DECK SWABBER 58
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2009
- Messages
- 1,913
Time to pay my SHT dues!
At the age of 51 I bought my first boat starting small which was a good thing as you'll find out in part 2. 2010 voyager 16' jon boat/9.8 tohatsu 4strk.
Didn't consider myself a total rookie, spent a lot of time fishing in small boats as a kid just never actually owned, launched or trailered one. The day after taking delivery (4th of july weekend) girlfriend and I headed for the more remote of two launches on a 10hp limit lake hoping for a smaller audience for the first launch. I groaned as we pulled in, the parking lot was packed! We prepped the boat and I went through my mental checklist. Backing down the ramp went smoothly as I had drove a tow truck in a previous life. AND YES I REMEMBERED THE DRAIN PLUG!!!! I climbed into the boat and said let's make sure the motor starts before we unhook the boat. Motor started and I let it idle while I climbed up to help her unhook, went back and said ok give it a shove. Boat wouldn't budge, climbed out and we both pushed still wouldn't budge. Maybe the trailer needs to go deeper I said, so backed up a "little" more. Still no luck and now the trailer seemed to be swinging back and forth, it was floating!!! Of course their were a couple of "seasoned" fishermen standing on the dock waiting to pull their boat out. One of them says " did you take your back straps off" ???? DUH. I said to girlfriend I'm going to pull out and get out of their way so I jumped in truck and pulled out and the guy on dock yells "hey your motor's still running"!!!! Slam it into park run back and yank lanyard cord and back up into the parking lot we go. I looked at girlfriend and said I feel like just going back home. That's ridiculous she said so we took the transom straps off and waited our turn again. This time boat went in without a hitch and the retreival went smoothly also.
I would like to send a BIG THANKS to all of you in these forums. I have learned a lot.
At the age of 51 I bought my first boat starting small which was a good thing as you'll find out in part 2. 2010 voyager 16' jon boat/9.8 tohatsu 4strk.
Didn't consider myself a total rookie, spent a lot of time fishing in small boats as a kid just never actually owned, launched or trailered one. The day after taking delivery (4th of july weekend) girlfriend and I headed for the more remote of two launches on a 10hp limit lake hoping for a smaller audience for the first launch. I groaned as we pulled in, the parking lot was packed! We prepped the boat and I went through my mental checklist. Backing down the ramp went smoothly as I had drove a tow truck in a previous life. AND YES I REMEMBERED THE DRAIN PLUG!!!! I climbed into the boat and said let's make sure the motor starts before we unhook the boat. Motor started and I let it idle while I climbed up to help her unhook, went back and said ok give it a shove. Boat wouldn't budge, climbed out and we both pushed still wouldn't budge. Maybe the trailer needs to go deeper I said, so backed up a "little" more. Still no luck and now the trailer seemed to be swinging back and forth, it was floating!!! Of course their were a couple of "seasoned" fishermen standing on the dock waiting to pull their boat out. One of them says " did you take your back straps off" ???? DUH. I said to girlfriend I'm going to pull out and get out of their way so I jumped in truck and pulled out and the guy on dock yells "hey your motor's still running"!!!! Slam it into park run back and yank lanyard cord and back up into the parking lot we go. I looked at girlfriend and said I feel like just going back home. That's ridiculous she said so we took the transom straps off and waited our turn again. This time boat went in without a hitch and the retreival went smoothly also.
I would like to send a BIG THANKS to all of you in these forums. I have learned a lot.
