Engine Issues...

I don't know if this qualifies as a stupid human trick, but it was me making the best of a bad day. I bought a boat August last year that was sold to me in lake ready condition. I picked up a friend and two of her kids and we took off to the lake. After some trouble getting her started we got her out on the lake and had a pretty good day fishing. We started back to the launch and I couldn't get the motor to start. I worked on it for a while with no luck and managed to kill the battery in the process. I didn't have a horn or whistle (my bad) and I had to flag down another boat with a bright orange oar.

After taking a few cheap shots from a guy who had clearly had a few beers for not having a horn, we talked for a bit about the motor. This guy had no problem letting me know how much he hated Mercury motors. He then let me know he was a grad from the Mercury Marine Institute. And he was driving a Tahoe, which is of course powered by Mercury. It was a fun conversation.

Anyway, he gave me a jump and we got her started. He followed me a few hundred yards until I got brave and gave her a little gas. She croaked and dropped to idle but didn't die completely. The throttle was completely unresponsive. So he offered to tow me for some beer money. Thankfully when we got back to the launch he spared me his beer money fee.

At this point, another friend showed up to back me up. He got the trailer in the water, but at this point I had no motor to get her loaded. I did the only thing I knew to do. I got out and pushed. Now I'm chest deep in Lewisville Lake pushing my boat onto the trailer. I figured it would be ok since the launch wasn't busy. But as I was getting her loaded, a guy in a beautiful new bass rig backs into the lane next to me.

This guy got out and headed down the ramp to unhook his boat. The last thing he expected to see was me pushing mine up onto the trailer. He stood there and stared for a minute until I finally walked up out of the water and up the ramp. The look on his face was priceless. I did the only thing I could do to recover from a bad day. I looked the guy dead in the face and said, "Face it." He said, "Face what?" I said, "You wanna trade me boats don't you."

This was probably last September and I'm pretty sure the guy's still laughing...

Re: Engine Issues...

that is a one great line! , nice story rmallen it stll has me smiling...

Re: Engine Issues...

An excellent one-liner!

Years ago I had the OB give up out on the water with the family and a friend. We were less than 200 yards from the ramp, so my friend and I jumped out and started pulling her in with a couple of bow lines. We had several boats pass us and not offer to help as we were swimming along. That was a little frustrating, but we began laughing about it and the kids were all cheering the "dad's" on from inside. When we got to shore a guy who was getting ready to put in looks at us and asks, "Having problems with your boat?" And my buddy doesn't miss a beat, and says back "oh no, the boat had been pulling us around all day so we thought we'd pull it for a while."

Wit can rescue your dignity from time to time.

Re: Engine Issues...

That's awesome!! There's a perfect "here's yer sign" moment!!

You have to laugh at that stuff or it'll get the best of you quick. And if you can't laugh at me, who can you laugh at?

Re: Engine Issues...

Trolling motors and bow lines--that's how I learned to load!!! (because of engine problems of course)