boating blunder

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m.qualls89

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jun 4, 2012
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Ok so i have decided to share my big blunder here. I had to replace my steering cable right before the 4th so i ordered one from ebay a teleflex 16 ft cable. It came in on the 3rd so i bisted butt to get it in, had to unbolt the motor and all because the fit was so tight. I get it in just to find out i needed a different helm as the old detmar helm wasnt compatible. So that made it where i wasnt on the river for the 4th which sucked. Next i get my new helm i had to modify the dash but i finally got it in. Cleaned up all the mess from where i had drilled into the dash and had nuts and bolts all over from the old system. I was in such a hurry to try it out i got it in the water and i had hooked it up backwards! I steer right it goes left and vise versa. Now i felt like a moron haha and it was a pain to load it back up at the ramp. But now its finally fixed and ready to hit the river. Has anybody else made such a simple yet foolish mistake?
 

MH Hawker

Vice Admiral
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Jul 13, 2011
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Re: boating blunder

Yep, about 12 years ago did the same thing. As you found out its easy to change.
 

444

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Jul 16, 2010
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704
Re: boating blunder

Had an old obsolete morse helm in my boat. Searched everywhere online and found out what the replacement cables were supposed to be, crosschecked the info on several websites. Order the cables, install them, they fit my engine but weren't right for my helm. Had to end up going back and ordering a helm that was compatable with those cables. Then my steering wheel wasn't even close to working with the new helm so needed a new one of those too, plus had to modify the dash a bit to get the new helm to fit.
 

s freud

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 31, 2012
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143
Re: boating blunder

I did today ("made such a simple and foolish mistake") but thankfully someone saw it (technically there were two mistakes) and told me before I was able to reap the consequences. I bought a new trailer (also my first trailer) and had it hooked to my car. Thankfully some random guy was watching me and got out of his car and walked over to tell me the latch mechanism was stuck so it was not seating properly on the ball. Whew. Dodged one there. About three minutes later he comes over again and points out that the rest on the bottom of my trailer tongue is about 3 inches from the ground and if I hit so much as a squirrel it will drag. I said something like "I guess I will need to get a different hitch because this one has too big a drop." He says "you could just flip it over." When I laughed at myself he brushed it off and said he had learned a few things the hard way himself.
 

Davem3

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May 15, 2011
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542
Re: boating blunder

I did today ("made such a simple and foolish mistake") but thankfully someone saw it (technically there were two mistakes) and told me before I was able to reap the consequences. I bought a new trailer (also my first trailer) and had it hooked to my car. Thankfully some random guy was watching me and got out of his car and walked over to tell me the latch mechanism was stuck so it was not seating properly on the ball. Whew. Dodged one there. About three minutes later he comes over again and points out that the rest on the bottom of my trailer tongue is about 3 inches from the ground and if I hit so much as a squirrel it will drag. I said something like "I guess I will need to get a different hitch because this one has too big a drop." He says "you could just flip it over." When I laughed at myself he brushed it off and said he had learned a few things the hard way himself.

And that is what makes us all great people over here.
If I can help out just one person, and save them some grief, then it is all worth it ............
 

s freud

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 31, 2012
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143
Re: boating blunder

^^^^ Exactly. My wife was blown away by his kindness. I was too, but said that it seems most of the boating community is pretty tight knit and help each other out. I then had a huge smile on my face the whole way home as I felt blessed to find such a great deal and also felt like I had just got my membership into the boating community.
 

southkogs

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Re: boating blunder

...Next i get my new helm i had to modify the dash but i finally got it in ... I was in such a hurry to try it out i got it in the water and i had hooked it up backwards! I steer right it goes left and vise versa .... Has anybody else made such a simple yet foolish mistake?
Did that exactly last year ... caught it before I pulled outta' the driveway, but none the less did it.
 

Tigosaurus

Cadet
Joined
Aug 24, 2016
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9
Several years ago I drove my boat onto the trailer and had a friend whom I thought was experienced at driving a manual transmission truck. The boat ramp was steep and I was alarmed to hear him gun the engine, pop the clutch. Then I realized I had not properly engaged the wench lock and the rear of the boat rocked out onto the concrete ramp. With the help of several others, we rocked the boat onto the trailer and wenched it in properly. Could have been a lot worse.
 

Pusher

Lieutenant
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Sep 2, 2014
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1,273
I towed my project boat home two years ago at night without a spare with tires that I believe are from 2003. That was a stupid 2.5 hour drive at 70 mph by myself.

I believe I forgot the plug when I was unloading at the ramp last year (my wife caught it somehow! šŸ˜« )

I tapped my canon downrigger plate then almost immediately upgraded to swivel bases which required tapping new holes.

The little ones are the ones that add up.
 

Mischief Managed

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
1,928
I rebuilt the engine and changed the prop on my VP270 AQ125A-powered first boat. On it's maiden voyage after the work, I noticed rather immediately that the new prop was a LH and I needed to put the drive in reverse to go forward. Doh! Fortunately it is extremely easy to change the rotation of a VP270 drive. Takes about 5 minutes and can be done with the boat in the water if you don't mind getting wet.
 

dwco5051

Commander
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
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2,326
Yep, about forty years ago. Put a new cable on my Crownline with a Merc 120 I/O. After it was done I told my wife to come look at the outdrive while I turned the wheel from one side to the other to make sure it was going full swing. She tells me it it seems backwards from what it should. After telling her it could not be doing that I had her get in the boat and turn the wheel. Sure enough she was right. A simple fix, moved the rack from the top to the bottom of the helm.
 
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