embarrassing boating stories

[Dens228]

Didn't happen to me but I got about 30 minutes of amusement watching while I waited to bring my kayak into the ramp towards the end of a tourney.  Another guy in a boat also watched and enjoyed the show.

 

Two guys in one of those little hybrid SUV's had a little 10 foot jon boat on a trailer.  The trailer/boat were obviously brand new.  The top of the ramp is concrete, the bottom as it enters the water is gravel.  They were trying to launch the boat without getting the vehicle tires in the water.  They slowly backed up and one guy got into the boat while it was on the trailer and the back end was BARELY in the water, and tried to push the boat off the trailer,,,not happening.  After a couple of tries he got out and the driver backed a bit more and then he tried to drag it off, not happening.  So the driver backed up a bit more, the back tires were now in about six to eight inches of water and the boat finally started to float a bit and the guy outside the car gave it a shove as the driver quickly pulled forward.  The boat ended up back on the trailer but completely sideways.....lol.   

I ended up paddling to the ramp and hinting that at this point it might be easier for the two of them to just pick the jon boat up off the trailer and put it in the water.   Which they did. 

[GaryH]

Some of the best amusment happens at a boat ramp.

[Whatever]

There was a commercial white water guide service in Seattle. They were floating on a local river one spring, with about 40 clients. They had collected all the vehicle keys and put them in a dry box, to be sure the clients could access their car at the end of the trip. That raft flipped, the box sunk, and 20 some sets of keys disappeared. They had to call several local locksmiths, and foot the bill for cutting new keys for every vehicle. It was quite expensive.

[schplurg]

On 8/28/2020 at 12:22 PM, GaryH said:

Some of the best amusment happens at a boat ramp.

Yep. End of the day, too much alcohol and a little wind can make for some interesting and funny situations at the ramp.

[Fin S]

I fish alone quite a bit. So, when I launch, I attach a long rope from the bow to the trailer, let the boat float off the trailer, and then pull it back to the ramp. One morning I go to clip the carabiner to my bow and hear a "click" so I thought it was on good. However, when I put the boat in the water and started forward to pull it to the ramp, I hear a louder "click" and the carabiner came off and my boat continued to float away.

A stiff wind blew the boat back to the ramp, but not before I had to go ask the next guy in line if he would mind getting my boat for me.

[Sodaksam]

I couldn’t get my trusty Yamaha 4 stroke started in the middle of the lake after fishing for a couple of hours. Flagged down a couple of guys to tow me in for twenty minutes. I was pretty frustrated and was planning my next move. The guy asked about 50 yards from the dock if I checked the kill switch. I hadn’t. It fired right up after I did. Brilliant. 

[GaryH]

1 hour ago, Sodaksam said:

I couldn’t get my trusty Yamaha 4 stroke started in the middle of the lake after fishing for a couple of hours. Flagged down a couple of guys to tow me in for twenty minutes. I was pretty frustrated and was planning my next move. The guy asked about 50 yards from the dock if I checked the kill switch. I hadn’t. It fired right up after I did. Brilliant. 

Now that's funny....

[N Florida Mike]

On 8/19/2020 at 2:30 PM, dickenscpa said:

I had something similar happen at a restaurant a few years back. I can see fine 10' out - 10' in I can't see anything. I went to the bathroom on a rare occasion my wife and I didn't have kids with us and when I came back I sat at the wrong table with another man's wife. No glasses and she looked like a blonde headed blur. Neither were too happy with my conversation topic I thought I was having with my wife knowing we had a house with no kids waiting on us.

Didnt you think it strange there was another man at “ your” table?

[N Florida Mike]

We had a father-son church retreat once. I wasnt married yet but took a younger special needs friend with me that didnt have a dad. We had run over to fish Salt run at lake George. The camp was across the lake just up north into the river several miles away. So my motor wouldn’t start. I gave Alan a lesson on running the trolling motor and pointed him in the right direction. 

 

I started tinkering with the motor and didnt look up for awhile. I was expecting some progress going back and found that we were re-entering salt run !! ? , and Alan with an innocent smile on his face ...

Since I couldn’t fix the motor, we switched places and started back across the lake on what was left on the TM battery.

Within 5 minutes, a boat came by and asked if we needed a tow. We hooked up and off they went, without a backward glance... Too fast. Our boat was taking waves like a water skier. One minute we were airborne and the next, crashing , then plowing into waves. We almost turned sideways a couple times. Me and alan  are yelling for what it’s worth, but they cant hear of course. I was glad when one guy looked back and saw our plight, and hit his bud on the arm to get him to slow down. When we got back , one of em said “ rough ride huh? I nodded and said thanks.( and possibly other words under my breath ) He did not get a tip ... 

[haggard]

New-to-me 1976 Evinrude 15hp 2-stroke, first season, fished for a while on the lake but then couldn't get it restarted. Paddled the boat back to the launch (fortunately it was close by). Checked the google and it says the motor has a lockout that requires it to be in neutral to start. Next morning, back on the lake, started right up in neutral.

 

[dickenscpa]

19 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Didnt you think it strange there was another man at “ your” table?

LOL! That guy had gotten up for some reason and when I first sat at their table it was just her. She never said a word, I wish she had I would've recognized the voice wasn't my wife's.

[N Florida Mike]

6 hours ago, dickenscpa said:

LOL! That guy had gotten up for some reason and when I first sat at their table it was just her. She never said a word, I wish she had I would've recognized the voice wasn't my wife's.

I told the owner of my old company “I love you” once when I hung up, because I said it to my wife so much . She said “ uh “ a couple times before I realized what I had said and apologized. ?

[Bankbeater]

About 15 years ago my dad and I were fishing out of a jonboat in about 12 to 15 mph winds. 

My dad turns the boat into the wind and tells me to go forward and drop the anchor. I drop the anchor but the wind is still moving the boat.
My dad makes a remark that the wind doesn’t seem strong enough to be dragging the anchor. 
I look forward out across the water and see the anchor line floating about 30 feet away. I had forgot to tie the rope to the boat before I dropped the anchor. Lucky we were only in about 10 feet of water. 

[TnRiver46]

On 9/8/2020 at 8:04 PM, N Florida Mike said:

I told the owner of my old company “I love you” once when I hung up, because I said it to my wife so much . She said “ uh “ a couple times before I realized what I had said and apologized. ?

I’ve almost done that a few times but always caught myself 

[Double__Digits]

On 9/7/2020 at 6:48 PM, N Florida Mike said:

We had a father-son church retreat once. I wasnt married yet but took a younger special needs friend with me that didnt have a dad. We had run over to fish Salt run at lake George. The camp was across the lake just up north into the river several miles away. So my motor wouldn’t start. I gave Alan a lesson on running the trolling motor and pointed him in the right direction. 

 

I started tinkering with the motor and didnt look up for awhile. I was expecting some progress going back and found that we were re-entering salt run !! ? , and Alan with an innocent smile on his face ...

Since I couldn’t fix the motor, we switched places and started back across the lake on what was left on the TM battery.

Within 5 minutes, a boat came by and asked if we needed a tow. We hooked up and off they went, without a backward glance... Too fast. Our boat was taking waves like a water skier. One minute we were airborne and the next, crashing , then plowing into waves. We almost turned sideways a couple times. Me and alan  are yelling for what it’s worth, but they cant hear of course. I was glad when one guy looked back and saw our plight, and hit his bud on the arm to get him to slow down. When we got back , one of em said “ rough ride huh? I nodded and said thanks.( and possibly other words under my breath ) He did not get a tip ... 

Similar thing happened to Pop and I in a 10' Jon when I was a kid. 

My Uncle had scored a couple old Johnson Seahorse motors. One for his jon and one for Pops'. 

The next day we ran out to Fountain Head, stuck both boats in and started up lake. Pop's motors dies and wouldn't start. We tie a rope to my uncle's boat for a tow out to the "honey hole". Well as soon as my Uncle opened up the throttle the front of our boat starts diving like a DT10.

