Stupid boating mistakes
 

Juan's blooper with the flush muffs got me to thinking we could get a good thread going with everyone recounting the stupidest thing they ever did while boating or working on the boat. Let's hear your tales of stupidity.

so many choices.......so little time....

I got 2 that tie for stupid...maybe 3

I block my trailer up off the wheels for the winter storage. Come spring I am using the jack to lower it back to the wheels and cant figure out why the wheels arent hitting the ground....come to realize the outdrive (my old boat) was down and the weight of nearly the whole boat (and trailer) was resting on the skeg....

Hooked my battery up backward in the dark one night and smoked my alternator. (again my old boat)

On my V I was checking electrical connections when I first bought it....my main fuse to the helm is inline . The fuse holder looks like 2 fuses side by side...I thought it was two fuses not realizing one was hot and one was a spare. I hooked it up backwards breaking the connection....after I dont know how long trying to figure out why I had now power at the helm anymore I figured it out.

I guess the only one that cost me money was the alternator....so I guess its not so bad....just rookie stuff

Hey it`s ALL MY FAULT !!!
Now you all have to embarrass yourself !!! jejeje

Well, I have a good ( really bad ) one;

Between 1993-98, I worked on Marine electronics, one day, I was installing a brand new autopilot on a brand new 50 or so footer gorgeous sailboat, while anchored on the Bay, so the owner was there with me. He asked me to install the AP computer on a wall inside one of the sleeping quarters. I spent about one hour measuring and looking SOooo carefully so I could find a good place to bolt the computer to the wall, and after extensive measuring, found a "good" place and drilled the wall with a 1/4' bit, first hole luckily, and when I pulled the bit out, guess what I saw daylight, so I knew I had drilled to the outside, and when I looked the second time through the hole, I saw an eye, looking at me from the other side, it was the owners eye. The hole ended up 4" more aft than I had measured, so I missed the place I wanted. The owner got so MAD !!!! that asked me to just abandon ship ASAP, and he never ever wanted to talk to me anymore, he never ever did. I ended up contracting a professional fiberglass repair guy who plugged the hole and filled with an exact blend of gell coat. The hole, the repairman said, "disapeared", but you know with time, the color probably changed at that spot, reminding the owner of MY STUPIDITY !!!!
I still feel very bad to this day.

With my previous boat I planned to impress my girlfriend and launched the boat in her town at a ramp I hadn't used before. It was spring and there were no nav markers out yet. Launched the boat, turned right and ran right over about five inches of water(more rock than water). Bunged the prop real good! Did I tilt up and float off? Nope. I tried trimming up and powering off. Did not work real well...
But I did marry her. So all is not lost!

I've never made a single boating mistake in 10 + years of boating. Not one. Not even an itsy bitsy one. No sir, not a single mistake - more like multiples.

I'd say my biggest mistake was when I owned my first boat. It was summer and I decided to leave it in the water at my dock on the lake. At the time there was no floating section so she was tied to the stationary part w/ bow facing the bank and stern facing the water.

Ok so here are the 3 ingredients to the perfect storm I created with help from the Lord:

1) the boat had a known leak that I would bilge out every day. Slow but a leak nonetheless.
2) Did I mention the stern was facing the channel?
3) Big rain storm forecasted for the weekend (the Lord's part)

So its Thursday night and I'm about to go down and bilge out the day's water when my buddy shows up. We shoot the chit and have a couple beers - life is good. When he leaves I forget all about getting the water outta the boat. After mid-night the rain came in hard and into the next morning. I went to work Friday and never thought about the boat. Got home that evening and cracked a beer and sat down on the deck facing the dock. I make note of a funny looking spot on the water. The waves are moving but this spot is not moving. Then it hits me. That is where the boat was parked and it is GONE! I run down and see that the boat is on the bottom in 10 - 15 ft of water! The dock lines broke and she sat right down on the bottom perfectly. Luckily the motor was tilted up. The spot I saw on top was an oil slick created by the 50:1 premix that was leaking out of my 6 gallon tank. The story gets longer from here so lets just say we got the boat out and used it for 2 more years....never even changed the plugs but did pressure wash the inside :beer: Although the electric start did **** the bed in a month or so I continued using the boat by wrapping a rope around the flywheel. She ran better than ever! Sold her running for $750. Best motor I'll ever own hand's down.

