The confession thread

[ONERCBOATER]

Re: The confession thread

well being 36 with 35yrs of time on the water, I can assure you I am right up there among the greats with boat stupidity figured I would chime in on this and let you get a few chuckles.

9 years ago in early January my friend and I are shooting up the river on my bass boat (sold 6yrs ago when i realized how much fuel costs hurt and that no one really wanted to help pay but everyone wanted to go.) .... not full out, but a good 50mph. It was early morning rather brisk, and the water was cooooooooooooooooold. We had just shot up the river the day before and I was running withing 5ft of where I ran the day before, Will was on the bow looking for sand bars...and we was doing just fine, til this very shapely girl waves at him from the bank as we go by, that was the one moment where looking fwd would have been wise, as he is waving back with a stupid grin on his face the boat stops very very suddenly. Off the bow goes will he skipped twice on the surface, I ate the helm. it took 10 min to get back off the sand bar, and all the time we can hear giggling girl.... LOL @ us. Thats when I learned that if it is going to go wrong it will most definitely go wrong in front of an audience.

I'll likely post another one later.... tight now I am all too pleased as I got my new old motor up and running.

 

['96 Charger]

Re: The confession thread

Few weeks ago I took my dad, stepmom, and stepbrother for a ride on the Arkansas River. We went through the lock, cruised downtown, then came back through. My stepmom had never been on a boat other than a little aluminum on a calm body of water. Stepbro had NEVER been on a boat. Well after getting them comfortable and me and dad making sure they knew not to be alarmed unless I hinted to be I decided to drop the hammer. My motor was lugging and it didn't like it. Everything went fine while up on pad when dad tapped me on the shoulder to look at an oncoming boat that I had already spotted nearly a minute ago. Keep in mind this is a narrow river so you can't exactly pass an oncoming boat with miles of clearance and stay in the shipping channel. My hat flies off and I turn sharp. Nearly throw everyone out but play it off like I meant to do that to scare them. We get going again with my 200hp Yammie lugging to lift a boat with 4 people in it back on pad. It's a little overpropped. I pass a big cabin cruiser at about 50mph and make us all go airborn for a second....TWICE. I never saw the wake I hit because on this river they tend to camo themselves with the rest of the water. They had fun minus the learning experience of what boating is all about. We were never in any danger whatsoever.

Last weekend I was by myself on the same river and was putting the boat on the trailer. A Japanese guy was yacking in my ear in his broken English distracting the h3ll out of me. Kept trying to tell me how to put my boat on the trailer when obviously he didn't have a clue about how a bass boat owner does it. I drive it on the trailer, give it just a little throttle to get it the rest of the way on (I know I know powerloading is bad especially with a sandy bottom). Meanwhile this guy WILL NOT SHUT UP and instead of pulling the trailer up just a little so I can get the strap on without getting wet I sit on the front of the trailer. Guy STILL isn't catching the hint that I don't need his hints because I have it down to a science. Standing up on the trailer I slip and go butt first into the water skinning up my right elbow and my pride. Guy is still trying to tell me what to do. I put the transom saver and back straps on and take off without even pulling the plug. I know he didn't mean any harm but still wanted to slap him. There's a reason there is an unwritten rule that you NEVER talk to someone that's putting their boat in or taking it out.

 

[Mark42]

Re: The confession thread

I'm installing a new motor on the boat. Its hanging from an engine hoist, and I say to my Dad, who is helping, "Don't let me forget to put the steering cable into the motor before its bolted on, because the cable can't go in the motor once mounted". So we proceed with the install, and I am under the splash well holding the bolts with a wrench while Dad tightens them from outside. When done, I get up and there laying in the splash well is the steering cable!!! DOH!

Had to unbolt the motor, insert the cable, and bolt on again. Not a big deal, but now everything is covered with 4200 and sticky and more needs to be applied to be sure everything is sealed. I felt like an idiot.

Oh well, practice makes perfect!

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: The confession thread

i have a small 15' FG jon boat with a 25 hp tiller on the back. i took it out for the first time to a friends property who has a pretty good size pond. the only thing i forgot to do when putting the motor on the transom was to bolt it down....yup running about 20 mph, i took a turn and the motor jumped right off the transom, good thing i had a good hold on it, turned the motor off and got it back on the transom with all my fingers. thank god nothing happened! and believe me i make sure the motor is very secure from then on....could have been alot worse

I have always been afraid of something like this occuring if I happened to flip my boat (inflatable) in heavy seas. As a result I have a plastic coated steal cable latching my motor to the transom so it cannot be separated from the boat easily. Call me paranoid

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: The confession thread

My biggest one is forgetting to remove BOTH transom tie downs when launching.
Ive done that a couple times.
One thing I hate is looking like a rookie at the launch.

Try yelling at your 13 year old son like he's an idiot because he can't get the boat off the trailer when you back it down, only to find out you (meaning me) forgot to take off the transom strap. Needless to say after eating much crow, I still did not win #1 Dad of the year.

 

[proaudioguy]

Re: The confession thread

Try yelling at your 13 year old son like he's an idiot because he can't get the boat off the trailer when you back it down, only to find out you (meaning me) forgot to take off the transom strap. Needless to say after eating much crow, I still did not win #1 Dad of the year.

Oh I was a complete *****h0le to my 10yo a couple months ago over something boat ramp/ dock related (can't even remember what it was) and he was totally right the entire time and I was a big doosh (yea I spelled it wrong on purpose). He threatens me all the time that he will NOT be changing my adult diapers, but rather I can just sit in it all day long! LOL He does know how to trash talk......

Oh and the main reason I posted,..what is 4200? I pulled the trolling motor bracket (seized) off the back of the boat and want to fill in the holes, and I'm assuming this refers to what I might need to use? Just need to get by for a year or less. Planning to put the boat in the shop to have all the holes repaired and a coat of gell coat applied (or whatever). Finally decided patching things here and there is not going to make me happy.

 

[Tim Wagner]

Re: The confession thread

Try yelling at your 13 year old son like he's an idiot because he can't get the boat off the trailer when you back it down, only to find out you (meaning me) forgot to take off the transom strap. Needless to say after eating much crow, I still did not win #1 Dad of the year.

Man that is really cold.
Fortunatly, I didnt reproduce.
After 2 marriages now, Im pretty certain that I wont be either.
If it it DID happen to me, then all you can do is EAT THAT CROW.
Id call that a "Humbling".
Then you get over it.

 

[rollo1002]

Re: The confession thread

well being 36 with 35yrs of time on the water, I can assure you I am right up there among the greats with boat stupidity figured I would chime in on this and let you get a few chuckles.

9 years ago in early January my friend and I are shooting up the river on my bass boat (sold 6yrs ago when i realized how much fuel costs hurt and that no one really wanted to help pay but everyone wanted to go.) .... not full out, but a good 50mph. It was early morning rather brisk, and the water was cooooooooooooooooold. We had just shot up the river the day before and I was running withing 5ft of where I ran the day before, Will was on the bow looking for sand bars...and we was doing just fine, til this very shapely girl waves at him from the bank as we go by, that was the one moment where looking fwd would have been wise, as he is waving back with a stupid grin on his face the boat stops very very suddenly. Off the bow goes will he skipped twice on the surface, I ate the helm. it took 10 min to get back off the sand bar, and all the time we can hear giggling girl.... LOL @ us. Thats when I learned that if it is going to go wrong it will most definitely go wrong in front of an audience.

I'll likely post another one later.... tight now I am all too pleased as I got my new old motor up and running.

Man that had to hurt.... The visual picture of this is priceless and one can only hope that he got the girl's phone number or a courtesy date.

 

[Biged007]

Re: The confession thread

Here's one that's a bit different. about 10 years back on an overnight fishing trip on a friends cruiser I excuse myself and retire to the cabin for a nap.
Well as it turns out the rest inc. my wife are not paying attn. and drift onto a sand bar with that my bud yells everyone over the side! (to push off). Now mind you I'm at this point sound asleep grabbing a PFD I proceed to still half asleep grab the stern rail and THUNK!!! yep right into maybe a foot of water I think my "ankles" well this is a family site wound up in my throat. to make matters the rest of these idiots are soo busy laughing the ever out going tide grounds us for the next 5 or so hours.

