Confession time - have you left your bungs out?

[snakecatcher]

Ok Guys time to own up - have you ever launched your boat and forgot to put the bungs in? I did it the other week and had to sit at the ramp for 20 mins or so while the bilge pump did its thing - of course it was a busy day so plenty of comments came my way - stupid twat was one of the nicest.

[Tony_N]

Are you really a snakecatcher? If so, I'm so impressed, those things give me the heebies.

Mate, the only boaties I know that reckon they haven't ever left the bungs out are fibbers about other things as well.

Tony

[Red_Nut]

I have only done this once in my old tinny. the boat wasn't fully off the trailer before I noticed the water coming in, so no damage done, and only 30 seconds or so to wait for it to drain.

The worst one I have seen was during my boating licence and test course. The course facilitator didn't put the bungs in his 4.1m poly centre console. He dropped it fully off the trailer, and the back end started to sit lower in the water while I was hanging onto the boat waiting for him to park the car. By the time he had noticed me yelling at him to bring the trailer back down, the water had risen above the floor level at the back and was coming up through the rubber mats on the floor.

Back on the trailer and not too long after the water was drained and we were on our way.

I also had a cousin that left the bung out of his nice new Kwaka 1200 jetski. He was wondering why it was wallowing around when travelling slowly!! Once you got the thing up and going all the water escaped pretty quick. He didn't notice until he was back on the trailer 3 hours later. No real damage with that one either, but he could have turned it into an anchor pretty quickly.

[Glind]

Or the question should be who hasn't?
Tim

[sf17fisherman]

left them out of the tinny twice and wasn't untill i got back down to the boat after parking i noticed and put them in

sure does take some time for a bilge pump to pump it all out

worst i have done in the southwind has been to leave the tap open and bung out of the live bait tank and have the hull fill up a bit but not that much that i noticed lucky i was only giveing it a test run and didn't take much on

[DR]

pushed boat off trailer, gave bro in law the rope & said to pull up on the beach near ramp while i parked the ute.
casually wandering down to beach & thinks 'boats looks a bit low in the bum' started to sprint. bro in law standing beside boat, gaping all around , but never into boat, boat rapidly filling with water. me panic, push off beach enough to float & tells b in law get back to ramp NOW. lucky it was mid week & not busy, put back on trailer & wited while it drained.

if bungs can be reached from inside boat the easiest way is to start it up & get underway, water will quickly be sucked out & bungs can be replaced. done this too :-/

[revs57]

Well I'm not a fibber, just frightfully paranoid because everyone reckons your gonna leave the bungs out at least once in your boating experience...but it hasn't happened to me...yet...My OCD wont let me.

Although I did leave the bung out in my live bait tank, which drained directly into the hull of my old tinnie and the spray nozzel was open, and the pickup was working...just as well the bilge pump worked and I remembered half way out to Murphies early one morning...

Thank God for OCD!!!!

Cheers

Rhys

[markpeta]

When I flush the outboard I disconnect the fuel to use up the fuel in the carbies then i put the fuel hose and bung together so next time I connect the fuel line to go out the bung is there.

Mark

[snakecatcher]

This has made me feel a whole lot better - thought I was the only one around.

In reply to Tony_N - yes I really am a snakecatcher, used to do it big time when I lived in Sydney, always used to amaze me what snakes you used to find in the middle of town, redbellies were basically everywhere but I also got calls for death adders and tigersnakes. Haven't got back into it so much since I moved up to QLD though.

[buddha]

Um....Yep.
Done it twice.
First time was second trip in new (2nd hand) boat; luckily my mate caught it at the ramp, and it was early enough to retrieve and reseat the bungs...

Second time: I got a new trailer, and unloaded the boat at the ramp, switching wheels from old trailer to new trailer (new wheels/Tyres on old trailer that was a bog-job >:( )
I think I forgot to put them in because we weren't taking the boat out fishing I didn't do the normal checks I now do (about four separate times).

I also carry about three sets of spares now, plus two spare bottles of 2-stroke oil after splitting a filler cap inside the engine cowling and getting stuck and requiring a tow in from the outskirts of King Bay, Dampier (Sheesh!!)
I believe that if you carry the spares, you won't need 'em - Murphy was an optimist after all, right ?! ;D

Anyway - that's my stupidy out for everyone to see ...I can be humble about it.

