Boating Mistakes

Happy Holidays. Ever made a re

Happy Holidays. Ever made a real dumb mistake while boating??? We all have! I know you senior (citizen) members have stories to share from days past. MistaHays invites you to share yours... I'll start!

"It was 1994... 4 boats ago. I

"It was 1994... 4 boats ago. I had just finished trailering my 76 Glastron/outboard and got in my truck, turned up the stereo and pulled my trailer up the ramp and over to the parking lot.

"I do believe those hot ladies are waiving at me", I thought. "You know.. I am sorta cool with my new (used) glastron." Then i got out and noticed that my drive was still locked straight down and i had cut a long groove in the pavement from the ramp to the lot... grinding my entire skeg off. The girls weren't waiving they were laughing!

These things happen."

"You would have driven off of

"You would have driven off of a cliff for those babes, wouldn't have you MistaHayes? "

"My big incident happened on a

"My big incident happened on a cold and raining day in April 1982. I launched my 1979 Sylvan w/70 HP Evenrude w/my 8 yr. old son and brother to crappie fish. We were about 150 yds. out in the long and narrow idle zone when my brother yelled and asked if I put the plug in. I yelled and said that was your job.

He grabbed the plug I found on the floor and leaned over the stern to put it in. The boat had enough water in it to just about put the stern under water. To top that off, the bilge pump wasn't working; it was frozen.

My brother had to lean over the stern and remove the plug. Then I had to give the engine full throttle in the narrow idle zone heading away from the dock to get the water to siphon out. My speed pissed off quite a few fishermen when my wake rocked their boats as they all yelled at me. When the water level went down he put the plug back in and we headed for the dock through the line of fishermen that gave me what for as I slowly motored to the dock. Pulled the boat out of the water and drained out about 50 gals. of water. "

"I grew up on large fishing bo

"I grew up on large fishing boats, later retired 35 years Master Chief in US Coast Gurard. Have several personal boats up to 44'. Have no personal mistakes to speak of but have many eye witness stories of humorous nature.
My personal experience to anyone who is lacking a good laugh is to take a lawn chair that is equiped with a cup holder, go down the the local boat ramp on a warm afternoon day, especially on a holiday weekend. After the green horns have been out squirling around all day, all beered up, just watch the action at the boat ramp.
Probably the best one happened when a NEW 21' ski boat was backing down the ramp with the restraints removed, when the driver hit the brakes and the boat rolled off its trailer and removed the outdrive from the transom and slid all the way to the waters edge. Gouged a large hole in the bottom which probably caused a total loss."

"Bill - thats always good ente

"Bill - thats always good entertainment!

Back to that poor glastron i had years ago. Dunked it off the trailer one day. There i was sitting in the boat just off the ramp waiting on my friend to get back from parking the pickup and trailer. Once i noticed the boat filling up fast, it dawned on me that the plug from the rear was in the truck's glove box. By the time my friend walked up laughing hysterically, I was standing in the marina, fully clothed with my thumb in the hole. "just go get the trailer"."

"It was a hot,hot summer day,I

"It was a hot,hot summer day,I just got done diving on three moored boats,which meant a few trips in and out of the water in full gear(exhuasting),got to the ramp to load the boat and every #^*^# was lined up to get out,they were side ways,yelling,lines tangled,all on ONE side of the ramp.... the EASY side with the dock!so I decide I don't need no stinkin" dock,I'll just drive the boat on the trailer(somthing no one else seemed capable of doing)on the other side and be outta here.So I tie up the boat,back the trailer down,LIKE A PRO,drive the boat on the trailer,LIKE A PRO,get in the truck,mind you the boat and trailer are still pretty deep,and I pull away,only I forgot to hook the strap,and I had to go swim out to get my boat....LIKE A PRO ! "

