Your Dumbest Moment in Boating

Was backing my old 270 into the slip. Put both engines in neutral and went towards back to grab a line. Apparently one engine stayed in reverse and after backing into the dock (no damage) I had to bench press the boat off of the pier uintil I realized it was in fact still in reverse.
 
There are three that come to mind...

1) We were tied up with a couple of other boats, and we were the one anchored. We were this way for a couple of hours. Well, when it was time to go, we got everything situated and started out.... without pulling up the anchor. It slapped the side twice (and my arm) before we could get the boat stopped. Luckily minimal damage (to boat, and arm).

2) My wife put the boat on the trailer at the ramp, and she gave me the thumbs up. Which means, we're ready to go. So, we head up the ramp. I notice a really throaty engine noise. She had left it running. :smt021

3) My dad was trying to put the boat on the trailer, and had to dodge two incompetent boaters in the other ramp lane. Anyways, instead of hitting reverse, he turned around. Scraaaaape, the skeg hit the ramp concrete under the water.
 
My first trip ever in previously owned 175BR, backed the trailer up the ramp, while running around getting things set up, forgot to take of one of the back straps. Only after few attempts backing in to the water trying to shake off the boat from the trailer did I noticed that boat is being unloading from one side only. To spice things up, a few menutes after taking off, I notice that the boat is sitting too low. I openned the engine hatch and saw lots of water. you guessed it right, the PLUG, I kept it out in case if it rains hard to have water drain right out when boat was in the driveway. You can only imaging how fast was I moving back to the dock and put that plug back in. :smt021

Ran aground couple of times, but since I'm always cautios in a new area I always go slow and, thank got, had no damages. I can't believe how can one operate a boat without having a paper chart or chartplotter. :smt017

While still learnign my way with my old bow rider, I wandered how the boat with an open bow is designed the handle waves? When I went in 2-3 feet with some speed it looked amazing how I got of one wave and jumped right back to the other. This was interesting only until I did the same move going much slower. The boat nosed down in to the wave and took water. :smt100 And the best part was that I had a couple in the bow comfortably enjoying a much slower ride in the rough condition. :smt043

I can't believe that only after so many years the goverment only now enforcing Boating Safety certification. :smt021
 
This has turned out to be a very enjoyable thread.
I thought that I was the only over-anxious boater... :smt021 :smt021
We should vote on the best submittal....what do you think? :smt038 :smt038
 
Maybe we should compile them into a book and use it as a fund-raiser for some worthy cause. Of course we'd need many more stories. Other groups do it with cookbooks.
 
I've never done anything dumb, :wink: but last summer we were walking down the dock to a restaurant on a slow day. I noticed a older small boat kind of floating in the middle of a slip. I had to make a double look and noticed it wasn't tied to anything. It must have just came off its moorings because as soon as I saw it, it started floating away. I was able to one of the cleats with my toes with my butt on the very edge of the dock. I pulled it back and tied it back up to another cleat, but the cleat that it was originally tied to, broke off! There was no wake at all, but the boat was in pretty rough shape. I never did see the guy, but we joked that he was watching from on top of a hill planning insurance fraud which I sabotaged.
 
AndersonAcres said:
Maybe we should compile them into a book and use it as a fund-raiser for some worthy cause. Of course we'd need many more stories.
Click to expand...

You don't really think that everyone is being completely candid, do you??? Yeah, we have some shy participants... :smt018 :smt018
Come on folks, loosen up...
OK, let's ask the question, just for giggles....
In the quest for a spotless boat, how many have cleaned and waxed the swim platform????
Yup, sure did..... :huh: :huh: :huh:
And absolutely never again..... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Just remembered another one on my 175BR, I guess more with very good life lesson then a dumb move. After having a great time boating on one of the July4th in the early 90s weekends we headed back home and decided to go for a quick swim in the river. I’ve noticed the current, but had never thought or experienced that even a mild one can over power you easily. So, most of us jumped out with couple of people left in the boat. Being cautious, I was swimming very close to the boat. But, after a few minutes I’ve noticed that one of the girls is drifting away from the boat. Thank God I told her to put the lifejacket on before jumping in the water. I’ve realized she needed some help to get back, so I went over to get her. When I couth up with her I made sure she’s come and we started to work our way back to the boat. It took only a minute to realize that we’re not getting any closer. I told her why don’t you stay at drift (the lifejacket was holding her fine) and I would go get the boat. A several minutes later I’ve realized that I’m getting exhausted swimming against the current and the boat is still a good distance away. I’ve whistled to my wife and friends on boat and waved them to start the boat and pick us up. In the meantime I swemm back and stayed with the girl. Few minutes later we were picked up. Everyone was fine and the party had continued.

