I am a new boat owner. I Fished and skiid alot as a kid, now at 38 wanted my kids to experience the same. I was always in the boat for launching as a kid, but I never had to do it myself. I Bought an 18.5 foot bowrider at the end of October 2007. I am in southern Alabama, a defense contractor at Ft. Rucker, and the boating here is twelve months a year.
Well, it does get cold every now and then so I pulled the five drain plugs that are smattered about the engine just to be safe after the first outing in the boat.
The next time we took the boat out, we went to a lake that allows boating for fishing only. It is also known to be full of stumps just below the water line. My wife parked the truck and trailer, I picked her up at the dock and off we went. I accelerated just fast enough to get the boat up on plane and no more. The kids were in the front watching for stumps while I noticed that I continuously kept having to add a little throttle to keep the boat moving. We were geographically as far from the ramp as we could get when I realized the boat was dropping off of plane and I had no more throttle left. I looked aft and we were plowing very low in the draft and I suddenly remembered the five little blue plugs I had taken out of the engine. I turned on the bilge pump and killed the engine. The kids were sinching up the straps on their pfds and my wife was very unhappy at the thought of swimming in the cool November water. When I lifted the engine cover, water was all the way up to the crank pulley. Maybe 60-80 gallons worth (guess). Anyway I got the plugs in, the water was pumped out and we continued. The rest of the day went without incident and we caught several good bass.
Remember that being a dumba## is much more dangerous than the hidden stumps. Oh, in conclusion, I had to replace the $180 starter for my poor memory. Cheap stupid tax I guess, especially compared to the cost of a salvage operation.
Well, it does get cold every now and then so I pulled the five drain plugs that are smattered about the engine just to be safe after the first outing in the boat.
The next time we took the boat out, we went to a lake that allows boating for fishing only. It is also known to be full of stumps just below the water line. My wife parked the truck and trailer, I picked her up at the dock and off we went. I accelerated just fast enough to get the boat up on plane and no more. The kids were in the front watching for stumps while I noticed that I continuously kept having to add a little throttle to keep the boat moving. We were geographically as far from the ramp as we could get when I realized the boat was dropping off of plane and I had no more throttle left. I looked aft and we were plowing very low in the draft and I suddenly remembered the five little blue plugs I had taken out of the engine.
I turned on the bilge pump and killed the engine. The kids were sinching up the straps on their pfds and my wife was very unhappy at the thought of swimming in the cool November water. When I lifted the engine cover, water was all the way up to the crank pulley. Maybe 60-80 gallons worth (guess). Anyway I got the plugs in, the water was pumped out and we continued. The rest of the day went without incident and we caught several good bass.Remember that being a dumba## is much more dangerous than the hidden stumps. Oh, in conclusion, I had to replace the $180 starter for my poor memory. Cheap stupid tax I guess, especially compared to the cost of a salvage operation.
