stupid mistakes
05-05-2015, 06:35 PM
#51
Registered
Drove from Seattle to Grand Lake Of Cherokee to get my new to me boat(it had 34 hours), non stop. The owner drove the other direction 6-8hours round trip to get a new Myco for it. It wouldn't load but we kept trying, backing the trailer in deeper and deeper. Finally we pulled out with the bowstop a foot from the bow to look. Ahhhh, skeg's hitting the trailer and nickel sized chunks taken out of the leading edge of each skeg 4" up from the bottom.
I took out the stress risers and smoothed the contour, the notches got larger from this, and ran it. No speed loss!
I took out the stress risers and smoothed the contour, the notches got larger from this, and ran it. No speed loss!
05-05-2015, 08:53 PM
#53
Platinum Member
who has been working on there boat and took off the wrong part, or destroyed something trying to get to another. i was changing the indicator cable, the port side was good the sb side bad, pulled it out changed it, then thought i was cutting the old one . actually cut the other side 
i was pissed. stopped then started helping my son work on his truck.
i was pissed. stopped then started helping my son work on his truck.This is a tricky one......Karma paid in advance?
Did you ever pay Tim?
Last edited by Comanche3Six; 05-05-2015 at 08:55 PM.
05-05-2015, 11:04 PM
#55
Registered
Simple mistakes.
Me, I changed an intake on a motor one time. Was very conscious not to get any dirt or gasket material in the motor. Laid down a couple of those orange rags in the lifter valley and news paper on top of that before any work was done. Cleaned everything up, pulled out the paper and dropped the new intake on. During the next time out I watch my oil pressure go from 60psi to near 0 in about an hour. Pulled the motor thinking the oil pump went bad. Took a few minutes to figure out why the pick up was full of this orange fuzz.
Me, I changed an intake on a motor one time. Was very conscious not to get any dirt or gasket material in the motor. Laid down a couple of those orange rags in the lifter valley and news paper on top of that before any work was done. Cleaned everything up, pulled out the paper and dropped the new intake on. During the next time out I watch my oil pressure go from 60psi to near 0 in about an hour. Pulled the motor thinking the oil pump went bad. Took a few minutes to figure out why the pick up was full of this orange fuzz.
05-06-2015, 06:45 AM
#56
Registered
iTrader: (2)
Several years ago I was returning from a great day boating towards the end of the season and tied up to the dock to get the truck ready to pull the boat. The guy launching had dead batteries so I pulled one of mine to get him going. I pulled the boat from the water, put the battery back in covered it up and drove home.
The following weekend I had a motorcycle accident and was laid up for a week or so with damage to my left knee. I lost the last few weekends of the season because of the injury and October rolls around. I was getting nervous because of the temperature starting to dip, so it was time to winterize.
To set the scene, I was in a leg brace that immobilized my left knee from bending. My first step, lower outdrive and hook up the hose. I switched the battery disconnect switch to both, hobbled to the dash and began lowering the drive. I smelled something funny, turned to see smoke pouring from the behind the rear seat. I hobbled back to the seat, pulled it forward and saw fire. I what seemed like a minute but was really only a second I ran through possibilities – jump from the boat and let it burn (and possibly reinjur my knee), or try to put the fire out. I looked briefly for the extinguisher before realizing I had just removed it from the oat. Because I could not bend my knee, it would have taken too long to extract myself from the boat and get back into it in a timely manner. So I did what any sane person would do, I lay down on the floor, took a big lung full of air and began blowing at the fire. I guess the stars were aligned that day, I managed to put it out.
As it turns out, when I placed the battery back into the bilge at the ramp weeks prior, I hooked it up backwards. During winterization when I energized the system one of the cables fried along with the battery post. The molten lead from the post ran down the side of the battery and landed directly on top of one of the trim hoses. It melted through the hose and ignited the oil.
In the end the damage was to one battery, one trim hose and a very small burn mark on the carpet.
I disclosed this when selling the boat a few weekends ago, the buyer and I had a laugh about it. 5 years later, I guess it is kind of funny…
The following weekend I had a motorcycle accident and was laid up for a week or so with damage to my left knee. I lost the last few weekends of the season because of the injury and October rolls around. I was getting nervous because of the temperature starting to dip, so it was time to winterize.
