{"id":312,"date":"2013-03-29T20:00:40","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T00:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/?p=312"},"modified":"2013-04-02T11:42:46","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T15:42:46","slug":"the-ultimate-apocalypse-vessel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/?p=312","title":{"rendered":"The ultimate apocalypse vessel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, I started work as usual, and before I could steep my first cup of coffee, I got a call from my friend Gordon asking if I wanted to blow off work and spend the day in the marsh on an air-boat. Hmmm, let me see&#8230;. YES! So exactly one hour after the call, I was in his truck hauling a 17ft 650 hp air-boat to St John&#8217;s Lake for one of the coolest days I&#8217;ve spent outside in Florida to date!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0506-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0506-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0506-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was a fantastic day to be on the water&#8230; The sun was warm, but the air was a little chilly at speed. When we got there, we met up with two other boats: Flip and Phil in one, Lawrence and Will in the other.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0511-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0511-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0511-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Launching was unlike any boat launch I&#8217;ve ever experienced. Gordon unchained the boat and put the rig in reverse, then braked hard to let the flat bottom vessel fly off the trailer to the ground&#8230; Launched.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0507-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0507-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0507-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The ride was great&#8230; I&#8217;ve been on a few air-boats in my past but never like this&#8230; This time it was so much more organic&#8230; More about the need for the boat than a showcase of the boat. It was an amazing day of twisties that would make any motorcycle fanatic drool.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0510.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0510.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0510.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Once we hit our first destination, we started the very strenuous and involved process of cat fishing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0515-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0515-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0515-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Or as Will corrected &#8220;cat fish fishing&#8221;&#8230;. It&#8217;s hard to argue with 9 year old logic. There we hung out for a few hours and caught some monsters<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMG953440-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMG953440-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMG953440-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And some tossable panfish<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMG950191.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMG950191.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMG950191.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>All and all, it was a good day! There was some serious care taken in the attention to detail in these boats, by the way&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0520-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0520-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0520-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>notice the 8 ball shifter on the tiller&#8230; Very nice, Flip. They were also some pretty high end boats&#8230; Powered by airplane engines,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0521.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0521.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0521.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>the two smallers ones were light and nimble. In the end, we had an OK load of cats&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMG950204.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMG950204.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMG950204.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So we processed them onsite, which was, on it&#8217;s own, an adventure&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0519-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0519-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0519-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then headed out for another burn around the water (or mud, or dry land, or whatever) It was amazing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0513-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"IMAG0513-1.jpg\" alt=\"image\" src=\"http:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/wpid-IMAG0513-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When we had our full, just drove back up on the land for 50 yards, and then right up on the trailer&#8230; Loading from the water took about 45 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Not a bad Friday at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, I started work as usual, and before I could steep my first cup of coffee, I got a call from my friend Gordon asking if I wanted to blow off work and spend the day in the marsh on an air-boat. Hmmm, let me see&#8230;. YES! So exactly one hour after the call, I was in his truck hauling&#8230;<span class=\"path-read-more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/?p=312\" title=\"The ultimate apocalypse vessel\">  Read more &rarr; <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-florida","category-trail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trail.walkofirresponsibility.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}