There was one thing that happened on our cruise back to Pensacola that I didn’t mention in the last post: the holding tank filled up. It’s really the only system on the boat that doesn’t have a monitor on it. It had been about 24 hours since the pump out at The Wharf marina in Alabama - it couldn’t be full, could it? Well, it was. We learned that we have to pay attention to pump outs. The only thing that could have happened is that we didn’t get a full pump out in Alabama. I called ahead to marinas in the Pensacola area, but the hurricane damage left all of them without pump out capabilities. A minor inconvenience that would mean we wouldn’t be able to use the bathroom until we arrived at the boat ramp. It also meant that we would be leaving Pensacola with a full tank of crap, which reminds us of this famous scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation...no worries, we didn’t do what Cousin Eddie did.
Now we were loaded up on the trailer, the boat was rinsed off, motor flushed, and hooked up to our truck. It was late in the afternoon, but we wanted to get some miles behind us, so we hit the road heading east on I-10 out of Pensacola. While we have a lot of experience towing our other boats back and forth across the east coast without a worry, this was definitely the biggest thing we had ever towed. At 35 feet, the trailer is 10 feet longer than our previous boat. At 6,000+ pounds (including a holding tank full of crap), it‘s about twice as heavy as our previous boat. And at 11 feet tall, it has a lot more drag than our previous boat.
In anticipation of this, we had upgraded our truck from a two-wheel drive Ram 1500, to a four-wheel drive Ram 2500 HD. Better power and braking are important factors, and I really don’t like towing at the limits of any vehicle. Four-wheel drive is important to keep us out of situations like this video:
After about 200 miles of driving, we decided to stop at a Fairfield Inn in Tallahassee as darkness surrounded us. Selecting a hotel is more complicated when towing, especially when towing large trailers. Making sure that you don’t drive yourself into a situation that you can’t get out of is a constant concern. While the parking lot only had one entrance, we were able to back into a corner of the lot that would allow a relatively easy exit the next morning.
After a good night’s sleep, we had breakfast at a Cracker Barrel nearby (they usually have RV parking spaces) and after a gas stop, we would then be on our way to a yet-to-be-determined destination on the east coast. We were thinking somewhere in the Charleston area. That plan came to a halt when, in a brief lack of situational awareness, I curbed the trailer hard turning onto the road that led to the gas station. After pulling into the station, I started the pump and then went to make sure the tire was okay. Much to my dismay, the tire was flat with a ripped sidewall and a damaged wheel.
Since this was the first time towing this trailer, I didn’t have the correct size lug wrench to change the tire myself. That was okay though, because we had a SeaTow membership (kind of like AAA, but for the water) that included trailer roadside assistance. I called and opened a claim and after a while a guy in a hatchback showed up to change the tire. I was expecting a service truck, but I let him proceed and do his thing. In hindsight, that would prove costly. Eventually, he had the spare tire on the trailer and we were ready to get back underway. With that incident behind us, we headed toward Jacksonville on I-10. It’s a good thing that we didn’t have a schedule to keep, because what happens next was absolutely harrowing...
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