 

We're both hollering with all we've got and thank god my Uncle heard us and stopped. We bailed the water and started going again, this time slower.

 

 

 

 

 

[Captain Phil]

On 9/7/2020 at 6:48 PM, N Florida Mike said:

Within 5 minutes, a boat came by and asked if we needed a tow. We hooked up and off they went, without a backward glance... Too fast. Our boat was taking waves like a water skier. One minute we were airborne and the next, crashing , then plowing into waves. We almost turned sideways a couple times. Me and alan  are yelling for what it’s worth, but they cant hear of course. I was glad when one guy looked back and saw our plight, and hit his bud on the arm to get him to slow down. When we got back , one of em said “ rough ride huh? I nodded and said thanks.( and possibly other words under my breath ) He did not get a tip ... 

I am embarrassed to tell this story, but it might help someone, so here you go.  Years ago, I was fishing in the Everglades with my wife.  We were at least 20 miles out L67 canal in the winter and it was about 45 degrees.  This is cold for South Florida.  On the way back, we came across two young men sitting on the levy. They had a broken down Jon boat and were shivering with the cold. I offered to tow them back and they gladly accepted my offer.   I tied a rope from my Bass Boat to their boat and started to tow them back.  At the time, I had an 18' Hydrosport with a 200 Black Max and an offshore prop.  The going was slow, so I started to goose the throttle.  This worked, so I gave it a little more.  My boat was digging in the water with the bow high.  All of a sudden, the prop caught and my boat started to plane. I looked back and my wake was washing the Jon boat all over the canal with two bug eyed guys hanging on like squirrels.  I backed off and the Jon boat dumped them both in the water.  We fished them out of the canal and put our rain suits on them to keep them warm.  When we got back to the ramp, they tried to pay me for my trouble.  I felt so bad that I didn't have the nerve to take their money.  

[Rocketvapor]

OK, not near as exciting as the previous tales, but for us it WAS !

 

The wife and I have a Bass Raider 10E.  First trip with the 3.5HP, a 30lb TM just in case and a 64lb size 29, a floating safety box with stuff, an ice chest, and a few other things.  Not 'overloaded' but heavy for the 10E.  

Zipping down the river I asked the wife to scoot forward a few inches and she pulls the lunge the chair under the table move and the bow takes on a little water, then more water, then FULL.  Enough water in the little boat to fill the battery box.  Would have been better if I hadn't like froze and kept on the throttle.  

 

Powered back up shifted weight to the rear and got half the water out.  Pulled up to a sand bar and took the manual bilge pump and got the rest out.  I put in a drain plug and a 'splash guard' across the bow. 

Now have a little deck.  

[Alex from GA]

I was pretty new to boating when my wife, toddler and I towed our 12' glass covered wood boat with a Mercury MK 30 to WA to fish for salmon.  I went alone while the family stayed in our slide-in camper.  I was out in the Puget Sound trolling when the engine quit so I dropped the anchor.  A few minutes later I noticed I was moving and pulled the anchor line up and found it was broken.  To make a long story story short I flagged down a Washington State Ferry and told him my problem.  He called a small boat on the radio and had me towed to the ramp.  All I had was a chart and compass and I was going out to sea.  My toddler is 50 now.  

[Sam]

I had come in from fishing the Rappahannock River and tied the boat to the ramp.

 

Of course, I was slack and did not do a good job and the boat floated into the river, away from the ramp.

 

Other than for two guys fishing by the ramp, no other boats were there, and in the parking lot there were three trailers, including mine.

 

So what did I do? I stripped down to my pants and dove in, swam out to the boat, got the rope, and swam back to the ramp.

 

The two guys fishing got a chuckle out of my efforts. 

 

Then, about five minutes after I got back to the ramp and tied the boat to the dock again, here comes another bass guy to the ramp. If I had waited 10 minutes he could have gotten the boat, but I had no idea he was coming back.

