Boating Mishaps

[pauljm]

I am bored so i thought i woulld start a thread containing all the mishaps i have heard of whilst boating for the last 20 years or so....most i have only heard of but some i have experienced first hand.....feel free to add yours if i miss any.....maybe it will make more raiders aware of the hazards when boating.....

1. Launching the boat without the bungs

2.Removing winch cable and safety chain at the top of the ramp and therefore boat landing on ramp

3.Mistaking the fuel filler cap with a rod holder and literally filling the boat up with petrol!

4.Leaving the cap off the fuel tank and having fuel splash all over the boat.

5.Not strapping the boat down and losing the boat off the trailer and on to the road

6. Not tilting the motor up and causing skeg damage against the ramp

7.Had a mate get in the car without knowing he had a rope around his leg that was still attached to the boat...he took off and got a severe rope burn

8.Losing the winch handle when launching and therefore not having it when u return (very common) use a wheel brace when u do it

9.Snapping the winch cable whilst winching boat

10.Slipping on the ramp and ending up in the drink with wallet and phone

11.Breaking down on the ramp.

12.Hand brake failing on the ramp and the car ends up in the drink.

13.getting water in the fuel and not having a separator

14.Not opening the breather on portable fuel tanks

15.Not carrying an anchor.breaking down and ending up on the rocks

16.Running the boat aground at low tide

17.Forgetting:the bait,the tackle box,the lures,your best mate,the key to the ignition.

18.Running out of fuel cos ur too keen chasing fish

19.Not removing the trailer lights b4 launching

20. Not unlocking the outboard and having to pull it out and do it on the ramp

21.Anchoring for an overnighter,going to sleep and having the wind change which swings u round and puts you on the rocks.

Thinking about it i reckon i have done about 14 of the 21!...but thats boating for you.anyone else got any classics?

[brickman]

22; my mate and half owner filled the tank with deisel at harrington spent 4 hours removing the under floor tank in the rain to make shore i got it all out

but i'm guilty off quite a few off the above as well

cherrs gary

[cut_loose]

i got 2

- putting rods in rod holder before backing boat down ramp and while backing down the ramp the rods got caught in a tree and also snapped in half.

- forgot to tie down the bait board at the ramp when leaving and it fell out on the way home along the m5 never to be seen again..

i have more but i cant think of them right now

[pauljm]

I forgot a beauty...number 23.my mate motored all the way up the river and pulled up where we were anchored a few miles offshore....we were moving spots at the time and he put the boat in reverse and then anchored himself....we took off and he went to follow some time later...motor was running but boat wouldnt move.... he had lost his prop!It must have been the fact that he put it in reverse that popped the prop off but we still dont know how the nut undone itself....says a lot for split pins doesnt it!We towed him in but were struggling so a very dodgy looking old dude (i kid u not all he was wearing was a gstring looking contraption) he was in a clinker and was heading back up river so he towed him all the way while we went back out for a fish....the funniest site ever....your homophobic best mate being towed home by a queer in a clinker showing him everything he had for breakfast all the way home......priceless and he still hasnt lived it down!

[Anroco]

* Filled up portable fuel tank the night before, headed out early the next morning, launched boat then realised tank was still in garage.......

[Guest]

Going to the carwash because I was too lazy to hand wash and had the motor down while washing it and halfway home realise the leg was down and ground a few mill off the bottom

Being too hasty at the ramp and not having a good hold on the rope when you release the winch and getting rope burns until your boat is fully floating

Not undoing the breather cap on my 25 litre tank and the fuel injection sucks the tank in till it pops

All true stories and all happened to me

Cheers Stewy

[twoblues]

Another "Minties" moment:

Was in Bougainville and had spent a lovely weekend on one of the local islands.

As I made my way back to port, a squall came in and I couldn't see 5 metres in front of me. About 15 minutes later I came out of the squall and found I was headed in the direction from whence I had come.

I installed a compass before my next trip.

Two Blues.

[Jewhunter]

We used to have access to an old 30ft cruiser that we would party on & tow my 14ft ageing glass boat around to fish out of. The 14 ft boat was fitted with a 40hp Johnson.

