First proper boat trip: a comedy of errors

[Guest Guest123456789]

I loved this!

I should make a new badge just for you BEST DRESSED FISHO or STYLING MASTER etc

I always subscribe to the "if you can't be one dress like one" method in anything hahahah

Good on you Luke

Thanks Donna. I think a 'Wanker' badge might be in order for me Edited August 23, 2016 by Guest123456789

[Guest Guest123456789]

Yeah - I've done many of those. Just be careful in Ettalong channel and out towards Lobster Beach - the sand banks can move around a lot. I've seen some of the red bouys sitting high and dry at low tide. If you can't see well enough and have not been through in a while slow it down. I'm had my boat for a couple of years now and I am still a learner in both boating and fishing, but I fish in Brisbane Water and Broken Bay regularly, so happy to head out together sometime and show you my routine. I well remember the early trips, but trust me you will get to a point where it is almost easier to do it still than with a helpful mate who does not know your routine.

Thanks Craig, that's good advice I thought the channel markers were always in deep water. Obviously not.

Love to come out with you at some point, thanks for the offer.

[kiwicraig]

Thanks Craig, that's good advice I thought the channel markers were always in deep water. Obviously not.

As a general rule the taller the marker the deeper the water it is in. E.g. The posts are usually in deep water, and the shorter floating makers are used where it is shallower. I've hit a sand bar when as far as I could tell I was in the marked channel.

[recurve]

I think we have all had our moments. Maybe not as many in one trip. I have run aground in Lake Illawarra inside the channel and right at the drop off. Was 2m from the Blue water of the drop off. Eventually I managed to get out. Done the earmuffs trick, done the rod in the rod holder trick, left the tow flag on the motor trick, couple of weeks ago I did not screw the D shackle on super hard and it vibrated loose so lost my favourite anchor and brand new chain. . I have a live bait tank and we left the valve open when we launched. As we sped off in the darkness we felt water splashing on our calves. Turned around and Fark Me there was a shit load of water in the boat. Bit of stress but the bilge handled it .

Lucky I have never done the rely solely on the hand brake while on the ramp trick. Have seen this trick done and it looks mighty expensive and heart breaking.

[tackleberry]

I think we have all had our moments. Maybe not as many in one trip. I have run aground in Lake Illawarra inside the channel and right at the drop off. Was 2m from the Blue water of the drop off. Eventually I managed to get out. Done the earmuffs trick, done the rod in the rod holder trick, left the tow flag on the motor trick, couple of weeks ago I did not screw the D shackle on super hard and it vibrated loose so lost my favourite anchor and brand new chain. . I have a live bait tank and we left the valve open when we launched. As we sped off in the darkness we felt water splashing on our calves. Turned around and Fark Me there was a shit load of water in the boat. Bit of stress but the bilge handled it .

Lucky I have never done the rely solely on the hand brake while on the ramp trick. Have seen this trick done and it looks mighty expensive and heart breaking.

i seen this one att 23:00 one night at my local ramp he said he was about to run up the trailer

and heard a almighty thump over the boat motor and when he looked back up the trailer ran under

the boat and his 80 series landcruiser ended up in the drink just under the roof .

apparently the thump was the hand brake and the diesel motor was running at the time .

Edited September 2, 2016 by tackleberry

[antonywardle]

Hi Flathead

I've been out with kiwi-craig a few times so you'll

be in safe hand. I usually stay in the Brsbane waters side

of the rip bridge when I go, so you can come with me

if you want.

I also go outside when its nice looking for flathead.

Maybe the three of us can do a "Team" day

Football season is nearly over for me so my weekends are coming back!

[Guest Guest123456789]

I think we have all had our moments. Maybe not as many in one trip. I have run aground in Lake Illawarra inside the channel and right at the drop off. Was 2m from the Blue water of the drop off. Eventually I managed to get out. Done the earmuffs trick, done the rod in the rod holder trick, left the tow flag on the motor trick, couple of weeks ago I did not screw the D shackle on super hard and it vibrated loose so lost my favourite anchor and brand new chain. . I have a live bait tank and we left the valve open when we launched. As we sped off in the darkness we felt water splashing on our calves. Turned around and Fark Me there was a shit load of water in the boat. Bit of stress but the bilge handled it .

