Eric1969

1. When backing my boat off of the trailer, forgot to unhook the safety straps. I wonder why the boat won't get off the trailer?

2. Was getting ready to pull someone on a tube and forgot to hook the rope up to the boat. I took off like a rocket looked back and they were still sitting in the water.

Anyone else?

CigDaze

The below mentioned incident set the precident for which has now become law on my boat:

Never board or deboard with anything important in you pockets or in hand.

Early last year, during one of our first excursions on our new boat there was a little mishap which took place...

After docking the boat, tying up and rechecking the dock lines, flushing the motor, thouroughly cleaning the boat and snapping on the mooring cover I find myself on the swim platform snapping the last few snaps on the transom part of the cover. Shortly after the last snap was in place, I take a small step backwards to admire my new boat one last time before haeding home for the night...That step was a little too far and I go in for a swim breaking the silence which had previously overtaken the marina at this late hour(not to mention, my lovely wife is cackling with uproarious laughter).

I didn't get hurt in the least(just my pride) but I did manage to empty the entire contents of my pockets -- My keychain, wallet, zippo lighter, some change and I think that's it.

The worst part is that my truck's keys were 10' feet below my boat in complete darkness(I would have tried to retrieve them in the daytime but the thought of seeing some aligators and other various creatures luking in the waters not a week before detered me...

So, without keys, without a phone and without any phone numbers(in the wallet) we had to completely undo the nightly preperations on the boat and head back to a friends house so that he could drive my wife to our home and get the spare set of keys. Luckily the boat/house keys were on a seperate key ring already in the "boat bag."

So I take the boat back to the marina, my wife meets me there with her car and we clean the boat/flush all over again!


What a clusterfv#k that was!

supercrash

Once on my buddys 20 ft. Galaxy he was filling it up at the gas station in the harbor in the water..and his hose for his tank fell off...he pumped $30.00 of gas into his bilge and boat...the bilge pump kicked on and started pumping it out....luckily there was no mushroom cloud.....And I saw a guy in the chicago locks tie up his boat while waiting for the water to drop...needless to say his boat was hanging on for awhile till his cleat snapped off..oooops

birdog

OK..............Ill Admit It....................After 20 plus years of boating i broke my normal Prep routine and launched my boat with no drain plug !!!!! Had to idle for about 15 minutes to clear channel when i hit the throttles...........Well you know....

CigDaze

And how many of us have cranked the motor for an eternity scratching our heads trying to figure wtf **** is wrong to no avail until your better half points to the little red thing dangling on its' cord which is supposed to be clipped on the other end next to the key.

rainmn

Might not be the dumbest ever, but it was a first for me. I fell off my dock this weekend, much to the enjoyment of everyone on my lagoon. I had just docked, climbed off the boat, and was trying to grab a bow rail with my big toe.

supercrash

Heres a good story ...This happened 12 years ago or so...My buddy was tied up in Burnham harbor and was standing in his boat...There was a drunk guy with two under age girls in his car doing cookies in the parking lot next to the pier...Well he lost control and launched his car ontop of part of my buddies boat...throwing him...Needless to say...Chicago police are there in 2 minutes and are calming everyone down and telling my buddy that he is not gonna be saying anything about this ....and that the drivers insurance will take care of it...Turns out the driver is John Cusak....And he did take care of it...my buddy got 100,000 or so...go figure...so he bought a bigger boat and then forgot to winterize it and cracked the block...So I bought it from him for a big discount...

Rico's Revenge

I took my G/F with me ONCE!!

Chart

Years ago I worked for a small marina. We used a yard tractor with a three point hitch to move boats around and launch/load them. The changable ball was bolted to a bar conected to the ends of the arms in the three point hitch, with a rod angled upto the base of an arm to prevent the bar from spining. (Look at a three point hitch on a tractor sometime, and you'll understand what I'm trying to discribe)

The ball was 1 7/8, and the 18' boat trailer was 2", and I was too tired to change the ball. Didn't matter anyway, right? While loading the boat, the rod slipped off the arm, the bar rotated forward, and the 1 7/8 ball slipped right out of the trailer tongue. (Didn't know that could happen) The trailer was trapped between the boat and the ramp, totally unconnected from the tractor (safety chains; what a good idea) and gravety was trying to pull the trailer down the ramp, and I was at the boat throtles gently trying to keep it above water. basicly, I was driving the boat trailer with the boat's prop. Couldn't get out of the boat to hook the trailer to the tractor because I had to constantly work the throttle to keep the trailer in place above water. Like the little boy with his finger stuck in the dyke (rock wall retaining water, not the woman).

A stranger walking by saw the problem, and hooked the trailer back to the tractor. Without his help, I would have probably lost the trailer down the ramp, and my boss was not too happy with me anyway. That stranger probably saved my job.

Mark in So. MD

Rico, thats too funny

I had just got my first "fast" boat. 20ft hydrostream, motor would crank but not start. My dad said, let me see, its a mercury you should just have to curse at it(dont ask me, just something he has always said). He starts it right up, well i forgot the kill switch and he sneaked it on,

Same time, while sitting there tring to start the motor, forgot the plug, after i got the motor started i backed out and then tried to take off, ha, nope that didnt happen, stopped and saw gallons of water behind the back seat.