My husband recently posted this on another forum. Since I still laugh every time I think about it, I thought I would share the story with ya'll.<br /><br />"About 15 years ago my wife (she lived on a lake and grew up around boats) finally was able to talk me into buying a boat. I agreed to by an old one first figuring that I would make all the newbie mistakes an a small investment and later buy a new boat. We paid $1000 for a 1966 "Texas Maid". It was 17' and had a Chevy 4 cyl. I spent a week tuning the motor, buying safety equipment and getting ready for our first outing.<br />We went to a ramp and I backed the trailer down about half way. I got out and unhooked all the straps and climbed in the boat. The wife backed the rest of the way in and I fired up the boat. First time I had ever driven any boat. I backed out into the channel and started drifting downstream waiting for the wife to park. When I see her on the dock I gun it in that direction. The throttle cable somehow unhooked itself inside the control box. I'm heading towards the dock at about half throttle and panic. I try to throw it in reverse but nothing happens. Now I'm really in a panic and could see the wife yelling something from the dock. People fishing from the dock were dropping tackle and running in all directions. I finally figured out what she was yelling "the key, the key, turn the key". I shut the engine down and hit the dock at about 15 mph, slight crack in gellcoat and nasty gash on forhead from windshield.<br />We got the boat tied up and then one of the fishermen wandered over to see what had happened. He seemed to know a little about boats and told me that we could fix it by taking the control box apart. He & I spent about an hour working on the box and got it working. He said it was worn & that I should replace it but that as long as I was gentle with it I would probably be OK.<br />We decided to go ahead with the maiden voyage. We headed out into the lake and had been running for awhile when an alarm went off and the engine slowed way down. After checking a few things I realized that the engine was throwing off a lot of heat. Then it dawned on me....I had left the cuffs on when running the boat in the driveway the day before. Since I don't swim very well the wife had to dive in and pull them off the outdrive. They were very stuck. She was not very happy and called me names the D.I.'s at boot camp never used. That ended our first trip.<br />I replaced the control box and the following weekend we were back at the ramp. Launched smoothly without problems. Picked up the wife at the dock, no trouble. We head out into the lake, stop after a few minutes to look at a chart for a fishing spot. The wife notices that there seems to be a lot of water in the boat. That's when I saw the plug laying in a cup holder, right where I had left it. The wife had to make another emergency dive. The nicest thing she called me was "DUMBASS".<br />We sold that boat a week later figuring our marrige was worth more than it was. 6 months later we bought a Bayliner. More stories for another day."<br /><br />Just one tiny little item he left out....the lake was infested with alligators. At night, we'd shine a light accross the lake and see nothing but red eyes. More stories about my waterskiing on that stupid lake with a husband who didn't know **** about boats another day. 
<br /><br />Thank God, he is a quick study and now has 15 years of experience both good and bad.
<br /><br />Thank God, he is a quick study and now has 15 years of experience both good and bad.