Lucky I have never done the rely solely on the hand brake while on the ramp trick. Have seen this trick done and it looks mighty expensive and heart breaking.

My brother used to own an old Range Rover. Left the handbrake on at the top of his steep driveway. Ran upstairs and came back 5 mins later and saw it at the bottom of his driveway in the neighbours yard on its roof. Seems those big old 4WD's have handbrake fail pretty often.

i seen this one att 23:00 one night at my local ramp he said he was about to run up the trailer

and heard a almighty thump over the boat motor and when he looked back up the trailer ran under

the boat and his 80 series landcruiser ended up in the drink just under the roof .

apparently the thump was the hand brake and the diesel motor was running at the time .

Worst nightmare - hope he was insured.

Hi Flathead

I've been out with kiwi-craig a few times so you'll

be in safe hand. I usually stay in the Brsbane waters side

of the rip bridge when I go, so you can come with me

if you want.

I also go outside when its nice looking for flathead.

Maybe the three of us can do a "Team" day

Football season is nearly over for me so my weekends are coming back!

Sounds good Antony - I watch AFL which finishes up in a month and BOTH Sydney teams made the finals. October sometime SP's for lizards and bream maybe - keen to learn a few tips from yourself and Craig.

[tackleberry]

Worst nightmare - hope he was insured.

well he had a funny way of looking at it , he said well this just saved me a couple a grand as it was booked in the be lifted in 2 days

[recurve]

i seen this one att 23:00 one night at my local ramp he said he was about to run up the trailer

and heard a almighty thump over the boat motor and when he looked back up the trailer ran under

the boat and his 80 series landcruiser ended up in the drink just under the roof .

apparently the thump was the hand brake and the diesel motor was running at the time .

That sucks suck sucks sucks. Have to be so careful, so easy to do. But hand brakes are not designed to take 1.5 + Tonne of boat on a 15 degree slope. I saw a new Ford Ranger go under. That was a surprise. Not the sort of vehicle you expect to be a Boat Ramp fatality. Nor is a Land Cruiser.

I used to belong to a Out Board Boat Club with it's own facilities, ramps etc. This place was unreal and was sponsored Members only, oh I miss that facility. Anyway. As part of the induction they had a neat video of best practices and what to not do etc. One of the videos was cctv from the club of a guy retrieving a beautiful new 7m Fiberglass Boat. Did not put the chain on. Got to the top of the ramp and whoopsy!! off she went.

He jumped out of his car but he was too late. Video did not show the final resting place of the boat but did show the anguish and the pure heart break. Poor bugger after it all sank in sat down on the ramp and buried himself in his arms and knees and appeared to just rock himself. Watching it made me sadder than a 10 year old girl watching Watership Down. Apparently he did serious damage and he was justified is his grief. Was not his boat either, was his brothers. Oh dear.

This happened to me once. BUT!! I had the chain on. I was in the boat and my mate drove us up and i felt a wee 'Dink' and a sharp movement. When we got to the wash down area we realised what had happened. Thank my lucky stars I watched that video as have always been so paranoid about this since. Over the years the clicker was worn down due to various people (including me) winding it back over itself if you know what I mean. Dunbier sent me a new one for $25.00.Never ever trust the Clicker. ( I know it's not called a Clicker but I can't remember the parts name)

So, so, so many ways to come unstuck boating. Pretty scary actually.

[bessell1955]

Yes, we have all made this very same errors! The point is learn by one's mistakes an do not repeat them.

[Guest Guest123456789]

I think if I ever get a big offshore boat I won't try and launch it by myself. Someone can stay in the car with foot on the brake. Agree a handbrake is not designed to support a 1.5 tonne boat on an angle - that's asking for trouble.

