I bought my first boat this past summer and have been wearing it out ever since. It's small (14.5'), light (~370 lbs), and just fast enough to get the driver into trouble (25 mph - max).
My son and I were fishing on Melton Hill Lake (which was created by damming the Clinch River) in Knoxville, TN. One section of the lake opens up to an enormous open area of water, but the main channel skirts the outer edge of this area. I really didn't see a need to follow the channel all the way around the opening, thus adding three miles on to our trip, when we could just as easily cut across the large open area. So we did - at full throttle.
As we were buzzing across our "shortcut", my son (whom is 4) noticed that we passed a sign.
"What does that sign say, Daddy?"
"It says 'shallow water', but that doesn't apply to us; only to big boats."
Seconds later, we ran aground and threw a rooster tail of mud 2 feet into the air as the outboard motor kicked up to a 45? angle. Wow. We were stuck in water so shallow that the trolling motor wouldn't even go down. The boat was balancing on it's keel.
I jumped out of the boat and found that the water was only a foot or so deep. Then I began the process of lifting the front of the boat and trying to "walk" it back to the deep part of the lake. This was going to take some time, as I could only move it 2-3" at a time.
There was a gentleman playing with his dog on the edge of his property that bordered the lake. He took notice of our situation and said, "You know, I've lived here for 18 years, and that never gets old!"
My son said, "What'd he say, Daddy?"
I replied, "Nothing . . . don't talk to strangers."
45 minutes later, we were back on track. Lesson learned.
My son and I were fishing on Melton Hill Lake (which was created by damming the Clinch River) in Knoxville, TN. One section of the lake opens up to an enormous open area of water, but the main channel skirts the outer edge of this area. I really didn't see a need to follow the channel all the way around the opening, thus adding three miles on to our trip, when we could just as easily cut across the large open area. So we did - at full throttle.
As we were buzzing across our "shortcut", my son (whom is 4) noticed that we passed a sign.
"What does that sign say, Daddy?"
"It says 'shallow water', but that doesn't apply to us; only to big boats."
Seconds later, we ran aground and threw a rooster tail of mud 2 feet into the air as the outboard motor kicked up to a 45? angle. Wow. We were stuck in water so shallow that the trolling motor wouldn't even go down. The boat was balancing on it's keel.
I jumped out of the boat and found that the water was only a foot or so deep. Then I began the process of lifting the front of the boat and trying to "walk" it back to the deep part of the lake. This was going to take some time, as I could only move it 2-3" at a time.
There was a gentleman playing with his dog on the edge of his property that bordered the lake. He took notice of our situation and said, "You know, I've lived here for 18 years, and that never gets old!"
My son said, "What'd he say, Daddy?"
I replied, "Nothing . . . don't talk to strangers."
45 minutes later, we were back on track. Lesson learned.
) 
