What boating mistakes have you made?

[?ommon?ents_]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Few years before I came along, my folks spent the week at his bosses cabin on lake Champlain. Boss had given him the week for free (he was a really nice guy, I came to know him before he passed) all dad had to do was a few things around the property. One thing, check breaker for shore power. Breaker was good, boat, a 26'cc, was gone. So he calls the boss man, says no worries, its insured. Call the police and make the report. Police show up, and end up on top of the boat! Seems some local teens had sunk some boats for giggles that year. They would pull the plugs, untie them, and then let them drift off. But this one didn't drift too far...dad says one of the cops bit the deck pretty hard when their boat stopped so fast. Boat was a total loss, story is a keeper tho.

 

[bspeth]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

483 replies, 58-5 views, come on peeps. subscribe to the thread already and tell us. more than .008 percent of us have been total bone heads while boating.great thread!

 

[redneck joe]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

you want worst? I've done them all at least once and many more than that.

 

[coolbri70]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

my 1st time out at the river, I was going up to bouys to read them so I could learn the local rules, some said no wake, some said 6 mph and some say 25mph. I was pulling up to the last one to read it and hit my skeg on the bottom, it said shallow:facepalm:

 

[redneck joe]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

now thats funny.

 

[bspeth]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I was doing that when I noticed some previously hidden boulders and veered off just in time.I thought it was marking a crawdad trap

 

[naturelover]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Well, so many stories.

Most recent...

Go to the local river to launch the 12' jon boat at a rarely used dirt ramp access point. Get down there and there's a couple of canoes that had just taken off the river, and had their canoes sitting on the ramp. The crew consisted of a couple of guys, a woman and a couple of smaller kids.

One of the guys asks if they need to move their boats so I can launch, and I said that's okay, I can wait. They said that they had to walk back to the top of the hill to get their trucks, and that they'll move them so I can launch. I say thanks...

So the two guys pack up all their gear in the canoes, and move both of them out of the way. I get it backed up and lined up with the water and get out to unhook the straps and put the motor on. While I'm doing that, the two guys walk to the top of the hill to get their truck.

I know I'm forgetting something (you know....). I get the trailer to the water and it hit me.

I get out to put the plug in. Then remember that the plug is hanging on wall in garage... :facepalm:

So I just calmly strap the boat back down and pull off the ramp. As I'm leaving, I hear one of the kids ask his mom, "where's he going??!?!?"

I left without explanation out of embarrassment, knowing they all had to be wondering wth I was doing...:lol:

 

[coolbri70]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I've been to the launch twice now without my key:facepalm: 45 minutes 1 way:faint2:

 

[chadyboy]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Happened just this week. Lows here in Arkansas have been record lows (as it has for most of the country). Last Thursday it got down to 6 degrees. I went took my boat in to get it serviced on Monday and the tech asked "so we need to dewinterize correct".....I said no...I thought he was going to faint. he asked why I haven't and I told him its a fish and ski boat so when the weather is nice I do go out fishing. He said that doesn't matter. If you boat is in an uninsulated garage and the temp is below freezing for more than 3 days, your screwed. Boy, did I ever get so lucky. He pulled the plugs and the water that came out was at least 33 degrees. I got lucky.

 

[Goat1314]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Ahh man 1st year of owning a boat last year and I over revved while hooked up to the house water and burnt out my impelar in the fall then proceeded to take the boat out in the spring and zip around for and hour to test her out. Everything was fine until i lowered the RPM and started learning how to troll for Salmon. Engine over heated and I cracked both heads on my V6. Spent 2 months and 1200 bucks getting the boat back in the water Spent the last 3 months catching 8 Salmons Factor in the cost of the boat and fuel and repairs those 8 fish cost 1500 dollars each. And I would do it again I love the damn boat so much.

 

[agallant80]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I guess I can update my list of stupid boating acts.

1. The normal forgot the plug/straps
2. Hit a sand bar decided to gun it over the sand bar, burried the boat suck sand in to the motor(whici is impossable to get out), clogged the inlets causing a overheat
3. Had a friend who grew up around boats take the helm while I changed fenders from one side to the other, when I got back to the help there was no avioding hitting a carolina skiff at the public docks
4. Speeding in Newport resulted in the US Navy pulling me over
5. Dragged the Sked (old boat)
6. Did not think tire pressure was important or at least worth thinking about causing resulting in $500 worth of new tires
7. Did not check rim lugs causing one to almost come off and break 4 of the 6 studs 110 miles from home
8. Ramp in Sneeds Ferry was too shallow decided to drive down to Oak Island, left the top up and ripped it
9. Not bringing enough wine on several ocasions.

And now for #10 which is the mistake I regret the most. Got my boat near some trees while on the trailer and I have a bildge full of rotting crusty fire hazard dried up leafs that will take me at least a good saturday afternoon to clean out, not to mention all of the cushions and other little cracks/creavases all over the boat.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

One of my earliest boating experiences.