...but how much of a GIMP do you feel when you do it ????!!!!
HAHAHAHA

[2iar]

Never done it [smiley=wink.gif] [smiley=wink.gif]

At least, never in the current boat. Did it twice in the tinnie though (no bilge pump), which was, er, fun :D

May your bungs always be in and tight!

Good luck,
Mike

[Mad-One]

yep gotta admit I done it second time after getting my boat :-[
Now the missus always says have ya put the bungs in :P

Phil

[finga64]

Now the missus always says have ya put the bungs in :P

Phil
How many times has this been said to me in the last 5 years :-/
Don't know why....must have been the time SHE left the bungs out ;)
It was her job, I was too busy with rods, bait, esky, safety gear, blah, blah, blah :D..Honest :D

[Tunzafun]

Yeah,

I have left the bungs out on more than one occasion. Normally happens when someone else removes the motor strap and stand as that is when I put the bung in. Have been embarrased by getting to Tangalooma and noticing then. I know carry a spare bung in the glove box. Lucky the Trailcraft has a sealed botom and only the pod takes water without the bung but it still took a couple of minutes to drain once we got going even with the bilge going. Doesn't half make the nose stand up too.

Ooops

[Argle]

I better put my hand up too :-[ :-[ :-[ In the old boat put it in at the ramp drove the car and trailer away while mate held it, came back down "whats all this water doing in the boat" says I - dunno says the mate. No bloody bilge pump so back down with the trailer and then wait for ten minutes for it all to drain out again. 2 lessons learnt 1: Put bungs in!! 2:fit bilge pump incase rule 1 is ignored/forgotton ;D ;D

Cheerws and Beers

[sid_fishes]

guys, i have to admit that its easly done , my ex and i were running a new motor in , in our ski/race boat and i had the water intake set up to attach a hose straight to it through a gate valve[ pretty simple huh].so we put the boat in at silverwater in the river and blasted down , about 10 minutes later i have water all over my feet[panick set in at this time]. when i finally got back to the ramp after shutting the gate valve off i found that the ex fogot to put the bungs in [apart from looking good that was her only job] dont trust anybody just do a check yourself

[bjj1961]

Yep I have left the bungs out on occasion. # But worse still left the ear muffs on a 90 Seahorse. :( #:'(

Expensive mistake.


Brendon

[familyman]

Honestly have not yet left the bungs out ,touch wood.But my brother bought a seadoo rxp( top of the range)and left the bungs out first trip,couldn't figure out why it kept on tipping over :-[ ;D
lmao
cheers jon

[brett_rokesky]

:o :o :o :o 4 times

[gropeher]

Yep,
30 seconds later I remembered, back to the ramp, bungs in, and 20 minutes (no joke) later, bilge finishes pumping.
Funniest though has to be Mark from work, last winter leaving bungs out while boat floats away from ramp while he parks car and half the boat fills with water,
so he strips in front of 6 others at 5-30am in the morning on the ramp and swims to the boat from the raby bay boat ramp, them holds his breath, goes under water, replaces bung, drives boat back to ramp, then pumps the water out.

Straight after, heads off straight over the south passage bar freezing his nuts off in the middle of winter. ;D

You may call him shrinky if you like or as Ausfish know him - Raging Bull.
Sorry Mark it had to be told.

Cheers Ryan..

[DNO40]

Had an old ski boat that would leak whilst sitting. Constantly (until repaired) had to pull the bungs out whilst underway to drain water through venturi effect.

This worked well until you lost the bungs trying to put them back in at speed.


DNO

[johnnytheone]

Na, but I did put 60 litres of fuel into a rod holder once!

JOHN

[blaze]

3 times
last time I had about 10 minutes to get out the river before the water was too low and the marine coppers decided to check me, well between showing them what they wanted and getting boat off trailer, just generally rushing. well boat half off trailer with a heap of unwanted water inside, bilge pump going. still got out the river though.
cheers
blaze

[gawby]

Yep, done it twice and both times at the grand ramp at southport. :'(
Only those who walk on water would say they havent don it. ;D
Graeme

[Grand_Marlin]

One day I had backed down the ramp, started the motor (drive on / off) and couldnt get the boat to come off the trailer no matter how hard we tried....
I then noticed we hadnt taken the tie down straps off..... so we pulled the boat back out, and then realised it was half full of water, cos we hadnt put the bungs in either! (some days I think we are meant to stay at home)

Another night we got to the banks off mooloolaba and started fishing. My mate asked what all the water was in the cabin (18ft Hydrofield).

