New boatie stupidity stories

[bullfrog]

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.

Was it you at Apple Tree Bay last Sunday around 3PM

Edited February 4, 2011 by bullfrog

[kingky]

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

That's gold!! Nice one mate. Borrowed a mate's boat one time and started panicking cos i couldnt seem to get the boat off (was a busy ramp and didnt want to upset anyone). Some bloke shouted out, "You've still got the bottom bracket on mate"! Bloody embarrassing i tell ya

[fisherdad]

Our boat is on a marina mooring and I reccomend I have needed to go to the office at least 3 times and ask for my spare keys after leaving them at home.

Makes you feel real stupid

Yes previous boats we also launched only to see a fountain from the mid deck bung, lean over the back and put the hull bung in and let the bilge pump do it's bit

But the worst was Australia day, sitting at the wharf all loaded for a BBQ at Towra and "where's the gas bottle"

Rather than take the return trip that would have cost 2 hrs to home went to the local servo to pick $70 reminder to check to add to the collection of cylinders

Expensive steak

[breezen]

Hi all, i've been a long time reader but have only recently signed up and this is my first post ! Wish it could have been about a cracker fishing trip, but since I haven't had any of them recently and this has given me such a great laugh I though I may as well contribute.

Lesson 1: Was bringing the boat up onto the trailer at the end of Burwood Road on new years day. Was winching it on and had got it pretty much all the way up the trailer. Went to give the winch just one more turn to make sure she was nice and snug when all of a sudden SNAP ! The cable gives way and the boat goes screaming back into the water. So, check the condition of your winch cable and if it looks tattered get it changed .....

Lesson 2: Again at the end of Burwood Road, I got the boat up on the trailer this time (phew), secured it with the chain and drove it off the ramp. It was a little busy so I parked in the middle of the laneway and turned the car off with the aim of quickly getting the strap on and getting the hell out of there. With the strap on I ran back to the car turned the key and NOTHING! The damn thing WOULDN'T START .... In a panic I called my cousin who is a mechanic and after running through a brief series of questions he determined that I was a moron and had left the car in drive (Talk about a blonde moment !!) After hanging up on him (with him in hysterics) I put the car in park, started it and drove off with my male ego in shatters, but a lesson I will take with me for life lol.

[Rafinx]

I used to work for holden, and hearing the customers wondering why they cannot start the car only to realise a mechanic got lazy and did not put it back into park.

[thylacene]

Have a fine list of stupid things;

Headed off from Bermi towards Montague, 10k's into the trip realised the bungs were still out. Took that long to realise the boat was behaving stramgely. A quick swim to put the bungs in and then another 10 minutes sitting waiting for the bilge pump to do its thing.

New boat, 17 hours, dealer could service the next day but then booked out for three weeks. Put the boat in the lake to put another couple of hours on at an unfamiliar ramp and as it backed off the trailer dinged the prop on a shallow clam bank. How to get rid of a quick grand.

Washed and flushed the boat in the caravan park and then set off with the engine down, ploughing the grass with the fin on the bottom of the motor for a good 20 meters before I realised.

Fishing for livies about 3 meters from Montague, anchor dragged so I went forward to full the anchor, bluebottles wrapped around anchor rope meant I ended up with 8-10 wraps of bluebottle around my hands, dropped the rope and put a scratch on the new 4 blade prop as it just touched a rock.

You pay for your education, whether it be university or the school of hard knocks ;^)

[Catchin Jack]

Not a new boatie but for the second time in my life i forgot to put the bung plugs in.

I decided to take a client fishing yesterday afternoon and completely forgot to put the bungs in, went parked the car and when walking to the ramp seen the boat sitting very low in the water, raced back to the car and reversed trailer back in, winched it half up on trailer and moved car forward enough to drain water and put damn bungs in. Last time this happened was over 10yrs ago, at least the client who was an experienced boatie also seen the humour in it haha.

[macnaz]

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

lol thats a classic, thanks for sharing

[Nutz4Fishin]

Thought I would add a few..

1. Forgot the bungs (not only once).. Kept the boat going forward until my mate raced back and reversed the trailer down!

2. Left the muffs on! This happened going through the narooma bar on the way to montague island. This cooked the motor and was the end of the 2 week fishing holiday in the first few days!!

3. Pulled the boat in from a days fishing and begun driving home when we could hear line peeling off a few of our reels???? Stopped to check and sighted hundreds of meters of line down the road coming from our rods still in the rocket launchers. A very embarrassing moment!

4. Bought a new boat where the engine wasn't running.. A mate and I spent some time on it and eventually got it running so thought we'd take it for a spin.. All excited get down the ramp and yup forgot the boat keys!

5. Filled up the tank at the petrol station on the way to the ramp and put a bit too much in (no room for the mix of oil) No worries will run it for a bit at the ramp and can put in the oil once we had burnt a bit of fuel. Burnt some fuel and were slowly cruising, take the fuel cap off and yup Ofcourse a boat wave comes straight over the side with water going straight in the fuel. Not long later motor stopped and got a tow back to the ramp!