 

[Biged007]

Re: The confession thread

gee, which time should i confess too....

well, lets see, when i was young (teens) i took dads boat up river (chain of 12 lakes)i had extra portable fuel cans on board. it was kinda shallow so i put them in the ft. of the glastron vhull dad had. while sitting on the back of the drivers seat looking for rocks, i put my foot down on the sole. splash. hum. gee, i was taking on water. no bilge pump. fortunately, i was near a very small round lake and was able to get going enough to siphon the water out w/ drain plug removed. turned out. dad had hit a tree with the bow eye, breaking it's seal. with the weight i'd put up front (fuel cans) the bow eye was underwater and leaked...

another one. a couple years ago i didn't heed the weathers report. was a beautiful sat. eve. red sky at night, sailor delight and all. so i pull my boat up on the beach i tie it to a tree. still calm out. go to sleep. i wake up to 35mph sustained winds blowing me on the beach and large waves pounding me onto the beach. i ended up stuck 'on' the beach sideways for about 10 hours getting pounded sideways by every incoming wave. i had to have friends i knew in town come out and help me. 4 adults and we were able to float her again. amazingly, no major damage done. sanded the bottom of my boat down a little was about it.

i'm sure i got more. but thems the ones that come to mind right now.

edit. oh i just remembered probably my stupidest trick. my first job was at a resort up in minn. i commuted to work by fishing boat. one night i was coming home. 11pm maybe. no running lights. as chance would have it. i found some other idiot doing the same. on collision course right to the last moment as neither of us saw the other. at the last moment we saw ea. other. both of us turned to starboard. man, i had a lump in my throat all the way home after that near collision. had lights on the boat the next day too...

not me, but here's a fella on my lake that's working on his sht..

i been watching this boat all summer, never moves and looks like it's about to go down... hope the owner catches on before it does..

so far this year has been uneventful for me... yeah!!

Not to be the eternal P.I.T.A. anyone think to call the lake patrol before it sinks and becomes a hazard

 

[Biged007]

Re: The confession thread

Here's one that's a bit different. about 10 years back on an overnight fishing trip on a friends cruiser I excuse myself and retire to the cabin for a nap.
Well as it turns out the rest inc. my wife are not paying attn. and drift onto a sand bar with that my bud yells everyone over the side! (to push off). Now mind you I'm at this point sound asleep grabbing a PFD I proceed to still half asleep grab the stern rail and THUNK!!! yep right into maybe a foot of water I think my "ankles" well this is a family site wound up in my throat. to make matters the rest of these idiots are soo busy laughing the ever out going tide grounds us for the next 5 or so hours.

Oh I forgot I did get my revenge By casting a sinker onto the sand yelling hey captain we got any more bait.

 

[DJ]

Re: The confession thread

Laughing at and giggling about someones misfortunes, for whatever reason, is NOT good boating protocal. No wonder we're (boaters) getting a bad rap.

A "Good Samaritan" would bail it out, get the reg. # and send a note to the State as: "Possibly Abandoned".

The owner will get a visit, or call.

Or, Maybe. They will tell you to take it and do whatever. Treasure????

 

[jdlough]

Re: The confession thread

Isn't that just a big splashwell in front of the motor?
If so, it'd be sealed off from the interior of the boat, so no chance of sinking, right?
For a little while, anyway.

 

[witenite0560]

Re: The confession thread

There's always a chance of sinking, remember the Titanic! I'd say as low as it's already sitting in the water, there's likely already water in the boat.

 

[Andy'sDelight]

Re: The confession thread

Forgot the plug twice...Thankfully in the V20 you put in in from the inside, so it wasn't a biggie either time. Dragged the skeg once because I forgot to raise it before pulling out. Was having stalling issues one time from fouled plugs, so I had to go into the trailer a little "hotter" than the usual idle crawl...that popped a roller off the trailer. That was the most embarrassing because people thought I was just being lazy and didn't want to winch it, which is quite opposite of the truth for me. These are all with the V20.