[Tatsu Dave]

I'm not going to bore you with my many learning adventures but the first was a good one. Took my new to me boat and trailer to the lake, waited till no one was there and we backed it in. Told my son to get in the boat and I would push it off the trailer and park the rig, off it went and it was at that point it dawned on me it had no launch rope attached!! Boy was pretty young to try and give a coming in lesson from shore so I jumped in and swam out to boat and pulled it in. Needless to say I made a launch rope and snap for next time and learned that lesson first launch  Sure glad we waited till no one was there! Dave 

[cpaterso]

I got my first boat last year.  In that year I came up the boat ramp with the trim down, broke off the rear transducer when my transom hit the riff raff, got stuck at the ramp for 10 minutes because my kill switch was off, came in at a slight angle and nailed one of the trailer tailights/cracked it.  Nice scratches on boat too...good thing I bought used.  Just last week I hit a sandbar going slow.

 

Luckily no serious damage yet besides the transducer mount.  Motor seemed OK after coming up the ramp a few feet.  

 

Anyone wanna go with me next weekend?  Who knows what I'll do next.

[Linewinder]

On 9/7/2020 at 9:14 AM, Fin S said:

I fish alone quite a bit. So, when I launch, I attach a long rope from the bow to the trailer, let the boat float off the trailer, and then pull it back to the ramp. One morning I go to clip the carabiner to my bow and hear a "click" so I thought it was on good. However, when I put the boat in the water and started forward to pull it to the ramp, I hear a louder "click" and the carabiner came off and my boat continued to float away.

A stiff wind blew the boat back to the ramp, but not before I had to go ask the next guy in line if he would mind getting my boat for me.

Did that once too.  I dropped the boat in the water, pulled the rope to get the boat beached at the ramp.  When I took the trailer out I didn't think about the wake and the stiff breeze.  Parked and came back to see my boat out about 30 yds.  Mid-March so the water was somewhere perhaps in the lower 50's, but I jumped right in with boots, jacket and cotton jeans (worst).  Once back in the boat I found that I could match the speed of the breeze so it wasn't too cold going out but made sure I fished in the sun all morning.

 

 

[MarkG52]

My wife and I go to pick up our brand new boat at the dealer a little over a month ago. While the sales people are giving us a walk-through of the boat I close the remote drain plug. While we are in the finance office paying for said boat they rolled it out of the showroom for me to hook up and take her away. We head to the ramp near the place we are going to stay for a few nights and I had a slip rented in their marina. There was no trailer parking near the ramp so I was gonna have put the boat in the slip, go back to my truck, drive up to the trailer lot, dump trailer, and drive back down to the marina. As I was idling up towards our slip I hear water running that sounds way to loud to be coming from the pee tube on the motor. I turn around to look and I've got a real gusher coming the transom area of the boat. What is going on?? I'm checking every thing I can think of, what can this be?! Other boats are trying to get to their slips and I'm sitting there idling around in circles trying to figure this out. Then I jump up on the back deck and look at the remote drain plug and it was in the open position! I guess when the guys pushed the boat/trailer out of the showroom one of them must've flipped the plug to open. I double check myself at the ramp every time now. Super glad I have auto-bilge or I'd have tied it up in the slip and gotten back to a sunk brand new boat. Wouldn't be the first time I've sunk one, but we'll save those stories for another day.

[Maggiesmaster]

On 9/7/2020 at 4:21 PM, Sodaksam said:

I couldn’t get my trusty Yamaha 4 stroke started in the middle of the lake after fishing for a couple of hours. Flagged down a couple of guys to tow me in for twenty minutes. I was pretty frustrated and was planning my next move. The guy asked about 50 yards from the dock if I checked the kill switch. I hadn’t. It fired right up after I did. Brilliant. 

Same thing happened to me; my kill switch connector slipped out—long story short, I worked all afternoon trying to ‘fix’ the motor.  I told my story to guys at work, thinking they would all laugh at me...well, no one laughed—they’d all done that!

[skunked_again]

Fishing a solo Shriners tourney on Truman lake tried to put the boat on the trailer with the trolling motor down.