Re: Always blame the fat guy!
I'm usually the fat guy in the boat, at 6' 3" tall and just over 300lbs, most of the time I outweigh anyone else on the boat.
I've got a buddy that has a 16' boat that just can't understand why you should only anchor off the bow. When I'm aboard, he does fine, but I've heard from others about some dangerous stuff he does when unsupervised.
He's got a homemade davit or winch for pulling in crab traps on the starboard side just behind the drivers seat. Since it's a closed bow boat with a windshield back soft top about 6' long, he likes to just toss the anchor over the side and tie it off to a cleat by the right windshield post. No amount of explaining seems to get through as to how wrong that is.
The worst thing I've seen him do is loop the anchor rope over the crab pot winch when it gets stuck. He almost rolled the boat the first time I saw this. When I'm aboard, the anchor goes forward off the bow, or it don't go out at all.
His comment was that if I stand on the opposite side of the boat, it won't flip. He's got no idea what that oversize windlass will do if the anchor won't break free of the bottom, no matter where its mounted or where the anchor is tied off to. He took another buddy fishing and what got back to me was that he almost winched in the outboard. He had anchored off the starboard side, the boat drifted around during the tide change, hooking the anchor line around the outboard. When he pulled anchor, it was wrapped or caught on the outboard and it pulled the outboard sideways quite a distance before he stopped. His next move was to start the engine and try to put it in reverse in an attempt to get the outboard to 'let go' of the anchor rope, which was now under tension between the winch and the lower unit. Luckily the outboard just stalled when put in gear. His passenger finally got tired of the show and cut the rope figuring that if left alone, they were both likely going for a swim.
This guy isn't dumb, he's just got that 'it won't happen to me' attitude and no matter how bad it is, it's never a problem and his excuse is always that those rules only apply to big boats. He has no idea how bad things can go wrong in a small boat in big water.
Things like not letting out enough anchor rope in deep water, anchoring up a 16' boat in 10' seas and high winds with the anchor over the side or the stern, etc. He carries only 25' of anchor rope, if it don't reach bottom, he ties the anchor rope to a length of poly rope permanently tied off to a bow cleat. The problem is that he uses a dog lead snap to attach the two ropes, then runs the rope over to a cleat by the drivers seat area so he can toss anchor from his seat. The boat has no depth finder, at least not one that works either. The first time I went out on his boat he tied the anchor to his waist so he couldn't throw it away, after it held, he'd clip it on a cleat at one of many loops tied in the anchor rope. I tried to explain to this guy how bad that whole plan was but I doubt he got it. I'm fairly certain he only stopped doing it only to shut me up about it. From what I hear, he continues that practice too when I'm not on the boat.
The bad part is that this isn't some boating newbie, he's been boating for years and he's old enough to be retired. Watching the same individual load the boat on the trailer is a whole different story in itself. There's no such thing as too deep with the truck or trailer, and watching him curse the 8 seized up rollers on his trailer every time is a show in itself. He's also the only one I know who drives up to a boat ramp and 'sticks' the boat on the ramp so it don't float away while he gets his truck. He drives the boat so far up the ramp that you can climb out and not get your feet wet over the side. He carries a can of marine tex to fix the damage done so it's all good.
