LESSONS LEARNED, Things You Do Only Once

[G-Man]

Yep, my experience was in a 20' Bellboy out of Shilshole. The key was figuring out that the plug wasn't in before the motor was swamped. Always carry a spare plug and make sure you can fit it from the inside!

Hard top???

Nope, it had the soft top, that boat had a ton of open room to fish in.

[Bodofish]

Yep, my experience was in a 20' Bellboy out of Shilshole. The key was figuring out that the plug wasn't in before the motor was swamped. Always carry a spare plug and make sure you can fit it from the inside!

Hard top???

Nope, it had the soft top, that boat had a ton of open room to fish in.

Just wondering, when I was growing up a buddies family had one, lots of ski time behind it. Heavy boat, big for it's length.

[The Quadfather]

This makes me think of the time when I had my first boat. It was an 18' Bayliner Capri ski boat. I was TOTALY boat ignorant. I went with another rookie friend down to the free launch near Fred Meyer in Ballard. I backed the trailer down into the water.... next thing I know I hear this drunk guy who is sitting on a bench with a bottle in a paper bag. He is yelling, ' Boy! Ya trailer is floating!! I say, Boy! your trailer is floating!
Obviously I had forgot to unstrap the boat from the trailer. Then the guy proceeded to get up and try and get all hyper involved and grap lines, and want to tell me how to do everything. Of course it was my first launch and i was nervous already. I felt like a complete idiot.
Haven't done that one since.

Recently though I have taken to dropping things overboard. I was out with Motoboat this summer, and on 2 different occaisions I was only opening packages of DR clips or something... as I pulled the package apart the brand new clip or whatever, went flying into Area 10.

Oops!! One more.... How about when you first get into crabbing from a boat. Dropping down your pots in maybe 80' of water, and not leaving enough line above the pot to account for an incoming tide. You get back at pick up time... tide has come in, and buoys are now under water.
Back do catching dog fish for another couple hours until the tide goes down.

[Gonefishing]

This makes me think of the time when I had my first boat. It was an 18' Bayliner Capri ski boat. I was TOTALY boat ignorant. I went with another rookie friend down to the free launch near Fred Meyer in Ballard. I backed the trailer down into the water.... next thing I know I hear this drunk guy who is sitting on a bench with a bottle in a paper bag. He is yelling, ' Boy! Ya trailer is floating!! I say, Boy! your trailer is floating!
Obviously I had forgot to unstrap the boat from the trailer. Then the guy proceeded to get up and try and get all hyper involved and grap lines, and want to tell me how to do everything. Of course it was my first launch and i was nervous already. I felt like a complete idiot.
Haven't done that one since.

Recently though I have taken to dropping things overboard. I was out with Motoboat this summer, and on 2 different occaisions I was only opening packages of DR clips or something... as I pulled the package apart the brand new clip or whatever, went flying into Area 10.

Oops!! One more.... How about when you first get into crabbing from a boat. Dropping down your pots in maybe 80' of water, and not leaving enough line above the pot to account for an incoming tide. You get back at pick up time... tide has come in, and buoys are now under water.
Back do catching dog fish for another couple hours until the tide goes down.

Better errr/worse yet. Toss the crab pot into the water and realize the rope was tied to the pot.... That will be a one time one time one time last time I'm going to to do that one now eh? thing!

[Amx]

I finaly remembered a good one. The usual of course of forgetting the bilge plug 3 times, once on all 3 boats I've owned. But the good one is when I launched the boat in Silver, drove down the canal a little ways, hit a 'stump' out in the middle of the canal. Later in the day got back to the trailer, loaded the boat, couldn't find the motor-toter bar. Wasn't in the truck. Oh ya, that 'stump' I 'hit' was the motor-toter coming off the outboard and the prop hitting it. I'd forgotten to take it off the lower unit of the boat and the rubber bungie was still around the lower unit.

And my first boat was a stick steering from the very front of the boat, '72 Chrysler Bass Runner. Move the stick/lever towards the front, and the boat turns to the right. Anyway I was backing off the beach and moved the stick to the left and so the stern went left, putting the aluminum prop right into the chain marking the side of the lunch property and bending the blades. Cost a bit to fix that prop. Sawyer launch way back in about '80, was a chain back then.

