What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

[Taxus812]

So im very green to boat ownership (not quite a week in yet). My neighbor Jimmi who has lived on this lake his whole life boating, went with us for our first trips to help me out (give me some lessons and help with mannors).

Topped the tank off on the way home from the dealer. I live 1/2 mile from the boat launch so we packed it at home.
Parked at the ready spot for my turn on the ramp. Wife, kids and neighbor got out of the truck and waited at the shore Straps off , Drain plug in , bow line on, No vent to run since its an outboard.

backed the boat into the water (done this part many times for Jimmi). He pulled the boat over to the sandy shore near the ramp so we can get in (There is no dock at this location). I parked the truck and went down to join them. Still running a billion checklist through my head. We loaded everyone in the boat and shoved off the shore. Jimmi sat there with a grin on his face looking at the console as we floated further out in the lake. I looked down and realized I left the keys in the truck. .

any good stories so I dont feel so bad ?

 

[cur]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

Not on my first boat trip, but have forgotten the keys twice when taking the boat in to a dealer for some work! :facepalm:

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

lesson learned; always keep a spare key hidden on the boat somewhere. You think it's bad at the ramp, wait until you lose one on the other side of the lake.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

"the plug"

 

[lx.crowell]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

I live about 15 miles from the ramp i launch at so i was taking this girl out on my boat and got all the way to the ramp with her put it in the water pulled the truck out went to go hit the key and nothing. I then realized that i had taken the bateries out the night before to charge since my boat at the time didn't charge and left them sitting in the barn. So we pulled the boat over to the public dock, i went unhooke the trailer and left her there while i went home to grab the battery, still had a good time on the water though but was a little embarassed.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

A paddle - that thing had a few issues

 

[Ripfence]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

A jacket. It turned out to be much cooler than I expected.

 

[Monsterbishi]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

I didn't forget anything on our boats first time out, but the previous owner didn't stop to think that installing stern cleats would be a good idea...

 

[scott8058]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

Nothing on my first time but have forgot plenty since, worst was cleaned out all my storage and took life vests out to clean and went to ramp a few days later and realized they were at home!

 

[Ibl0wstuffup]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

Very first trip I also forgot the the plug. My brother turned to my dad and says "Is there supposed to be water in the boat?". I had to reach over theback and put the plug in. I accidentally stuck it in the livewell drain and we kept taking on water. We motored back to the ramp where I jumped in and figured out what I had done. Now the plug goes back in the hole when the boat gets put in the garage after an outing.

 

[204 Escape]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

How to operate the trim correctly. First time stood the boat straight up !!!!

 

[Dabbler_E]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

I forgot this: you should have a really good idea how quickly the boat uses gas before making your maiden run a LONG one. Fortunately, we were able to chug/cough the last half mile back to the dock on fumes.

 

[TimBobCom]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

Let's see, my first trip out was supposed to be a nice sunny day, and it was at my home which is 2 hours away from the lake. At the lake the sky was grey and the wind was kicking up pretty good waves. I hadn't bought a GPS yet, so all I had was the free map provided by the Army Corps to get around, which isn't the best, so I didn't venture too far from the launch ramp. I had also never launched or retrieved a boat, nor had I even helped anyone else launch or retrieve a boat in well over 20 years, and that was a 16 foot jon boat, this is a 22 foot, 3800 pound, shiny, fiberglass beauty, and she is all mine.

Didn't stay out in the chop too long, the Regal Fastrac hull is nice for fuel efficiency, but it doesn't help lessen the impact from 2 foot wind-driven waves (especially for a new boater.)

With a nice crosswind it took about 27 tries, but I was finally able to get the boat lined up with the trailer. I shut off the engine, jumped off the bow, and finished cranking her to the bow stop. The one thing I forgot to do was raise the outdrive, so I proceeded to drag the skeg up the ramp about 15 feet. It wasn't the best way to end the day, but at least it didn't do any real damage.

