What's your SS?

[nwcove]

Re: What's your SS?

3 1/2 outta 12 ! watched a guy throw the anchor , with 100 fathoms of rope coiled and tied.....but not tied to the boat, the anchor was airborn as yelled.....nooooooo!

 

[coastalrichard]

Re: What's your SS?

Just a fun little thread as boating season is starting to wind down for a lot of us.

SS = 'Stupid Score' :redface:

Some of these are 'not if but when' like the plug out but most I've seen/heard of often enough that they are not uncommon. For things like not attaching the kill switch lanyard, I don't mean you turned the key once or twice looked down and said 'oops' but you spent significant time investigating everything else but, asked someone to help find the problem, had a large audience, etc. If you did the same thing more than once you have to count each time and add them to your score! :facepalm:

1. Left the plug out.

2. Left the plug IN (and it rained!).

3. Forgot to raise motor/drive & scraped the skeg.

4. Forgot to remove tiedowns when launching.

5. Arrive at ramp, no boat keys.

6. Dropped trailer off edge of concrete ramp & got stuck.

7. Prematurely removed/forgot to attach safety chain & had an 'unintended launch'.

8. Forgot to attach safety/kill switch lanyard.

9. Forgot to attach fuel line to outboard or tank.

10. Forgot to open vent on portable tank.

11. Ran out of gas.

12. Dropped anchor without tying it off, or without attaching the rope!

In the spirit of fair play, I get 6/12 including a repeat on #1. :facepalm: If you've got a good one , I'll add it to this post & update my score if I have to.

Your Honor, on the advise of counsel, and in accordance with my Fifth Amendment Rights, I specifically refuse to admit to Number 7...and generally deny all others

 

[coreybv]

Re: What's your SS?

Five of them. Yikes. And one that's not on the list. Left bilge pump switch in the off position while boat was slipped and got rained in. Fortunately didn't sink, but the pump got one heck of a workout when I got back to the boat the next morning!

And, in addition to being a multiple offender on number 1, I've also lost TWO cell phones and some cash jumping in the water to rectify it.

 

[hottoddie]

Re: What's your SS?

I don't trailer so I'm 0/12 but you could add running aground to the list. Not guilty of that either but came close this year.

 

[coreybv]

Re: What's your SS?

I don't trailer so I'm 0/12 but you could add running aground to the list. Not guilty of that either but came close this year.

Heh... One particularly dry year the lake (a reservoir) was down quite a ways and I neglected to factor that in when rounding the point right as you exit the no-wake zone from the marina. The front 3/4 of the boat was in ankle deep water and the depth guage was still reading 18 feet under the stern. Fortunately the mud was nice and slick and I got it pushed back into the channel without much trouble.

Later that same day I saw some people skiing in an area that I knew had to be shallow, but didn't think too much of it at the time. Went over to that spot later and sure enough the water ranged from knee to waist deep. Good thing nobody had a wipeout.

 

[888]

Re: What's your SS?

Knock on woooooood. I been boating for 8 yrs now and I still haven't tried out any of these.

I knew by posting here I was going to jinx myself,well chalk me up for a forgotten plug. Caught it before we left the trailer but it got deep quick.

 

[partskenn]

Re: What's your SS?

2 out of 12. Not because I'm smart, just because most of my stupid tricks aren't on your list. Dragged the skeg, forgot the keys once (now I have a spare set on my key ring).

 

[pullin]

Re: What's your SS?

Drain plug, keys, and one memorable premature boat-lake-interface at the launch ramp.

Regarding the last, one of my friends had convinced me to spray silicon lubricant all over my trailer bunks, promising it would make launching much easier (lower revs to back off trailer). My habit was to unhook everything and back down the ramp. I would (normally) then climb into the boat and reverse it off the trailer.

On this particular day, I'd lubricated the bunks as advised, and did my normal unhook, then back down the ramp. I actually looked in the truck mirror and commented out loud: "Wow! There's someone out there with a boat exactly like mine."

Hilarity ensued as I realized what had happened, and ended up swimming (clothed) out to the boat to retrieve it.

The other two weren't a big problem. The drain plug incident wasn't too bad, as I had multiple bilge pumps and a good battery. It was an inboard (tournament-style) ski boat, and those drain plugs are affixed from inside the boat right beside the driver's seat. No biggie there, I realized what was happening when I saw the continuous stream being pumped out of the boat at the dock.

I always affix spare truck and boat keys somewhere in the boat (usually fastened in a waterproof pouch to the rudder cable or some other almost inaccessible place). If keys forgotten or lost over the side I can dig down and get the spares, so none of the key incidents were more than a moment's inconvenience.