We were cruising along one day when a mate onboard asked if he could take the 14ft for a spin. He's blasting along when a big cruiser comes by. As he comes to that boats wake he rightly decides to back off a bit. However, in his haste to back off, he throws it full throttle into reverse. I'm watching in the big boat & all I see is the motor come straight off the back of the boat, with part of the transom attatched, fly 6ft into the air & sink straight to the bottom of Middle Harbour. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Most recent one of mine was fishing in the seaway with Slinky. Slinky kindly offers to do anchor duties in an increasingly ugly wind against tide situation. I drive straight over the anchor rope & wrap the prop in the rope. I nearly ended up in the drink trying to unwrap it as we were drifting out to sea into some not so nice breaking waves.

I managed to unwrap it just in time. One lost anchor & a few more grey hairs later I am forever consigned to anchor duties on Slinkys' boat!

Cheers,

Grant.

[slinkymalinky]

Going to the carwash because I was too lazy to hand wash and had the motor down while washing it and halfway home realise the leg was down and ground a few mill off the bottom

Cheers Stewy

And all I did was put my skeg in the sand

Here's another one... driving too far over the anchor while retrieving it in a ripping 6 or 7 knot current in the Seaway so that we were drifting fast, with chain around the prop, out into the washing machine of the Southport bar... with lots of breaking swells... at night... with Jewhunter hanging off the back of the boat. (you just beat me posting it up JH... sorry about the grey hair)

[twoblues]

You blokes have ALL the fun

[jewgaffer]

I've only had a few small small dramas in boating in the past few years, one of which happened one Saturday night at the drive thru at McDonalds at Orange Grove, where a major blackout was incidental to my boat not quite fitting under their overhead menu, and obviously due to an error in judgement by them having not working out clearances properly for all circumstances .... Fortunately it only cost me a junior burger and a coffee, but having a fire brigade unit almost collide with me on the way out did make it a pain, shock and suffering event and, during the rush out of the place, it was interesting to watch another car bring down the whole caboodle, lightening and all onto the car behind it .....

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Blood Knot]

Trying to push the boat off the trailer with the transom strap still on

John

[punchn2]

NOT PUTING A SAFETY LINE ON A 80W BENT BUTT TIAGRA OUTFIT AND WATCHING IT SKIP ACCROSS THE SURFACE AS A BIG BLUE HEADS FOR THE HORIZON.....

[pauljm]

Yeah i forgot the old man overboard of course.....lost my footing and went in one day many years ago... dropped a brand new star drag alvey never to be seen again but managed to keep my cigarette lit without a problem.....(young and dumb)

[Catcher cold]

Driving from Gold Coast back to Ipswich at 2am on the (2001) new motorway at 110kph wondering what the strange banging noise was that I could here whilst others all slept. I suddenly realised I shouldn't have let the young offsider tie down the bimini on his own. He only did one side and thought I did the other. His side was banging on the hull, my side was somewhere between Nerang and Jacobs Well.

[tuffy]

Missing mudguard whilst climbing off boat after retrieve- nutted, bummed and embarrassed !!!!

Tuffy.

[ray67]

heres another driving 6.8 mtr on to trailer giving it to much throttle and snapping the post that holds the winch clean off then boat post and winch rolling back in to gunnamatta bay it was not funny on the day but writing this gives me the giggles

also had a mate on the boat doing about 50 ks and pulling accellerator to neutral so he can come up the front he did at about 50 ks puting his foot in to the berley bucket on the floor his shin skin made extra berley along with all the blood from his shin

[Berleyguts]

Years ago, my dad and I cartopped my punt and couldn't be bothered taking the gear out of it for a short trip down the road from Laurieton, so we left the fishing gear in and put it on the roof racks bottom side down in stead of inverting it. It flew off at 60mph! My truckies hitches held strong though... the wind force ripped the roof racks out of the gutters and the punt soared through the air landing with a thud off the side of the road! I still have that punt - it throws a little rooster tail up from the ding on that corner!

Baz

[DDDave]

I was at the boat ramp last year when my daughter who was mucking around in the ski tube stood up in water over her head and manged to loose a thong in the mud. Being the caring father that I am I put on the wetsuit and mask and swam around to find the thong sticking up out of the mud. About now a brand spanking new Whitley came up to the ramp and as there was no jetty I figured I might as well stay in the water and save them getting wet.

