Apparently the Gods weren't smiling on us or me for that matter. Hooked up the boat and off to Ladds. Right after launch, my less than 1 year old boat and motor decide to throw me another curve. My partner gets in the boat, and off we go. Sort of. 
As we cruise past the yachts at Ladds, all of a sudden my tilt trim stops working. There are 2 switches up front, on the steering column, throttle control shifter, and the motor. All dead. 
WT heck is going on. it was just working. The gauge on the dash indicates the motor is tilted up all the way, and the mercury gauge says I'm at 25. WHAT? 25? I never trim past 6 or 7 when running, always trim down when starting. Never knew it could trim up to 25!? OK I'm confused. Motor looks like its down, so lower the hydraulic and of we go looking like a great white breaching the water. Once on plane, seems to be fine. Or so I thought. All of a sudden the motor starts shaking like its going to fall off the transom. OK. This is too much. Back off the throttle and the speed o is stuck at 40, and the gas gauge is still not working. (100 grand and after being admonished for an earlier post things just seem to be getting worse. Don't say anything cause you bass boat guys always are complaining and take it to your dealer blah blah blah. Is it wrong to drop that kind of dough and expect things to work?) Anyway, we have to scrap the ride to where the fish are. No confidence in the motor now. Called Grag and he explained it was probably the tilt trim motor. He told me to tap it with a screw driver and that he's had a few of these motors go bad on the newer mercs. He tells me to call him back today. The Motors down and were in 10 feet of water. The motor he's talking about is blocked by the lower unit. Can't get to it while the motor's down. So from spot to spot we we travel and fish. Catch one here, and one there. Not the quality we were looking for or I had found. Did manage to get 1 about 3, my partner got 1 about 2 1/2. The others were barely 13. Took 15 and n'change to get a check I believe. 24.36 to win and 8.46 BF. Weights dropped after that 17.18, 16.41, 15.98, 15.4.
OK so as we cruise by Richard, I tell him what's been happening, he informs me there is a release and to lift the hydraulic all the way up when trailering. (Best investment was an Atlas Hydraulic jackplate although that will probably go next
) We get the boat on the trailer and into the parking lot we go. Now Richard had told me he would help with the release etc after weigh in. But my partner is a farmer. Thanks Never Satisfied, you're the man 
. We analyze, guess where the screw is and loosen the screw. The motor moves. 2 fellow WWNtrs come over and lift the motor so I can get the transom saver on. Whew. Looks like I'll be able to get back without damaging the hydraulic. Are the gods thru with me. NO Way! Talk about a tease. I'm wiping the boat down before I leave and brush the throttle trim. I hear a noise. I'll be darned. The motor seems to be working. (Its nice to know that your boat needs to be out of the water in order for the tilt trim to work. ) So off to the bran. So to preface the finale, about a month ago, the key ring that held the trailer lock fell off my car keys. This means I'll have to use the spare, which I had attached to a floating key ring with all the keys to the boat. (glove box, hitch mounts etc.). By now you should see where this is heading. As I'm rolling down highway 4 it dawns on me to look for the trailer keys. YIKES! they're not in their stash compartment. Tear the truck apart at the gas station, NO KEYS. 9:30 at night, how am I going to detach the boat. Since loosing the first set of keys, and thinking about where they could be, the gods clear my mind and.........well you dummy, you locked the lock and left the ring on the bumper. What a Dumb A.(rhymes with bass) Meanwhile you prepped the boat for travel. DA, DA, DA.
So trailered the boat home, and it now sits in the drive way waiting for a lock smith or sawzall. Geez who said WWN nights was reasonable. This year it must have cost me a complete drain on my 401K
Just kidding. So with this being the last post for awhile (next will be the Dee Thomas open with Dan Mathisen) I bid you all a fond Adieu, and thank you all for reading these posts. It's been fun.
TL
FE
PS
Anybody want to buy a boat cheap?
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