How about a stupid boater thread?

had my chaparral 29ft on a trailer for repair to drives went to put back in water. ramp is 3 miles a way forgot to put in the pin for ball mount 1/2 mile from ramp trailer came off of the truck
 
mike1234 said:
had my chaparral 29ft on a trailer for repair to drives went to put back in water. ramp is 3 miles a way forgot to put in the pin for ball mount 1/2 mile from ramp trailer came off of the truck
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Yep mistakes happen. That's why I double & triple check a lot of things on my boat/trailer/tow vehicle combination. I hope you safety chains caught it.
Welcome to the ClubSeaRay forum.
 
I left home once with my 14x7 enclosed trailer full of karting stuff and heading to the track. Got about a mile or 2 from home and could hear and feel something wrong so pulled over to check. Never latched the coupler. Luckily it didn't pop off so no harm done.
 
Many moons ago I believe I was 18. Our old 18' 115hp tri hull . Had my Gf at the time in the boat. We did some swimming and it was getting late. So I start up and take off. The anchor that was tied to the stern of the boat passed right between us at head level landing in the open bow.
 
KrazyKarl said:
Yep mistakes happen. That's why I double & triple check a lot of things on my boat/trailer/tow vehicle combination. I hope you safety chains caught it.
Welcome to the ClubSeaRay forum.
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I keep a checklist for departure and arrival. Even though been doing it a long time, its easy to get distracted and forget something. Now, like pilots, we go thru the checklist to verify everything is done. Works well.
 
boatman37 said:
I left home once with my 14x7 enclosed trailer full of karting stuff and heading to the track. Got about a mile or 2 from home and could hear and feel something wrong so pulled over to check. Never latched the coupler. Luckily it didn't pop off so no harm done.
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I am scared to death of this happening. When I was younger I operated heavy equipment that I also loaded onto a trailer and towed with a dump truck. I would check the hitch and chains 20 times before getting in the cab. I do the same now with anything I tow. Old habits die hard.
 
highslice said:
I am scared to death of this happening. When I was younger I operated heavy equipment that I also loaded onto a trailer and towed with a dump truck. I would check the hitch and chains 20 times before getting in the cab. I do the same now with anything I tow. Old habits die hard.
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Yeah I am usually very safety conscious but somehow that day I missed it. Not passing the blame but my son may have hooked it up but even then I should have double checked the work of a 12 year old. We were headed to the track for his kart race
 
boatman37 said:
Yeah I am usually very safety conscious but somehow that day I missed it. Not passing the blame but my son may have hooked it up but even then I should have double checked the work of a 12 year old. We were headed to the track for his kart race
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I wasn't questioning your attention to safety. Just pointing out how my work in my younger days shaped my obsession with it.
 
Hey group, thought I would kick this thread with a less serious thing that happened yesterday.
Went down to clean and engine checks, really windy (25mph gusts) so stayed at the dock. In the middle of shutting everything down before generator test I’m hearing something running doesn’t sound like my usual noises, took me a solid 10 minutes to finally realize the A/C condensate, sower sump pump was running. Float switch has failed in the on position, moved it up and down and it finally freed up but ordered a new switch anyway. Things that make you go Hmmm.
Jon
 
GirlyGirl1999 said:
Hey group, thought I would kick this thread with a less serious thing that happened yesterday.
Went down to clean and engine checks, really windy (25mph gusts) so stayed at the dock. In the middle of shutting everything down before generator test I’m hearing something running doesn’t sound like my usual noises, took me a solid 10 minutes to finally realize the A/C condensate, sower sump pump was running. Float switch has failed in the on position, moved it up and down and it finally freed up but ordered a new switch anyway. Things that make you go Hmmm.
Jon
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That's a good one. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to correlate that sound to having run the AC for a while.
 
I have posted this "dumb move" before, but since everyone has long forgotten:

With my first boat, about 25 years ago, I had a rode locker with hawse pipe in the bow but no windlass. The bow pulpit had an anchor roller to hold the danforth anchor and a nice big cleat on the deck. I had 15ft of chain, plus 1/2" rode in the locker. My newbie dumb-ass brain said "Just wrap the chain around the cleat to hold the anchor on. There's no way it will come loose."

Well, running at about 35 mph in some pounding waves, she came loose alright. The anchor hit the water at the bow, then raced along the keel where it hit the alpha outdrive square on with an enormous "BANG", taking the prop out. Then the rode was screaming out of the locker till it snagged coming out the hawse pipe with the anchor about 50ft behind the boat. In a split second, the rode went taut, stretched like a rubber band and launched that danforth out of the water BACK TOWARDS THE BOAT. It splashed in the water about 10ft behind the boat just as the boat was coming off plane.

My wife was sitting facing aft as we were driving and saw the the whoooole thing, including 15 lbs of anchor with chain attached flying through the air back at her and the kids. (now everyone picture the look on her face as she turned to face me after the boat came to a stop ......... oh myyyyy, if looks could kill.).

So now we are bobbing around on a blustery cold day in open water with 25% of a prop. I limped to the nearest marina, called a cab to take my wife and kids to the car and vowed to never take a boating short cut again. Damage was limited to the prop and my pride. The outdrive had a major dent in the forward edge where the bar on the danforth whacked it, but no cracks. I got lucky with my first major D.A. move.

After seeing that Lake of the Ozarks article, I see it could easily have been much much worse. No short cuts anymore.
 
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