A little late to be moving your boat, eh?
Boating season has been over for quite some time, especially if you live up north. As the temperatures drop, boat owners move their water vehicles to covered spaces, lift them out of lakes or rivers, and winterize them to prevent damage to the motor and other parts of the boat.
Most folks will pull their boats and winterize them near the end of October or if you live in a place where the weather can swing drastically, after the first day of freezing temperatures. However, this Michigan man let time slip away from him, and he just pulled his boat from the water in December. To be fair, it’s been an uncharacteristically warm fall season, but… there’s snow on the ground, bro.
If you ask me, pulling your boat in December seems a little late, no matter what state you live in. But especially in Michigan, where the temperatures can drop drastically, December feels too late. And for this man, it was too late.
The man’s wife hilariously videos him as he tries to back their boat away from their dock, which is covered in ice. Lake Orion was not completely frozen, but the shallowest areas are the first to ice up… which just so happens to be where the docks are located (duh). It had a nice layer of ice on it, not too thick, but it definitely made things interesting when the man finally decided it was time to pull his boat out of the water.
“POV, you live in Michigan and wait until December 1st to take the boat out of the water.”
She wrote as a caption for the video:
Her husband is attempting (“attempt” being a generous word to use) to back up the boat, but walls of ice all around him keep him from moving away from the dock. You can see he is flooring the gas as the water ripples under the boat where it hadn’t yet frozen, but even the power of the pontoon’s engine isn’t helping it get anywhere. Can’t be good for the prop, I’d imagine…
Finally, the man breaks free from his parking spot in the water and faces another challenge: moving out of the icy canal. In a follow-up video, the wife posts a clip from her husband’s POV as he drives over the ice, and as you can imagine, the sounds the boat is making sound like dollars coming out of his wallet. Can’t be good for the toons, I’d imagine…
I don’t even want to know what it looked like trying to beat the ice at the boat ramp to get this pontoon out of the water…
If you have yet to take your boat out of the water and live in a city that has not experienced proper winter weather yet, let this man be your warning. Pull those boats out, folks… your bank account will thank you in the long run.
@amandaleonard4 Replying to @larrysmith587 He made it! #PureMichigan #BoatLife #WhereLivingIsAVaction #Pontoon ♬ original sound – Amanda | MortgagesByManda 🏠💕
Check out a few of our favorite comments left on this series of posts while you’re here.
“How’s the prop?”
“This was me last year. I have decided that this year, I’m leaving it in and seeing what happens.”
“Cold ride to the marina!”
“Yikes, this late in the season! I took mine out at the end of October.”
“If procrastination was a video… don’t feel bad, I’ve loaded my boat in the snow!!”
“Well, you know what Forest Gump would say. ‘Stupid is as stupid does.'”
“It was at that moment he knew he fucked up.”
“Neighbors have been judging you since November 1st.”
“Pontoon owners, am I right?”
Hey, gotta extend that season as long as possible, right? Snag a few of those winter hole smallmouth before the lake completely ices over? A little stabilizer in the tank… no big deal. That’s Pure Michigan right there.
And as it turns out, the man in the video is quite the cornerstone of the community. The woman who shared the video tells Whiskey Riff:
“The man in the video is actually Chris Barnett who is the Supervisor (Mayor) of Lake Orion, a title that barely scratches the surface of his impact, he’s a huge advocate for our community. This video comes during a challenging time for Chris and his family. He recently lost his mother after her 9.5-year battle with cancer. She was an extraordinary woman who inspired everyone around her, and her legacy of faith, love, and service lives on in her family.
In honor of an extraordinary woman who touched so many lives, we are raising funds for the Miracle League of North Oakland—a cause near and dear to the hearts of Chris Barnett and his beloved mother Judy Barnett-Langford.”
You can donate HERE.
