Most Frustrating Experience?

I will start. This happened sometime back with my old Bayliner. I was backing my Jeep up and had a friends bf guiding me. The guy wasnt new to boating and had been around boats off and on his whole life. Anyways he volunteers to latch up the trailer. I just tell him to double check that everything is tight and not to forget to chain it and hook up the lights etc. A few minutes later he jumps in and says we are good to go. I confirm that all is well and he assures me that we are fine. Being common since especially for some who grew up around boats on the lake of the ozarks I took his word for it. Well we didn't even make it a mile when I felt a slight jump and heard a awful grinding sound. I slow down to pull over and sure enough the boat had jumped off the ball and was only being held on by the chain. His response was I think your ball might be jacked up because when I put the trailer on it didn't seem like it dropped in and looked like it was sitting on top. WTF??? Good news is nothing was hurt and we still made it out. I guess the lesson learned is to never take someones word for it and check it out your self.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

Yeah, around here no one latches any trailer to one of my vehicles besides me. I learned that the hard way, similar situation as yours, when a friend who should have known better set the tongue down on the ball without lifting the latch first. So, it just barely sat on top of the ball and just out of the drive way it came loose, dropped under the hitch, slid forward and slammed in to the back of my van. Well, a new back window, body work to the van and a small fiberglass repair to the boat later, guess what??? STAY AWAY FROM MY CAR AND TRAILER BEFORE I KILL YOU!!!

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

I saw a boat and trailer litterally pass the the truck that used to be pulling it.
It was doing at least 40 mph and I was coming right toward me since I was traveling in the opposite direction. fortunately (at least for me) it swerved to the right, went into the ditch, kept on going across a guys front yard just as he was backing his minivan out of his driveway. In my rearview mirror I saw the impact, boat and van were write offs for sure.
I often wonder how many times the guy with the van has told the story of his ride being totaled by a runaway boat?

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

Well, I can't say that I've had the trailer jump off the hitch, YET (hopefully never). But the worst thing, other than having to get out and walk my boat through that smelly muck at 1 in the morning, as it is too shallow to drive through, would have to be the time my ignition decided it didn't wanna work. We had been swimming at the island all day, one storm came, and went completely around us, so the island cleared out and the weather was beautiful, at least for a few hours. We saw the next storm approaching, so we started the grueling process of removing everything from the shore and packing it in the boat. That is a tedious task when you're moving kids' beach toys, chairs, towels, cooler, etc. So, I get in the boat, turn the key, and it does a complete 360, without so much as a spark. Hmm, that's odd. . I tighten the nut holding the ignition, turn the key, and still no spark. I had to take it apart and try to fix it.

So by this time, the storm is here, it's raining, I've got 4 adults and two kids in an 18' bowrider with no bimini, and the waves are huge. Here I am, soaking wet under the dash trying to rewire the ignition. Well, as many have found out the hard way, including myself, it is not always a bright idea to play with electricity, WHILE YOU"RE WET!! After a nice jolt, and a few profanities, the boat starts up 40 minutes into this process. By that time, the worst of the storm had passed, but we still had some three footers and enough rain to sting while you're driving the boat.

Long story short, next day, new ignition. I don't know why it just quit, I had never had any issues with it before. Good thing I keep a toolbox in the boat, because there was nobody anywhere around to offer a tow, much less borrow some tools from.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

ShaneCarroll said:

Well, as many have found out the hard way, including myself, it is not always a bright idea to play with electricity, WHILE YOU"RE WET!! After a nice jolt, and a few profanities, the boat starts up 40 minutes into this process.

Click to expand...

Wow, you got a jolt from a 12v power supply(battery)??? I've never heard of that before.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

I think it happens from touching the two wires together. It was not a bad jolt, but enough to provoke a couple four letter words.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

I trusted another guy to set the hitch on the ball AND lock the lever down AND put the pin in that assures that the lever won't jump up and leave the socket just setting on the ball. When we got to the lake, fifty miles later, and were getting ready to launch the boat I happened to notice that the lever was up and that the pin was in it, locking it up.

He had never put the lever down after setting the socket on the ball.

I had been travelling 70 to 75 MPH on the interstate except for the first fifteen miles which was on a very bumpy state road at 50 MPH.

When I finally managed to calm down enough to stop cussing and ask him why he hadn't locked the lever down and put the pin in, he explained that he must have got distracted by a call on his cell phone.

Never again will I trust anyone else to do that chore.

The really odd part was he had hooked up the safety chains.

Thank God I didn't hit a really big bump or have to do something else that might have lifted the tongue enough to disengage it from the ball.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

i have a repair business, when the owner comes to get his boat, i will guide him to hook up. then i say you are the driver, you do the connections.

you are responsible, check behind anyone who connects for you.

Marina in Fort Myers connected a 4800 lb boat to BIL truck, 2 inch ball connected to 2 5/16 coupler, he towed it 500 miles before it came loose. chains held.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

Completely agree. I always connect my own or supervise one of the immediate family that are connecting. Nobody else is allowed near our hitch.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

thedukeryan said:

I guess the lesson learned is to never take someones word for it and check it out your self.