The Coastal 230 is slipped so I get to avoid these ramp blunders thankfully, but I did have one true pucker moment. I was heading up to the tip of sandy hook for a solo night trip of striper fishing and was following an old GPS track from the prior owner. Well, on the bay side of the hook there are these gnarly ragged "sticks" in the middle of nowhere that are obvious during the day and generally you try to stay far as hell from them. I'm cruising fairly slow since it was pitch black and in the corner of my eye I realized I was passing those damned sticks within about 3 feet of starboard. Frightened the crap out of me!!

 

[marcoalza]

Re: The confession thread

One thing I've learnt from this forum is plugs, plugs, plugs.
So I never forget to put mine in.

Pre launch check makes sure of that.

Backed the boat into the water off the ramp yesterday, everything going well....

Couldn't reverse the boat off the trailer, didn't feel right, full power, would not budge.

Drove the trailer back out of the water and took off the tie down straps from the transom! (Those big black things next to the plug I always put in):redface:

Always a first time, never the last.

 

[dwco5051]

Re: The confession thread

Two weeks ago I had a problem with the primer solenoid on my 175GT. Repaired it, started it on the muffs a couple of times to make sure it was OK. Disconnected the hose and moved it down the drive to my parking area. We have had some great weather for November here in central PA so yesterday I marked the flywheel with some whiteout and took it to the lake to check the timing. A couple of degrees off so I adjusted it and spent the rest of the day fishing. Ran like a charm, everything was great, all the gages read correctly. Today I figured it might be my last boat fishing trip of the year so I took it to the lake again. As I did my walk around to remove tie downs, check that the plug was in, and release the tilt lock something caught my eye. Yep, I ran it all day yesterday with the muffs on. They had slid up and only about half the holes were covered. I constantly watch my gages and the first one I scan is the water pressure and it did read right on the money so it didn't affect the engine any.

 

[proaudioguy]

Re: The confession thread

Two weeks ago I had a problem with the primer solenoid on my 175GT. Repaired it, started it on the muffs a couple of times to make sure it was OK. Disconnected the hose and moved it down the drive to my parking area. We have had some great weather for November here in central PA so yesterday I marked the flywheel with some whiteout and took it to the lake to check the timing. A couple of degrees off so I adjusted it and spent the rest of the day fishing. Ran like a charm, everything was great, all the gages read correctly. Today I figured it might be my last boat fishing trip of the year so I took it to the lake again. As I did my walk around to remove tie downs, check that the plug was in, and release the tilt lock something caught my eye. Yep, I ran it all day yesterday with the muffs on. They had slid up and only about half the holes were covered. I constantly watch my gages and the first one I scan is the water pressure and it did read right on the money so it didn't affect the engine any.

How can the muffs stay on and the hose be removed? You'd have to remove the hose and put the muffs back on?! Why would you do that?

Somewhat unrelated,...I happen to have a short piece of hose I leave attached to the muffs so I can easily connect to the long hose at the house. Just makes getting the muffs on and off easier. Either way I can't imagine accidentally leaving the muffs on. We did manage to leave the 100ft hose in the back of the boat and it was caught on the engine mount as we pulled out and started down the road. We didn't make it far! I noticed it in the rear view about the time we got out of the driveway. I can't personally take the blame for that one. My wife was rinsing out the boat, but I should have walked around once (again) before pulling out.

 

[marcoalza]

Re: The confession thread

gee, which time should i confess too....


i been watching this boat all summer, never moves and looks like it's about to go down... hope the owner catches on before it does..

If I saw a boat on a regular basis that looks in trouble and probably without the owner aware, I would hook it up and take it to shallow waters.
Would I be wrong to do that?

I'm damn sure I would want someone to do that for me.

 

[j_martin]

Re: The confession thread

How can the muffs stay on and the hose be removed? You'd have to remove the hose and put the muffs back on?! Why would you do that?

Easy.
You just drive off, and the hose nipple pulls out of the cuff when the hose gets tight. Don't ask.