I might have been 6 years old at the time this happened. Living on a river one afternoon I decided to take a neighbors rowboat for a ride. I was late spring and the water was still cold. Anyhow, I got the boat into the water and climbed in. I was using an oar to push off with and dropped it into the water so I quickly grabbed the other one and just as quickly proceeded to drop that one also.

So here I was a 6 year old lad floating down the river with no oars. Another neighbor boy seeing my predicament and w/o regaurd to the cold water swam out and retrieved me. By the time we reached shore my father was there and chased me all the way home with a willow switch.

One of lifes stories I'll never forget!!!!!!

 

[Blacksting]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

One of my earliest boating experiences.

I might have been 6 years old at the time this happened. Living on a river one afternoon I decided to take a neighbors rowboat for a ride. I was late spring and the water was still cold. Anyhow, I got the boat into the water and climbed in. I was using an oar to push off with and dropped it into the water so I quickly grabbed the other one and just as quickly proceeded to drop that one also.

So here I was a 6 year old lad floating down the river with no oars. Another neighbor boy seeing my predicament and w/o regaurd to the cold water swam out and retrieved me. By the time we reached shore my father was there and chased me all the way home with a willow switch.

One of lifes stories I'll never forget!!!!!!

Ahhhh , good ole father/son bonding,...

 

[bonz_d]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Cetainly couldn't do that in todays world. PD would be there in a heart beat! Probably in more ways than one.

 

[Bullrider]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I was out in the Puget Sound and decided it was time to stop the engine and fix a squealing belt. Down in and greasy I heard a loud blast from a ferry coming my way. That inspired me to put things back together in record time! We fired her up and moved out only to see another ferry coming toward us out of the fog. We felt weak knees for a while to say the least.
Several lessons learned that day

 

[muskietracker]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I feel your pain Jeremy I was in a spring fishing tournament and was putting my plug in with the water level so high I was reaching around the back if the boat me and a buddy got in a saw a nice spot to start fishing good thing it was close to the launch because I plugged my my drain plug for my like well we got back to the dock and I rain to get my truck as I got back and got the boat two little boys where fishing on the dock ask me hey mister why is your boat leaking I couldn't help but laugh and tell them it's because im a idiot lol all was good after that my dad drew some hair over the hole he said at least now I'll know how to find it ,,,

 

[ssoper]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Duck hunting on Thanksgiving morning on the Mississippi river. Me and my brother in a hurry to get back to the launch so we wouldn't miss lunch at our Mom's. I thought I knew where all of the stumps were on this little section of the river we have used for years...well we found one and broke the 15 Johnson right off the transom, and watched it sink. :rip:

 

[naturelover]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Will bump this one to the top with another.

Several years ago, was night fishing with a couple of buds on a smallish river nearby in a tin jon. We were fishing a large eddy between the shallow rapids, me in the middle holding the light.

After around an hour we ended up at the end of the eddy and were going to fish the next hole of water downstream. There is a tree top river right with the current going that way, but there is room to river left to get around it, so off we go.

Well, it was a little swifter than we thought, and I got a little nervous.

So what do I do? Duck of course, with the light nicely illuminating the floor of the boat..

We go crashing through the top, as my bud was unable to see to steer us anywhere but. Poor buddy up front took the brunt of it, small tree limbs smacking him everywhere. The other bud got it too, but somehow I came away unscathed.

Luckily it was the tip top of the tree, and other than stinging a bit, they were fine.

Weren't very happy with me though.

Still get ribbed for it to this day....

 

[stackz]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

about the only mistake I didnt make two weeks ago selling my boat was the transom plug lol.

I was soo hungover and dude/wife/grandfather came over to look at the boat. dude wanted it bad, grandpa/wife wouldnt let it happen without a test drive. I knew if I tried to schedule it another day, he'd never show back up.

got to the landing and it was around 40* outside. got the boat in the water and it would not come off the trailer. wtf? rocking it and such. broke one of the guide poles on the trailer. At this point I'm up to my knees in water in pants...and sandals...lol.

finally realize I forgot one of the transom straps. :facepalm:

pull it up and unhook the strap and off the trailer it comes. then had to sit at the landing about 10 minutes to warm the engine up so it would idle...as...in all my cheap glory...I crank/show the boat with dead 2 yr old gas. lol, at least I was able to prove it had great compression because it'd crank up instantly each time. just sat there with the choke on until it warmed up enough to idle and off we went. test drive was flawless, dude was stoked.

put it back on the trailer and go up the ramp...horrifying grinding noise. completely forgot to raise the engine. At that point I show the wonders of the skeg guard that had no damage to it.

kid still bought the boat since no real damage was done. him/wife/grandpa even felt bad for me too as they knew how hungover I was and how much I didnt want to do the test drive lol. but thats also why they bought the boat cause they knew it was a good boat.

god I felt like such an asshat at the ramp that day. it was kind of crazy too how many people were there on that cold day watching me clown around and freeze my butt off.

 

[outboardsusa]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Not running the gas out of the carburetor on a 2 cycle motor especially if you leave it tilted up, I learned you always you always pull the fuel line off and let the fuel run out