I hadnt put the centre bung in the cabin floor !

Scared hell out of him cos he thought we were gonna sink.

Being self draining it didnt matter - floor was above water line. Put the bung in and bailed the well out... but it certainly made me check that I had put the other bungs in!

Cheers

Pete

[bushbeachboy]

Twice.

[catchy_fishy]

Me too . Very embarrasing but after buying my first boat I didn't know what they were, so went out with them unplugged - only a river, no serious issues.

Lucky I guess.

I learned via Ausfish what they were, and had to ask if you were supposed to take them out, and why ?

Using emoticons to describe my embarrased status does not do justice. Suffice it to say I have and currently still learn lots from Ausfish members - enough said.

Snake Catcher you are OK.

Good advice I was given is to carry spare bungs on board always, because momentum should empty the intake of water - terified to try this - any ideas / thoughts

[finga64]

#Na, but I did put 60 litres of fuel into a rod holder once!

# #JOHN
;DI think John's won the booby prize with that effort #;D

Wish I knew those letters that say I'm rolling on the floor p--sing myself laughing #Ooh is it ROTFPML??

Good one John ;D

[al-straddie]

#Na, but I did put 60 litres of fuel into a rod holder once!

# #JOHN

ROFLMAO ;D

How many miles do you get out of a rod holder for 60l of fuel? ;D ;D ;D

I've done the bung thing once in my boat.

Catchy-fishy, I grew up on a oyster farm, where it was everyday practice to remove the bungs to drain the hull. The hard part is getting them back in without crashing/running aground.

cheers..... 8-)

[Alan_L]

Mate of mine taking his family on the first trip out in the new boat was asked by his son if there should be water in the boat. He replied sometimes you get a little bit, why. Son replied, well the waters around my ankles.
Live bait tank ball valve had been broken off by a bucket that had been wedged in the confined space. His wife never went in the boat again.

[rough_shag]

NO ONE TOLD ME!! when I got my first boat ages ago,no one told me about bungs and I couldn't think of any good reason they would deliberately put holes in the hull of my boat!!.Anyway I quickly learnt what those silly little plastic things were for!.Cheers!.Jace.

[Hoges]

"Once bitten twice shy'!
...and never again

Mate and I had just pulled my boat out of the water after a couple of hours fishing for snapper on Port Phillip Bay when a tinny came into the ramp loaded to the hilt with good sized snapper.
I asked the guys where they caught them and they pointed to a reef I knew just off Brighton pier.
Mate looked at me and I looked at him, nodded to each other then proceeded to take off the tie downs to relaunch the boat.
Once underway we decided to stop at the pier to get some refreshments and I said I would stay and look after the boat.
Bloody glad I did as you guessed it! In our haste to get back out we had forgotten to put the bungs back in. Caught it just in time thank God!
BTW from memory we still didn't do any good on the snapper. LOL
:-[


”There are 3 kinds of people in this world...those you want things to happen to, those that make things happen, and those who just wonder what the hell happened!”

[PeterT]

Who hasn't?, Would have been a better question. I doubt that any fisho who boats more than once a year would not have done it. Familiarity breeds...

Not really a problem, just get underway and the water will run out. An old tinnie of mine had so many leaks a run with the bung out was mandatory every hour.

Worst flooding was trolling along keeping a couple of trout alive in the bait tank behind my seat. a piece of plastic blocked the over flow and I didn't notice the water spilling into the boat until she had a decided list and the back corner floor was awash. Bilge pump ran for half an around half an hour.

Love the fuel in the rod holder ;D would have played hell with the floatation.

pete

[cooky]

[quote]of mine taking his family on the first trip out in the new boat was asked by his son if there should be water in the boat. He replied sometimes you get a little bit, why. Son replied, well the waters around my ankles. quote]

I agree - now I check them myself. Still have arguments with a mate who was responsible for checking bungs - I thought he was checking them - since he was putting a couple in (I've got 4 bungs at the back). Got around the back of Magnetic Island and we're fishing (3 of us) and mate says "have you got water in your kill tank?" I said no and we left it at that - 10 minutes later I remember thinking to myself - strange that the bait tank drain hole out side of boat is going under water (letting water out in spits with the wave action) - couldn't remember it doing that before - oh well left it at that. 15 minutes later friend says again "i'm sure you've got water in there, my feet keep getting wet" I say "you're a f*k wit, I haven't" and then proceed to lift up the cover - the floor is full to just under floor level - slopping onto the actual floor. hmmmm - quickly retrieve anchor and to the closest beach for an inspection - missing bung and because I had left the internal bungs out too (in floor cavitys) it had flooded reasonable quickly. left bung out and went for a long high speed run around the bay - didn't drain that much really - used bilge and bucket.

