Hey FlynBrian,
I use to live about an hour away from the Ohio River and equal distance to Lake Erie. I use to trailer a 24 Outlaw and my preference was Erie over the river.
Now I have a 31 Cigarette with no trailer and want to go to some of these other places that I see fellow OSO’ers boating at. :D

My dilemma is should I upgrade my truck to a ¾ or 1 ton and buy a trailer.
Should I sell my condo overlooking the lake and buy a place with a garage or suitable land to build one.
Or should I just keep it dry stacked and run the lake and pay the $2 + costs for gas and be happy that I have this whole lake to explore.
:confused:

Chris, Can't wait!!!!!!!!! Might even get into the XXX brew.

Cordell

Cgarrett-
 

Your dilemma is an easy one for me to answer.

-Once you have explored the entire Lake Erie, all of the other great lakes, there is nothing else to see or do, sell your condo, and buy the trailer and truck. I doubt anyone could do all of that exploring in a lifetime!

You could explore one of these other bodies of water in a weekend. (Inland lake or a certain pool on the Ohio river). Then, once you get bored of these places, (one week), head to the ocean.

That's what kills me, you can go to a small lake or the river, crack the throttle wide open, trim it up, and steer the boat with your pinkie toe until you reach the end of the lake or dam. What fun is that? Don't these guys like to "drive" their boats?

It sounds like you have a great setup, with the condo and everything.

Here is another suggestion, do what I did, and buy a small 18-20 foot tunnel hull with a big Merc hanging off the back of it to take to the inland puddles. You can tow one of those with a Yugo.

Cigarette
 

Did you buy the tripple O/B open boat boat I saw for sale in Port Clinton last year?

Twin,
I like your definition of a "wally", unfortunatly I resemble that now.
I used to make the run to PIB 2-3 times a summer (from the detroit area) . Once from Harsen's island to PIB at 2am with no GPS ,or chart! I kinda remembered the coordinates. We got within a mile or two from PIB , couldn't see the tower because of the fog !
Now I'm just sick of coming back from PIB hung over in 6+ waves .
I would rather drive from Catawba in the Air conditioned comfort of my truck !:D

26
 

Yeah, but you earned your stripes!
Kinda like my first big water run with the Sonic.
Ran from Catawba to Crystal Bay/Detroit River for the Labor Day (??) party.
Did'nt have electronics in the boat yet so I just plotted a course and ran compass.
Figured variation bass ackwards and my compass was off 10* on top of that:eek:
Let my buddy drive while I looked at my Richardsons chart book and he was having so much fun driving (fast!) that it was shreading the pages out of the book while I tried to figure out where the hell we were:D
Got close enough to find the stacks shown on the chart and find our way in.
Awesome time and great water on the way over.
Monday was a holiday but we were planning on leaving Sunday to be safe.
Well after the raft we were in grew to several hundred boats, beer pressure set in!!
We got up Monday and the sky over the lake was BLACK!!
The guy in the 39' Sea Ray we were rafted off of had radar and said if we were smart (??) we'd take a cab to our trailer at Catawba and tow it back to Detroit to get the boat.
Well, I'm way smarter than that!!;)
It was rolling solid 6' to 8's the whole way.
We got lucky and picked up a 44' Sea Ray to follow the 2nd 1/2 of the trip.
But, thats also when I decided that I loved my Sonic.
Closest it's ever come to stuffing but never did anything stupid or unexpected.
I have also done the trailer thing too.
Had a house in Vermilion for a while and trailer'd to Catawba to go to the islands because it was too ruff.
Once.
PLanning on hit the Detroit a few times this Summer, maybe we can hook up??
Gary

Twin O/B Sonic
 

Ya Gary thats the one.
Cordell

Gary,
You the man !!! 6-8's :eek:

That Labor day party in Crystal bay didn't happen to be about 3 years ago, did it ? The one with the big barge that had all those bands and a DJ playing ?
My friends and I were there and had to leave Sunday because we partied too much:o
I had the worst hang over !! I ended up holding the couch down the rest of the day Sunday and all day Monday.

I also remember being in PIB when this huge storm hit, 70mph winds , total downpour, it was kind of scary. Luckly my friends and I were inside the breakwall and the start of "b" (I think) dock so nothing happend to our boats. Not so lucky for alot of others. I saw a 272 Baja with the cleats pulled out of it, a 26-27 Bayliner with a hole big enough to crawl thru in the side. I felt so sorry for the older couple , it was there first boat and first weekend excursion. Another thing I saw was a 50 ft Searay slamming against the seawall and poles , it was already thru the hull in the front when the owner came stumbling up to it everyone thought he was going to take off, well he went belowdecks and came out with a fresh drink and procedded to stumble back off !
Never a dull moment in PIB.

We definitly have to hook up, I'd like to go to that Scudder place it sounds cool.

I have been to Scudder's many times. I always call Imigrations after the first time they have you in the system and it takes a couple seconds just giving them your OH#'s. NO I never call when going back to Ohio. I have also spent time at Caspers (They even let my friend use their kitchen.

DE SOL, Are you or do you know Flip Flop Phil ?

I can't argue about anything I've read about these areas they are all fun and all offer there own unique experience. :cool:

Twin o/b --Yes i have dove some of these wrecks,, there are some great ones and others were just a couple of boards left ---really old, was still neat. I haven't been down around here in a few years but am looking forward to getting back into this summer, I should finally have some time, my equipment 's been collecting dust now for 3 years. We could always meet up at scudder and head out from there.

Scott--b I think you asked me this before, but no i'm not Phil. Phil runs a 50' Scarab Meteor, with diesels and arnesons---quite a boat! Usually down at his bar at least once a week--good time, especially on a tuesday.

I had thought that I asked you but couldn't remember. Thanks for the reply now I have it straight:D