Yeah the boat was real fast...... on the highway.
Heres the story//
Bought my first "on my own" boat and the ripe age of 23. Bought the boat, a 19' open bow that needed some interior work and the 240 hp. evinrude from two different places. Had the motor shipped to the boats location and paid the boat guy to get it all set up for me. Great deal so far as they ended up knowing each other so things went well.
Well about a month later the boat and motor are ready to go. So I load up in my suburban and head out for the 5.5 hour (one way) trip to pick up my new boat and motor. Get there, inspect it all, start the motor, run the tilt up and down, all that good stuff. Guy shows me how to grease the trailer wheels and all. We get it hooked up and double check everything. looks good but safety chains dont reach the suburban frame. Well we decide to just hook them up to the reciever, all is good.
I take off and head for the house. I get right back on the highway and away I go. Again all is good and Im almost halfway home, About 2.5 to 3 hours into trip back home. I suddenly feel a weird jerk, I look in my rearview and the boat has dropped about a foot lower then it was. Before I can even start to decide why the boat and trailer are passing me on the left. It seems they go faster when not attached!!!! At this point I have no idea what to do and can only watch as the boat just keeps going. I did see a car coming from the other direction and thought omg they will collide. The car swerved and the boat didnt (of course) and they missed by inches. The boat still travelling at maybe 55-60 mph then collided with a bridge rail. The boat goes airbourne, the trailer begins flipping and I see a lot of dust. I wasnt sure if the car had missed the boat entirely at this point. OK now Im stopped by now and I can see the car that swerved and this lady is climbing out of her car in shock. I jump out and run across the highway to her and get her to move herself out of the middle of the road.
Now her and I are standing there looking at the wreckage (her car was fine, never got hit) but boat and trailer didnt do so well.
From here the highway patrol showed up as well as a few wreckers and such.
In the end it was a total loss, boat, motor and trailer all wrecked. Even the highway patrol could never figure out why the trailer was lost. Trailer was still attached to the ball and slide in. Pinwas obviously in as I had travelled almost 250 miles before I lost it. Best they could figure was the pin sheared off for some unknown reason.
But ,,,, the whole story goes back to the improper attachment of the safety chains.. As much as I hated to lose that boat, motor, and trailer I could have easilly killed someone that day. Lesson learned very well.........
Heres the story//
Bought my first "on my own" boat and the ripe age of 23. Bought the boat, a 19' open bow that needed some interior work and the 240 hp. evinrude from two different places. Had the motor shipped to the boats location and paid the boat guy to get it all set up for me. Great deal so far as they ended up knowing each other so things went well.
Well about a month later the boat and motor are ready to go. So I load up in my suburban and head out for the 5.5 hour (one way) trip to pick up my new boat and motor. Get there, inspect it all, start the motor, run the tilt up and down, all that good stuff. Guy shows me how to grease the trailer wheels and all. We get it hooked up and double check everything. looks good but safety chains dont reach the suburban frame. Well we decide to just hook them up to the reciever, all is good.
I take off and head for the house. I get right back on the highway and away I go. Again all is good and Im almost halfway home, About 2.5 to 3 hours into trip back home. I suddenly feel a weird jerk, I look in my rearview and the boat has dropped about a foot lower then it was. Before I can even start to decide why the boat and trailer are passing me on the left. It seems they go faster when not attached!!!! At this point I have no idea what to do and can only watch as the boat just keeps going. I did see a car coming from the other direction and thought omg they will collide. The car swerved and the boat didnt (of course) and they missed by inches. The boat still travelling at maybe 55-60 mph then collided with a bridge rail. The boat goes airbourne, the trailer begins flipping and I see a lot of dust. I wasnt sure if the car had missed the boat entirely at this point. OK now Im stopped by now and I can see the car that swerved and this lady is climbing out of her car in shock. I jump out and run across the highway to her and get her to move herself out of the middle of the road.
Now her and I are standing there looking at the wreckage (her car was fine, never got hit) but boat and trailer didnt do so well.
From here the highway patrol showed up as well as a few wreckers and such.
In the end it was a total loss, boat, motor and trailer all wrecked. Even the highway patrol could never figure out why the trailer was lost. Trailer was still attached to the ball and slide in. Pinwas obviously in as I had travelled almost 250 miles before I lost it. Best they could figure was the pin sheared off for some unknown reason.
But ,,,, the whole story goes back to the improper attachment of the safety chains.. As much as I hated to lose that boat, motor, and trailer I could have easilly killed someone that day. Lesson learned very well.........