Amazing how tuff it is to get to planing speed with few hundred litres of water in the hull ;D ;D

Went around the island and all the way home with hundreds of litres in the hull (bung trying to drain) and amazing in a cross sea (15-20kts) how the rocking of the water in the hull really effects your ride home ;) :)

[The_Walrus]

Not yet (4 years boatie) but I'm sure my time will come. :D

Like some others, I'm paranoid about getting my boat ready for launch and never delegate.

Mind you, it's hard to get the engine running with the fuel line not connected. ;D

Luc

[fishface]

its never happened to me.........................this week ;D

[wedgetail]

We went out to Lake Maraboon 18 months ago to have a go at the Red Claw. We came back to the ramp in the afternoon and I left my beloved at the boat while I backed the trailer down the ramp. I had to remove the trailer lock (as seen in photos in this forum page) so I could back down without jambing anything. My beloved and precious was winding up the winch (her prefered job) while I was in the water guiding the boat onto the trailer. Once its started and half on I take over the winch. This day, my wife had the boat started on the trailer and I was at the stern and unable to see her. She let out a terrible scream (like when she broke her leg in two places in the USA) and the tears fell like rain. Some scumbag had tried to undo the trailer lock and release the trailer (to steal??!!) I never noticed that the ball lock was not holding and when the weight of the boat came onto the trailer, the trailer left the tow-ball and flew up into the air. The only thing that stopped my beloved from getting a smashed face or worse was the safety chain. It's one thing to pinch all my red claw and move the pots but to hurt my precious is another thing alltogether!! I tell you, I was looking for blood!!! We packed up and stayed overnight to try again for R/claw next day before returning home to Yeppoon. I was still so furious and ropeable that I forgot to check the bungs. I managed to put them in and clear the water with the bildge pump. This was the first time I had forgotten to screw the plugs in the boat in 47 years of boating. If I had of caught the scumbag who released the tow ball ..... he would've become pulp!!!
I s'pose 47 years isn't too bad, can some one beat this?
Joe / Wedge

[impulse492f]

Well I'll add to the list but with a twist,

It hasn't been the bungs in the hull, but the one in the live bait tank.

Put her in and cruised for about 5 km and noticed she was a bit sluggish, up the throttle and all seemed ok but once again she felt like a wet sponge and low in the water.

Back off the gas and water washed over our feet :o we thought we where fish bait.

It would seem that dumb me left the live bait tank tap on full and left the bung out in the tank. If anybody has a Signature 492F you would know that the auto water pick up inlet allows small whales into the tank, you only need to turn it on 1/4-1/2.

Touch wood, I haven’t left the main ones out YET!

[Roo]

twice for me.
once when half off trailer....."whats that bubbling sound??"
dragged the tinnie back on and drove it up the ramp to empty(no bilge pump). took a few minutes to drain :-[

Christmas Morning 5am after staying overnight away from home (break in usual routine, since first time i now put bungs in as part of hooking up to car) no bungs and did know untill my 2 bro' inlaws (still pickled after chrissy eve drinks went all night) were standing next to boat at ramp after i've parked the car with silly grins and comments about a bit damp in here... :-[. no i'm not getting the trailer back so start bailing.. >:(

Another time I hadn't taken the motor support bracket off and wondered why the bugger wouldn't come off the trailer :-?

lucky last is didn't tilt motor up after removing support bracket and half way off dropped the boat down onto the leg before stopping to investigate "what is nasty scraping sound??" :-[ ;D

All these lessons have made their way into the routine checks before hookup to car or launch so that it does'nt happen again.

cheers, Roo.

[fish2eat]

Well there are two types of boaties:-

1. Those who HAVE left the bungs out

2. Those who WILL leave the bungs out


.....and you can be in both categories.....