The bad:
1. Have I known better about currents and danger swimming in currents I wouldn’t allow inexperienced swimmers jump in the water. :smt021 Or, another option would be tying them to a line.
2. Have I known better, I would never make the attempt to go saving someone leaving boat with people behind. Instead, I would just drive the boat and pick up the swimmer. :smt017

The Good:
1. I didn’t worry about the girl being in danger so much, because I know she had a good lifejacket on. :thumbsup:
2. Before I stopped for a swim, I pulled the boat a little closer to land. So, in the back of my mind this was my plan “Câ€, to cut over to shore, pass the floating boat on foot and get back on it few hundred feet later. :smt017
3. Before I left the boat and went for the girl, I knew that I had two people (my wife and a friend) who could operate the boat if needed. This was my pln “Bâ€. :smt038

Alex.
 
AndersonAcres said:
Maybe we should compile them into a book and use it as a fund-raiser for some worthy cause. Of course we'd need many more stories. Other groups do it with cookbooks.
Click to expand...

Or may be we could give some to the Safety Course agencies as the lab work with questions like "what would you do in this situation?"
 
Hampton said:
Antenna in trees when towing.
Click to expand...

I'm guilty of that, but multiple times. On the assumption that one should learn from his/her prior mistakes, IMO that makes me extra-stoopid. This item was one of those that gave me extry-incentive to use a very complete checklist when trailoring.
 
My goofs are generally due to distraction or "mind not on task". Example one: On a rented canbote, my mind was thinking "fix anchor rode to cleat" but my body was thinking "untie anchor rode from cleat". I threw in the anchor and watched the rode uncoil until the bitter end slipped off the boat and below the waves. Boy did that feel stupid.

Another time, I was talking to friends while hauling in the anchor. This was in the river and a considerable current. There was a boat anchored down stream and I damned near let my boat drift right into him. Came within millimeters and got the full effect of his horn and middle finger. Stupid again.

Then, there was the time I actually suffered a pretty bad injury. I was sitting in the bow of my Crownline 225 BR when the Admiral asked me to fetch her float that was drifting away. I leapt over the bow rail and in mid flight realized my Rx sunglasses were still on. Instead of grabbing the sunglasses, I instinctively hung onto the rail. All 200 lbs. of me ripped against my outstretched arm, ripping my biceps muscle and a bunch of pectoral major. I ended up black and blue from my fifth rib to my elbow and am somewhat disfigured in my physique to this day. STUPID STUPID STUPID.

Then there was the time . . . oh heck. Enough!

Dennis
 
It was our first 'major' trip in our 320 DA. Just me and the wife (fiance at the time). Destination, Long Boat Key. After a 3 1/2 hour cruise, I was convinced that we could make it without re-fueling. Mistake #1. Mistake #2 was telling her that we were low on fuel. So you guessed it, every 2 minutes.."Are we going to run out of gas?, Are we going to run out of gas?" Now, not knowing the area, as we get into the pass, I was a bit confused and annoyed having to say "No, honey, no honey no honey", every 2 minutes I saw the depth finder quickly go from 18ft to 14ft,12ft, 8ft, 4ft 2ft....."HOLD ON HONEY".........Sandbar.... Was stuck there for 3 hours waiting for a boat to come pull us out... When we finally got to deeper water, about 5 minutes away from the marina, then the generator conked out, and we coasted into the slip on fumes...She loves telling that story.
 
This has been the funniest read ever. (except the ones with injuries) My only wish is that I had found this board years ago because in one way or another it seems we all suffer from the same gene problem and how much I would have learned to help make the best decision in a difficult situation. Thanks all. :thumbsup:
 
I'm going to skip all the minor docking stories and skip right to:

Repairs gone wrong

A lot of the walk through windshields have a little black foot on frame of the moving panel, that it rests on when open. On my old boat it was attached with a small screw into the the metal frame. The little screw loosened and fell out. So I found a nice stainless screw a little longer and wider than the old screw. As I tightened the screw it went through the frame, through the rubber gasket and into the glass panel. Well tempered safety glass shatters into a million little pieces when you try to put screw through it. That was a $900 mistake.
 
A few years back a coworker bought himself a fiberglass fishing boat with a roller trailer. Being new to boat ownership. he asked another coworker that owns a boat and myself to go with him on his maiden voyage at a private lake. We get to the ramp and get the boat ready to go into the water, just as we are getting ready to back down the ramp, lake security wants to see his owners tag which is back at his house. Well he takes off up the hill to go get the tag and WHAM the boat rolls off the trailer and is setting in the middle of the road. Come to find out I USED to unhook the safety chain and leave the winch hooked up and my other coworker USED to do the opposite so there was nothing holding the boat on the trailer. For some reason we never got invited to go fishing with him again.