Since then I have drug the skeg two other times, once due to battery failure and the inability to raise the outdrive, and the other due to lack of focus on my part (luckily that was on a gravel ramp, so I just dug a trench with my skeg.) I have also launched without my plug, nearly lost a wheel on my trailer at 65 MPH, banged both docks and my trailer harder than I would have liked, and even "found the bottom" of the river a couple times (luckily only in sand, and only enough to "polish the prop")

 

[Boomyal]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

It's no so much what I did but what the factory did. I bought a brand new 18' Gulfstream with a 6 cyl chevy and an electric shift OMC.

My first trip out was for a camping trip with my Mom and her Girl Scout Troop. We got to the lake late in the day so I decided I would launch the boat and bring it around to the camp site and moor it for the nite so that it was ready to go first thing in the morning. I threw the anchor off the bow and drew the stern up toward the beach where I tied it off.

Next morning as I headed down to the boat, something looked strange. The stern was sitting down on the ground and there was water in the boat, all the way up the floor to the helm. Now I knew I had not forgotten the plug so I was puzzled. The starter and battery were under water but I was sure that the motor would still start. I bent down to pull the thermos like plug from the outside of the stern and had a bunch of girls help me push the boat into deeper water where I could lower the outdrive. I turned on the bilge pump and hit the key. It fired right up as hoped.

I slowly throttled up hoping that I could get the boat on plane. It slowly and reluctantly got up on a tenuous plane and the water began to drain out of the boat. Once empty I drove it back around to the beach, hopped out and reinserted the plug. Using the bilge pump we were able to play for the rest of the day and at the end I trailored it.

I took it back to the dealer and demanded that they disassemble the starter and clean it up. Little did I know until 30 years later (with another Gulfstream) that that episode probably filled the in floor gas tank bay with water that would not come out. The bottom line was that the factory, I assume, or maybe even the dealer forgot to insert the shift cable grommet into its hole thru the intermediate housing.

I had that boat for two years and a lining inside the steel gas tank was disintigrating and plugging the fuel filter. I had asked when I bought the boat if the tank was hot dipped galvanized and they insured me that it was. (liars). It was a cold rolled steel tank with some kind of liner inside that would disintegrate when contacted by any water. I had looked down the sending unit hole and the stuff was coming off in sheets. It was the beginning of summer and the boat needed to go back to the factory to have the floor removed to access the tank and naturally it was out of warranty. I had been fight this for a year. I made a deal with them and traded the boat (1975) for the 20' V8 Gulfstream I still have today. It was only in 2005-6, when the floor rotted in the 20 footer that I pulled the floor and found all the water in the gas tank bay that had gotten there over the years from people getting in the boat and me washing it down. Water would run down the deck and enter the bay thru the sending unit cutout at the front bilge bulkhead. This would have been the case on my 18 footer when it sunk only I was never around when they removed the floor and pulled the tank.

Some of you may remember the elaborate measures I took to make sure that runoff from the floor did not go down in the bay and that the bay would drain if it did. (remember disintegrating rope and custom molded water deflection shield)

 

[Tnstratofam]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

I forgot the keys to my tow rig in the truck at the public launch after hitting the water. I'm ocd about not leaving the keys in the car. My wife laughed at the face i made when I realized what I had done.:faint2:

 

[mendler]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

Ha my first time out I didn't consider the tide. We came in just before dark (low tide) and the water was so low that my trailer tires were off of the end of the ramp sitting in mud. Once I loaded the boat, I had to pull my trailer through mud and then 6" up onto the concrete launch ramp.

 

[littlerayray]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

i forgot all my worries and cares on shore on my first voyage and i still do with every trip

 

[Water logged]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

i forgot all my worries and cares on shore on my first voyage and i still do with every trip

I like that answer.

Glenn

 

[littlerayray]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

thanks the best part is its true

 

[dingbat]

Re: What did you forget on your very first trip on your very first boat?

It's been so long I forgot...:laugh: