New boatie stupidity stories

[helliconia]

Experience is the best teacher, and it's often not til you do something exceedingly dumb that you learn the value of a full boat check before launching your boat.

I thought I'd start this thread so we could all share those moments, have a laugh, and maybe have a little library of things to remember and maybe save someone else the embarrassment.

My story occurred yesterday afternoon.

Loaded the boat up for a trip to Flint and Steel and left home for the Appletree Bay boat ramp. Launched the boat and off we went.

My partner had mentioned she wasn't confident in driving the boat so I got her in the drivers seat and started chatting about how to drive it properly. She tends to over-steer a lot at low speed and I was explaining it's easier to steer when you go a bit faster. So I encourage her to nudge the throttle up a bit. After a few minutes we're on the plane and the engine is humming along at 5000rpm and she's starting to get comfortable with it.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP goes the engine temperature alarm.

I tell her to pull the throttle back steadily to neutral and I go back to check the engine. After a minute at idle the temp alarm stops. It's pumping water at high revs so I'm thinking the temperature sensor is cactus. Just to be safe I idle it back to the boat ramp and tie it up. I check fuses, engine oil, everything I can think of but it all seems fine.

I was spewing, the whole rig is only 4 weeks old and it's already got a problem!!

The actual problem didn't become apparent til I put it back on the trailer.

Hauled it out of the water and was strapping it down for the trip home then back to the boat shop when I noticed something attached to the outboard leg.

The lesson here is - when you clean your boat and flush the engine, take the flushing muffs off! Apparently at speed they will stick to the leg and not fall off (saves buying more I guess) but the hole for the hose won't allow enough flow at high revs and seals the other water intake.

Lesson learnt! I'm typing up a check list now that will be laminated and used everytime I put the boat in the water and take it out!

[Maiders]

I have owned boats for years and I did this exact same thing around 2 months ago! A mate had used the boat the time before me and he had left the muffs on. Being dark and in a rush to get out I hadn't been as thorough as I should have been with my checks and didn't spot them... I felt like a grade A pr@t.

[Guest Aussie007]

Experience is the best teacher, and it's often not til you do something exceedingly dumb that you learn the value of a full boat check before launching your boat.

I thought I'd start this thread so we could all share those moments, have a laugh, and maybe have a little library of things to remember and maybe save someone else the embarrassment.

My story occurred yesterday afternoon.

Loaded the boat up for a trip to Flint and Steel and left home for the Appletree Bay boat ramp. Launched the boat and off we went.

My partner had mentioned she wasn't confident in driving the boat so I got her in the drivers seat and started chatting about how to drive it properly. She tends to over-steer a lot at low speed and I was explaining it's easier to steer when you go a bit faster. So I encourage her to nudge the throttle up a bit. After a few minutes we're on the plane and the engine is humming along at 5000rpm and she's starting to get comfortable with it.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP goes the engine temperature alarm.

I tell her to pull the throttle back steadily to neutral and I go back to check the engine. After a minute at idle the temp alarm stops. It's pumping water at high revs so I'm thinking the temperature sensor is cactus. Just to be safe I idle it back to the boat ramp and tie it up. I check fuses, engine oil, everything I can think of but it all seems fine.

I was spewing, the whole rig is only 4 weeks old and it's already got a problem!!

The actual problem didn't become apparent til I put it back on the trailer.

Hauled it out of the water and was strapping it down for the trip home then back to the boat shop when I noticed something attached to the outboard leg.

The lesson here is - when you clean your boat and flush the engine, take the flushing muffs off! Apparently at speed they will stick to the leg and not fall off (saves buying more I guess) but the hole for the hose won't allow enough flow at high revs and seals the other water intake.

Lesson learnt! I'm typing up a check list now that will be laminated and used everytime I put the boat in the water and take it out!

PMSL

[helliconia]

I told ya it was funny!

By the time I found the problem I really wasn't going to hang around the ramp and put the boat back in!! haha

[mr475]

We have only been boating for 2 years but we have already been on the ramp when one bloke backed down the ramp to launch his boat, braked to slow the rig and had his boat continue to launch itself onto the concrete ramp. He had apparently undone evrything prior to backing down the ramp. And there was the guy at the Foreshore Road ramp yesterday who started to drive up the ramp after retrieval with his engine still down. There was a nasty grating sound followed by a lot of words starting with F. We all do something stupid and feel like dills at some time. We even launched our boat without putting the bungs in once. It was almost off the trailer and my wife and I looked at each other and said at the same time "Did you put the bungs in?". We were able to winch it back and put them in. Lesson learned, but we will probably do it again one day!

[novice]

Have seen the bung plug issue once also.

While we were preparing to launch our boat at Mungo Brush, another family is doing the same.

Father is backing the boat down the ramp and his son calls out "dad, did you put the plugs in?". His father replies,"I'm not an idiot", and the son walks away with the sad droopy face, after his old man made him feel like crap.