"1985.... I had a 1970? 14 ft

"1985.... I had a 1970? 14 ft fiberglass Anchorcraft with an old Johnson 40 hp outboard. This was my first boat and I just got it. I had it sitting in the driveway for a very rainy month. Finally a nice day. Buddy and me are going to go fishing for the first time. I backed it down the ramp and and an old guy starts yelling at me. I'm trying to ignore him because I can see that I'm going down nice and straight, but he keeps yelling at me. Finally I get out to see what going on. I forgot to untie the back of the boat from the trailer. "good way to sink your boat" he says as the trailer was way to heavy for the boat to flote it. So we get out in the water and go flying across the lake, probably upwards of 10 mph. The thing seemed to handle like crap, but I wasn't sure as this was my first time ever driving a boat. Buddy looks under the rear apron at the back of the boat and the thing is full of water. We're sinking!! Got the thing turned around, back to the ramp, back on the trailer, out of the water. The plug was in so that means we "were" sinking. Pulled the plug, let all the water out re-plugged it, and drove home. Parked it in the drive way, covered it up with the same old tarp and went inside to sulk over it with a beer. After another night of rain, I went out the next day to try and find the hole. To my amazment, it was full of water again. Friggin tarp was leaking rain water in. We went fishing in that boat plenty and the thing never took on a drop. (new tarp of course)

Wrench"

"A great sight gag....
While

"A great sight gag....
While navigating the Columbia R., a naval ship lost its steering in a tight turn in the river. The ship plowed into a steep rock bank with a highway running on the top of the rock bank. The bow of the navy ship stoped at the outside lane of the highway with the ships anchor just inches above the surface of the highway.
Visualise a aluminum extension ladder going from the road to the bow of the ship. Apparently the Captain several crew members and of course the river pilot standing there scratching their heads and looking at a State Trooper with one foot on the second rung of the ladder and writing information on a note pad that looked like a traffic ticket being written out!"

Boating mistakes. Having your

Boating mistakes. Having your wife onboard and trying to not get noticed leering at two girls that were not wearing tops in the boat cruising next to us. Throttle adjustment was critical to keep them in proper view. My ribs still hurt!

RE: " go down the the loca

RE: " go down the the local boat ramp on a warm afternoon day"

For some years I lived across the street from the town's boat ramp. I had a nice shady porch... and OH Boy !!!

About twice a year someone would ignore the "The RAMP ENDS HERE" sign and drop their trailer's wheels over the edge... "Tow Truck" and pissed off folks time.
Once someone did this with the tie downs still tight.

"Back in the early 70's a

"Back in the early 70's a buddy and I were at Lake Wabamun in Alberta, 24 May weekend, hotter than a pistol. Up to the boat launch comes two guys with a new boat and being pulled by a newer Red Olds or Buick convertible with a white top still up. Back into the water a bit, jump out dressed in their Speedo's and begin to untie the boat. The car slowly rolls back into the lake as they obviously didn't put it in park or set the brake.
Lots of scrambling but no one could stop it. So there sat a boat out in the lake skewed somewhat still tied to the trailer. All we could see of the car was a slight white canvas bump on the water where air was trapped under the convertible top.
While they were scrambling around a Mountie Boat came up, the driver of the boat took a look, shook his head and drove off.
Eventually a tow truck appeared pulled the car and trailer out. We left with a nice car sitting near the launch two door wide open water dripping out of everywhere. The two guys just jumped in the boat and went boating for the day.
Bert"

"Too funny. Last one... and ye

"Too funny. Last one... and yes, that poor 16' Glastron. Some lake in Texas. Camping. Boarded the boat with my buds and began to power up out of the cove. Nice little beach with girls everywhere. "Hi Ladies!" ..."Hmmm... not plaining out like it should." <font size=""+1"">*WHAM*</font> The mushroom anchor that i was dragging hit a rock and kicked up and bounced off the boat. It was embarrassing."

"[url=""]http://www.youtube.co

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQmcQClBcSA"

"Just recently, got home from

"Just recently, got home from working nightshift all night, perfect day, thought I would take the boat out instead of sleep. Drove to the ramp backed down usual depth, tops of trailer guards just under water. Tried pushing boat off trailer wouldn't budge!! Backed in a bit deeper tried pushing boat off trailer no go!! Darn thing was stuck, I know I'll start the boat up and try and drive off the trailer. Still no luck but a hell of a lot of weed and mud stirred up. I wasn't going to let this beat me, got out of boat tried pushing again. That's when I found the problem. Those trailer winch cables are strong suckers aren't they!!! Just thankful it was a quiet midweek day and there was no one at the ramp watching me."