To set the scene, I was in a leg brace that immobilized my left knee from bending. My first step, lower outdrive and hook up the hose. I switched the battery disconnect switch to both, hobbled to the dash and began lowering the drive. I smelled something funny, turned to see smoke pouring from the behind the rear seat. I hobbled back to the seat, pulled it forward and saw fire. I what seemed like a minute but was really only a second I ran through possibilities – jump from the boat and let it burn (and possibly reinjur my knee), or try to put the fire out. I looked briefly for the extinguisher before realizing I had just removed it from the oat. Because I could not bend my knee, it would have taken too long to extract myself from the boat and get back into it in a timely manner. So I did what any sane person would do, I lay down on the floor, took a big lung full of air and began blowing at the fire. I guess the stars were aligned that day, I managed to put it out.
As it turns out, when I placed the battery back into the bilge at the ramp weeks prior, I hooked it up backwards. During winterization when I energized the system one of the cables fried along with the battery post. The molten lead from the post ran down the side of the battery and landed directly on top of one of the trim hoses. It melted through the hose and ignited the oil.
In the end the damage was to one battery, one trim hose and a very small burn mark on the carpet.
I disclosed this when selling the boat a few weekends ago, the buyer and I had a laugh about it. 5 years later, I guess it is kind of funny…
05-06-2015, 08:21 AM
#57
Gold Member
Gold Member
I hate to admit this but it's funny now.......6 years later. Was working on some random boat a 29 with twin something's, not much forward bilge area, serpentine belts, side by side install, performing the initial timing procedure for a new distributor install. Using my fashionable remote start button to bring the engine to TDC while leaning over the idler pulley. Well.......My unit was secured beneath two layers of clothing but that apparently made no difference to a moving serpentine belt. I was just bumping it over an inch at a time when holy chit I realized that I was wrapped up in the pulley. I had to bump it over two more times to get released. I went home, iced it and now have a scar as a result........That was some pain I won't soon forget !!!....I won't post the pic.
05-06-2015, 10:35 AM
#59
VIP Member
I've had several.
Most memorable:
- Laid my 26' Sonic down in a mud flat. I zigged when I should have zagged on the Potomac River. When I realized my mistake I was in 18" of water with 18" of mud under it. Fortunately once I trimmed up, the boat was barely floating, and 3 of us were able to push it off the mud flat.
- Twice now I've pulled a boat up the ramp with lines still attached to the forward cleats, and they have fallen off and gone under trailer tires. Second time, it actually bent the cleat as the line tightened and snapped.
- I backed into the water several years ago once I had the boat fully winched back onto the trailer; trying to get the boat to center. The current was mighty strong, and the boat actually floated and drifted over the the fender. I didn't notice, and pulled up out of the water. The boat crushed the fender and came up at quite the precarious angle, briefly. I backed down again, and fortunately it centered the second time. I high tailed out of the marina without tying down the transom out of embarrassment.
-Pitfall of a boat with walkrail around it: Tendency to put stuff there and drive off when unloading the boat at the marina.
---1st time: Alpine removable faceplate of boat headunit. I never saw that one again. (You don't know how hard it is to replace the anti-theft portion of a radio back in the day.)
---2nd time: iPhone in a rubber case. Drove 10 miles down the road to a restaurant, and still couldn't find my phone. I called it from another phone, and heard it ringing; still sitting there on the rail--got lucky that time.
Most memorable:
- Laid my 26' Sonic down in a mud flat. I zigged when I should have zagged on the Potomac River. When I realized my mistake I was in 18" of water with 18" of mud under it. Fortunately once I trimmed up, the boat was barely floating, and 3 of us were able to push it off the mud flat.
- Twice now I've pulled a boat up the ramp with lines still attached to the forward cleats, and they have fallen off and gone under trailer tires. Second time, it actually bent the cleat as the line tightened and snapped.
- I backed into the water several years ago once I had the boat fully winched back onto the trailer; trying to get the boat to center. The current was mighty strong, and the boat actually floated and drifted over the the fender. I didn't notice, and pulled up out of the water. The boat crushed the fender and came up at quite the precarious angle, briefly. I backed down again, and fortunately it centered the second time. I high tailed out of the marina without tying down the transom out of embarrassment.
-Pitfall of a boat with walkrail around it: Tendency to put stuff there and drive off when unloading the boat at the marina.
---1st time: Alpine removable faceplate of boat headunit. I never saw that one again. (You don't know how hard it is to replace the anti-theft portion of a radio back in the day.)
