New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

I came to the conclusion, I need to slow down and pay more attention. I'm doing 100 miles an our all the time and I think that is the main reason I have so many stupid incidents. Either way, it leads to good stories!!
Well, decided to sell the dingy as that was too complicated and stressful. LOL. This weekend I bought a pair of RXP Seadoos. I figured this should be a nice and easy thing for the weeks the boat is out of commission. Just drop them in the water and ride.
Saturday mornning 8:00 I was going to put one of the skis in the water. I went outside and started getting it ready. I have a plastic waterproof box I put my cell phone and money in. I went to put the box in the small dry storage comparment and the box was a tiny bit to big. I decided i will make it fit by slamming the cover of the compartment. With this the cover jammed. I tried everything to get it open with no luck. I opened the larger cover that the starage compartment is in and removed the 8 screws. No luck, it dosen't come apart. I decided to pry it with a pry bar. I rested my elbow on the ski for leverage. I crushed one of the air intake tubes. It broke into 100 pieces. I kept prying the cover until finally a loud pop. Not only did I break the latch,I broke the whole cover. This aggrevated me quite a bit.
I head to the ramp to launch the ski. I stop and pay for the parking ticket. There are quite a few people waiting for the ramp. I remove the 2 tie straps and front hook on the ski so when the ramp opened up, I could go right in.
An opening opens up on the far ramp. I head over towards it. I'm passing a bunch of people which are waving and pointing behind me. I look in my mirror and 500 feet behind me my new Seadoo is lying in the middle of the road! (I guess you need those tie downs all the time on those things). I was mortified!! I put the truck in reverse and start backing up. I'm a little rattled to say the least. I backed about 20 feet, I look in my rt side mirror and to my surprise, my trailer was wrapped completely around the side of my truck. Unlike the boat trailer that are easy to back, these things turn so quick, backing is near impossible. I go to the back of the truck to find a nice new dent. Eveyone had to come over and inspect my dent and offer lots of valuable advice. I head to the Seadoo to find a black mark (Gel coat) 12 feet long on the street. I guess thats how for it dragged before coming off the trailer. I have some very nice scratches on the bottom of my new ski. I get the ski back on the trailer, put it in the water and left the ramp as quickly as possible. You know that feeling, when people are asking if everything is alright but you know they are laughing inside and calling you an A-hole? About 20 people had the pleasure of watching this. After that everything went pretty good. Can't wait until next weekend!!!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

New dent.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

OMG, you should try some indoor hobbies. :eek: :drink:
Seriously, we all do similar stuff one time or another. Hang in there, your luck is bound to change.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Lord, Jesus, God All Mighty could you please lay your hands upon LubeJobs42 and give him the strength, patience and direction that he seems to be in need of. Damn, I don't know what else to say. Hope this helps..... :eek:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

You need to move up north to take a winter break. Man that really sucks!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

:eek: Damn, If it were anyone but you I would say they were making this up to keep us entertained! :D Next time call all of us so we can come watch. :evilb: :D :evilb: :D

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino,
I agree about backing those little Seadoo trailers. After years of backing big boat trailers, which I've got down pretty well, I had to learn to SLOW WAY DOWN, when backing our Seadoo jet boat trailer. :eek: They react really quickly to steering input.
Hope things go better for you soon! :D
Dean

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

You had to have made this up! :crazy:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

For the benefit of all of us on OSO, would you please buy a nice helmet cam with front and rear view cameras and a recording system.

Wear it religiously, (except in the shower).

We're not here to make fun of you or laugh....... Just to help..... :evilb: :evilb:

microphone: optional.....I'll be adding my own soundtrack....

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Your right.....everyone was laughing once you pulled away from the ramp. At least we do it openly!!! :D :drink:
Good Luck with the next toy....maybe it should be smaller and say TONKA on the bottom just in case. :eek:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Been there.