1st boat I ever had was a 14' aluminum semi v w/a 15 hp Johnson...got overserved at lake one day...had 2 Jack Russells and one Lab and my soon to be wife aboard...was in regular habit of pulling plug from inside the boat while running to drain excess water from bilge...worked great while sober, but this day I wasn't and somehow neglected to reinstall plug when I slowed down (I think to retrieve yet another Bud from the cooler)...sat there in open water long enough to realize water getting half way up my leg, things floating and Jack Russells swimming...soon to be wife becoming concerned:bat:

Saving Grace: stuck the plug in really quick, jumped outta the boat (again in open water) to remove my weight and expecting to bail from over the gunwale...to my AMAZEMENT I'm standing in about 3' of water...I lucked up and stopped over the ONLY shoal in the area and didn't even know it (I know where it is now)...got 'er bailed out, motor would not restart...old guy (bless him) came along and towed us back to the ramp...same one he was goin' to anyway...I gave him some money, he was happy and wifey eventually let me up...

DUMB, DUMB, DUMB...

2 right off the top of my head:
Was worried about the motor flopping around on the transom and damaging the motor or boat. Layed it in the back of the boat, when I got to the ramp, had a 1 1/2" hole in the bottom of the boat from when the motor bounced hitting a pothole (at least it stayed in the boat).
I just cut a pine limb, stuffed it in the drain hole beneath the rear seat and went fishing.

Early one morning going duck hunting, for some unknown reason to me I disconnected the winch hook while removing the straps and loading the boat at the ramp at 4AM (I blame the convenience store for not having coffee ready). As backing the aluminum boat down the ramp I noticed it was going faster than the truck and trailer. Only defense I could think of was to beat it to the water, almost made it. About 5' from the water it tilted up off the trailer and I slammed on brakes.
Remarkably it only bent the drain hole, I did get a "GOOD GOIN, QUICK THINKIN" from one guy at the ramp though.
Silicone on the bunks is a back saver, just remember that you did it.

Let's hope nobody here has screwed up as bad as this guy...

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-...-day-ramp.html

RAP, i did that with my V, except the bow did not come off the trailer. i had put silicone on the bunks because it was getting hard to winch up. i was backing down the ramp and my wife was standing beside the ramp watching. the boat started sliding and she yelled and i hit the brake. of couse that made it worse, the boat slid another foot or two and the stern hit the ramp. there i was with a boat half on the trailer in the middle of the ramp. i was able to winch it up until the stern cleared the concrete, but i could not get it back on the trailer. i thought the problem was i was fighting gravity, so i pulled the trailer up on level ground. i got the truck on the top of the ramp and when the trailer came to the top, it BENT the trailer where the the frame breaks and goes to the tongue. it was not a happy day.

The only one that comes to mind is when I was going to take the wife out for some fishing and the motor wouldnt start at the house. :fight:

Took it to my mechanic to fix it, he changed the plugs and gave me a pretty big bill since I could have done that myself. :bat:

Still kicking myself we decide to go anyway after stopping and getting some Ice and drinks which I left at home.

Get to the ramp and start to push it off the trailer, push, push, cuss and push some more. One of the guys in the audiance watching this reminds me that I still have the gunnal strap on. I pull up the ramp to remove the strap only to realize I also forgot to put the bildge plug in. :cry:

After getting the boat over and parking the truck I go to save face and thank the guy for pointing out the strap only to realize it was my mechanic who only 45 minutes earlier replaced the plugs for me. :you:

Long story short it ended up a pretty nice day.

These are great stories of human falibility...fun to read...if you read the thread on the Hull Truth posted above, the question finally comes up: Why unhook at the top of the ramp anyway?...what's the advantage...why NOT wait til her butt's hangin' over the water to take the hook off?...

