What boating mistakes have you made?

[silverknight]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

My first boat was a chaparral 187xl with the 470 (3.7, Closed cooling). After the engine died the following year, and then doing some research (which I should have done first) here and elsewhere, I discovered that the original owner had converted it to raw water cooling while leaving the heat exchanger, etc in place. Looking back I would not have bought this boat, but I did get good at working on it.

 

[Bounce19712]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

1.
running on plane at about 33-35.... southeast biscayne bay...boat starts slowing down just as I notice new mangrove seedlings sticking out of the water...or some other ttype of weed...(read shallow water)... prop wash is now a pretty dark gray color...throttle full, trim up! head for the bumpier water..... hmmm...gonna need to get a new impeller perhaps.... 20ft Answer with Evinrude 140 vro.

2. backing out of the boat ramp in Lake SHIP, winterhaven FL ? there was a sand bar that I stalled my dad's 290 horsepower Mercury motor on.

3. running my dad's 330 mercruiser on the trailer at home I had too much throttle in neutral while attempting to start and the motor awoke to about 19,000 rpm....

4. Flushing the Evinrude 140 at home on the trailer, I observed smoke coming out of the tell tale stream hole...the flushing ears had fallen off the lower unit.

5. dragged the outdrive up the boat ramp on a boat I was test driving to isolate a shift boot leak prior to buying it...

6. let my high school friend jerk the wheel into a plastic marker bouy as we were passing it... (just marred the glass finish on the hull luckily)

7. let my dad see me and my girlfriend sneaking into the boat cabin in the backyard on trailer...he came and knocked on the portal after a while...just when I was considering this could be it for the ole virginity...

8. Let my dive boss get too close inshore to San Miguel island when two monster 6 foot swells came in and nearly took boat with dive hose and diver to the beach... clear water quickly turned to sand as the swells past under the boat and broke right behind the boat. time to move the boat.

9. other people: at the boat ramp at matheson hammock...I've seen a couple vehicle antennaes just barely sticking out of the water....

 

[mac_in_mt]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

A couple years ago a buddy and I were waiting in line to launch at a single ramp. The couple in front of us were backing in a new boat Crestliner fishing boat with the sticker still in the window. The husband had lined up the truck and trailer, got in the boat and was going to have his wife back in. She jumped in the truck and immediately started cranking on the steering wheel. Jack knife, pull forward, reverse, jack knife. Meanwhile the husband begins yelling instructions. I wandered over and asked if he wanted me to back it in for him. He yells at me to mind my own business and that they can do it. I jumped back in my truck to watch the show. After a handfull more jack knifes she finally gets it somewhat straight. The husband yelled something about going faster. At this point I think she was fed up. She hammered the gas pedal. He falls on his face, one wheel of the trailer goes down the boat dock ramp, the other is on the boat ramp. Meanwhile she's still got the gas pedal hammered to the floor. The whole boat trailer tips and the boat comes off the trailer, upside down and tosses him in the water. She hits the brake about the time the front end is entering the water. We ran down to help the guy out of the water. He's got blood all over his shirt from a broken nose. Before he gets out of the water she threw the truck in park, walked up the hill and got in with her friends and left. The boat was too big to flip over so he had to hire a fork lift from the Marina a few miles back to come flip the boat. We helped him crank the boat on the trailer and he left in a hurry.

Moral of the story, don't **** off your wife or girlfriend....

 

[Bounce19712]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

aww man...that's rich. Thats a relationship breaker right there; turning my boat with me in it.

.....Ya know?...there could be a tv show about boat ramps across the country....pure entertainment. I've seen bullet hole ridden boats at matheson, abandoned Formulas with massive outdrive damage, tow vehicles underwater....more burnouts and tire smoke than all the Nascar races I've seen..(well almost...), more angry words between man and woman than my childhood,....

 

[metalwizard]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Well I joined the Forgot the plug club yesterday... DANG thought I would NEVER do it.

I took it out on the lake with a new set of smart tabs. I also had just resealed the drive. Well I was taking on water. (just enough to worry about it, not too much the bilge could not handle it)

Anyways I put it on the trailer pulled it out of the water pulled the plug to let ALL the water out. found my little leak (where the shift wires go through the intermediate housing on old OMC stringer ) siliconed it up let it sit to cure up a bit. had some lunch threw it back in the water.... I sat there for a min while we parked the jeep. I figured turn on the bilge see if any water was coming in...

well it started spitting out water.. dang thought I fixed it... said heck with it the bilge will keep up with it I'll fix it tomorrow. about that point water started to come up out of the bilge under the seats.... in a panic "WHAT COULD IT BE IT DIDNT LEAK THAT BAD..... OH (insert bad words) the plug" needless to say the trailer was already gone so I took a quick swim off the dock..

took about 10 mins for the bilge to catch up..

Oh well at least I didn't have to have her pulled off the bottom.

amazing how fast water comes in a hole that small...

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Sorry about the plug ordeal. Thanks for keeping this thead alive.

 

[metalwizard]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Sorry about the plug ordeal. Thanks for keeping this thead alive.

No problem. being stupid is easy sometimes

 

[rowlex]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

maybe funny maybe not

out on the lake with my girlfriend, 3 of my little brothers, and 2 of their girlfriends. Having a great day tubing and kneeboarding. at this point we were tubing, i had two tubes and we would tie them off at the same length and smash into eachother to knock the other off..

my girlfriend had driven the boat a pretty good amount, and she was familiar with the lake. so my youngest brother and i are out on the tubes, we are pretty close to the shore on our right and notice a pretty large boulder sticking out of the water not to far from us. as we look to our left we see a bouy marker pass us by. we start screaming to stop the boat, of coarse this cant be heard, but the boat does stop.

my little bro and i slide off the tubes into about 1.5 feet of water. and walk to the boat.

here is what we found.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n158/rowlex/prop.jpg

 

[mysweetone]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Ok, I had a first this weekend... there was crazy activity at the launch this past weekend with everyone trying to get in and out. Had a great time watching people load/unload boats tho. I watched a guy back a early 90's Formula into the lake...screwed around loading the boat wtih stuff for the ride while on the launch in the water still on the trailer and finally letting it float off the trailer. Once off the trailer only one of the two engines will fire. He pulls boat off to the side and ties up at the one dock at the launch which is big enough for three to four 18'-22' boats and begins to screw around with the engine, his boat is all of 26' or better and is in the MIDDLE of the space so really there is only enough room for one other boat to pull to the dock. so while he is trying to get the second engine to fire three rigs are staged and ready to go in and there are 4 of us waiting to get out. I finally motor up bow first to the dock, my wife jumps off with a line and holds the boat in place while I go get truck, back it into the water and pull boat onto the trailer. By this time the formula's second engine is fired and sounds BEAUTIFUL...loud but BEAUTIFUL. So my wife hops into the truck while I centered the boat on the trailer and pulls it out of the drink. As the boat is pulled past me and out of the water I hear my engine is still running. I begin chasing after my wife shouting to stop but she keeps driving. Luckily my daughter and her friend were still in the boat and when I said to shut off the key they did. motor only ran for about 5 seconds as it came out of the water. The tru-hull exhaust, countless people waiting to get in and out, and a little of my haste distracted me enought to forget to shut down the engine when I exited the boat. Lesson learned...!!

 

[jim765]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

so true lol thats why i leave the wife home lol

 

[silverfox441]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

After a day of fun on the river, i park my boat/trailer in the hangar and do the usual inspection. Ah! my left bunk has loose screws and instead of screewing them back in, i figure i'll buy some stainless screws and replace them all.
Soooo, last week end, i take my boat to the ramp for another fun day. I'm by myself this time but no biggie, i can launch and recover alone, i do it all the time. I proceed to the ramp. There is ALOT of people watching and when they see me all by my lonesome, they direct all attention to me. I know they can't wait to see how i'm gonna do it. Well, i'll show them how it;s done! Like a real pro, i back down the ramp, launch the boat, tie it to the dock, jump back in and drive off the ramp. When i walk back to the docks, i have a smug look on my face. but then i spot a piece of 2x4 with carpet on it, just laying there on the ramp. Hey wait, it's one of my bunk from my trailer! Damn! i forgot to fix my trailer! Now i'm walking back to my parking spot with my bunk on my shoulder looking like an idiot with a not so smug look on my face. Lukily, i always have a tool box and a bunch of spare screws, tie raps, tape ect.. So i just fixed it right there and then.
I then go for a ride and proceeded to get stuck on a sand bar. When i finally got unstuck and went back(40 min), i recover my boat and inspect it for damage. Arrrrgghh! The paint on the prop and the fin is gone and the blades have dents on them. I just painted my prop and skeg the month before.
Oh well! Adventure in boating...

 

[marcoalza]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

My 2nd boating accident.........on my drive..........last Friday.

I was standing on the trailer beam, leaning over the side of the boat pulling the tarp over, with my flip flops on.
Belly was leaning on the cleat.....slipped out of my flip flops and dragged my stomach down and over the cleat.

For the first time in over 40 years I wanted to cry with the pain!

My obnoxious neighbour saw me and I just acted like it didn't happen. :redface:

Have a look at the bruise....

 

[GrandDad]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Four years ago, I take my wife and her parents out on our new boat. This will be her parents first ride in this boat and we take them on a tour of our lake. I am not thinking that we are in the middle of a severe drought and the lake is down 4 feet from normal. I am careful to avoid any obstruction buoys...just not quite by a far enough margin.

We are out in the middle of one area of the lake, passing an obstruction buoy about 40 feet away, when the boat stops and I immediate shut down the motor. I look around and discover this buoy marks a shallow area that must be 100 yards long and 50 wide. Depth is about a foot (equal to the draft of our pontoon). Luckily the bottom was a very mucky clay, so no damage was done. But only one buoy for an area this large! What were they thinking? (It is now marked by three widely-spread buoys - I guess other boaters "found" the shoal as well.)

Long story short - I am able to put the admiral and her parents in the bow which raises the stern, trim up the outboard, and back off the shoal in short bursts in reverse. Fifty feet and finally free.

