Mistakes I have made

[WalrusLike]

Learning from others mistakes is the best way to avoid grief.

I can help you there, because my boating is spiced up with the odd bit of stupidity, so I can provide lessons for other newbies.

The latest dumb thing I did was not have the trailer lock key on both the car and boat sets.

So after arriving at the ramp and tying to the pontoon, I had to remove the boat keys as well as take the car keys, to bring the trailer round. It would have been better to have been able to leave the boat keys in the ignition.

The reason for that is because after backing trailer down and trotting round to the pontoon, I went to start the boat and it kicked over but sounded an alarm and wouldn't fire. Crap! Few more goes then quickly checked fuel, oil and all seemed ok.

Other boats waiting, so quickly (?... not sure those waiting thought so...) tied a long line on bow and threw to missus who started pulling boat over to trailer. Lucky no wind to speak of other than a gentle assisting breeze.

Got boat on and hand winched up. All ok in end but coulda been a bigger drama and it did hold the other folk up. Sorry bout that.

It all could have been avoided if I had remembered that the boat ignition needs that dicky little PWC type safety latch clicked in before motor will start.

Or if I had trailer lock key on both sets and therefore didn't need to remove the boat keys from the ignition. Lesson learned. at least I now know that the alarm buzzer in the controls works. 😄

I may post some more stuff-ups later on....

[Back In Black]

WalrusLike,
Did the same thing at Mooloolaba in my Baysport. Could get it to go for love nor money(or cursing for that sake!) until another bloke at ramp said "is your lanyard in?" Couldn't thank him enough!! One thing I can assure you is that is the 1st & last time you"ll make that mistake.
Looking forward to your next post on new stuff ups!! Just taking the piss
Tony

[Andy56]

been there , done that, next, lol

[finga]

I've forgot to bung the bungs in....twice now.
Always check the bungs and bait.
We've taken 40 minutes to get to our secret snapper spot and the dope in charge of the squid left it in the Landrover.
He near swam back to get it.

So it's bait and bungs

Cheers Bert

[Crunchy]

Yeh always best to learn from others mistakes, a lot less pain involved.

"nah I dont need a list...lists are for pussies" ...........weeks later ...."why's the bilge pump going hard out...ohhh crap bungs out!! .........now I have a list! ("Check Bung" comes first and last on the list)

and then there was the day I was 20Km out to sea on 35 deg C day, "now where's that drinking water....ohh crap"

[Still_Dreamin]

As I posted the other day, drove out of the shed without lowering the Bimini and rocket launcher. I know I wont ever forget to lower them again. I have a nice crack in the windscreen and a scratch in the gel coat to remind me not to mention some nice scrapes and dents in the roller door.!!

[wayno60]

yep about the only dumb thing ive done was left the bungs out...yer but only twice in 30 years...

[FishHunter]

Haven't made too many with boat. Forgot sounder once, water another time, bait once and forgot to remove winch handle twice. We won't talk about kayak stupidity :-)

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk 2

[Micadogs]

My worst mistake so far, was to not put the engine up (tilted) when towing out of the driveway. It also took sveral metres before I heard the scraping noise. No damage done, but could have been bad.

[AnthonyL]

I did the same thing first time out in a previous boat and got towed back to the ramp only to find it was my stupidity lol.

Also left the bungs out ONCE, wife thought boat was sinking and picked dogs up and go out fast lol.

[midcoast learner]

WalrusLike,
Did the same thing at Mooloolaba in my Baysport. Could get it to go for love nor money(or cursing for that sake!) until another bloke at ramp said "is your lanyard in?" Couldn't thank him enough!! One thing I can assure you is that is the 1st & last time you"ll make that mistake.
Looking forward to your next post on new stuff ups!! Just taking the piss
Tony

Have done the lanyard mistake.Luckily i was checking everything was working in my yard at the time so not on the water.Just slipped the key into ignition under the cover .Took a couple of days and other poster on here to remind me about the lanyard.Glad i'm not the only one.Yes did the bung left out a couple of times.

[WalrusLike]

Ever seen one of the Garfields stuck to a back windscreen?

Now imagine a fat old fart clinging to the bow of his boat and then trying to clamber up before the boat drifts on to the rocky mud near the ramp.

I apologise to the bystander who nearly split his sides laughing at me. Sorry if you injured your ribs like I did. This was a while ago and the torn muscles on my ribs from the frantic clamber up are now starting to heal.

I had launched on a shallow angle ramp standing at the winch beside the trailer with stern and bow lines in hand.... Then realised I had no way to get up.

Two better options were getting wet walking into the water to get to the stern ladder, or swinging the boat around using ropes till stern was nearly bumping ramp then stepping on with a shove off.

It all could still have come undone if the motor failed so it's not ideal, but when the ramp angle is shallow I can't start the motor while on trailer.

So lesson learned.... Old farts can't, or shouldn't, clamber up on the bow from below. Just call me Garfield.... My bloody annoying wife now does!

[midcoast learner]

Once i launched at the ramp up the road.Beached the boat .After parking the car i pushed the boat out a bit into slightly deeper water (Carribean Concorde )the realised i couldn't get in over the side so had to get fully wet getting around the back to the ladder.

[Jarrah Jack]

Saw what could've been a beauty today. Police boat at the ramp pontoon. One guy was out checking someone. The other guy jumped onto the pontoon did a few steps turned around and noticed he had left the boat in reverse. No ropes. Gee did he move quick.

[Noelm]

I have seen a guy launch his boat by the 'reverse at full speed and hit the brakes" method with his wife holding the very short rope on a very slippery ramp, she was still standing as she went into the water, just slowly disappeared over her head, I guess she never thought of letting the rope go, the husband got out of the car yelling at her to make sure the boat did not get scratched on the rocks. I bet there was a few "icey" moments in that household for a while.