5 mins later, they are back at the ramp, with half of their boat filled with water. Forward momentum being the only think saving their boat.

Who's the idiot now ????

I have to put my hand up (and head down in shame) for driving with the leg down.....

[tumra]

When you forget to put the bungs in you only make that mistake once. Nothing like having your boat fill with water to make you remember to always check your bungs!!!

[hamerz84]

yep i've done the muffs aswell cooked my impellar while i was at it 2 :yahoo: lesson learnt.

after i repaired the water pump me and my older brother took the boat back down to the ramp to give a test run with the new pump and we both forgot the plugs. its surprising how much water a boat can take in in 3-4mins. 6 hours later had it back on the trailer with about about 10000 litres of water draining from it lol. again lesson learnt.

this all happened about 10 years ago with my first boat being a "wet behind the ears" 17 yr old.

cheers hamerz.

Edited January 17, 2011 by hamerz84

[deek]

reversed the boat down the ramp at lake Conjola and I couldn't work out why the bloody boat wouldn't slide off the trailer. Turns out I forgot to remove the rear tie down strap.

[adzzy]

Yep i have left the ear muffs on before as well and one time forgot to put the safty cut out clip in and was trying to start the boat for about 15 minutes before this old fella walks past and says sounds like you have enough juice in the battery it must be the clip swinging from your set of keys you forgot to put in with a smile lets just say i have never forgotten either since then

[NickF]

I did this a few weeks ago, put the boat in the water and motored to the floating jetty to pick someone up, completely underestimated the time needed to slow the boat in reverse and gave the jetty a bump and somehow managed to find the spot with the metal cleat, nice chunk of clear coat and paint missing from the right hand bow section.

Is it easy to put a bit of paint and clear coat/resin over to fix it?

[gummybusta]

left the bungs out? check and check

left the rear tie downs on? check

had a mate tell me how his trailer is so sticky so take everything off and sink the trailer pretty deep and only have ot roll straght off onto the concreat ramp? check

take the boat down to the ramp get it ready and lurch only to have the missus ask if i had the keys and i didn't? Check

try to pull start one of my boat only to relise after a good 15mins i didn't have the kill switch pluged in? check

lucky for me this all has happind over a fair few years and a few diffrent boats

putting them all together thou sure makes me look bad

[Hutts]

Bungs...Yes..been there !

Planned a trip out in bay on my tinnie. Checked boat and engine the night before...mmm, need pertrol.

Took the petrol tank out and drove to the servo to fill it up.

Next morning, get to the boat ramp with my brother, launch and get about 400m from the ramp and yep - engine splatters and stops..no petrol tank...lololol....

Thats what happens with minimal sleep and 5am starts...

[steze]

Ive only been boating for about a year ... my mistakes were forgetting to put the bungs back in, leaving the muffs on and the most frustrating is driving all the way to the ramp and then only realising as I was reversing the boat down the ramp that I had left the boat keys at home.

[helliconia]

Seems to be a theme here We're all making the same mistakes.

I have a new one though that I forgot about.

Hooked up the trailer at a caravan park, folded the jockey wheel up but didn't rotate the handle out of the way. Drove off a steep grassy verge onto the road and ripped the jockey wheel handle off the top as the hitch gouged through the rise!

Making do jamming it back in its hole but I guess I should look at a replacement

[Phillipc]

well i have a stupid one for you guys just few weeks back organized with the boys an early start on the water so decided to drive to the petrol station late the night before to fuel her up. Take off the petrol cap on the boat start fueling the boat up only to hear petrol splashing into the boat! Look into boat oh shit there is petrol in the back thinking one of the hoses was not on, only to find im putting petrol into the rod holder f#$k 7 litres of petrol sitting on the carpet!!!!! Drive back home to clean the mess 3hrs later into bed and a day sniffing petrol while fishing

Phil

[Guest Aussie007]

im not a new boatie but just made a mistake that could have cost me my boat the kids were fighting over who gets front seat on the way home from port kembla it was pissing down raining wind blowing a gale i was in a rush and left off my main tie down i didnt realize untill i just got home and went to get the bait out of the boat

[cut_loose]

Haha, best thread out.

I've made my fair share of mistakes, over the years, let's see what i got.

I left the bungs AT HOME, got to the ramp, put the boat in and noticed when the auto bilge turned on. Had to go home after that one.

I got my new boat and my new, 60hp yamaha 4 stroke, fuel injected outboard, was telling a few neighbors how good they are and stuff, went to start the motor, didn't kick over, after 10 minutes looking abit red faced having no idea what's going on, i look and notice, no killswitch ! *facepalm*

Forget to put bait board inside boat, came home and it was gone ! lost a few rods by not putting them under the tie down strap.