Click to expand...

Sad but true!

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

never ever trust someone else with your safety or other's safety just glad no one was hurt

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

My most frustrating experience is when there are 1 or more backseat drivers in the boat; ANY obstacle or frustration is compounded.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

I'm with Kenmyfam on this one. I do the hookups myself, but sometimes my wife will do it. I double check it when she does just so I have peace of mind.
We took our boat to VA on vacation this June and my MIL and her BF had borrowed his brother's bass boat. We had traveled about 100 miles when I stopped for the second time to check straps, restroom breaks, etc... He asks me to take a look at his trailer because it does'nt "look right" to him. I walk back and look and the trailer had been riding on top of the ball the whole way. I almost threw up! All I could think of was what would have happened if it had came loose. Every time we stopped after that I was checking his stuff and mine. I think you could call that episode a near miss.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

Lucky for me my biggest frustration is when the admiral(wifey) starts barking orders on how she wants me to pilot the boat.

She does not do it often, but once in a while she thinks she has to take command of the situation. I just say to her do you want to drive? Sometimes she does, sometimes not, but it seems to quiet her down.

Rather low on the frustration scale, lucky so far I guess.

Calvi

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

I'm not sure it qualifies as frustrating, probably more of an "whew, it could have been so much worse" kind of situation.

I bought a boat at a dealer that was selling it on consignment. After the final checkout running the OB motor on the muffs, the dealer sales guy buttons everything up and I hook up to tow my new to me boat home.

Everything goes well on the 50+ mile trip home, until I ride over a bridge on the expressway about 5 miles from home. There's a very big dip where they have ground away the asphalt to repair the approach. No signs and not normally needed for this kind of "bump". But the boat sounds funny going over it and I look back to see the motor horizontal and the transom saver bouncing down the expressway. Holey Moley!! It's a miracle no one caught the thing in mid air. I pull over as soon as possible and notice there was nothing holding the TS to the motor or trailer. It was loosely wedged in place and the motor probably wasn't even cranked down on the TS.

I can't believe my luck that no one was hurt or there was any damage done to following vehicles or my boat. A 135hp merc slamming back down on the transom could have done some serious damage.

I managed to get the TS back and made it home OK. Now, I don't trust anyone or anything unless I did it myself...

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

I had a near disaster.

A couple of years ago we went to a lake about 60 miles from home. We launched at a pay ramp around 9:00am. After a day of boating I went to the truck. There were only a few trailers left in the lot. Fortunately I looked at the hitch. Somebody had pulled the pin, and tucked it under the latch. The hitch was a Four Winns, sort of a funny set-up; there is no way to put a padlock on the connector. The only thing that keeps it from releasing is a long pin. At that point I went to check the other trailers on the lot. 2 others were unpinned and the other one had a pad lock. Hard to imagine somebody would do that. The new boat/trailer is conventional, I keep the pad lock on it at all times, yet I check it every time.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

emilime75 said:

Wow, you got a jolt from a 12v power supply(battery)??? I've never heard of that before.

Click to expand...

I have seen a number of wrenches melted from touching the posts together on a battery. I imagine touching the positive and negative together would do the same.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

cwhite6 said:

I have seen a number of wrenches melted from touching the posts together on a battery. I imagine touching the positive and negative together would do the same.

Click to expand...

You must be like my gf who is scarred s***less to jump start a car. She about pisses her pants just holding the cables. I always tell her 12 volts isnt enough to shock you. With that said I wouldnt try sticking my tongue to it. The reason you are seeing a wrench heat up is due to the high amprage that passes through the metal wrench. If your body was as conductive as a metal wrench you would be getting a lot more than a jolt in fact you would likely be dead. Good thing our bodies arent as conductive. You can grab a 12v battery all day long without a jolt. What the above poster is probably referring to is possible a spark or heat from two live wires.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

I've been lucky everything that could have been a problem has been caught. I handle my boat like my semi truck and trailer. Even if someone helps I start my walkaround so nothings been missed.

Re: Most Frustrating Experience?

No one ever latches up for me. Anymore.

1.) Day I picked up my old Lund fish and ski I couldn't get the coupler to close on my 2" ball. Double checked with the person selling it, yep it is supposed to be 2", not 1 7/8". Turns out the nut just needs to be loosened, but after sitting for awhile, its rusted and stuck, so I ask him if he can help me get it. While im digging in my truck for WD-40, I turn to see him POURING regular motor oil on the coupler. Sure enough, the nut loosened, and the coupler locked down. A block from home, the nut loosened a little more, and the tounge bounced off of the ball, safety chains helped keep it from speeding away, or hitting my truck. I NEVER EVER even MOVE MY TRAILER IN MY DRIVEWAY without ensuring it locks down tight, and has the lock in place in the coupler.

2.) Picking up furniture for a friend of a friend, I let him hook the trailer up. He decided to close and lock the coupler, before it was secured on the ball. It bounced off 50 yards away, and thats when I realized that NO ONE is to touch any trailering component of mine. Ever