I have never made it to the water without the plug. I keep the wrench that fits the drain plug attached to my separate keychain that has the key to fit the trailer hitch lock. (Also has key to hitch-pin lock, and spare tire cable lock.) Everytime I go to unlock the trailer and hitch it to the truck, I grab that wrench/keychain and stick the plug in at the same time. (I also never loose those keys with that 12" wrench attached.) The plug always stays in a zippered pouch in truck with the removeable faceplate for the stereo, boat keys, drive lock key. One time, I was backing down the ramp, and realized I had not inserted the plug, as I was letting the bildge drain from a scrubbing on the way to the launch ramp. I never hit the water, but was about 50 feet away when I realized.

or worse. I keep my boat on a lift. I had taken the motors out in the fall to have the new ones built. I towed the boat over to the neighbors house to use his davit to drop in the first of the new motors. Over the winter I had spent some time cleaning up the bilge. Anyway I had left one of the valves open for the raw water intake. I towed the boat over lifted the hatch to find it filling with water, fast. Well there were not batteries in the boat yet so I towed it back to the lift so I could pull the plug.

Holy chit, that takes skill just trying to imaging lowering in a motor with a davit while the boat is IN THE WATER!! One false move and 3'x4' hole in boat!!

No one believes me when I say this...But we have NEVER forgotten a plug...We did have it fall out at the beach one day, which made it sink when it was at the dock and we were at home :)

Worse than leaving plug out....I had (and I use the past tense on purpose) an employee who parked my 357 outdoors with cover off and the plug IN. Big rainstorm happens. Leaves blow into boat, clog drain holes. Boat fill to alternators. Replace alternators. Idiot does it AGAIN! Fire idiot. Replace alternators.

/hangs head...still can't believe it

Doc

Well your from LOTO so you will appreciate this.
We had a 34 foot Scarab, We are waiting at the public ramp at the state park to get in. Well Darel and his 2 other brothers Darrel
have a pontoon boat dead in the middle of the ramp(Water Side)
Well we waited for over 1/2 hour while Darrel and Darrel tried to keep starting it, DAAAAAA it wont start. fin ally i told them to pull it to the dock, DAAAAA. So you gotta understand me and the Misses have been doing this for 20 years, She drives the boat great. So we whip in( Sorry PUDER not Whip it out) And were done in 30 seconds.
So i take the Boys to the condo( UPHILL OF COURSE) She comes around the bend Scarab bilging water like a mother. I freak out.
Run (UPHILL) to get Plug out of Truck. ( We have Spares every were now). Let the Oldest boy get in to save the day
( Because i am out of Breath) So no harm done good thing for killer bilge pump water never got over 10 inches in the bilge.

Oh Yea I told Oldest Boy not to drop the plug as he put it in, that was not a smart move.

Not in my current boat, but in a 20 ft SeaCraft center console. I'll try to keep this short.
The boat has a transom well in front of the outboard <brand-new 140 Johnson, not even broken in yet> with 2 drain plugs. I had been working on the bilge pump, through the access plate in the transom well and didn't screw it back down.
Left a waterfront bar at about midnight with about 7 friends <plenty of PFD's>.
We were rafted off to a friends boat, standing around laughin' and drinkin. I had my feet up on the transom well and failed to notice that my guests were ankle-deep in seawater. What had happened was the weight of the guests lowered the transom far enough that the water came in thru the drainholes and straight in thru the bilge pump access plate. Thinking that the water had entered thru the thru-deck scuppers, I disengaged from the raft-up and went to drain the water back thru the scuppers by planing off. UNFORTUNATELY- the boat was full to the gunwales, and when the boat moved forward, the water shifted backwards, the transom went under, and the boat ROLLED OVER . . . All hands were safely recovered. Next day with scuba gear recovering the contents of purses, car keys, everything in the boat that wasn't bolted down. I am SO much wiser now . . .

Never forgot plug ( I leave it in , only pull it to check for water)
BUT , I did do the rear tiedown trick:o Had people on the dock pulling on the rope. Somebody on the tongue of the trailer pushing. And I even pulled up a bit ...backed up fast and hit the brakes. At that point I knew something else was wrong:rolleyes:

It happened only once...

But to make a long story short, it left me in the water at the rear of the boat with my finger in the plug hole awaiting the plug and a wrench to arrive.......Of course in front of a full ramp of aggravated yet amused people....:cool:

Not Me.......
 

Have seen it happen several times, even watched my Dad do it........My Grandfather had a saying that I use every time at the ramp;
"Plug In-Plug Out"
That means put the plug in the boat, and unplug the trailer harness. It means the opposite when trailering.

The biggest problem I had with my first boat was forgetting to raise the drive when trailering. It had a low trailer and the scag would drag the ground as I pulled it out of the water. It happened quite a few times.......Oh well, it entertained a few people as well as kept the leading edge of the scag well rounded. :D