The confession thread

['96 Charger]

I know we all do something stupid when it comes to our boats from time to time. And sometimes it just feels good to get it out in the open to bs about it and find others that have had it happen to them. Here's my confession of the day.

Came in from a very short fishing trip and trying out the new Lowrance hds5. The strong cold front and sprinkling rain didn't give me a good feeling while out there and felt like I was wasting time AND GAS. Put the boat on the bank at the ramp and didn't flop the trolling motor over to act as somewhat of an anchor. Got the trailer backed in and my boat was in water several feet deep. Swimming in this lake is illegal and right before going swimming for it the first in line for the Tuesday night tournament told me to hop in his boat. He backed up to it and I put my rig back on the bank with an extra goose from the throttle. Trolling motor went over too.

The lake I was on has been dropped several feet so they could work on the dam. It's not the safest lake to be on and nothing looks familiar to me anymore since it has dropped so fast. You'll drag bottom before you can slow down if you aren't watching close. Places we used to buzz over without a second thought are now a disaster waiting to happen. As it sits I have to get a running start to pull my boat out of the water and even then my posi rear has issues. Looks like I'll have to learn one of the lakes with houses all over it since they stay full at the expense of the lake that fills them up. Will still be a 75 min drive vs a 15 min drive with the starboard spindle bent up. New axle with electric brakes is going under it this winter.

 

[metalwizard]

Re: The confession thread

Seam's no one ever screw up around here.. or at least wont admit to it..

I have not messed up to bad to many time..

couple NO brainers... My buddies boat would not start. had an HEI distributor, long story short. bad module.. pull it out. go get one throw it in. put it together, cranks bu no start.. WTH try it a couple times. NOTHING. no spark.. figure maybe its a bad module or I missed a connection. pulled it apart.. I never put the rotor back on... DOH!

2 screws and back in business..

I have also thrown an anchor without making sure the other end was tied off.. Heck I wanted to go for a swim anyways..

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: The confession thread

Ran a 429 Ford with valve covers off and tore the whole motor down looking for the cause of the 4 corner cyls. not making power. found out the hard way that 2 bolts on each valve cover go right through the intake runners, there was no problem at all, it was in a 70's SK boat.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: The confession thread

Seam's no one ever screw up around here.. or at least wont admit to it..

I have not messed up to bad to many time..

couple NO brainers... My buddies boat would not start. had an HEI distributor, long story short. bad module.. pull it out. go get one throw it in. put it together, cranks bu no start.. WTH try it a couple times. NOTHING. no spark.. figure maybe its a bad module or I missed a connection. pulled it apart.. I never put the rotor back on... DOH!

2 screws and back in business..

I have also thrown an anchor without making sure the other end was tied off.. Heck I wanted to go for a swim anyways..

Looks like your buddy also has something to confess.

That HEI is not USCG approved for ANY boat. It should be replaced for a marine dist.

BTW: my confession seems to be lately almost forgetting to raise the leg at the ramp. Couple of times this year.

 

[boltonranger]

Re: The confession thread

well ok - this one hurt at the time...
My tilt/trim motor died one afternoon on the river; so we headed back early.
I disconnected the stainless hoses in order to raise the drive and head home.
(At that time I did not know my drive too well and did not realize
I could have simply pulled the cylinders off at the rear.)


Fast forward one week and the new trim pump motor is in.
I had planned on going out that afternoon.
But my new setup doesn't fully move up or down.
What the heck??
I kept actuating the trim switch until I heard a horrifying noise.
I snapped my upper housing!!

A post-mortem revealed I had reconnected the trim hoses backwards and the force of the trim cylinders snapped the housing about an inch in front of where they connect.

Remember Charlie Brown yelling "Auugggghhh" when Lucy pulled the football?

Yeah; that was me that day...
Thankfully I found a competent marine welder who felt my pain; and made it stronger than new. Never had a problem since. What a super job he did on my drive.

Well there it is fellas... my confession...
-br

 

[dlngr]

Re: The confession thread

Looks like your buddy also has something to confess.

That HEI is not USCG approved for ANY boat. It should be replaced for a marine dist.

BTW: my confession seems to be lately almost forgetting to raise the leg at the ramp. Couple of times this year.

I remember years ago watching an HEI distributor on a chevy truck burst into flames. Belonged to a buddy of mine that was having some sort of ignition problem at the time.

 

[metalwizard]

Re: The confession thread

Looks like your buddy also has something to confess.

That HEI is not USCG approved for ANY boat. It should be replaced for a marine dist.

BTW: my confession seems to be lately almost forgetting to raise the leg at the ramp. Couple of times this year.

I had no idea they were not approved. wonder why? it's a jet boat. I suspect it has something to do with explosion control? there is no cover on the motor so it is WELL vented.

Anyways. may be one of those rules.. good Idea most of the time. but there are exceptions.

 

[boltonranger]

Re: The confession thread

You guessed right.
"Explosion control."
-br

 

[metalwizard]

Re: The confession thread

You guessed right.
"Explosion control."
-br

I guess thats a good call, But I don't see how that could happen. the HEI is pretty much a sealed unit... oh well no biggie. mtbe they just never took the time to have it Certified.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: The confession thread

Looks like your buddy also has something to confess.

That HEI is not USCG approved for ANY boat. It should be replaced for a marine dist.

boats with exposed engines were exempt from a lot of the typical requirements.