Anyhow they pulled and and I grabbed the bow said the goodayes etc and watched as the mid 50's couple of first time boaters tried to figure out how to get out of the boat without getting too wet, obviously never done this before.

Anyway dad finally slides over the bow and goes to get the car, a lovingly restored Holden V8 ute of late 70's early 80's era probably HZ I reckon. Mean while I am talking to mum whos telling me all about their maiden voyage when I notice the Yammy 4 stroke is still running even though it is tilted up not in the water. Dad jumps back in and says something like Bugger I left it running jeez shes quiet. (probably cooked it).

Anyhow I knew something was not quite right when I noticed the chock of wood being placed behind the rear tyre of the ute and its still running obviously in neutral. Dad starts winding up the boat and quick as you like the car has jumped over the chock and gone backwards at a hundred miles an hour. I was still in the water and with much grace for a 130Kg bloke unhooked the boat and moved it out of harms way from getting smacked by the winch post. dad shoves mum out of the way and manages to get into the said ute with not too much water skimming over the floor. The V8 was still gurgling away making lovely bubbles in the very salty water.

we get it all out boat on and ready top go and Dad says what the hell am I going to tell the blokes from work, tell them nothing I said, nothing at all . At least not until you have a handfull of success retreives under your belt.

He can try as hard as he likes but the candy apple red ute is going to rust like a mongrel.

[fishkiller]

didn't see this one mentioned so i will add it in the hope no one else does it.was fishing jumpinpin bar on the drift, by my self jan last year,caugth a couple of bream at one spot so tossed 5kg pough anchor out to hold me in spot against strong current, only there about 30 minutes but with that much sand travelling by the pick was buried, could not pull it in by hand so i start the motor up and try reversing,that doen't work as i can't get enough pull on the rope with a 15 horse on a 14 ft tinnie.have good idea, lets try this in forward mode,line up boat in straight line with anchor and pour on the power, the rope is so tight that it is humming,boat drops down into wallow between 2 small waves and anchor rope sweeps the deck clear,luckily it hit me above my tiller arm and didn't catch me under the chin or i wouldn't be telling the story, just heavy bruising from from being smacked to bottom of boat, did recover pick, but much wiser i hope.

[Stanfo]

I was fishing with a mate down in the local river, the current was folwing pretty quickly, so the desicion made was to dump the sand anchor, this worked really well the boat stayed in place. the spot yielded no fish so we decided to move. so with the anchor rope tied to the rollock we set off. only got about three metres before our progress was haulted by an almighty jerk, thats right, id left the anchor out. DO'H. We were damn lucky, my boat is an old 6 foot fibreglass tender that is a little fragile at the best off times, i still wonder how the side was not ripped completely off.

the moral of the story is always check to see if the anchor is in and dont be a fool like me

[REBSS]

Ok its been long enough now i can tell the story. After a nights fishing we were hooking up my 6.5 mtr half cab at patonga ramp.The handbrake wasnt strong enough to hold the boat and the car started to inch towards the water.I asked my mate if the boat was all hooked up as i was still in the boat and he said yes, so he got in the car and drove it up the ramp,at the peak of the ramp the winch let go and we ended up with the boat on the ramp, he didnt hook up the safety chain grr.Anyway about 15 blokes later we managed to get the boat back on the trailer. quite funny indeed

[Dhutchy]

#24 Not checking trailer hitch at each stage of the journey - Whether it needs it or not

I used to just check list prior to leaving driveway, I now do it several times - prior to driveway, prior to ramp, after retrieve, and back at driveway.

Because, one day my check list was interrupted by my kids fighting like a couple of staffie terriers, and I missed checking the trailer hitch. It was fine, over speed bumps, public roads, the ramp, no problems.Coming back from the ramp on a narrow curvey road, one speed bump too many and trailer with my 5m Quinnie on the back pops off with a bang that echoed through the valley like the gong of the great god Buddha.

Safety chains held and it only dinged the wheel cover, but it could have been much, much worse.

Dhutchy

Its not just about catching fish, but it helps

[srxwat4]

The funniest thing I ever saw happened up Mungo Brush about ten years ago .Watched a middle aged bloke back half way down the ramp and then got out and unhitched the trailer and proceeded to get towed down the ramp by the boat and trailer .Luckily the trailer speared off to the side and landed in the sand , better than going into the water .