Speakin' of takin' the hook off; I forgot to do that once...reverse, power, power, power...not moving...realize I haven't unhooked, tell buddy to pull up a little cause now it's got pressure on it...when boat comes up, it drifts just a little sideways enough to get the starboard chine on top of the upright guide-on, so when I tell him to go back down, the boat TILTS DRASTICALLY and is a chicken-hair from dippin the port stern under...water is pourin' over the transom on that side...STOP, STOP, STOP...he does and I get the boat off the guide, drop it in, we go fishin' and have a great day...but it sure started off hinkey:deer:

Why unhook at the top of the ramp anyway?...what's the advantage...why NOT wait til her butt's hangin' over the water to take the hook off?...

i have a float on trailer, no rollers, just bunks, so i unhook at the top of the ramp or parking lot while in line. when its my turn i have my wife or kids hold a bow & stern line and follow the boat down the ramp and out of the finger pier. i back down and when the fenders go under water, hit the break and the boat glides off.

After a morning duckhuntn' we got back to the ramp to load up and go home. The wind had blown W/Northwest 20-30 for a few days and there wasn't enough water around to drown a cat. Backed the trailer down and it was low tide at the time so I had to back alot farther than usual. What I didn't realize is that I came back so far that the trailer wheels chocked themselves at the end of the concrete slab i.e... "END OF RAMP", but there was no sign. We had to pick the boat up and place it on the trailer and we got soaking wet and man, was it cold. Couldn't figure out why the trailer wouldn't come up. After 3 or 4 tries, got fustrated, locked in the hubs,got 'er in low lock and sidestepped the clutch. I watched my buddys' eyes get big as saucers when the trailer came up. The bumper on the truck had pulled out to a perfect V and at the point of the "V" was the trailer ball with the trailer connected to it. It was a funny thing to see. I unhooked the trailer and backed into a pine tree a few times to bend it back into place. We are talking about an 18" drop here folks at the end of that ramp and I still can't figure out how I didn't tear up more than what I did!:oh:

I have put 3 different boats in the water without putting in the plug.....none sank thankfully.

My favorite quote from one of these events......"Daddy....why is there water on the floor?"

I have been pretty lucky so far. My wife usually asks me at least twice if I put the drain plug in. I can claim I have never forgotten it, but I can't take all the credit! So far so good. Now I gotta go find some wood to knock on.

Here's one I saw...
 

Was at Dreher Island at Lake Murray SC several years back when an 18' brand-spankin' new pontoon came hustlin' in...wifey hopped off, hubby backed away from dock...wife does EXCELLENT job of pulling trailer around and backing it down the ramp (obviously not her 1st rodeo)...hubby drives up onto trailer all the way to the stop-board and TELLS her to go ahead (he hasn't hooked anything up yet)...smoothly up she goes and just as smoothly off slides the pontoon...skeg and back of toons contact the concrete about 10' away from water...she realizes something wrong and stops the truck...good move, but now back end of trailer is still under toons and boat is on greater than 45* angle (hubby rollin' around in back)...busted the skeg off, busted the transducer and bent the bracket, so not TOO bad damage...me, hubby and several others managed to counter-weight the bow back down enough to allow wifey to back down to the water...I guess he learned it

I've done that twice but never with the V thank goodness and neither sank....
Here's my favorite quote from those 2 events. All words uttered by me,

"OH SH1T!"
I don't know why, but every time I put the boat in the water from then on the very FIRST thing I think about is the plug. I have no idea why.
:hi:

I watched a guy at a gas station filling up his boat while I waited in line. The tank filled while he was in the store......:oh: It was not pretty, fuel was gushing half in the boat and half outside of it. I begged him to make sure his bilge pump does't come on and he said it was on a manual switch thank god.

I know y'all know of somebody that filled the rodholder at the gas pump!

Can't say I actually KNOW anybody, but have read about it several times on other, less pleasant forums...:fight: