What boating mistakes have you made?

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

#2 Too Feaken funny. Fish Guts Yummy.

 

[harleymike]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I was up north on a week fishing trip. On the second last day, was out fishing. My son was playing around with the steering wheel. Went too leave. Boat wont start. Used the trolling motor too get back too cabin.
Pulled the plugs, no spark. Cant figure out what is going on. Decid too cut trip short and go home.
2 hours after getting home (8 hour drive home), start playing with motor. Still no spark.... then it dawns on me.
I check the teather kill cord, that i never ever use. It is tripped too the kill position. Awe this happened when my son was playing around... I fealt like a complete idiot......reset the kill switch and the boat fires right up.....lol

 

[vhuevos7]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

LOL Letting my wife drive the boat so I could water Ski. Nothing says it like her getting mad turning off the boat and sitting on the Bow. she could off at least got a little closer. Its okay cuz were much better now

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

LOL Letting my wife drive the boat so I could water Ski. Nothing says it like her getting mad turning off the boat and sitting on the Bow. she could off at least got a little closer. Its okay cuz were much better now

Humm I can picture this.

 

[V153]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Well, once I had a hard time starting. But it seemed to be okay after that. Went ahead'n cruised down to Stump Pass then back north to Snake Island. As I was pre-preparing to beach on Snake the battery exploded. Lemme tell ya that'll get yer attention. 'Specially if, as in my case, the battery sits directly in front of your feet ...

After the noise then mustard gas wave passed I determined that the boat did not appear to be on fire and/or sinking. Motor was still running. It was then that I began to feel a distinct 'burning' sensation on my shins'n thighs'n "scrotal zone".

Proceeded to put'r in neutral and dive over the side. Ahh, much better.

Moral of the story is twofold: Keep an eye on yer 'electrolyte' level and also check that you're not overcharging.


edit: The caps blew off too but were replaced afterward.

 

[5150abf]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I lost my anchor last weekend, half way home from the launch.

I was probably 5 miles from the launch, it is 12:30-1:00 AM and I hear a strange sound just for a second, I slowed down to see if I could figure it out and it stopped, drove slow and listened for a mile or 2 but it was gone.

Got home to find 8' of rope hanging from my deck hand and no anchor which explains the sound, I must have hit the down button getting out of the boat but the anhor was stuck in the davit and worked loose on the way home.

I am just glad all I lost was a $24 anchor and a few feet of rope and not my $160 Deck Hand, now I have one more thing to check before I leave the launch.

I really do think it is the stupid little things like this that keep us from making really big expensive mistakes, keeps you on yopur toes.

 

[j_martin]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I was up north on a week fishing trip. On the second last day, was out fishing. My son was playing around with the steering wheel. Went too leave. Boat wont start. Used the trolling motor too get back too cabin.
Pulled the plugs, no spark. Cant figure out what is going on. Decid too cut trip short and go home.
2 hours after getting home (8 hour drive home), start playing with motor. Still no spark.... then it dawns on me.
I check the teather kill cord, that i never ever use. It is tripped too the kill position. Awe this happened when my son was playing around... I fealt like a complete idiot......reset the kill switch and the boat fires right up.....lol

Just had 2 3-year old grandsons here for a week at the same time. When they left I dealt with dead batteries in the boat and several yard machines. The kids were "playing with the steering wheels."

Their mothers aren't trainable, never were. I guess the lesson learned is secure everything for rough seas.

 

[Mel Taylor]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Well, once I had a hard time starting. But it seemed to be okay after that. Went ahead'n cruised down to Stump Pass then back north to Snake Island. As I was pre-preparing to beach on Snake the battery exploded. Lemme tell ya that'll get yer attention. 'Specially if, as in my case, the battery sits directly in front of your feet ...

After the noise then mustard gas wave passed I determined that the boat did not appear to be on fire and/or sinking. Motor was still running. It was then that I began to feel a distinct 'burning' sensation on my shins'n thighs'n "scrotal zone".

Proceeded to put'r in neutral and dive over the side. Ahh, much better.

Moral of the story is twofold: Keep an eye on yer 'electrolyte' level and also check that you're not overcharging.


edit: The caps blew off too but were replaced afterward.

Are you sure about the cause of the explosion? Many years ago I had a very similar event in a vehicle I was driving when the metal battery hold-down momentarily contacted both terminals of the battery. By the time I stopped and got the hood opened the hold-down had moved back into place away from the terminals. We found the cause when we went to change the battery for a new one and noticed that there were two arced places exactly matching the spacing of the battery terminals. In that case it turned out that the hold-down was faulty allowing it to move enough to make contact. The hold-down was coated with some kind of rubberized insulation but over time it had worn through, exposing the metal. Problem was that it was nearly impossible to detect by visual inspection until the big bang happened. And even then not easy to see.

BTW, when I opened the hood there were still flames shooting from the vent cap openings. Rather scary!

 

[rfdfirecaptain]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I didn't grow up with a dad or grand dad who could teach me about boating. Everything I've learned I "paid for" with my own wallet.

Too many little mistakes to list here, but sometimes I wonder if the biggest mistake I made wasn't that moment when I handed that fellow a check to make the purchase!

 

[DonHof]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

plug!

