Swell Ship / Hell Ship

Just curoius to hear some ownership stories, good or bad about boats you've owned or still posess.

We have had some pretty interesting threads about stringers pushing through the hull of brand new boats, great runners falling apart in the hands of a new owner, and some boats that despite years of abuse still run strong. What are your expeirences?

Mine: Well the boat I have now is my first and its been great (knock on wood).

But..
When I was younger though my dad bought a 12ft runabout to play around the lake on. Got caught in a storm one day and on the return trip to shore the top deck broke free from the hull all the way around the bow. Made it back (barely) but ok. Inspected the damage and decided to repair it so we the split sections back together.
About a month later a friend and I were out near dusk in the newly repaired boat and a drunk guy at the helm of a 20some footer slammed into us broadside at fill tilt. Busted my buddys head open on his hull and ultimately destroyed my boat. We restarted it and limped it back to the dock so my friend could get to the hospital. The guy never stopped. Boat ended up in the dump. Friend recovered.

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

i have never had a bad experience, except the day the power pack went out, just before going thru the jettys, on an out going tide, and a freighter inbound.

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

My first boat was a 20 ft pontoon with a 50hp Force. Oddly, my wife was not that overly concerned what it looked like. But just before we were going to trailer it on vacation, the starter started giving problems. While on vacation I could only start it with a pull rope. It would take some work when cold, but once it been run it would start with just one pull.

The lake we were vacationing on is a very popular and expensive lake to have a place on and it is a popular destination to go from the cities. lets just say that our boat was not exactly keeping up with the Joneses.

We decided to boat over to a restaurant on the lake. The restaurant had a big deck that overlooked the docks where you would pull your boat in. they even had dockhands that would be there to help you tie up and cast off. They even wanted to start your boat for you.

Well it is time to leave and I had planned to start my motor as discretely as possible as I had to pull the cowling off, wrap the rope around the flywheel, and then to set the idle up so it would start. There is a little sequence here where I am not attending the throttle and once it pops off I have to hurry back to the throttle to slow it down. Unfortunately I had to almost beat the dockboys away so I could still do this quietly.

We had been in the restaurant just long enough for it to cool sufficiently so it took several strokes and it finally started with a good puff of exhaust, I slipped my cover back on and off we went. I did not fool anyone on the patio, and we came off as a bunch of hicks.

My wife gave me no problems when we got home and i wanted to replace my starter.

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

Well, I've had a ton of boats over the years. In the early years they were all wood ones.

Some were leaky, some were homemade, some got broken, some were rotten

But I never owned a bad one.

I prefer small boats over large ones. The biggest boat I ever owned was an 18 ft Starcraft, and it was too big. My current boat is a 17' Crestliner Aluminum, which I like fine.

My favorite boat was a 14' Seaswirl P-14 I bought for $100 from a out-of-business resort in Edmonds, Wa. Still had the name "ANDY'S" stencilled on the side of it. Never removed the name.

Caught a lot of salmon in that boat in Port Angeles, Wa.

Far and away the best rough water small boat I've ever owned was a 15' deep vee Duroboat Super Skiff. That boat would effortlessly handle anything Puget Sound or the Straits of Juan De Fuca could dish out. (On a reasonable weather day, of course) I sold it in times of financial crisis to someone in Alaska, and I still regret selling that boat.

It was far better than my current Crestliner, but then the Crestliner was available here in Michigan, and the Duroboat wasn't. And the St Mary's River isn't Puget Sound.

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

rogerwa said:

My first boat was a 20 ft pontoon with a 50hp Force. Oddly, my wife was not that overly concerned what it looked like. But just before we were going to trailer it on vacation, the starter started giving problems. While on vacation I could only start it with a pull rope. It would take some work when cold, but once it been run it would start with just one pull.

The lake we were vacationing on is a very popular and expensive lake to have a place on and it is a popular destination to go from the cities. lets just say that our boat was not exactly keeping up with the Joneses.

We decided to boat over to a restaurant on the lake. The restaurant had a big deck that overlooked the docks where you would pull your boat in. they even had dockhands that would be there to help you tie up and cast off. They even wanted to start your boat for you.

Well it is time to leave and I had planned to start my motor as discretely as possible as I had to pull the cowling off, wrap the rope around the flywheel, and then to set the idle up so it would start. There is a little sequence here where I am not attending the throttle and once it pops off I have to hurry back to the throttle to slow it down. Unfortunately I had to almost beat the dockboys away so I could still do this quietly.

We had been in the restaurant just long enough for it to cool sufficiently so it took several strokes and it finally started with a good puff of exhaust, I slipped my cover back on and off we went. I did not fool anyone on the patio, and we came off as a bunch of hicks.

My wife gave me no problems when we got home and i wanted to replace my starter.

Click to expand...

..was that you??? .....Just kidding, but a funny story. I know this all too well with my wife as well. All it takes is one incident that compromises 'appearances' (so to speak) and she is all for an upgrade. Makes me almost want to plan them.
BP

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

rogerwa said:

The lake we were vacationing on is a very popular and expensive lake to have a place on and it is a popular destination to go from the cities. lets just say that our boat was not exactly keeping up with the Joneses.