[Alex9797]

Twice for me. Another time i removed a return hose line that led from the engine well to a skin fitting in the hull. Forgot to reconect it after a service. Started seeing water in the bilge and everytime i moved aft to investigate the problem more water came in as the well filled up. dooooh :-[
\
Alex

[cooky]

had to laugh today at one of the blokes who works for me - we had this conversation and his worst was years ago in his ski boat - 18SO Haines with 200hp - dropped off trailer and friend of his was holding boat at the bow - other blokes got caught up talking to some other friends and 45 mins later they go to get in the boat and water knee deep in stern. They start boat and try to empty water out and couldn't get it to plane (with 200hp on the back!!). So quickly back to boat ramp and try to winch back up - with the added weight the winch cable snaps almost taking someones head off - so they pull it up the beach and takes about 2 hours emptying with buckets. THey have to fix the cable - there goes the day skiing.
Another time they travelled 3 hours to an inland lake for a week camping / skiing / fishing and left the bungs in the motor well (like always) - only travelling over cattle grids they shake off - so after setting up camp, mucking around, they go to put boat in water and NO bungs - they decide to go to the pub, because no one wants to drive the 6 hr round trip. End up buying some bottles of wine and using the corks for the rest of the week - but so nervous about leaving the boat overnight in water, owner is up every few hours to make sure still floating.

[madmix]

No, I saw my dad do it when I was a kid, and I figured by all the
cursing that it wasnt a real good thing to do.

In my tiller steer tinnie days, I noticed that water was seeping in
past the old calk bung, pushed the bung in tighter and bloody hell it
went straight through and dissapeared with the current. Up anchor
and hell for leather to the first place available to run aground. Water
does not come in bung hole at WOT, always carried a spare after that.

cheers Mick.

[rough_shag]

Hey Cooky I'll pay that one!! what a laugh!sounds like the marx bros to me lol.
Orbyroo-if your mates were still slaughtered from x-mas drinks what were they doing anywhere near a boat?Jace.

[Az]

#Na, but I did put 60 litres of fuel into a rod holder once!

# #JOHN

;D ;D ;D ;D

[rough_shag]

Hey Reel magic,that guy Mark(raging bull),well mate he's my new hero!!that's what ya call a keen fisherman-Jeeeeeeeeezuz!! sounds like the kinda dude you want around when it is hitting the fan.Still laughing 2 days after reading that one!.Good one.Jace.

[Sniper]

Done it twice myself. First time was the very first day I picked up my new Hornet. Took her for a run with the old man then came home, then decided to take her out on my own in the afternoon, unbeknown to me that good old father had taken the bungs out, even though he never takes them out of his own boat. Because I knew I hadn't touched them from the morning run, just assumed they were still there. HA HA NOT!
Second time was when I took a mate up to Borumba. Was raining on the drive up so took the bungs out and asked mate to remind me to put them in (as I never usually take them out). Mate said "don't worry, I'll do them myself when we get there". Yep, we both bloody forgot and had water over the floor boards when I came back down from parking the ute. Haven't done it since and hopefully won't either "touch wood"
Cheers
Bill

[billfisher]

I can't say that I have left the bungs out. But I have left tie downs on and motor supports on and wondered why the boat was so hard to push off the trailer. Its more of a problem with my Polycraft. You get so many people asking questions about it you can get distracted while preparing it to launch.

[staino]

Their alright as long as you keep 'em away from me , snakecatcher. 13 yrs of 12.5ft savage snipe launch & retrieve, never. 3rd launch new 460 topender, Im driving the boat facing front, my 1st time offsider (facing rearward) say's I realise water is meant to drain from there. the outboard well, but what's that water rising over the rear part of the floor. Oh, **** I must have left the bungs out was my sheepish reply. I pull over to the bank, quickly jump out & screw the bungs in, then turn the bilge pump on. It takes near 30 minutes to rid the hull of all that water, shouldn't be allowed to call 500gph a fair dinkim bilge pump, hey. Just go show, REVS 57 , if taken out of your comfort zone, ocd will let you do almost anything. cheers, staino.

[JEWIENEWIE]

Went out on my mates boat, quite a large boat, out through bruns bar. We were waiting for a break in the sets when the floor we were standing on began to wobble under us, did put the bungs in except one, luckily we were not to far out and were able to turn around crank up the bildge pumps which were just installed and empty the tub. Very very lucky! We used to call him Captain Sandbar for obvioues reasons but now known as Bung one!
Jewienewie