Luckily none of these have happened for a few years now! Touchwood..

[fryboy]

Cant believe I havent seen this thread before. Great stuff. I've got a list too...

Forgot keys - check (check about a million other things too, lifejackets, bait, the rod I really want that day, sunscreen.... fortunately I'm not too far from the ramp)

Left wheel lock on trailer and drove away - check

Left trailer brake engaged and driven off - check (only noticed while waiting for the lights at top of Wakehurst Parkway after driving from Narrabeen. The smoke was the giveaway)

Forgot to put strap over boat and driven home - check

Forgot to lift motor coming into the ramp - check

Forgot to reconnect lights after retrieving and driving home - check.

Lost winch handle (x2) because forgotten to remove from winch when driving off - check

I have NEVER forgotten the bungs. But I subscribe to the view that there are two types of boaties - those that have forgotten them, and those that havent yet.

[The Incredible Hull]

I've owned my boat for about 10 months now... mishaps galore.

- Left Bungs out, tried to pull up the water filled boat and winch snapped

- Dangling anchor rope caught on trailer roller during winching and bent the winch hook

- Had problems getting the boat straight, onto the trailer due to the ramp being in a channel with strong current

- Lost in thick fog, more of a navigation thing

- Was so keen once I reversed the trailer in without removing the boat belt and the outboard rod holder.

- Once did not put down the trailer coupling lock

- After a fishing session, anchor wouldn't come up, happened twice.

- Last but not least, my sounder wasn't plugged in properly, and went into simulation mode without me knowing - I found this out after I had pulled the boat out and was packing up, only to notice there were fishing still swimming around 0_0 !!!

This all happened in the first month or so of owning a boat, haven't had 1 repeat ever since!

[kulch]

Myself and some mates just got a boat, 2nd hand fibreglass classic

3 launches thus far - i cant stop smiling as i type this

Launch 1. drove sydney to shoal bay - we left with the motor up, arrived with it down - forgot the anchor, maiden voyage delayed until 7am when tackle shop opens, we were emotionally shattered our egos took massive hits, but this was just the beginning.

@ launch, dropped the screw for the d shackle of the safety chain into water (we'll deal with that later, we wanna go fishing in our new vessel)...........realised once fishing we left the charts in sydney, ran the gaunlet...............after 4 hours the back of the boat is taking in water - bungs were good - we turn around bolting home, thinking we are sinking - after maybe a few mins bailing and moving at a rate home, realised our livie bucket split and leaked out - phew, continued to bail and kept fishing - livies took a hit though - we overloaded the boat, as you do on maiden voyage - the place is a mess, looks like we smuggled a town in

Launch 2 we left with the motor up, arrived with it down launch was alot better - but realised we lost the winch handle upon return.........dropped a mate off for the winch run, while we floated in hope we could get one

Launch 3 was dominant, we left the motor down until backing it in - took the right amount of gear, launched brilliantly - left dry bag on land - had my wallet, ie fishing/boat licence, phone etc,, all the ncecessities...... we return we lose the winch pin and now it doest lock, had to use the close to impossible higher cog - got away with it, but need a pin, which we have sourced..........depart shoal bay, and our trailer brakes dont light up lol

i swear the shoal bay boat ramp is difficult - i havent had much experience, but it gets tidal surges and waves making it hard to keep things under control - also has epic moss and weed build up

We are stocking up on bungs, pins, d shackles, we finally figured out how to lock the motor in up position.

There will be more trials and tribulations - as long as everyones back safe and enjoy a beer to share the laughs, its all part of the fun haha

Edited December 22, 2011 by kulch

[mako2000]

1st trip out in the tinnie today, thought Id use Woronora boat ramp as a good chance it would be quiet....no probs...all going well, back the boat down the ramp...get out push the boat off the trailer....never checked the adjustment of the tow hitch on th the tow ball...trailer comes off the ball, thankfully the safety chain grabbed it. Had to grab an innocent picknicker to help me pull the trailer back up and on to the car though. Rest of the trip was incident free thankfully, even caught 2 decent whiting for dinner.

Edited December 24, 2011 by mako2000

[Guest Aussie007]

many years ago new to boating put the boat incorrectly on the trailer the last time i used it punching a small 5c hole in the hull (fibreglass) next outing put the boat in at picnic point boat shed drove 14km's down stream sat in between tom uglies and captain cook bridges fishing for 5 mins than i noticed water coming up though the floor where the main seats were bolted down i shit thought we were goners quickly pulled up anchor headed strait home full throttle while my cousin was bailing the water out of the boat got back to the ramp my commodore struggled to pull the boat up the picnic point boat ramp removed bungs drove 35mins home and water was still pissing out of the bungs

[ace]

First ever time I launched my boat ,after snaking my way sheepishly down the old fore shore drive ramp which was packed at the time, I pushed the boat off the trailer only for the boat to bottom out hard on the ramp . Lesson learnt trailer needs to be submerged very embarrassing

[sydney south]

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!