We decided to boat over to a restaurant on the lake. The restaurant had a big deck that overlooked the docks where you would pull your boat in. they even had dockhands that would be there to help you tie up and cast off. They even wanted to start your boat for you.

Well it is time to leave and I had planned to start my motor as discretely as possible as I had to pull the cowling off, wrap the rope around the flywheel, and then to set the idle up so it would start. There is a little sequence here where I am not attending the throttle and once it pops off I have to hurry back to the throttle to slow it down. Unfortunately I had to almost beat the dockboys away so I could still do this quietly.

We had been in the restaurant just long enough for it to cool sufficiently so it took several strokes and it finally started with a good puff of exhaust, I slipped my cover back on and off we went. I did not fool anyone on the patio, and we came off as a bunch of hicks.

My wife gave me no problems when we got home and i wanted to replace my starter.

Click to expand...

I've been to that restaurant... nice breakfast buffet some days. Expensive place to eat, though.

You had far from the worst boat on that lake... I've seen a few doozys here and there (including mine

Erik

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

My worst boating experience was back in the mid 60's. My Dad bought a 17' big heavy wooden boat with a 50HP Scott At Water motor. My Dad had the motor running great in the barrel at home. We took it to the river to go fishing. We got about 2 miles from the dock and the motor died and would not start. We had to paddle the boat (did I say it was big and heavy) back to dock against the wind (and uphill I think!). We got it back home and the barrel under it and the motor started right up and ran great! My Dad worked on it some more and was not having any problems. The next day we took it back to the river. We got a little further from dock this time and it died again and would no restart! We had to paddle back again. Boats passed us but did not offer a tow. After getting it home I told him I didn't care what he did with that boat but I was NEVER going on the water with it again!!! And I never did! He sold it a short time later!

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

I have been out in some pretty wild weather in some pretty small boats.
I have been chartering and guiding for 20+ years and have run boats from 12 feet (my first) to 44 feet (not mine) in waves to 15 feet (not on the ocean ) I was out in my little 12 footer with a friend on Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) when the wind kicked up while slowly putting back to camp with my 5.5 Johnson I just touched a reef when the boat got to the bottom of the 4 foot waves and popped the shear pin. The waves ended up pushing us on shore where we wited it out while doing repairs.

I have been out in 15 footers on Lake Ontario in my current boat a Fisher SV-18GT (just to see how it handled rough water ) The hardest part was timing my runs into and out of the river mouth (10 foot breakers)

While guiding in the NWT I was caught by a strong thunder storm in a 17 foot Lund Alaskan (with 2 guests on board) When the storm hit the lake went from flat calm to 6 foot closely packed waves in less than 3 minutes!!!!
The winds were so wicked that in the little bay the lodge was in (200 yards across) the waves were 3 feet. I have also gone 20 miles in 8 footers in a 16 foot Lund with 2 guests here. Totally different situation as the waves were rollers coming down the length of the lake and we could run the troughs. This made for a slow but not uncomfortable ride.

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

Erik, which lake are you talking about? This story was on Gull. My guess is you were refering to Mtka. Lord Fletchers I bet..

Mtka is a whole differnt boating experience. Nobody waves or says hi. Overall they are pretty rude.

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

It was an early November morning and to be my last fishing day of the season. I was backing my 15' Glaspar down the ramp when the trailer gave way on the roke. Got her launched and tided up. Inspected the trailer and found that it could be repaired with angle irons bolted through. I took the trailer home for the repair job (it was strong enough for the 20 mile ride). Once done, I took the trailer to another ramp closer to home (16 miles up river from where the boat was), because of the short ride back - not trusting the repair. By the time I got a ride back to the boat, it had just gotten dark. I froze my bottom on the ride back by myself. Got the boat back safely.

Another . . .

My Dad had just gotten out of his van after driving from Annapolis area, when I told him I'd been swimming earlier that day and he responded that he did too. Came to find out that he was laying down repairing something in the bildge of our 40' Chesapeake wooden Deadrise, when something sparked a fire. The entire cabin and all burned off. All that was left was the hull (thanks to double plank construction). He got the boat away from others in the marina so they wouldn't catch fire and he had to adandon ship (went swimming). It did not sink. We spent a year repairing her to charter-able condition. Used my Mom's v8 flathead from her 1953 Ford Crestliner for the motor. Turned out better operationally than the original.

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

rogerwa said:

Erik, which lake are you talking about? This story was on Gull. My guess is you were refering to Mtka. Lord Fletchers I bet..

Mtka is a whole differnt boating experience. Nobody waves or says hi. Overall they are pretty rude.

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Ah, my bad then. I was thinking Lord F's.

Still, there are some real doozies of boats on the lakes around here, I never have to feel bad about having the worst one out

Re: Swell Ship / Hell Ship

I had a steering cable lock up on a 15.5 foot outboard back in the day. I always had tools on board, so I unhooked the cable and guided it back by hand the 2 miles or so back to the camp while my little brother worked the throttle. Kind of fun getting it back on the trailer later. Lucky for me I had him on board but I don't think the other passengers felt that lucky!