Dude forgot the plug !!

[1960vw]

This Saturday, poor guy dropped off his Bayliner at the dock and pulled out to park his rig. I'm in the ramp over and hear his wife yelling to him, "waters getting in the boat!" He walks down and sees his stern sitting awfully low in the water. He jumps in astern, and then gets out and starts running to his rig. We all know what he forgot to do!!! He pulled his rig back and hauled his boat out and sure enough , his plug was nowhere to be seen. We all waited aside to give him room to do this since we ( other boaters ) didn't want to see his boat sink. Man , he was steaming mad probably at himself. It ended well. He drained it plugged it and we saw him on the lake later. I double check mine EVERY time !!!!

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

He is now an honorary member here, in the SHT section!

Glad you guys gave him the room to deal with his problem and resolve it !

 

[MAXXIE]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

Happened to me. Lucky I was though, I had just installed the "tell tail" on my Force O/B & wanted to see it working. I didn't have time to take it for a ride so I just backed down the ramp enough to get the back end in the water. Fired it up, ran a few min.'s & pulled it out. When I was plugging the wires back in I noticed a lot of water running in the parking lot. I walked around & bam! no plug. I thought, Thank God I didn't go for the ride. Anyway, I guess it happens. I too check it 2 or 3 times now. Very OCD about it now....

 

[airdvr1227]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

Just replaced mine with one of those 'one way' plugs. Perhaps I'll never join the club

 

[wellsc1]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

Everyone has their moment. I was already away from the ramp in a no wake zone when we notice the transom drafted a little more than normal. Fortunately, we were able to get the water out and go fishing.

From the same ramp, my son took our other boat out (14-ft. aluminum) and actually sunk it while parking the truck and trailer. At least it was beached enough to keep it from sinking.

It must be the ramp.

 

[MelodyBay]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

Too bad he doesn't have my wife as his first mate. She double checks everything for me just in case I forget to do it

Good thing they noticed in time. That was a recipe for disaster!

 

[Redfeathers kill]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

Yep, I been there too. In fact i was so pissed off at myself for doing it that i named the boat the plugdummy. That way when ever i put her in the water i was reminded " hey put the plug in dummy". It gets a lot of laughs from a lot of people. My story is pretty much the same as everybody else. i put my boat in and while i was packing in the fishing gear i noticed water coming out of my battery hole in the back of the boat. It didn't take long to realize what i did. I was on a private lake way up north in Wisconsin so thankfully i didn't have to share this experience with anybody but my wife. A guys pride sure can hurt pretty bad when there's other guys eyes on you. So if any of you guys see the plugdummy out for a spin feel free to give me some sh**. Ill just smile and nod. Happy boating to all!!!

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

I was told there are 2 types of boaters..

Those who forgot the plug.
Or
Those who will forget the plug....



I myself forgot the plug once....

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

for those with boats like the one described here--why doesn't the bilge pump come on, as a warning at least, but also to handle some of the water coming in? I guess on a heavy boat like a bow rider with an inboard, the weight creates pressure that forces water in at a rate faster than a 500 gph pump.

I think every boat should have a float switch on the bilge pump even if the boat is only used daytime and trailered after that.

 

[Reel Kahuna]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

A couple 4th of July ago the guy I sold my boat to called me to say he really, really like the boat. He said that he and his wife took it out on that 4th and was tooling around the lake when his wife noticed that their cooler was floating in the cabin!!! Fortunately he was close enough to the ramp where he jumped in the water and screwed in the plug that was laying on the console. Then he turned on the bilge pump while he went to retrieve his truck and trailer.

 

[seabob4]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

It's amazing how many people do this. I did it once...in 1994. It is now on my pre-launch checklist, which is adhered to faithfully every time I go out.

I also installed one of these...

which has an inner set of threads as well. This way you just unscrew the plug and the body of the drain acts as a captive nut. Even if I forgot to screw it back in, it's still there waiting for me...

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

Just replaced mine with one of those 'one way' plugs. Perhaps I'll never join the club

nope, almost makes you MORE likely! one little piece of debris is all it takes to jam the plug so it allows water in. And since you no longer have to physically check/install it prior to launch, its likely to be overlooked.

 

[Redfeathers kill]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

nope, almost makes you MORE likely! one little piece of debris is all it takes to jam the plug so it allows water in. And since you no longer have to physically check/install it prior to launch, its likely to be overlooked.

Good point, Those things can fail just like are memory to put a plug in. And my friend murphy says it will happen. He tends to be right alot of the time.

 

[phoenixisrizen]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

I was told there are 2 types of boaters..

Those who forgot the plug.
Or
Those who will forget the plug....



I myself forgot the plug once....

So far I have done it once, but at least then it was on my old Crestliner. It was an outboard so because I always keep the plug in the boat, all I had to do was lean over the back, pop it in and flip the lever.

But my Wellcraft I/O has a thread-in one, much more difficult, if not impossible to do on the water, at least without getting wet. And I'm sure that I will forget again at some point.

 

[JZammetti]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

So far I've not forgot the plug, however I did run the motor 20 to 30 seconds before I realized I left the lower end out of the water high and dry. I let myself get distracted and I didn't adhere to my checklist. I hope I didn't do damage, the engine temp was normal and I ran the motor for 2 hours that day.

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

 

[BoatNoobie]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

lol i've done it 2 times now with my 14' alummy lund.

the 1st time, I notice it right away when i backed into the water. Was still on the trailer when i heard the water flow/noise.

The 2nd time, I pushed the boat off the trailer and started to tie it on the dock. Then I remember I forgot the plug. So I hurried and swung it back on the trailer. Wasnt on straight. Clipped winch on and crank her back on to the trailer. Pull boat out and let it drain for the next 5-10 mins.
Luckily, I was the only 1 there launching at the time.

 

[jimdd810]

Re: Dude forgot the plug !!

Ive thought about leaving it out once on my old trihull lol