[The Quadfather]

I finaly remembered a good one. The usual of course of forgetting the bilge plug 3 times, once on all 3 boats I've owned. But the good one is when I launched the boat in Silver, drove down the canal a little ways, hit a 'stump' out in the middle of the canal. Later in the day got back to the trailer, loaded the boat, couldn't find the motor-toter bar. Wasn't in the truck. Oh ya, that 'stump' I 'hit' was the motor-toter coming off the outboard and the prop hitting it. I'd forgotten to take it off the lower unit of the boat and the rubber bungie was still around the lower unit.

And my first boat was a stick steering from the very front of the boat, '72 Chrysler Bass Runner. Move the stick/lever towards the front, and the boat turns to the right. Anyway I was backing off the beach and moved the stick to the left and so the stern went left, putting the aluminum prop right into the chain marking the side of the lunch property and bending the blades. Cost a bit to fix that prop. Sawyer launch way back in about '80, was a chain back then.

That is such an "Old School" style motor that some of us can't really imagine what you're talking about, Tom. But either way, it doesn't sound pretty.

[Amx]

Ya, lets see if I can discribe it better.

The fishing seat up front on the casting deck is also the seat where you sit to drive the boat on plane.

The steering is a long lever on the left side with cables back to the outboard and on the inside of the gunnel. Oh ya, I have a picture. I'll post it. Give me a couple minutes and I'll see which picture show it best.

[Amx]

In the picture you can see the long rod with the T-handle laying towards the rear. It's on the left inside of the boat. That is the steering shaft. Ok, now I have to figure out how to attach a picture to this new format. There it is, I see it down below. Picture coming up.

[Bodofish]

Stick steer is great! I'm thinking about converting my boat to stick. Tired of replacing cables and spinning the wheel.

[Amx]

Sometimes I wish I had that boat back. I sold it to my brother in '88. He put in a driving console and then he wore it out.

[Gringo Pescador]

2nd hand, but entertaining.

Dated a girl once back in the early late 80's/early 90's. She and her dad were in a friends sailboat going through the Ballard locks from Lake Union to the Sound on a busy summer weekend. Her dad, knowing nothing about boating or the locks, thought he would help out, so took it upon himself to tie up to the side of the lock.

Water level starts lowering, boat starts listing. Panic ensues, whole process stops. Water has to be pumped back into the lock to right the boat.

[The Quadfather]

Now that I would have loved to have seen Gringo. I used to go through the locks a lot in the first boat. It is a very stressful place. Also you have those Army Corps of Engineers dudes who run it. They are intense. They will holler at you very hard in certain situations. Not that it isn't warranted sometimes though. There are some extremely expensive yahts in there, and the wrong manuevering can make for trouble.

[gort]

That reminds me of the time my friend of my dad's took us out boating. It was a long time ago, so I don't recall exactly, but it was maybe an 18' aluminum boat. We went through the locks, and there was a tug boat ahead of us. It took up the whole width of the small lock. The Army Corps guys were warning us that the tug boat was going to create a lot of backwash and turbulence behind it. And as Quadfather says, there was a lot of yelling, and it was all very stressful. They let the tugboat get out quite a bit before they had us follow. Our boat was first in line. Somehow, in all the confusion, we managed to do the one thing they warned us not to do - we cast off the bow line, before we let the stern line go. So the boat was tethered at the stern, and all that backwash started pushing the bow sideways. The boat began turning sideways, threatening to smash into all those big expensive sailboats. We had people screaming at us from every direction, and jabbing at our boat with gaff hooks, trying to keep us from colliding. The current was just too strong once we were turned broadside to it, and we basically had to wait a bit for the water to die down before we could right ourselves. It was a nice day, too, so we had a ton of spectators up above. That was embarrassing.

[The Quadfather]

How about marrying your 8th grade girl friend.... You only do that once, lol.

[Gringo Pescador]

How about marrying your 8th grade girl friend.... You only do that once, lol.

Oh man - Quad, that was the winner of the week - now everybody in the office knows I an not working.

[The Quadfather]

Let me clarifiy, with all due respect to my current wife, ( she is not the 8th grade g-friend.)

[Bodofish]

Chris I sure hope this forum is offlimits to your wonderful other half............

[MotoBoat]

How about showing up to the boat ramp, with boat in tow. Pay the launch fee. Launch, tie up the boat, and then discover someone lifted you current boat Reg. decals from the side of your boat! I had returned to shilshole ramp. Was walking up the dock to get the p/u truck for boat retrieval and told the guys in front of me that the coast guard was out boarding boats. They were taking a looooooong time on each. Like 15 minutes of boarding, with a min. of 3 guys boarding the boat. They thanked me. While scratching there heads at the missing decals and exclaiming " someone lifted our boat reg decals!".

[MotoBoat]

In the picture you can see the long rod with the T-handle laying towards the rear. It's on the left inside of the boat. That is the steering shaft. Ok, now I have to figure out how to attach a picture to this new format. There it is, I see it down below. Picture coming up.

I have been around a few boats in my day. But had no idea the first mechanical steering in boats did not include a steering wheel. Someone was obviously thinking ........space saving. I don't want to be the first to make the fatal mistake of................. "push" instead of "pull " the leeeeeeeeever.

[hewesfisher]

While not a real lesson, it was one I knew better than to do. Typical boat plug deal, but it was how it happened that made it a learning experience.

We bought a used Class C from a WA Lakes member's dad two years ago, and I was eager to hitch up the boat and head out. So on a Friday afternoon August 2010, we (wife, son, daughter-in-law, 2 dogs) got the motorhome all loaded up with a weekend's worth of "stuff" (do we really need all this for 2 days???) and I got ready to hitch up the boat. I already knew it had a round 4 plug so I bought a round 4 to flat 4 converter, hitched up the boat, plugged the lights in and had my son go to the back of the boat trailer for a light check. All kind of weird stuff, step on brakes and running lights come on, turn running lights on and brakes come on, right turn in RV and left turn on trailer with trailer clearance lights blinking too. Darn. The round 4 was miswired, drag some cardboard out and lay in the near 100° temps and rewire the round 4. Light check is good, we're outta here!

Me and my wife and our Yellow Lab in the RV and the kids and their dog in my truck. Get to the lake/campground after an uneventful tow with the RV, and send the ladies out with the dogs after they parked while my son & I took the RV down to the launch. Get to the water's edge, put the fenders on, attach bow line, release the safety chain and winch strap, and back into the water. Boat slides off the trailer nicely as always, and I jump out to help tie up when my son says the bilge pump is running and water is pouring out the side of the boat. Momentary huh? and quickly realize I left the plug out after washing the boat earlier that morning when I raised the trailer up to drain the boat. Where's the plug???? It's in the truck several hundred yards away, right where I left it when I washed the boat. Oops.

We quickly pull the boat back on the trailer, hook up the winch strap and I pull the boat out of the water to let "the lake"
run out of the boat and send my son off to get the plug out of the truck. I sit at the launch waiting for my son wondering what's taking him so long, it's not that far.

Finally, after what seems like half an hour, he returns with the plug. Me: What took you so long??? Him: The truck was locked and I had to find Mom & Amanda because they had the keys and they were out walking the dogs. Me:

Ok, all's well that ends well - almost. By now the lake has drained out of the boat, and we install the plug and I back the boat into the water. My son starts yelling as I do, and I'm thinking what now? Yep, boat's floating, but stuck to the trailer because I forgot to undo the winch strap. Arrgh. I let some winch line out, reach down and unclip the strap, move the boat back and secure it to the dock. I pull away and park the RV and trailer and walk down to the launch, hop in the boat, hit the key, and yep, dead battery. No matter, I fire up the kicker and head away from the launch dock and motor over to the guest slips.

I've got three batteries on board, but do you think I had a set of jumper cables? No. Decided to pull the battery and pick up a charger in a nearby town, but, well that's a whole 'nother story.