Last summer we took our two with us to our place in Hilton Head. Since no one on the island wants you to have them there, you have to launch at the causeway, behind the island. Not much of a ramp. So we go out one morning and the ramp is busy- a couple of old guys are dead center trying to get a 22' robalo on the trailer (ramp is about 2.5 boats wide). Next in line is some dirtbag with a couple of scroungy looking broads. Backs completely down the center and then starts uncovering/unstrapping/transferring cooler, jackets, etc. So, I'm not the most patient guy in the world so I squeeze down beide them. One wheel slips off the edge of the ramp. No problem- I just push the skis off and drive out. Well, I thought I would. Turns out there was an outcrop of concrete on the ramp that snagged the spring perch and tore the axle from its mount. This is a custom built trailer that holds 3 skis, 6 bikes and all our beach stuff in boxes. Anyway, It became apparent pretty quickly that there was no way I was going to fix the trailer. The frame was mangled, the axle was ruined, etc. So I'm off to a local marina to buy a new trailer- at least something close that would get my now-floating skis home. Ended up having to buy a bunch of hardware to bolt all the boxes from the old trailer onto the new one. While all this is going on, my son and niece run one of the skis on a sandbar- everything was OK but they somehow knocked the plug out un-beaching it so it semi-sank and filled the motor with water. I didn't find this out until later though. As I'm coming over the bridge, I see six or seven fire trucks/ambulances, etc. in the lot and on the ramp. Of course my heart stopped beating. Turns out some woman let her niece ride her brand new ski and the first thing she did was zoom under the big bridge. On the way back, she hit a piling and bounced off of it. Smashed face-first into an oyster-shell-covered bridge piling and went face-down into the water. My son took the non-sunk ski out and fished her out. So now I wait until EMS goes, fish out my waterlogged ski, transfer all my stuff to the new trailer, un-waterlog a ski with a motor full of saltwater, get everything back on the trailer and home. The first thing my two nepherws asked was "can we come back out again tomorrow?"

Oh, yeah. It was my birthday.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

you need a realality show on the discovery channel. Or you need to wite a book on how not to do things :rolleyes:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino you should never play with, look at, shoot, clean or even know anyone with fire arms. Your dangerous enough with boats!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino, If you didn't have bad luck you wouldn't have any luck. Sell everything and buy a big sport fishing boat with a captain and just get on the boat and point. :evilb:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Noth'n personal Gino. I have always said 2 people, 4 a couple decades that U could go 2 a launch site w/ a six pack or whatever, chair,sunglasses, etc & get more entertainment than U need! Unfortunately it is usually at the expense of other peoples toys! :eek:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

This stuff has to be true because nobody could make up this stuff. I do not know Gino but I feel your pain. BZ

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

And you drive a boat 100mph God help us

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

just because i have been there, i laugh with you gino. i have told the story before, but we had a slip on a smaller lake in il for years. it was free entertainment every weekend because our slip was on the inside part of the marina facing the boat launch. every friday and saturday night was hilarious. the best was still when the wife was trying to back a tandem junk trailer down the ramp all the way from top of the hill(approx 200 yds) because she was scared to use the turn-around at the bottom while the husband screamed at her from their floating boat. you dumb bixxx, turn right, turn left, etc. until halfway down the ramp, in the middle of the ramp with 10+ trailers on sat night waiting to pull out, she gets out of the truck, says "cuck you, you are an xzzhozz" and walks up the ramp and leaves, truck sitting there. we had at least 50 people over on the docks laughing their butt off. it happens gino, remember, if boating was easy and cheap, everyone would do it and their would be no open water left.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Glad to hear your new hobby is not sky-diving. :eek: :D

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

LIVE COMES AT YOU FAST.
I,ve had days like that.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

I thought I had it bad... Sorry to hear about your luck Lube.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino:

Funny as H E L L . I just remembered something. I guess it was 2000 and I saw you loose your trailer at the ramp in Sarasota - haha. You're a trip!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

I imagine that before anything even went wrong, it must have been pretty funny just to see you towing two skis with your Frieghtliner. :D
Seriously though, you ever consider something that just stays wet slipped, like a big cruiser or sportfish?

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

I could only have been better if you looked like Chevy Chase.

"Boating with the Griswolds"

Clark..........CLARK !!!!!!!!!!! :evilb: :evilb:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino
Sorry to read about your bad luck

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino you need a nice safe hobby like stamp collecting. :evilb:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Maybe he does look like CC!!!!???? :p

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

LOL!!!
Aside from the poor judgment about forcing the compartment cover closed you had an interesting time.
I've watched as people pull all tie-downs off then try to back it down a steep ramp. :eek: Most made it, but some either dumped it or came real close to loosing it.

