radio in the boat develops problems. I can transmit but not receive. We manage to communicate, lead the houseboat to the spot, and anchor for the night.

• While standing off during anchoring procedures, I have a "learning experience" about props and shallow rocks. (Fortunately little harm is done.)

• Next day we continue to Halls Crossing Marina. Because we never reached Dangling Rope Marina, the left engine's gas tank is near empty. We siphon most of the gas from the front tank back into it while under way.

• We beach in the crowded harbor while waiting in line for the sewage dump, but we don't anchor. The wind blows us off shore. Due to an unexplained list to the rear of the boat, Captain Doug can't start the engine unless everyone comes forward. Two people (one a major griper) are slow in responding. One thing leads to another and they demand to be taken five miles away to Bullfrog. The captain refuses. Situation escalates. Park Service called. Rangers evacuate the mutineers (and hassle the captain).

• We dump sewage and try to take on fresh water. The fresh water stops running after we get a quarter tank. (Fortunately there is more available at the fuel dock.)

• We gas up. The attendant threatens to refuse future service unless we fix the leak that develops in one tank when it's more than 3/4 full. (This does not sit well with some of the crew.)

• The rest of the trip goes pretty well for the nine people remaining. Of course we have to cover chores that were owned by those who departed. Captain Doug even lucks into a deal where the outboard motor company will replace the blown engine for the cost of labor. (This takes place next week, but consumes 2-3 days of his next trip.)

• Complicated plans to have an extra car arrive to be driven back to Colorado evaporate as it ends up in the shop. Due to departures we have six people to get home and only two small cars, with lots of ice chests and stuff. Somehow we all pack in and make it back.

• A week later, Captain Doug's truck blows a water pump and must be abandoned in Grand Junction (with ski boat) until later.

Despite it all, I wanna go back!

[PS in 2023: And the next year, a friend and I bought a 2-week share of the boat, and we did go back... Many more times. I ended up running 45 vacation trips on the Wildwind, or later Wildwind II, during 1990-2010.]

(Next trip report: 1989_0818-20_LakeMcConaughy.htm)