THE WENCH

The sytem that Dad set up for dock removal is amazing. He has a motor attached to a thick wire that is hooked onto a flatbed train car. There are train tracks going from the motor into the water. 1st lower the car into the water. Then you steer the dock centered over the tracks & car. When the dock is centered, flip the switch & the motor starts reeling in the wire/car & when it gets far enough up, the float is sitting on the railcar being pulled out of the water. Fricken GENIOUS. And he has 'sputnik' (not sure what it actually is - some kind of motorized thingy) out in the water running always so that the water around the tracks doesn't freeze & warp the tracks. There are 2 cars & for the 1st dock, it needs to be let out enough to put that dock on so when the 2nd dock comes out, the 2nd car is available for loading.

So, thanks to Sputnik, the water around the front of camp doesn't freeze which is nice & easy on the boathouse not to have ice jamming it up & we can pull Europe (the float w/the slide) into the corner by the boathouse & it won't be reduced to splinters.

Nifty, eh?