What boating mistakes have you made?

[hazwild]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I learned real fast that you donot try and put your plug in while talking and looking away. I put it in my live well drain instead.lucky i had the bilge pump on auto when i was puting in and it came on and made me look back there. lesson learned

 

[Blacksting]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I learned real fast that you donot try and put your plug in while talking and looking away. I put it in my live well drain instead.lucky i had the bilge pump on auto when i was puting in and it came on and made me look back there. lesson learned

dont worry , i think most of us have made the same mistake. when i did it , i had to jump in the bay as i was launching and find that small hole by hand. it took what seemed like minutes before i had it plugged and had to run the bilge for about 5 minutes. lol ,...funny though , what triggered my memory bank at that moment when theres' a ton of stuff i do before untieing and heading out into the bay .
i once saw a guy standing in water up to his chest trying to hold up the bow of his sinking boat while his wife was frantically bailing it out .there was no helping cause the only way was to have a pump . poor guy never had a chance, cause when i got back from my outing , his boat was 90% sunk .

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

dont worry , i think most of us have made the same mistake. when i did it , i had to jump in the bay as i was launching and find that small hole by hand. it took what seemed like minutes before i had it plugged and had to run the bilge for about 5 minutes. lol ,...funny though , what triggered my memory bank at that moment when theres' a ton of stuff i do before untieing and heading out into the bay .
i once saw a guy standing in water up to his chest trying to hold up the bow of his sinking boat while his wife was frantically bailing it out .there was no helping cause the only way was to have a pump . poor guy never had a chance, cause when i got back from my outing , his boat was 90% sunk .

Well, You can rest easy knowing you did all you could do to help him.

LK

 

[Blacksting]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Well, You can rest easy knowing you did all you could do to help him.

LK

what would you have done ? ,..i didnt mention i stayed with him as long as i could and exhausted any ideas i had. ,... but the operative of the thread was mistakes , not rescues .

 

[John2037]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

as a marine tech I see this one all the time...... Buy a boat and think the seller is a honest fair guy - lol! I really enjoy working on boats but I hate to have to break news to the "first time boat owner" when I pull the outdrive and find the bellow has been bad for awhile and water made it through the yolk seal and all the gears and races are pitted making the o.d. a ticking time bomb. I also get a laugh with the guys who have problems at the dock and say "well it'll get better, just need to get out there"

People - ALWAYS assume the worse! Boats aren't cars

 

[speed_demon]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I'm sure I've made a lot of blunders but only one comes to mind.

I was just getting back to the launch about 20 miles up the Kenai river. This particular boat doesn't handle very well so I usually wait in line and slowly bring my boat to the front of the dock parallel with the shore and load by hand. I was felling saucy so I decided to drive the boat onto the trailer. The launch is perpendicular to the river and right off the 8mph current. You need to have some real quick high angle steering which I didn't have. I came in turned in all is well and edge of my bow (tri-hull) got caught on one of my guide pillars. I was stuck so I put it in reverse. I broke free but the stern went under filling the back of the boat completely full of water (luckily it was a whaler). I quickly put it in gear to fight the current, make a quick turn narrowly missing the dock and another boat. Humiliated I turn on the bilge and tread water waiting for the boat to drain. A couple minutes later I look back to check my progress to find I was dragging my fuel line and my gas tank had floated away. I quickly head for the dock and attach as the motor makes it's last sputter. There were probably 50 people on and around the dock. To this day I avoid that launch.

 

[littlerayray]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

i've been on iboats forum reading posts before i purchased my boat and just recently joined i boats im glad i read these posts the only thing i did wrong once was drag my skeg thanks to all of you i go through a checklist before leaving the house and go through the same checklist at the boatramp the only reason i dragged my skeg was cuz the trim indicator said it was up all the way when it wasnt being that it was a new boat i accidentally forgot to put it in trailer mode rather i just trimmed up lesson learned wont do that again

 

[agallant80]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Lets see,

Drug my skeg down the highway (30 miles) to the dealer
x-wife forgot to pull up the anchor bent prop when the anchor swung up and hit it
x-wife ran boat aground looking for a switch while I was getting the truck
Floated up on some rocks bent prop had to jump in to push boat off
hit a log bent prop
Hit dock too hard once
Left radio on for day and killed battery
Left fresh water pump on killed battery
Bought a 30 year old peace of junk boat decided to replace deck which made the boat total trash
Did not stop and check trailer after hearing clunking, one of the ubolts holding the axle on came off lucky I did not hit a pot hole before I discovered it
drug skeg up ramp
Took safety chain off of boat and pull up strap, got boat in water, forgot I wanted to grease outdrive pulled boat up ramp, greased outdrive, backed boat back down ramp and it floated off the trailer down the dock when I hit the breaks
Made a deal with the now X-wife. I could get a boat if it was a bow rider but I wanted a cruiser, agreed to this deal so I could at least have a boat, financed it in both our names and a year later when I told her I was done I was stuck with a boat in both our names that I did not want. That mistake only cost 15K to get the cruiser I wanted in the first place.
Forgot plug did not notice until the back of the boat was nearly under water

I have owned three boats. Most of these mistakes were made on boat #1 Boat #2 had a few prop issues, Boat #3 is 2 weeks old so not much drama there yet.

 

[Bill3434]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Lets see,

Drug my skeg down the highway (30 miles) to the dealer
x-wife forgot to pull up the anchor bent prop when the anchor swung up and hit it
x-wife ran boat aground looking for a switch while I was getting the truck
Floated up on some rocks bent prop had to jump in to push boat off
hit a log bent prop
Hit dock too hard once
Left radio on for day and killed battery
Left fresh water pump on killed battery
Bought a 30 year old peace of junk boat decided to replace deck which made the boat total trash
Did not stop and check trailer after hearing clunking, one of the ubolts holding the axle on came off lucky I did not hit a pot hole before I discovered it
drug skeg up ramp
Took safety chain off of boat and pull up strap, got boat in water, forgot I wanted to grease outdrive pulled boat up ramp, greased outdrive, backed boat back down ramp and it floated off the trailer down the dock when I hit the breaks
Made a deal with the now X-wife. I could get a boat if it was a bow rider but I wanted a cruiser, agreed to this deal so I could at least have a boat, financed it in both our names and a year later when I told her I was done I was stuck with a boat in both our names that I did not want. That mistake only cost 15K to get the cruiser I wanted in the first place.
Forgot plug did not notice until the back of the boat was nearly under water

I have owned three boats. Most of these mistakes were made on boat #1 Boat #2 had a few prop issues, Boat #3 is 2 weeks old so not much drama there yet.

Blame it all on the X-wife and you would be considered a boating expert.

 

[Bill3434]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

The last boat mistake I made on the water; I had problems starting my engine and the good old Kansas wind was blowing me into some rocks so being smart I grabbed my anchor with one hand and the end of the rope with the other hand; I threw the anchor as far as I could into the lake. Only one problem the line end I was holding was my mooring line:facepalm: Luckily I hit some brush before I hit the rocks. With blood pressure sky high I worked on the getting my engine started. Then headed back to the dock for the day, got drunk. Next day went and got another anchor except this one has a clip on it, no clip no anchor line.

 

[littlerayray]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

christening the boat with a bottle of champagne is out and we are now christening our boats by dragging the skeg up the boat ramp and forgetting the drain plug? cuz if it is im half way their

 

[Gibbles]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

My last boating mistake was at the end of this last season, the after noon wind started kicking up, the lake was pretty low, and I needed to use the head pretty bad. :lol:

Pulled into the dock, with the wind and waves smacked the side of my boat against the dock pretty good... did my business and got back to the boat. I started backing out from the dock, watching the shore line, flipped the front of the boat around to start making my way back to deaper water and a fellow boater was in my way and getting bown towards me... so I pause and hoping he makes the correction... I'm in a corner... and I get blown into the rocks.

from the dock I got a small dent/scrape on the side of the boat (tin hull), and a damaged prop. :facepalm:

 

[Gibbles]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

anchor... forgot that one lol

during the first part of the season I had some fuel tank issues, ended up plugging up the fuel filter on my main engine on a large lake

It's a nice day so I pull into a little cove and toss the anchor out and see if I can reverse flush the engine filter out and switch back to to the kicker tank.

one problem; my anchor has one of these linking to the rope.. (much smaller tho )

and those work fine assuming it's tight... mine was not. :facepalm:

so I ended up pulling up to a tree and tied my self off made the repair and went about my day, minus one anchor but lots of free rope! :watermelon:

 

[Part-time]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I wish My screw ups were as simple as forgeting to tighten a plug...
I live on the river so my boat gets launched in my yard and I just use the ramp a mile down the road to retreive once in the fall or if I need to make repairs on dry land.
So I don't get much chances at screwing that up either.
I scraped the skeg once, but the outdrive would not go up, thus the reason for taking it out.
But I do seem to have this thing with small outboards staying attached to the boat!
On page 10 I shared my story of how I lost a 25hp yamaha in 160' of cold murky water.
Well last spring I almost did it again, but this time it was the whole transom that was coming off the boat.
See, that lesson from 20 years ago stayed with me and now I check and re-check the mounting clamps several time as I now know what happens when they loosen.
I got this beautiful little 14 footer, clamped on my 25 johnyrude, re-checked the clamps a few times after being under way, and away we go!
Now remember, this was early spring and the ice had just melted a week before so that water was COLD!!!
I'm heading out to the wider part of the river, WOT and being out in the open I'm now hitting 8"-10" chop and for whatever reason that little johnyrude backfired and kicked so hard it felt like I hit a rock...
All of a suden my feet are getting wet while at the same time I find myself pulling real hard on the tiller handle to keep the motor from going under the boat.
The transom seperated from the sides of the boat and was barely holding to the floor.
One hand steering and operating the throttle and the other holding on to the motor with all my might to keep it and the transom from falling off the back of the boat.
If I gave it more gas, the thrust from the prop was trying to push the motor under the boat, if I slacked to make it easier to hold on to, more water came in.
B-line for the neerest shore that I can beach on.
But again, that's easier said than done.
Most of the shoreline of the french river is shear rock cut dropping into the river... or bays with swampy shores and I probably would have sunk out of site in loon poop.
I had to go about another 1/4 mile to safely get to shore.
Now I know a 1/4 mile usually isn't much, but in this instance it seemed an eternity. :facepalm:

 

[littlerayray]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I wish My screw ups were as simple as forgeting to tighten a plug...
I live on the river so my boat gets launched in my yard and I just use the ramp a mile down the road to retreive once in the fall or if I need to make repairs on dry land.
So I don't get much chances at screwing that up either.
I scraped the skeg once, but the outdrive would not go up, thus the reason for taking it out.
But I do seem to have this thing with small outboards staying attached to the boat!
On page 10 I shared my story of how I lost a 25hp yamaha in 160' of cold murky water.
Well last spring I almost did it again, but this time it was the whole transom that was coming off the boat.
See, that lesson from 20 years ago stayed with me and now I check and re-check the mounting clamps several time as I now know what happens when they loosen.
I got this beautiful little 14 footer, clamped on my 25 johnyrude, re-checked the clamps a few times after being under way, and away we go!
Now remember, this was early spring and the ice had just melted a week before so that water was COLD!!!
I'm heading out to the wider part of the river, WOT and being out in the open I'm now hitting 8"-10" chop and for whatever reason that little johnyrude backfired and kicked so hard it felt like I hit a rock...
All of a suden my feet are getting wet while at the same time I find myself pulling real hard on the tiller handle to keep the motor from going under the boat.
The transom seperated from the sides of the boat and was barely holding to the floor.
One hand steering and operating the throttle and the other holding on to the motor with all my might to keep it and the transom from falling off the back of the boat.
If I gave it more gas, the thrust from the prop was trying to push the motor under the boat, if I slacked to make it easier to hold on to, more water came in.
B-line for the neerest shore that I can beach on.
But again, that's easier said than done.
Most of the shoreline of the french river is shear rock cut dropping into the river... or bays with swampy shores and I probably would have sunk out of site in loon poop.
I had to go about another 1/4 mile to safely get to shore.
Now I know a 1/4 mile usually isn't much, but in this instance it seemed an eternity. :facepalm:

ouch at least you made it poor boat and luckily you didnt have to row

 

[Studduck]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

When I was 8 years old I witnessed/experienced my firt stupid mariner. I was in the USVI and my brother, best friend and I went out with my best friends dad on his sail boat, I dont remember what it was or how big. But as we were coming up to the mooring bouy. My buddys dad tries to hook it with the gaff, but he was coming in too fast and it ripped the gaff out of his hands. Instead of making another slower pass he jumps of the boat to get the gaff. The boat is still moving at a good clip towards another moored vessel. My brother (age 13) is at the bow and saw everything happen so he runs to the stern and grabs the tiller and avoids disaster. I will never forget that.

 

[mclothier3]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Had my share...

Did the usual stuff like Forgot the plug (turned into a $200 starter replacement)

Ran it aground out in the middle of the lake that I wasn't completely familiar with. Luckily it was a clay bottom and the only damage was the rubber prop hub spun... I ended up replacing it.

Drug the skeg 20' up the ramp

Decided to do some night fishing in a cove, had a nice little breeze and decided to drop anchor so I would stay on the spot, when it was time to pull anchor, it was stuck... pulled on it for 20 minutes from different angles, couldnt get it to let go. Finally fired up the big motor and put some real pressure on it... it finally broke free but ended up bringing a HUGE tree with it! Actually the tree broke free, we still had to get the anchor unstuck from the tree. I think it took us a good hour.

When I was a kid, I remember my Dad making some of the same mistakes, plus...

I think I was nine or ten, out in the boat while my Mom and Dad were fishing, Dad decided to drop anchor and when he tossed it overboard the rope smacked me across the face and my glasses flew right into the lake, Mom saw what happened and dove in after them, but it was too late, gone forever.

Another time my folks wanted to go fishing, Dad put the boat in the lake in a protected cove, everything was fine until we left the cove and the wind was blowing pretty good, it ended up FILLING the boat with water, he got it turned around and back in the cove but as a kid, that scared the crap outta me! FULL throttle and it was barely creeping along.

One time we did a family vacation with my Aunt and Uncle, and of course all the adults were drinking.... well my Aunt and Uncle decided they wanted to go run the trotlines at midnight in my Dad's boat. Well.... they never made it back, in the morning we found the boat adrift but no Aunt and Uncle. My folks got ahold of the park ranger and they started searching.... finally found them later that day attempting to walk back to camp. Apparently my Uncle pulled up the big motor to keep it from getting snagged in the trotline, when they were finished they went to drop the motor back down and it ended up tossing my Uncle in the lake... (like I said, Alcohol was involved) after he got back on the boat, they couldnt get it started, so they abandoned the boat on a remote shore and hunkered down until morning.

Then there's the story of how my folks wanted to camp on an island out in the middle of the lake... everything was fine until a big storm rolled thru that night, and my Dad found out that he didn't do a very good job anchoring the boat.... he had to go swimming that night.

 

[Triton II]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Selling my boat! The withdrawal symptoms are killing me everyday.

TII

 

[TheHunter990]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

1st boat: (fishing boat)
Parked small fishing boat on a remote shore, went for a little walk, came back and the waves had filled it right up. That was fun.

Forgot to install plug. multiple times... Classic.


2nd boat (230 HP 20' V hull)
While trying to load the boat up one night, which I always drive onto the trailer, blip the throttle to set the boat against the trailer V, I missed the V. We now have several lovely scratches in the gelcoat, right down to the fiberglass. Still not fixed probably cost 400 dollars to fix?

First time we when to the lake, we discovered the boat would not start (in the middle of the lake). Should had them battery cables fastened better.

Ruined 2 props.

 

[littlerayray]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Selling my boat! The withdrawal symptoms are killing me everyday.

TII

hopefully you can find and or afford another one in the future