 

[BonairII]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Got done fishing today and fired up the motor to go back to the launch. I decided I'd make a few runs up and down the river to blow out the carb(using Seafoam in gas now) and fine tune the high speed needle at WOT. That's when the problems started. The motor was WOT and for the life of me I couldn't get the boat(10' SIB) to plane. I went a few hundred yards up the river then tried going WITH the current....still couldn't get the darn boat to plane whatsoever!
I was getting a bit pissed at this point. Then I found the problem.. I forgot to pull up the anchor and had been dragging it up and down the river!

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Got done fishing today and fired up the motor to go back to the launch. I decided I'd make a few runs up and down the river to blow out the carb(using Seafoam in gas now) and fine tune the high speed needle at WOT. That's when the problems started. The motor was WOT and for the life of me I couldn't get the boat(10' SIB) to plane. I went a few hundred yards up the river then tried going WITH the current....still couldn't get the darn boat to plane whatsoever!
I was getting a bit pissed at this point. Then it found the problem.. I forgot to pull up the anchor and had been dragging it up and down the river!

Laughing my Arse at this one.

 

[Lakemeadan]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Dang, I thought you had a big basket of catch hanging off the side. My brother is not a boater and shore fish but once was telling about stumbling on to a large stringer of fish that someone discarded and he was upset about it. I told him that the boater was probably even more upset about it when he got back to the dock. I had to explain what I was talking about.

 

[catfishhunter1981]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I've been boating for years fishing, sking, tubing, duck hunting etc. Hit stumps wide open, got beached on sandbars, forgot to put plug in , flipped one boat, shot and sank another. Been there done that. I know my way around my outboards love working on them a seasoned veteran around my equipment. I bought my first o/u more receation for the kids and wife but I did make removable rod holder on the tow bar so I can still fish while the wife sun tans and the kids swim.Got a hell of a deal on a beautiful well maintained 1993 206 Rinker Captiva w/a 5.0LX1 Mercruiser & high five prop. (Just sharp) Not a scratch, tear, ding or fade to find on it. Been enjoying ourselves on it for the past few weeks and come to find out I've been running about 1000-1500 over redline(feel like such an idiot). No knocks, tings, dings, or clanks thank god. So from seasoned veteran to rookie bench warmer. Learning quick and fast know about my boat and been reading the shop manual all 598 pages learning about my motor.

 

[Triton II]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Been enjoying ourselves on it for the past few weeks and come to find out I've been running about 1000-1500 over redline(feel like such an idiot). No knocks, tings, dings, or clanks thank god. So from seasoned veteran to rookie bench warmer. Learning quick and fast know about my boat and been reading the shop manual all 598 pages learning about my motor.

D'Oh!

TII

 

[Raystownboater]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

My first mistake was buying a used boat!

 

[bouttime007]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

So far Ive gotten away pretty much on the mild side...

Forgot my drain plug once, had to run the bilge for a minute or 5. LOL

Went to take off to try a different fishing spot with the anchor still out... Noticed it before I went 2 feet, so it wasnt too bad.

Ran out of gas with my first boat I ever owned, A late 70s 16' MFG tri hull with 70 Rude, 4 miles across the lake. Row Row Row yer boat! Man that thing swilled gas..

Got the anchor hung up on a pile of rocks about 8 feet down, and after awhile of trying different angles I dove down and untangled it. It was tangled good and tight.

A few times Ive drifted into tight spots while fishing. One time the wind had me up against underwater ledges (water was way down due to dry summer) and it took some doing to get out of there with just a few dings.

One time I saw a storm in the distance, but being an armchair weatherman, I estimated its track would pass well to the north of the lake and we would be golden. My estimate was wrong. Lightning, high wind, hail, massive chop and monsoon rain puckered my bunghole till I hit shore.

I tied off to a dock that had old tires bolted to the sides. Plenty of black rubber marks on my white hull after that one...

Stored a container of worms under the bow seats for special occasions. Found them 2 months later. How can something so small REEK that bad?

Hopefully I can keep my mistakes on the mild side, but Im sure something big will happen sooner or later.

 

[sasto]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

You guys are disappionting me! I thought I made every mistake possible. I guess I still have a long way to go to catch up. Thanks for sharing.

 

[lonesouth]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Stored a container of worms under the bow seats for special occasions. Found them 2 months later. How can something so small REEK that bad?

My grandparents ran a worm farm down in central Florida. When my dad was in highschool, he was tasked with delivering 10 boxes of worms to a local marina. On the way, he saw some buddies fishing from a bridge, so he pulled over to chat. They ended up hanging out, swimming, fishing, having a good time for hours. When he got back to the car, the heat had driven all of the worms from the boxes and they had worked their way up into all of the seats, carpet, dash, every nook and cranny of that car. He said they left the windows down the rest of the summer, and you could still smell something a little off, years later when they sold the car.

 

[bouttime007]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

My grandparents ran a worm farm down in central Florida. When my dad was in highschool, he was tasked with delivering 10 boxes of worms to a local marina. On the way, he saw some buddies fishing from a bridge, so he pulled over to chat. They ended up hanging out, swimming, fishing, having a good time for hours. When he got back to the car, the heat had driven all of the worms from the boxes and they had worked their way up into all of the seats, carpet, dash, every nook and cranny of that car. He said they left the windows down the rest of the summer, and you could still smell something a little off, years later when they sold the car.

I can imagine the stench!

NAS-TY