Never forget the keys once, never forget to refuel, and never forget to lift the outboard in time reppin though Only bottomed out at a ramp which was like 0.1 meters deep for 10 meters and you couldn't even run the motor. Haha

[helliconia]

The keys one won't happen to me, I planned ahead, main keys live in the car's glovebox on a floaty thing, and have a spare set on the car keys. There's also 2 spare bungs in the boats glovebox, along with little boxes of all the fuse sizes the boat uses!

This ones not really a mistake, but was kind of entertaining.

Launched the boat and forgot to raise the bimini, so stopped a ways off the ramp and raised it. Biggest hairiest Huntsman spider had decided to make a home in the folds of the bimini. It was a race to see if I could chase the spider off the boat before the jumped overboard in a panic. She REALLY doesn't like spiders.

I had to drive around in a circle and show her the spider doing the backstroke on the water before she would believe I got rid of it

[TheCount]

Hit the trifecta on Saturday!!

Found out that I have an automatic bilge. My switch is a two click and I thought it had to be on position 1 to be auto. Good news as it kicked in after 10 minutes out on Brisbane Water.

Lesson 1 - Next time i'll check the bungs are TIGHT. Quick swim and we're back in business!

After another 5 minutes the alarm starts blaring in the control box - had no idea what it was for so tilted the engine up little and it went away... Another 10 minutes it goes off again so this time I thought it was "for real". Stopped, pulled the cover off and immediately saw the oil level!!

Lesson 2 - Oil is a high priority item and should be at the top of the shopping list. Luckily had about 200ml in the boat to get me back to the ramp.

I need to buy a new trailer lock. You see, when I unlocked it and placed it on the trailer so I wouldn't forget to put it in the car I hitched the boat up and drove off. Retraced my steps when I was on my way home but no luck.

Lesson 3 - Take your time when leaving home and it takes mere seconds to "do the right things right". I didn't like the padlock I had on it (non-marine) so it's a good excuse to buy a good one.

Sunday was a great day on Brisbane water - uneventful!

TC.

[jordan.widz]

My mistakes always seem to invole driving off with the anchor out and watching the nose on the boat go under

And I've done the bung trick aswell, I was surprised how far we got before my mate notice the water at the back of the boat was half way up the engine cover...

Edited January 24, 2011 by Prawn Star

[PlayerOne]

Just bought my first boat and 1st time out, forgot to trim up the motor at the ramp when launching..... smacked the motor's bottom fin onto the concrete ramp! Doh! ..... needless to say, i havnt done it since!

Edited January 24, 2011 by PlayerOne

[174ben]

Great thread.

I bought my new half cabbin boat. Stopped at the top of the ramp checked bungs removed strap and safety chain. Turns out the spring on the latch for the winch is broken so soon as I hit the incline of the ramp off she went landing on the dry. Took forever to get it in the water. Im sure everyone who was watching was ammused. Bought new winch and never remove safety chain until trailer in the water.

[Rafinx]

WELL. My boat is at my dads factory as i dont have room at my house to seat it, now i have 2 support beams for the canvas to protect it, one sits ontop of the perspex windshield, and one that goes on the dash, both go to the end of the boat to make a tent to keep the rain off. one Day i took off the canvas only to find out that my windshield has been smashed through, on furthur investigation, my older brother told me that my dad backed the truck into the boat hitting the dash support beam hitting it straight through, and he thought he did no damage =.=

Edited February 14, 2011 by Rafinx

[Alastair]

I'm enjoyoing this thread.

It's great to find out I'm not the only dickhe@d out there.

Missing bungs------check. Fortunately very obvious on my small runabout.

Kill switch--------check. Anyone ever noticed this will only happen when you have an audience?

Beaching boat with motor locked down----Check. Now have a routine I follow.

Running carby dry after flushing, and forgetting to switch off ignition, resulting in flat and sulphated battery--check, once only

Getting onto the better ones! Old style screw frog hitch. Hitch up, safety chain, electrics, forget to twist over the little safety ratchet Got lucky. Drove Sydney-Narooma, and wondered why becoming a bit noisy. As we turned into the campsite, @ 5kph, off it pops onto the safety chain. no other damage.

Many years ago, in S. Africa, similar hitch, NO safety chain, hit a bump, and had the frog break in half. Watched boat park on garden wall, fortunately, damage only to wall!

And finally, the reddest face:

I run 2 fuel tanks. When I flatten 1, I switch line to other, and fill up empty when I get home. So I ALWAYS have a full reserve. Yeah right. Long break, while renovating kitchen, and somehow get line onto wrong tank. Head out from ATB one evening, get to Waratah, and motor slows and stutters. Switch to other tank, and away........ for 20m, and dead stop. Check "new" tank, and not even fumes.

By carefully balancing "old" tank to get at dregs, and trimming min rpm just on plane, I managed to get almost back to the 4 knot zone......... then out came the oars, and a 30 min row back to ramp. No fun, and no fishing.

Cheers

Alastair