---2nd time: iPhone in a rubber case. Drove 10 miles down the road to a restaurant, and still couldn't find my phone. I called it from another phone, and heard it ringing; still sitting there on the rail--got lucky that time.
Last edited by Sydwayz; 05-06-2015 at 10:38 AM.
05-06-2015, 12:56 PM
#60
Registered
Was a buddy's boat but...
Floating at the end of the day in a man-made channel for barges on the Illinois river right next to the Peoria Lock. Starting to get late and we have to make our way back up to Lacon where we launched (@ 32 miles) so we put everything away and take off North. As we are idling thru the no wake a few miles up the river on the Peoria riverfront we look back and notice a rear seat cushion missing (rear bench had 2 removable seat sections). Damn! Forgot to put it back in place after putting cooler away. It had been sitting on top of the sunpad. Turn around and race back towards the lock. Just as we are pulling up close to the wickets we see the cushion....just as it goes over!!!! SOAB!!!! The lockmaster is not thrilled with our location so he blows the horn at us. Ignoring him, we spot a set of concrete stairs off on the opposite side of the lock that appear to go down the other side. I ease the boat up to the stairs at the shoreline/wickets to drop my buddy off so he can see if the cushion is floating and other boats may be nearby. Now the lockmaster is pizzed off and blowing the horn non-stop! Yeah, motor dies or I make a mistake and we go over the wickets. Drop my buddy off and pull away and he disappears on the other side of the wickets. Several minutes go by and he returns with cushion in hand! I pick him up and we beat it out of there figuring by now the lockmaster has called the DNR on us. It is well after dark by the time we make it back to Lacon and as fate would have it, a thick haze set in as it was so hot and humid that evening making It all but impossible to make out the channel markers. The cushion now weighs 3 times what it did. When I ask how could it have sucked up so much water floating my buddy says that when he went on the other side and asked some nearby fisherman if they seen a cushion they all said "no". He said he was getting ready to come back over and write it off when all of the sudden the cushion shot straight up in the air from around the whitewater next to the wickets. The turbulence kept it underwater for several minutes thus soaking the wood and foam good. When the river is up and the wickets are down, the water in that area it was in is @ 75' deep! The normal channel depth of the river is 12' - 14' in that area. Talk about a big hole! Pic of channel and beginning of lock to the right. Rt. 474 bridge.
Floating at the end of the day in a man-made channel for barges on the Illinois river right next to the Peoria Lock. Starting to get late and we have to make our way back up to Lacon where we launched (@ 32 miles) so we put everything away and take off North. As we are idling thru the no wake a few miles up the river on the Peoria riverfront we look back and notice a rear seat cushion missing (rear bench had 2 removable seat sections). Damn! Forgot to put it back in place after putting cooler away. It had been sitting on top of the sunpad. Turn around and race back towards the lock. Just as we are pulling up close to the wickets we see the cushion....just as it goes over!!!! SOAB!!!! The lockmaster is not thrilled with our location so he blows the horn at us. Ignoring him, we spot a set of concrete stairs off on the opposite side of the lock that appear to go down the other side. I ease the boat up to the stairs at the shoreline/wickets to drop my buddy off so he can see if the cushion is floating and other boats may be nearby. Now the lockmaster is pizzed off and blowing the horn non-stop! Yeah, motor dies or I make a mistake and we go over the wickets. Drop my buddy off and pull away and he disappears on the other side of the wickets. Several minutes go by and he returns with cushion in hand! I pick him up and we beat it out of there figuring by now the lockmaster has called the DNR on us. It is well after dark by the time we make it back to Lacon and as fate would have it, a thick haze set in as it was so hot and humid that evening making It all but impossible to make out the channel markers. The cushion now weighs 3 times what it did. When I ask how could it have sucked up so much water floating my buddy says that when he went on the other side and asked some nearby fisherman if they seen a cushion they all said "no". He said he was getting ready to come back over and write it off when all of the sudden the cushion shot straight up in the air from around the whitewater next to the wickets. The turbulence kept it underwater for several minutes thus soaking the wood and foam good. When the river is up and the wickets are down, the water in that area it was in is @ 75' deep! The normal channel depth of the river is 12' - 14' in that area. Talk about a big hole! Pic of channel and beginning of lock to the right. Rt. 474 bridge.
Last edited by Knot 4 Me; 05-06-2015 at 01:02 PM.