[recurve]

I think if I ever get a big offshore boat I won't try and launch it by myself. Someone can stay in the car with foot on the brake. Agree a handbrake is not designed to support a 1.5 tonne boat on an angle - that's asking for trouble.

You can do by yourself. Just turn off car and engage in 1st gear or if an auto engage in Park.

[Guest Guest123456789]

I'm sure you can and many do but I'm pretty risk averse. I like the idea of all 4 wheels on my car plus another 4 on the trailer being braked while the rig is loaded and unloaded. Handbrakes can fail and cars can skip out of gear, especially under load. I've witnessed it.

By that stage the Kids and wife will be ready as support crew.

Edited September 6, 2016 by Guest123456789

[jeffb5.8]

My mate has a plastic wheel chock with a rope tied to it, drives forward the pulls it free.

[Testlab]

As a general rule the taller the marker the deeper the water it is in. E.g. The posts are usually in deep water, and the shorter floating makers are used where it is shallower. I've hit a sand bar when as far as I could tell I was in the marked channel.

Another Brisbane Water regular here. The pile markers are placed where the hazard doesn't move, like a reef or point, mooring areas, etc and the small floating marks are moved around depending on where the sand bars or other movable hazards are. The marks at Half Tide rocks through to Lobster Beach and out to Box Head move regularly.

"Red to red and green to green when coming home from where I've been"

So red to port and green to starboard when heading into port or heading upstream. In the channel from Half Tide to Box Head that means keeping close to the rocks. At low tide the sand bars drop from dry to 4m deep in only 2-3m horizontal distance.

[Cargo05]

Testlab

i use a similiar one to that:

green to green when going upstream, green to red when seas are ahead.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Thanks for the pointers gents. I did notice those small yellow buoys in the channel marking the deep area. I also observed the routes a few boats took and they either hug the rocks on the wagstaffe side or the sand on the ettalong side.

For now I think I'll just follow other boats slowly and from a distance until I'm more knowledgable/confident.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Well I notched up another boat learning experience over the weekend. Thought I'd try and fish the rip bridge. On approach a couple of boats were on the north east side close to shore. I dropped anchor but the current was a lot stronger than expected. Surprised me as I was pretty close to the other boats.

I felt it was a dangerous spot to be as if the nose or gunwhales dug in I would sink. If I had another passenger I could have just throttled forward against the current while they retrieved the rope. But no I was on my own so it was me and my arms pulling a 350 kg boat against the mighty current of the rip bridge. Let's just say after a good 20 minutes the biceps felt like jelly and the hands were more calloused than a boarding school teenager.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Guest123456789

[rickmarlin62]

in that situation drive forward and to the side of your anchor rope till you are same distance upstream as you were hanging downstream then lift anchor quickly before you drift back over it...rick

[Scratchie]

A few steep learning curves there luke! It will make you all the better in your future travels! And has probably helped a few other raiders as well.

I bet your enjoying getting out and about in the boat though!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[Guest Guest123456789]

Thanks for the tip Rick I'll remember for next time.

Absolutely Scratchie it's all new and lots of fun. Very happy with my little boat it's a beaut!

[Twinfisher 4.9]

Oh, have done most or all of these.......including leaving the bungs out! I think we should get together and write a brochure / booklet for all of us - new or old-timers. Pilots have a checklist to go through, no matter how many hours the have had in the air. I think it would be both a humorous read but much would resonate for serious long time boat owners - we all do get complacent at times, because we have done it so many times.

Steve

[Guest Guest123456789]

Agreed twinfisher a checklist makes it much easier. On iPhone there is a 'reminders' app. You can create new check lists. You can then easily check of each task.

If you're really tricky, using iCloud you can even have shared lists which you and other crew can check off and this is then synced amongst users. Here are mine:

[mrsswordfisherman]

Reminder app is very good thanks for sharing that. Better than notes as you can check it off.

Notes are good too for lists and you can add photos