Return from hell-barely
 

The owner of the boat that took us out demonstrated the most flagrant disregard for lives of others as I have ever been exposed to..Check out : (photos can be found at==http://community.webshots.com/user/gdfatha

A friend of my buddy offered us a ride up the intracoastal from Edgewater to the ocean so we could calculate the time.

The actual travel time was 44 minutes. The time to go and return Including a one hour stop for lunch/dinner was an astounding eight (8) hours.
Here is a snapshot of event:
-Upon arrival at frinds house was notified outdrive would not pass water.
-Was asked to go to store and buy earmuffs
-got halfway there got called-told he found earmuffs and to come back
-friend fired up engine black sluge cam out the out drive--finall cleard up
-Since I noticed all tires were just about flat...I suggested they put in some air...Done.
-got in small jeep like car and headed off to the ramp
-20 minutes out..an oncoming car flashed lights-looked out rear mirrors-smoke billowing from under car.
-looked--shrugged piled back into car and kept it in 2nd gear
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Finally got to marina
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-launched boat without stern lines (huh??)
-lost control and almost hit other boat in launch area
-finally got control....I got in and tripped on box of nuts and bolts. The cabin was a disaster.
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-fired engine and away we went
-I positioned myself at the open walk thru window.
-17 minutes out the engine quit
-driver did somtin in the engine compartment.. Fired up and started again. Engine crapped out 2 more times before we reached the ocean. Both times driver would use wrench, hit carborator, screw around with a wire and restart engine.
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Finally reached ocean inlet but not before getting caught on some sandbars a couple of times.
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-Turned around and headed for a on water restaurant..
- Spied a marina with an open parking slot (dock) next to restaurant.
-Tried to parallel park banged into one of the boats tied up.
-Tide too swift.. gave up and move on.
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-Throughout the return trip engine stopped a total of 17.5 times. Driver did same thing each time. Went back to engine housing, diddled around...hit carborator several time with a wrench.
My buddy (Tom) had the task of wiping up the gas that spewed from the carborator. I heard something about a stuck float each time.
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I got concerned and finally went to the engine compartment and GASPED.. There was fuel pouring out of the carborator right next to some bare jurry rigged wires. I was told they jumped the starter coil or it wouldn't work. They stopped..fixed again and off we went.
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I was now wondering how high I would actually fly if the boat blew up.. I never should have looked.
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After a while (still looking for a restaurant) I peeked again. Told driver there was fluid all over the floor. Was asked how much in the bildge?? Signalled about four (4) inches and gas/oil floating on top. Got a shrug and we continued on.
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found restaurant. No parkin dock. so parked under dock.
- Food sucked.. I had a double Black Label.
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Sun was going down fast, still had to observer speed rules.
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Several more engine quits with same fix=it was now dark.. NO boat lights worked.
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Reached marina.. THANK GAWD we were alive..LITTLE DID I KNOW!!!
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Driver backed trailer down to boat. HOLLY $$hit!!!This is a 24footer..NO winch!!
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Busted A$$ to get boat forward on trailer...
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Whew....driver started to pull boat . the bow shot up and the hitch disloged from the car ball. Driver mumbled sumtin about WRONG SIZE HITCH BALL.
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Started trying to MANUALLY lift trailer. Failed... Suggestion-Why not try the trailor jack..... OH...That worked...
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Started to drive home at last... NOT.... about 1/2 hour from marina boat trailor un hitched from car (we did have a safety chain thank God) and almost took us off the road. Thank GAWD it was a lonely road..SR 46 and there was little traffic.
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car and trailor were abou one foot from sharp drop off and Tom almost fell down.
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Used jack rehitched trailer got rolling slowly
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Stopped at fast food place left Tom to watch the boat driver and I went to Walmart. I cant repeat what I said when driver complained about cost of ball connection as well as the price of an adjustable wrenc..
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Got back to Tom and boat changed ball rehitched and go home with out further incident.
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The irony of this??? The driver was a design engineer.
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Lesson learned??? I will never go boating with this guy again!!
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Please see photos of experience at:http://community.webshots.com/user/gdfatha

here is sample photo

Holy chit, Marc! That's unbelievable.
That thing is definately a death trap...

Glad you made it on one peace. See there are miracles after all.lol

I especially like the fine attention to sight lines that was applied during the mounting of the electronics. Looks like you've got at least 3, maybe 4 inches of clear vision over the fishfinder (?) at the helm. All you need, right?

I would have signaled someone to get me the hell off that thing, or when you got to the on water rest. I would have bailed... That is downright scary..

You knew better than boarding that POS!

Hell, I Thought It Was A Good Joke At First, But Then The Pic...... Damn You Got Balls For Riding With That Guy...............


Jeff

:eek: I don't think I'd have ever got on that thing! Glad you made it back in one piece!

If I hadn't seen the pictures, I'd of thought you were kidding. :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

Glad you....no....surprised you made it back in one piece.
What a piece of............!

Where is this Sea Love Marina??? Looks like a demolition project in progress.
I've seen some small "Mom and Pop" marinas before but that one beats all.

Ummmm.... You got ON THAT BOAT? I would have told him to F off! You have larger cahones then I do! WHERE was that?

Iggy..

The Sea Love Marina is where they will be launching for the Offshore races at Daytona Beach. The restaurant Down the Hatch is right next door. The are located on the inside of Ponce inlet.

For launching it is much sorter than last year where they launched at New Smyrna Beach at the Swoope Site Power Plant..

Hmmmmmmmm,

Sounds like DevilMan's boat.

If you were a cat I would say you have about 1 life left!

ROFLMAO :D:D:D:D

Jon

Thats a '78 Reinell hardtop with a 188 hp merc isn't it. I grew up on one of those. Dad's wasn't that big of a POS, but I wouldn't have put it past him to run wires across the motor like that and keep running with the carb spitting gas. PLUS, that was 20 years ago when he had it. I think he bought his in '84 for around $5500. I hope this guy didn't spend that much, I say for now that is worth... well what does it cost for a good chainsaw to cut the hull up and throw it in the dumpster?

Whew, what a story. Glad you made it back safe.

Damn, Key word here, Engineer!!!;)

Personally, I kinda think it is a cute boat. Not my style, but cute.

As far as the engineer aspect, he sounds like one of the many I deal with daily. These guys are found in corporate part design departments and are usually busy designing pieces for your home appliances that cannot be manufactured. These guys have masters degrees but not enough mechanical sense to be able to understand that a part is useless if it cannot be manufactured. It's a wonder that a basic stove doesn't cost $15,000 these days with these jokers at the helm.

What were you thinking!? ....Glad you're SAFE! We are all glad!

:bunny: :hammy: :mouse: :frog: :et:

I would have laughed my ass off soon as I saw the pos. Said, Seeya at the bar.

Gdfatha:
 

I think i would have grabbed the first life preserver(if there were any!) and jumped off that POS when i saw the fuel spillin out the carb. Those old Merc 188s were notorius for backfiring.

Wannabe