I have always loved boats. Since I was a little boy, I have wanted a boat. Now that I have just turned 60, I have finally succumbed to the temptation of buying my first boat.
After a fairly long search, mostly online, I found a 1974 Silver Queen 36' houseboat for sale on Craigslist. Christened "Blue Heaven" by one of her several previous owners, she was docked at Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN, on the Tennessee River/Kentucky Lake. After completing the purchase on August 15, preparations began to bring Blue Heaven home to Hendersonville by water, a journey that would follow the Tennessee River downstream (north) about 60 miles to the Barkley Canal that connects Kentucky Lake to Lake Barkley just below the dams, then up the Cumberland River almost 200 miles past Dover, Clarksville, Ashland City, and Nashville, through the Cheatham and Old Hickory locks, and into Old Hickory Lake.
Since the boat has not been operated regularly in some time, the first challenge was to get the engines running, drives operating correctly, controls freed, etc. Then she needed a good cleaning, and that process will continue indefinitely. With the help of my son David and his wife Amanda, and my friends Karl Johnston and Caldwell Creel, and the gracious assistance and advice of our new friends at Pebble Isle, we finally got the boat ready to take out by ourselves and get accustomed to the way she handles. On our "maiden voyage" August 16, I managed to get her out of the slip, around to the fuel dock, out into the channel, and back into her berth without hitting any other boats and running aground only once!
Since the boat has not been operated regularly in some time, the first challenge was to get the engines running, drives operating correctly, controls freed, etc. Then she needed a good cleaning, and that process will continue indefinitely. With the help of my son David and his wife Amanda, and my friends Karl Johnston and Caldwell Creel, and the gracious assistance and advice of our new friends at Pebble Isle, we finally got the boat ready to take out by ourselves and get accustomed to the way she handles. On our "maiden voyage" August 16, I managed to get her out of the slip, around to the fuel dock, out into the channel, and back into her berth without hitting any other boats and running aground only once!
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