The Halon Tragedy

Know When to Quit for the Day, or Your Boat May Get Mad at You.

- Capt. Bill Pike

First of all, my boat is old, okay? I mean, despite the brand-newness of all the systems I’ve installed over the past year, her essence stretches back to 1988. And so, maybe, just maybe, the old girl gets a little cantankerous occasionally. Maybe she’s got her good days and bad days. Maybe she sports a few quirks and hot buttons and really doesn’t care to camouflage them with pleasantries anymore. Shoot, man. I can identify. Sometimes I get testy myself these days. Like, for instance,

on a recent Saturday evening. It was about six o’clock and I was hunkered down with my back to the forward firewall of the Betty Jane II’s engine room, enduring levels of heat and humidity that, while I’d slaved away in the cramped space for the previous six or seven hours, had pretty much boiled all the wisdom, patience, and intelligence out of me.