Another time we were coming into the dock at a local lake and see this kid standing quite a ways out from shore but only waist deep in the water. He was waving his arms shouting at us to go around. I asked him what he was standing on and he said "the top of my dads pickup".
 
I had a 1980"s Glastron with an 85 hp Johnson. This was a big step up for me from my 50 hp Evinrude on the back of a beat up Cobia runabout.

The boat was second hand and had an electric start motor. I was in hog heaven with a genuine key start engine. The starter worked great at the dealers. When we went out of course the starter would not crank the boat. Being an expert with rope starting I wound the flywheel and she started right up. The starter never worked correctly again. After MANY attempts to repair the starter system I gave up and just used the rope for the next several years. Relay, ground, wires, battery, pinion gear, etc were OK. The only way I could get the starter to work was with a brand new battery and or charging the battery at home.

When I went to trade the boat the new owner asked me where the alternator was. Problem solved.
 
Don't turn your engine off while still moving unless you want to change the oil in the engine 6 times in 3 hours(every 1/2-hour of running) because of Saltwater ingestion and your exhaust manifolds due to corrosion. :smt021
Thank you Miko!- :smt038
P1010068.jpg
:smt089 :smt089 :smt101 :smt100 :smt089 :smt100 :smt101 :smt013
 
Mrs. Thunderbird1 here. Thanks everyone! This has been very enlightening. The Captain posted his tale, so I thought I'd add mine.

We had recently upgraded from a 225 to our 260. After fueling up at the fuel dock at the marina, we were preparing to head over to our slip. It was spring and the river current was moving pretty fast, so Mr. T-bird asked me to give the bow a really hard push as I hopped onto it (a maneuver I'd done many times on the 225). So I did, but it turns out the 260 sits a little bit higher than the 225, and I couldn't quite make it up over the rail. I tried to go under the rail, but the bulky life jacket ( :thumbsup: ) precluded that. By then, we were far enough away from the fuel dock that I figured it was faster to go to our slip. "I won't fall off, but I can't get up! Just get me to the slip!" I rode through our entire marina hanging off the front rail. Of course, everyone we know was hanging out on their boats that day, and they all waved as we passed by. And I smiled, and waved back.
 
I have another one.

my friend and I went out water skiing and having a great ole' time. We're cruising around and I see a jump ramp and tell him to make a run to it. I'm feeling pretty confident that I can make it up the ramp on my skies and he guns the engine and I get into my jump ready position. Not knowing much about ramps and skies, we hit the ramp at a pretty good speed and the skegs on my skies dug into the ramp and came to an immediate stop, I hung onto the rope. After doing a 20mph pushup, I was still hanging on and was dragged up and over the ramp on my stomach. all the people on the beach stood up and applauded and rated the jump as a 10.
 
1. About 5 years ago. Just got my first boat (i.e. not my friend's or father's or in-laws), a 1986 250 DA. Tied up at the local town dock on the St. Lawrence river during a "save the river" event where hundreds of people (seemed like tens of thousands of people) were sitting on bleachers watching the town christen the new fire/tow/emergency rescue boat. Went to a local coffee shop and got some coffee & breakfast stuff. I was with my friend who is an experienced sailor and he decided to untie us as I got ready to pull out. He dropped the stern line in the water and didn't realize it. I power up and get the boat just past the breakwall, when all of a sudden the boat abruptly stalls. I restart and everything seems fine. Put it into gear, boat stalls again. Repeat several times. Now we are at the mercy of the current, which was strong that day and were drifting right towards the bleachers and rocky shoreline. My friend sees that he knows the captain of the new rescue boat and calls him out to save us from impending doom. He comes out with his lights blazing and siren screaming and tows us out so we are not at risk of grounding. I finally realize that the stern line is hanging over the side of the boat and discover that it is tangled in the prop. I make my idiot friend jump in the water to free it and off we went. For weeks, I was hearing about "that guy" who almost wrecked his boat and had to be saved by the rescue boat within minutes after it was christened.

2. Took off with the shore power cord still fully atttached and realized it whne I looked back at the dock to make sure I didn't leave anything behind. Nope; I even brought the shorepower cord.

3. Out by myself for the first time (my wife was in NYC shopping), I ran full speed into the most notorious shoal in the river (which I knew about) and ground my 15 inch prop down to a six inch prop. Pulled into a local marina (to many snickers) to swap props and dropped the prop nut into the water never to be seen again. Had to overnight in the marina until the ships store opened in the morning. It was a lonely and embarassing night. I walked into town (visualize Deliverance) and drank about 12 beers. When I returned to the boat to go to bed I realized that my holding tank was full. Big problem.
 
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