Yes have done this myself, however I thought that I had picked up a plastic bag and when stopping and lifting the motor found that the ear muffs were still attached.

[Guest Aussie007]

Yes have done this myself, however I thought that I had picked up a plastic bag and when stopping and lifting the motor found that the ear muffs were still attached.

i hear that way to often lmao

[raysenior]

This is a great thread and good for a laugh,

I was sitting on the shoalhaven river one afternoon and couldnt work out why my bilge pump kept pumping out water, its automatic and i presumed i must have some sort of leak , so i up anchor and head back to the ramp , then i remembered the bag of frozen bait i had thawing in the livetank, the plastic bag had covered up the overflow and the excess water was sent to the bilge!! needless to say i dont thaw out in there anymore LOL .

cheers snr

[borgie_29]

this goes back a few years now,

Went out with my cousin, left early in the morning with my cousin and his mate, got there and everything ran smoothly. Got to the spot that we were going to target and we realised we left all of the fishing reels at home. My cousin didn't like to leave the reels on the rods for some reason.

Then the next week we went out to hit up the same spot and we were all so worried to check that we had the reels and we forgot the bait

We didn't even have any lures or anything to catch any live bait.

[ray67]

here goes for my story was about 18 months ago was going out for an early morning fish 3am had a late night not enough sleep

my boat was 6.5 meter with 200 litre fuel tank had about a quater tank so wanted to fill up for a full days fishing

got to the servo early in the morning still half asleep pulled out the pump started fueling up laughing with the mates not concentrating at all

pump stops excellent full tank around 190 dollars worth of fuel still laughing with mates put pump back in holder something clicks ohh f---

i say to my mates i think i filled up with deisel nooo they say jump up on the side of the boat smell the fuel yep filled up with deisel

off to home disapointed no day out decided to empty fuel tank big job take up floor undo the fuel line and dump all the fuel into 20 litre buckets

after about two hours dumping fuel in my yard tank is empty off to the servo again to fill up so that the boat wasnt empty that day cost me

about 500 bucks and didnt get out of penrith

[MikeNash]

Two simple ones for me:

First day on the boat trying to get it on the trailer... reversed in nice and deep. Wondered why the boat didnt magically line up for me and kept floating away.

Second one - I'll try driving the boat off. Full power in reverse. Pushing the boat. Much swearing. Then notice soaking wet tie downs at the back

[Bracey]

Awesome thread.

Left jockey wheel down on trailer for 100m.

Forgot to connect trailer lights.

Lost winch handle as I drove trailer away after launching. Only found out when it was time to retrieve.

Hooked a tree driving off the ramp with rods still in the holders.

My mate takes the cake though. I unhooked the winch and safety chain and was just standing to the side as he was about to motor off the trailer. He has a brain explosion and goes into forward gear. Boat lurches forward and thankfully just stopped 3mm from winch. And my head.

The fuel into the rod holder by Phillipc made me laugh for 5 minutes.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Bartdude

[cheekiifisher]

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

This is to funny. I bet you still laugh when you talk about this lol

[Trapper Tom]

Hey guys cop this one.

Family always had a holiday house at Mannering Park and we stayed there for a month of each year.

When we were about 10yrs old our Uncle Ray came to up to stay for a week and brought his new tinny and brand new 9hp tiller outboard.

Needless to say we were allowed to hoot around in it.

Raced around Vales point passed the CO-OP and out into Wyee Bay heading for the Hotwater outlet flat out.

An all mightly noise and all I was left with was the rubber from the throttle in my hand.

The screws to fasten the motor to the boat had loosened and the motor spun of the back and into the middle of Wyee Bay.

We sat there for a few hours (very few houses and people in those days) waiting for someone to get us but ended up having to row all the way back around to Mannering Park and present ourselves to Dad and Ray. OOOOH BOOOOY!

Was all cool though. Was quite dangerous actually as when the motor came off it spun around and up into the air before hitting the drink.

Till the day he died Uncle Ray never let me live it down and he always got a great laugh out of doing it.

Cheers

Trapper Tom.

[mako2000]

This wasnt my mistake this time, but gave us all a really good laugh. About 10 years ago we were towing an enclosed racecar trailer back to Sydney from Gunnedah. With my mates Hilux we sat on a confortable 90kmh on the flat and up hills as well. After a while we had a bloke towing what looked like a fancy new bowrider type sitting about 6 inches off the back of our trailer, he would flash his lights and get all agitated on the flat sections but when it came to dual lanes going up hill he wouldnt be able to maintain 90 and would pull alongside and then fallback again. After a few kilometers of this we decided just do drop back and let him past before he killed someone. As he passed he gave us the bird with a few choice words and tried to take off, it was then we noticed his ouboard still down and grinding away on the road everytime he hit a bump. When we pulled up at some lights a bit further down the track, we just gave him a friendly wave and kept going!!