Last weekend I spent cleaning the boat, charging the battery, checking my gear, etc. I even cranked and ran the motor. What I should have done was check the steering.
I got to the lighthouse ramp at about 1:30 to see a nice traffic jam of boats coming in, including a Key Largo being towed in by another Key Largo. I thought to myself, "how ironic, here I am putting another Key Largo in." I finally got my turn at the ramp after witnessing some "interesting" trailer backing display and an even more interesting tutorial in how not to load your boat on your trailer, followed quickly by a quick yet poignant primer on how not to pull your boat and trailer out of the water before the motor is raised.
I made quick work of dropping the trailer in the water and jumped in the boat and fired her up. Easy enough. Then I backed off the trailer. Again, easy. At that point I realized there was no steering; it was frozen. Doh!
So I smoothly grab my paddle and, using my right arm to paddle and my left to work the throttle, I get the boat lined back up to the trailer and stick it right back on the trailer. Not too embarrasing (because it looked like I was a pro working the boat with a paddle and got it back on the trailer quickly without making a scene)...
After I pull it out of the water, the Key Largo pilot who towed the other Key Largo in asked me what was wrong. I'm sure he felt bad, but today definately wasn't the day for Key Largo's at the lighthouse. The week before he had run out of gas and had to be towed in! This week, he got to tow someone in when their batteries failed (and, to top it off, he took his battery out of his boat so the other Key Largo pilot could raise his motor at the ramp)! Another SOWEGA boater (a female) approached me and let me know that the exact same thing happened to her and her hubby the week before!
At any rate, I got the steering issue taken care of this evening at the house. It was just frozen due to some rust on the outer push rod (the most common problem really). I got it buffed off of the rod and everything put back in place sort of. I'm waiting on the paint to dry on the link from the motor to the steering rod - I noticed it was rusted up a little so I took it off and buffed it out and painted with car underbody paint. That "should" look decent considering the little mercury is black too.
Everyone at the lighthouse was coming back empty handed. Looks like the cold weather caused some more lockjaw or pushed the trout into the holes and creeks again. Hopefully we'll get some consistently warm weather to bring the water temps up soon.
tuff luck on the steering but if there is a good time ta discover it, that would be one of em 
The amazing part of this was it was after dark, and we fished most of the night... 