 

[mommicked]

Re: The confession thread

I had my boat about a month or so.its an 1860 jonboat w yamahaF90.max hp for this boat.it will get on plane quick and you sit on the back deck w no seat or backrest.My bother and I were going deer hunting at 5am dark as crap and cold,35 or something .I idled to the edge of the no wake zone(I dont know why,there were no other boats or trailers in the parking lot)I neglected to tell my brother to hold on as I peered ahead at the shine of the water in the dark and gunned it to get on plane.My brother sitting 3 ft away had stood up to get gloves out of his pocket and yelled and spun towards me as he almost fell right off the back.I grabbed him w my left hand and pulled the throttle and he managed to fall back and stay in the boat.he was hurt from twisting and straining his leg,and falling on the transome.I think he wanted to punch me! and i deserved it.he was quite angry w me for 5 mins. .I know he could have died and I was shaken.I opallagized and was glad he had not gone overboard.Im sure he would have thrown me in If i had had to fish him out of the water.and then probly whipped my ... if we didnt freeze solid trying to load the boat back up to go home!!!I always tell everyone to hold on now.

 

[dsiekman]

Re: The confession thread

A few years ago I was launching my first boat for maybe the second or third time. I had a buddy with me who had experience launching small boats, but nothing like my 5000# 25' bowrider.

I had backed the trailer in a little too deep without knowing it. As I released the winch the back end floated free, but the bow hung up on the roller. Fiberglass makes some really ugly noises when you put that kind of stress on it...Without thinking I jumped up on the tongue of the trailer and gave her a push. I remember my relief as I saw her slip off the roller...right before the winch handle swung back and hit me right in the mouth.

The impact from the winch knocked be about 8' off the trailer, snapped off two front teeth and cracked six others. In my haste I had forgotten to unhook with winch cable. Oops.

 

[TrybalRage]

Re: The confession thread

The impact from the winch knocked be about 8' off the trailer, snapped off two front teeth and cracked six others. In my haste I had forgotten to unhook with winch cable. Oops.

I caught one of those in the elbow earlier this summer. I winced reading this.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: The confession thread

first run this spring, I left all 4 drain cocks open on my engine.
Luckily it occurred to me about 2 minutes down the lake. I turned it around and went to the dock... bilge pump running well thankfully.
That's one way to wash out the bilge.

 

[windshield_time]

Re: The confession thread

Dang Howard..I did the same thing this year. Put it in the water, started her up and went..why is there water everywhere ??

 

[skargo]

Re: The confession thread

PLENTY of us around here admit to making mistakes, just read this forum, there are many tales.

I know I have authored 2 of them last year. Once left the transom straps on and ripped them off launching the boat.

Another time I launched solo and didn't secure my bow line, I had to jump in and catch my boat that was floating away. Of course, the end of my ramp is seriously eroded from powerloaders, and I was surprised that the water was well over my head.
Oh yeah, left my dell phone in my pocket too. :redface:

 

[dwco5051]

Re: The confession thread

Just yesterday I went to start my boat but as I turned the key to the start position while pushing in for the choke the whole switch started to turn in the dash as it is prone to do sometimes when the bezel nut gets loose. Rather than take the time to tighten the nut I just reached under the dash, wrapped my hand around the switch and turned the key. Seems like a lot of voltage goes back to that switch to kill the engine in the off position. I also then had to suppress my real feelings on what just happened since my 6 year old grand daughter was sitting next to me

 

[convergent]

Re: The confession thread

Yep dwco, you really got to be careful about sticking your finger into places like that. When I was 17, while riding a dirt bike, I stuck my finger down to do something on the motor and my middle finger got pulled into the front sprocket and the tip got crushed to the point that it had to be removed. So I'm pretty careful about sticking my fingers into things like that in the last 30+ years!

So my boating confessions for this month... I took my daughter out fishing several weeks back and forgot to put the drain plug in. Found out my automatic bilge switch isn't working. Thankfully the manual switch did work, as we really took on a lot of water before I realized it.

Then about a week ago, while taking her fishing again I went to launch and was being very careful because the lake was really low and we've only had this boat for a short time so I wanted to make sure I didn't hit the ramp. On this particular morning, the whole lake is no wake so only rowers and idling/trolling fishermen are out there. Very peaceful and quiet. I crank the motor and go to do my usual back off the trailer and can't get it to go. I gave it a little more juice... nothing. So I get back in the truck and back in a little further and try again. Still nothing. After a little frustration, I gave it a bit more throttle and still nothing. I found out that my stern straps work really well! I was so embarrassed. I had to get back in and pull all the way out in the drive of shame and take off the straps. I was just hoping no one saw me. We did have a great fishing day that day, so I quickly got over the shame.

So both of the top rookie mistakes in about a 2 week period after a whole summer of none of those. Go figure.

 

[korygrandy]

Re: The confession thread

The impact from the winch knocked be about 8' off the trailer, snapped off two front teeth and cracked six others. In my haste I had forgotten to unhook with winch cable. Oops.

I did something similar the last time I was out. This was the first time I forgot to lock the winch so this wouldnt happen. I stuck my hand in there trying to slow it and that hurt like hell (thought I broke a bone but it's fine now). So I decided to sacrfice a toe instead and kicked it with my foot...I got lucky and the winch lock was tripped into a position where it didn't completely lock but started ratcheting which slowed the boat enough for me to grab the winch handle.

I forgot to raise the lower unit twice, (my gauge lies) and heard that awful skeg grinding noise.

I was on the Mississippi River for the first time in my life and realized I had gotten outside the channel markers...just as I dropped from 42mph to about 2mph I hear a log clunk off my lower unit. I couldn't have noticed my mistake any later.

But for the most part it's been smooth sailing for me this season. I was pleasantly suprised after reading a lot of these forums. ib has taught me a lot and definitely made me super paranoid...but I think that's a good thing. Hopefully winterizing goes alright...I'm still paranoid about that.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: The confession thread

On this one section of the river near me that I've only been on a couple times, there's a rock pile that is marked with a whole bunch of buoys. My dad and I thought they were channel markers