Lake Martin Voice Realty
Winterize It, Don’t Criticize It
I have been fighting it for a month, but I have finally succumbed to winterization.
My boat, of course.
I had been holding out hope that I could squeeze in one more boat ride, but with the cold weather coming on, there just wasn’t enough time.
I must admit that I feel pretty smug that I got the goody out of it this fall. The warm fall weather afforded many a fun family ride and (per IRS regulations) a very conservative amount of deductible business expenses.
Have you ever taken a boat ride on Lake Martin on a Sunday afternoon in October? Pure solitude, almost guilty fun.
Thanks to John Christenberry, I can say that we at Lake Martin Voice Realty even scored an atypically late – October 28 – real estate showing by water. That is just one of the many records Christenberry has racked up in 2011. More on that later.
Not A Defeat
To Winter’s uneducated eye, this may appear to be a defeat.
My lovely Sea Ray Sundeck is now on the rack, full of antifreeze, seemingly powerless.
Au contraire, Emperor.
Like the Russian generals against Napoleon, I am merely baiting him to waste his resources for months, whilst I lie in wait at my dacha.
This is not over. I live to fight again and will strike at Winter soon, preparing in the meantime anchorages laid bare by his low water complacency.
My Advice: Don’t Criticize It, Winterize It
If you haven’t winterized your boat, you had better do it now. Quit procrastinating. If you don’t have time, or, worse yet, don’t know what winterizing means, I recommend these Lake Martin boat mechanics:
- Steve Northington at Cathouse Marine - (334) 358-2838 – Steve is the darling of the forum folks at LakeMartin.com. He resuscitated my boat from a salty death. Impossibly, he reforged the blade that was broken. Highly, highly, capable.
- Clarence Cunningham at Anchor Bay – (334) 857-2654 – Clarence is excellent and is the one bailing me out of winter’s clutches this year. I do not winterize my own boat, I trust it to Clarence. In fact, I have not tried any of that sort of thing since my wife was nine months pregnant and I almost ruined our SUV by attempting a “simple” oil change. One has to know one’s own weaknesses. The longer I live, the more I discover in myself.
If you are like me, and know better than to attempt your own winterization, call one of them. Tell them I sent you.
Wakeboard & Wakesurf Demo at Blue Creek Marina
Singleton Marine on Lake Martin hosted the Slingshot Wakeboard, Victoria Wakesurf Demo and Rail Jam on Saturday, June 25th at their eastlake location - Blue Creek Marina. I am sorry to post this update so late, but I figure better late than never. It was a really great time.
I took my kids and nephews because I thought it would be fun to watch the pros show off their skilz. But they did much more than that . . .
They had 4 boats taking folks out for lessons, and we spent at least an hour on the water with these guys. They were great with the kids, generous with their time, and pretty good behind the boat, too. I caught it all on tape, so check in out:
My nephews are going back for lessons later this summer. They already knew how to get up on a wakeboard, and the pros helped them fine tune some tricks and tactics. One of my sons tried it also, he had never ridden a wakeboard before, and they got him up on his 3rd try. After he got up once, he went three or four more times and we all had a blast.
To top it all off, we came back and watched the pros go over a rail that they had floating in the water by the gas docks, and they gave us free pizza!
If you hear about one of these events going on at the lake, I encourage you to go. They happen all the time at the marinas – boat demos, wave runner demos, etc. The next event at Blue Creek Marina is on July 22, 2011.
Thanks to Singleton Marine Group & Blue Creek Marina for this one.
It was a class A event and really opened our eyes to a whole new realm of water sports.
Quick Links:
Singleton Marine – Blue Creek Marina
The Lake Martin Day Trip: Have Boat, Will Play
You don’t have to own property on Lake Martin to have fun here. In fact, a day trip on your boat can be a super Lake Martin experience. I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy a home – I need to pay the power bill just like everyone else – but I am saying that you can get a lot of enjoyment out of just your boat and the people in it.
Pack a cooler. Find an island and anchor. Cruise the entire lake. Tie up at a restaurant for lunch. Visit friends. Ski and wake board in the calm waters of a slough. Enjoy drinks on the boat at sun set. Not a bad way to spend the day!
I recently sold a home to a couple who had been doing just this : day tripping from Georgia and putting their boat in at River North Marina. They love to wake board, so they liked the calm waters on the north side of Lake Martin. They had plenty of Lake Martin day trips and several rented lake houses before they finally decided to buy. These are great ways to get to know the lake.
If you’re interested in day trips to Lake Martin, there are plenty of places to launch your boat. Click on this link for a list of Lake Martin public boat launches. Click here for a list of Lake Martin marinas. If you don’t have a boat, and would like to rent one for the day, check with the marinas for prices and availability.
If you’re a pro at the Lake Martin day trip, comment below and let us know your tips. Thanks for the input!
Tour of Parker Creek Marina on Lake Martin
If you drive a boat on Lake Martin in the Parker Creek area, then you’ve probably been to Parker Creek Marina . . . many times. Marinas are scattered all over Lake Martin: some are small and independently owned, others are big and part of a group of marinas. Each marina has its own personality and unique features.
Parker Creek Marina is located on the far north west side of Lake Martin, and is operated by Singleton Marine Group. The owners of Parker Creek Marina also own Blue Creek Marina on the Dadeville (east) side of the lake.
Parker Creek Marina has a gas dock, dry boat storage, ship’s store, and a service facility.
If you’re looking to buy a waterfront home, that means you probably want a boat. And if you have a boat, you probably need some gas. When showing Lake Martin homes, I often get these questions, “Where is the nearest marina?” ” How do you get there by land?” and “How do you get there by water?” If you’re looking at the Parker Creek area, then take a look at what Parker Creek Marina has to offer.
Video tours of other marinas on Lake Martin:
Pizza at Chuck’s Marina on Lake Martin
Real Island Marina on Lake Martin
Kowaliga Marina on Lake Martin
Heather Babecki of Spookeay Marine: Renaissance Artist of Boat Restoration
Heather Babeki – Lake Martin renaissance artist. Her gig is not just fiberglass boat repair, but art in general.
This post started out as a documentation of Heather restoring my friend’s 1971 SeaRay 190. But I soon came to realize she is much more than a fiberglass boat repair shop: Heather Babecki is a Lake Martin treasure. A walking, talking anomaly. Not only does she repair fiberglass on boats, but she loves them back to better-than-original condition. She polishes chrome, restores brass, custom designs and cuts a teak platform, all in the name of resurrecting a boat full of memories.
Heather is the only person I know who can explain the intricacies of gel-coat repair, its history, and chemical structure, while making references to German philosophers (Occam’s Razor), obscure Cuban chess champions, all as she keeps an eye on the mules and roosters that graze in her yard. We procrastinators of boat repair no longer have an excuse to let the once-glorious boats of our youth disintegrate into a mushy pile of fiberglass. Heather can build it back better than it was before (e.g. she replaces wood with fiberglass beams), and she does it with an artist’s eye.
Visitors to her shop should not expect a shiny, gleaming, corporate super-structure. Rather, know that her country-bohemian lifestyle affords her the free, creative mind she needs to work her magic.
Far from an ethereal, superfluous approach to boat building, she is also extremely practical. She will be the one scraping her knuckles when sanding or will have her head inches away from your boat when painting, just to make sure it’s perfect. She has a few talented helpers, but mostly she does it all by herself. Her prices are very reasonable – some would say dirt cheap. This “thing of (hers)” is not just a way to get extra beer money; she plows the proceeds she has after costs into newer and better equipment. Show me an artist who gets excited about a new paint sprayer and I will show you someone who loves her art more than herself.
Right now I’m talking to you, reader, who has that old fiberglass ski boat from the 60’s, 70′s, or even 80’s that’s sitting on a trailer with 2 flat tires, grass growing up in the axles – and you try to forget about it. You used to tear around in that boat in days that you would say were “The Good Old Days.” But now it has water in it, or the transom has rotted, or it has a big hole in the side of it because your brother-in-law backed it into the wall. There’s no excuse. For a pittance, she can make it whole again, and you will have a bit of your youth back. Yes, you might have another boat now, but ….. there are boats, and then there are Boats.
Call Heather at Spookeay Marine on Lake Martin, and I would bet that for the price of one ticket to the Iron Bowl, you could have your running buddy back.
For more of Heather’s boat restoration videos on YouTube, click here.
Cathouse Marine Opens A Lake Martin Location
Breaking News 10-21-2010 – Steve Northington of Cathouse Marine announces he is opening a long awaited Lake Martin location at 6905 Highway 49 S, Dadeville, AL, 38653.
Steve and his staff have long been working their mechanical magic from his Prattville location. His Lake Martin customers have literally beaten a path to his door because of his awesome service – but they always wondered if he ever would get a little closer to the lake.
Now they have their wish. Cathouse Marine is located in the former Waterscape Marine building. It is just north of the Highway 49 aka Blue Creek Bridge.
Click Here For A Map To their new location
Cathouse Marine will continue to operate their Prattville location.
As I talked to Steve today, he is lining up work already, so if you would like your boat winterized, or any other work done, contact Cathouse at their site!
For those of you that might be unfamiliar with Cathouse’s work, he is well known for dispensing free advice on the Lake Martin dot com forum, as well as diagnosing and fixing diverse engine problems – from precision engine timing on offshore racing boats to a restoring power to a sickly antique garden tiller.
Lake Martin Voice Realty congratulates Cathouse Marine on their new Lake Martin location!
You Don’t See Boats Like This Anymore on Lake Martin
I don’t see many house boats like this on Lake Martin anymore.
When I was growing up, there were always a bunch of house boats that were moored at docks by the River Bridge. They were on the east side of the river, across from the old Lake Hill Restaurant, on the north side of the Tallapoosa River. I guess this was the late 1970s, early 1980s.
We would be driving eastward on highway 280, and as we’d cross the bridge, we could see them all parked over on a dock system. I never went down there, and don’t know their owners.
When I saw this one parked across the street from my office, it made me think about how long it’s been since I have seen a boat like this on Lake Martin.
I originally posted this on my media blog, at Posterous.
Lake Martin’s Aquapalooza 2010 Setup
Lake Martin’s Aquapalooza 2010 is this Saturday, July 24th. The free concert is from noon to 7 pm in front of Sinclair’s restaurant in the Big Kowaliga area of Lake Martin (by Kowaliga Bridge, aka Highway 63 Bridge).
The featured artist, John Anderson, will wrap up the show (Think, “Seminole Wind”).
I went by Kowaliga Bridge this morning and shot some video of the set up. The logistics worked last year, so bring your boat and enjoy a really fun afternoon on Lake Martin. Take a look:
What: Lake Martin’s Aquapalooza 2010
When: Saturday, July 24, 12pm -7pm
Where: In the Kowaliga area of Lake Martin between Church in the Pines and Sinclair’s Restaurant (off of Highway 63)
Reservations: not required
Lake Martin Event: Ridge Marina Boat Show 2010
The Ridge Marina is having “the largest inland in-water boat show in the southeast” this weekend and next.
I stopped by this morning to give you a preview. (This has nothing to do with that “boat fever” I’ve mentioned before.) Not a bad way to spend a beautiful spring morning on Lake Martin.
According to the Russell Marine website, they will have more than 100 boats on display and 60 you can drive.
It’s happening this Saturday and Sunday, April 24 & 25, 10am – 5pm and Saturday and Sunday, May 1 & 2, 10 am – 5 pm. Here’s your Google map to get there!
Related articles: Amenities of The Ridge, Lake Martin / Video Tour of The Ridge – Beach Park, Ridge Trails / The Ridge Marine In Water Boat Show 2008 / Lake Martin Real Estate Spotlight: The Ridge
My Name Is John, And I Have A Boating Problem
I have a serious case of boat fever, so having an office that overlooks where everyone gasses their boats up can sometimes be unbearable. Today was absolutely beautiful at Lake Martin. Blue skies, mid 70s, the whole thing. Since it’s Good Friday, there are lots of people prepping their boats for the weekend. I’m holding it together pretty well, until this beauty rolls in:
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Reed Mitchell of Mitchell Marine and the owner came in to gas up.
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They said it was a 1973 Riva. From a quick search on the web, it looks to me like a Riva Olympic.
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What an awesome boat.
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I guess if “Sam” of Cheers can conquer his addiction by owning a bar, I can beat boat fever here at Lake Martin. Of course, you can help me by letting me help you!
Can you think of a prettier place to be this weekend? Honestly?