"I've done the 'forgot

"I've done the 'forgotten plug'...ONCE! I've done the 'forgot to undo the tie-downs'...ONCE! Seems funny how quick we learn from our mistakes.

I haven't seen anyone mention this one yet, someone please tell me I'm NOT the only captain to have done this:

July 4th weekend, 2001, got the truck & boat loaded up, backed down to the slope of the ramp. Undo tie-downs, safety chain, put the plug in. Go to get back in the truck to launch the boat, and all the doors were locked, with engine running, blocking the best of 5 ramps on a holiday!

Fortunately, I only lived about 5-miles away, but still took about 30-minutes for someone to pick me up, bring me back home to retrieve the spare truck key.

By the way, 1997 F-150 doors will lock with the ignition running. A friend with us, while crawling out of the entended cab accidently hit the power lock while exiting."

"Joe...
You're not the on

"Joe...
You're not the only one in general. (possibly the only one at a boat ramp). That would be a Sully tool T6, reverse wrap duct tape on the tool, lift the vertical rod. That door would be open in about 5-7 seconds.

I drove a tow truck for CAA for a couple of years and unlocked plenty of those trucks. Don't feel too bad.

Wrench"

"This just happened to me this

"This just happened to me this year!

I was at the mouth of a no wake channel leading into the lake. As I left the no-wake zone, several boats were going in different directions, but one in particular caught my eye. It was full of bikinis, and not one guy around. I kept watching, smiling and waving as they throttled up. they seemed to be turning slightly and lining up parallel to me. I dumped my throttle. my 470 powered up without fail, and about the time the nose came down, I looked ahead of me only to see a 6' roller directly off the bow. I was doing about 30mph when I cut the throttle, but it was too late.My boat came out of the water. I slammed into the next wave. broke the mount for my depth finder and the mount for my ship to shore antenna and sending fishing gear everywhere!
I sat white knuckling the steering wheel praying the power plant was still in the boat! I had just re-built the transom in the spring.
My workmanship passed with flying (literally) colors!
What I had failed to observe was the 40' cruiser running full out as it crossed in front of me.
Darn Bikinis!!!"

"This wasnt really a mistake &

"This wasnt really a mistake (unless you consider letting your wife drive the boat a mistake) but is a pretty funny boating mishap. One fine Saturday my lovely wife and I went fishing. All day we didnt catch a darn thing. When we got about 1/4 mile away from the ramp, where it becomes a slow speed zone, there were schools of jack bustin the water all around us. I grabbed my baitcaster that was rigged with a spoon and cast it perfectly right past a school of jack. Got a bite right away, and it was a good size fish. Took about 5 mins to reel him in. I was on the swim platform (18' scarab sprint) when i took the hook out and tossed him back in the water. My wife says "they are over there now, want to go catch another one?" I said "sure." No sooner did i stand up to get back in the cockpit, does my wife put the throttle down! (98 4.3L alpha gen 2 in a lil 18ft boat) Well, as u might expect, I went right off the back of the boat! So I'm trying to tread water with one hand while holding my fishing pole above the water with my other hand. While I'm watching my boat speed away, my wife is just looking strait forward.
I still wonder if she did that intentionally."

"My only boating story relates

"My only boating story relates to 1 New Range Rover + 2 Jetski's = Serious trouble! On a very hot bank holiday weekend at about 5.00 pm there is about 10 boats waiting in line to use the ramp (slipway over here!) including me, the tide was moving fast so everyone that was waiting was stood on the mud waist high in the water trying to prevent all the boats whacking to each other, In scream two jet-ski's, perform a power-slide thus upsetting everyone! They decide not to wait in turn, go and get the Range Rover/trailer, drive over the considerable grass bank by the side of the ramp, down the mud and in to the sea, to get the trailer the right way round the driver has made a large arcing turn, with people trying to get out of his way, half way through which.........he got stuck!!!!! Strangely enough there were'nt too many willing to help until the driver burst in to tears as he could see what was unfolding! 2 4X4 's linked up with lines trying to pull his car/trailer out to no avail....When i left after having washed the boat down ( 14 ft Shark Powercraft) the water was just lapping the roof of the new Range Rover....proving that there is a god!"