Moving the Big Guy

There is something very pleasurable about having your hands on the throttles of  big engines; having the ability to summon about 500 horsepower with just a push of the palms. That memory flashed back this week when I fired up the big V-8s on the houseboat "Tybee Island" and shifted her berth to the outside of our dock on the Savannah River.

Houseboat Tybee Island at her new berth

          The levers of power












Actually, I hardly used the throttles. Over the years we have owned this boat, I have become adept at maneuvering in close spaces with the transmissions alone. With the engines idling, I put the rudders amidships, then leave the steering wheel untouched.

In this case, shifting the port engine astern and adding a little port throttle backed us out of the slip just as slick as a snake. Then some back-and-forth shifting, again with engines idling, engaging one transmission, then the other, forward, then astern, then both ahead, brought us alongside the dock face, where Dia was waiting with a bow line. In all, a very satisfying evolution.

Maneuvering with transmissions














This was the first time I had moved the 47-footer since last April. There was a problem with one of the Rochester QuadraJet carburetors, compounded by an extreme case of houseboat disinterest. This resulted in ever-lengthening periods of the boat just sitting there, making us feel bad about not using her.

We have decided to put Tybee Island on the market, and my job is to get the boat ready for an appraisal, a precursor to advertising it for sale.

We are the second owners of this Harbor Master houseboat. She's 25 years old, but still shipshape and frisky. The boat has just about every feature imaginable- fly-bridge with Bimini top, two heads, two staterooms with double beds, three air conditioners, big kitchen, full-sized fridge and so on. She also has those two big Crusader inboard engines, a 4-cylinder 6.5 kilowatt generator and a 200 gallon gas tank, which is about half full at the moment.

Making her ready for sale is a bittersweet task. We have owned the boat about 10 years and have had many happy times with her. But our interests have changed. Disuse is not good for a boat.

Meanwhile,  Ms. Bettencourt has been moved to the comfy inside slip, where she is even more accessible for curtains fittings and for future cruise preparations.