Backing a jet-ski trailer is fun. They are sooooo damn short any correction is an instant over correction. Key is to get lined up exactly right and straight then back slowly. The first trailer I learned to back up was a PWC trailer. Some days I get it right, others I look like I'm drunk.
When I first backed my 20' Formula with the dual axles I was in heaven. I couldn't believe how easy it was.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

No sky diving for me. I know as soon as I pull the rip cord I will realize I took my knapsack instead of a parachute.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

NEVER NEVER " NEVER" touch any firearms :D :eek:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Oh my god, I forgot about that!!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino I recomended stamp collecting before but have changed my mind. :cool: That is entirely to dangerouse for you. :eek: Think of the loss of limbs due to paper cuts. :drink: :drink:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino, with your luck maybe a nice set of kayaks would be the way to go, but you'd probably run into a pack of manatees with a taste for meat or something :D

Seriously, get a set of those guide poles for the outside of your jetski trailer. They stick up so you can see them out the back window and see when the trailer starts to pivot to one side or the other. They are especially helpful when there is no ski on the trailer. Other than that you need to hire an "Aquatic Activities Manager" to take care of all this BS, so you just show and go :evilb:

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino, you should start hanging with me and steve and cash bar, etc. We do a little boating, but more drinking really. This way the only thing we can hurt is the bar tab. Let's discuss it Friday night :)

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

You beat me to it!! :evilb: :evilb:

Good Luck and Be Safe Gino!!!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

2 years ago a friend got 5 guns from an employee. He asked me to try to sell them. I broght them to a gun show. As I was going in there was a table with 2 cops inpecting the guns to see if they are loaded. When it was my turn I told the cop I had 5 old guns. I didn't know how to open 2 of them and wasn't sure if they were loaded. He told me "no problem, that's what we are here for". He checked the first couple of guns and he was impressed with the 4th one. The cop next to him was misreable! there was a line building behind us so he said how many more do you have? I said, only 1 more, he's almost done. He insisted "Just give it to me"! I handed it to him, he snatched it form my hands. I went back to talking to the first cop and all of a sudden BOOM!!! it was the loudest thing I ever heard! Thegun went off. The cop took the gun and tossed it in my chest. He said "WHERE THE F**K DI THAT ROUND COME FROM?" I told him you were checking it, I told this guy I didn't know if it was loaded. He then asked for my concelled weapons permit. As soon as I said I didn't have one, I was on the floor face down and my girl was up against the wall. There was a lot of screaming and commotion. Cops came from everywhere. A few seconds went by, a guy comes around the corner being helped by friends, blood pooring from his calf. A second later another guy comes around the corner holding his thigh. Antoher second goes by and a third guy comes hoppong around the corner blood all over his boot. Taqlk about 3 birds, one stone. The cop managed to hit 3 people with one shot. He put a tie strap on the gun to secure the trigger but never checked to see if it was loaded. When he tightened the tie strap the trigger got compressed and fired the one round. We were there getting harassed and questioned for over 4 hours. After talking to internal affairs, every police chief, detective from city, county, state etc etc, they told me i was not in any trouble. The cop was. I guess its a big deal if a cop discharges a gun by accident. I am currently being suied but it probably won't go anywhere. I keep my gun handling to a minimum now. This story is on the internet if you want to read more. I'm not sure exactly where.
You mentioned gun use!! Been there, done that!!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

I can't function normally without drinking, could you imagine if I was drunk!!

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Gino, I highly suggest you NEVER EVEN THINK about taking up flying small aircraft, you'll crash for sure. Never take up spear fishing, mountain climbing, motor racing of any type, ah heck, if you took up knitting, we'd read about how you managed to stick both knitting needles completely through your body while you were attempting to darn the socks you ripped while falling down the stairs. :evilb:

Seriously, I think maybe you need to request a screen name change to "Don't approach me unless you're well insured". :)

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Believe it or not, I actually consider myself to be very lucky in the stuff that really matters. In business, my family, friends I am very very fortunate. Thank goodness my bad luck only affects my extracurricular activities! I find it all very funny.

Re: New hobby, whole new set of problems.
 

Since no one was hurt, I'm LMAO!
Any producers on OSO. Gino really needs his own sit-com. :D