I guess I didn't impress my in-laws with my boating prowess this time, did I?

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Re: "The paint on the prop and the fin is gone"

Don't feel bad about that. Around here, if you have paint on the skeg, you haven't been boating.

 

[V153]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Paint is over rated.

Y'know if you run em across sand bars often enough they polish up real nice ...

 

[mrjeff62]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Earlier this year, second time out with my new-to-me Bayliner (first boat for my girlfriend and I). Keep in mind, as soon as we bought the boat, before we ever had it hooked up to the car, I read all about boating. I even got my Boater Education Card from BoaterExam.com. I'm experienced at trailering, my girlfriend is not. I've learned how to start the boat, my girlfriend has not. I know how to secure the boat to the dock, my girlfriend does not. Remember, our first boat, second time in the water.

We did everything the way we were supposed to. Prepped the boat for launch, away from the ramp. I back down the ramp at Don Pedro Reservoir, which was down considerably in preparation for the coming snow-melt. I float the boat off the trailer while my g/f holds a very long bow line. I have to get the boat out of the way so others can launch, so I take the bow line and drag the boat around the dock while my g/f parked the car and trailer. I cleat the line, climb in, start her up, let her warm up for about a minute, untie, cast off, and back away from the launch area. Not once did my feet touch the water. I was so proud of myself. Imagine my surprise then, when I feel the wet carpet under my feet. I quickly ran through my pre-launch checklist in my head and.... you guessed it. I forgot to put the plug in. She was sinking. I gunned the engine and was completely prepared to run her up on the concrete ramp. I figured it would be better to try to winch up on the trailer from the ground rather than pay a recovery service to haul her out of 50 feet of water. My g/f was just walking down the ramp to join me when I yelled "go get the trailer! She's sinking!" She kept walking, asking what was wrong. When I told her the plug wasn't in, she very nonchalantly walked into the water, took the plug from me and put it in.

After pulling her back out and out of the way, we drained her for a good 25 minutes. Plug was replaced, and we enjoyed a great time on the water.

I guess it's a good thing my girlfriend is not prone to panic. She has since learned to start the boat, cleat the lines, and pull the trailer. Teamwork is a good thing.

 

[kylejb2663]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

First Boating Mistake- (You guys are gonna laugh)

First time with a boat and just bought it, 28 Ft at that w/ twin engines. Out for my Introduction drive and I have my Fiance, the Owner, the owner's Wife, and my friend's father.

Heading south on the Hudson at Full throttle, we see a barge coming through, owner says don't worry about it and I say should I slow down. He says No, not till we pass then you can bring it down to cruise speed and trim it out. "The waves from that are not usually big at all" So we are going, going, going, BOOM... Apparently it's not a barge it was just a BIG ship cruising fast. Waves literally sent the boat up in air for what felt like 5 seconds and slammed down which is when I throttled back as fast as I could. Owner looks at me and says... Wow those didn't look that big mean while I am having a heart attack thinking what the hell did I do to the bottom of the boat and is everyone still in the boat... lol

Anyways, we get back I look over everything and nothing is broke thankfully and this is all thanks to my big wonderful mouth because earlier I said well we don't have anything to worry about because since we slip the boat for the season I never have to worry about forgetting the drain plug.... HA Karma sucks. :facepalm:

 

[jim765]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

gilagins island?lol

Tossed overboard a brand new anchor......no line attached.

:facepalm:

 

[unimog1968]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

I'm not sure if this is a mistake or not - Probably is!!
My Dad and my bro. bought an old boat for fishing. 22 Ft ex RN sailing boat with a cuddy and single cylinder Saab Diesel-hand cranked. All freshly painted on a road trailer. We collected it with my Land Rover and towed it to Whiterock Yacht Club at Strangford Lough at low tide, backed it down the slip and untied all ropes, left the trailer attached to my Land Rover by a long rope and waited for the tide to come in and float it off the trailer. The trailer had seen better days, it was made from a piece of channel iron that the long keel of the old boat sat in and various outriggers kept the boat upright. Eventually the tide came in but the trailer refused to give up the boat, it appeared that the keel was welded into the channel iron with the paint. After about an hr of fiddling about I decided the only way to get the boat off was to start the engine and reverse the boat at full throttle. So the matches were lit and the heaters burnt and the engine was cranked over, happily it burst into life and reverse was selected. This left my Dad on the slip beside the Land Rover and my Bro and I in the boat on full throttle in Reverse with the water churning merrily around us, after about 30 secs there was a bang and away we went in reverse. We swung the boat around and headed off through the moored Yachts. After punting about for a while I decided to have a look over the side. There, just over the side of the boat was the mudguard of the Trailer. I made my way to the other side of the boat and there, sure enough was the other mudguard. We hadn't reversed the boat off the trailer at all!! just broke the rope that attached it to the Land Rover, and here we were motoring happily through the moored Yachts with our trailer still attached!!! That was probably 25 years ago and we still laugh heartily at the thought of it.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: What boating mistakes have you made?

Left the muffs on the OD while in the water. Left drive in trailer mode when starting. So far that is it.

LK