Boating stories: The good, the bad, and the ugly...

[andy6092]

What are your stories as the years have past with boating/fishing? Example: last year my wife and I were coming back to the ramp after fishing and we were about a couple hundred yards from the dock, when I fellow fishermen was backing his Ranger down the ramp. This ramp was really steep. We heard a loud bang and at first I thought was that he backed his boat right into the dock. My wife and I cringed. As we got closer, we realized after he made several attempts to reorganize, that his trailer hitch released from the truck and had slammed into the ramp. Once we docked the boat, he was able to drag his rig up the steep graded ramp to level ground and I assisted him with getting the trailer hitch back on the ball. We were the only ones at the ramp at the time. The guy was white as a ghost and I was too because I saw that the only thing that saved his boat and trailer from rolling into the lake was one safety cable. The other had broke I assume during the ordeal. This was a great example to always to double check everything before hitting the road. He obviously forgot to lock the hitch to the ball. I bet he won't make that mistake again. At that time I didn't make fun of the guy or make him feel like an idiot, because he already felt bad enough. I stayed to make sure he was able to finish out the process before retrieving my boat out of respect. **** happens. Be kind and help those folks if you can. One day it might be me or you in a situation similar to that one and would appreciate a lending hand without the childish criticism I've witnessed in the past when someone struggles.

[Mojo-NC]

We were fishing at one of our favorite winter/early spring crappie spots drop-shotting in about 30' of water. My buddy said to me, "I wonder why my bilge pump keeps coming on?" He opened the back compartment and realized the PVC intake line to his livewell was leaking at a connection. He tried to tighten it by hand and then said to me, "I need you to start the boat and drive us over to that shallow shoreline so that WHEN (not if) we sink we will be in shallow water." He had broken it off completely and water was pouring in as fast as it would when the plug is out.

Once we got the boat in shallow water we were able to plug the intake line and we continued fishing. He got it fixed soon thereafter and used brass fittings this time.

Another day at the lake we watched a young guy try to power his boat onto his trailer. He came in hot, missed the trailer, and crashed his boat into the back of his Nissan Xterra.

Last week I was leaving the lake as a local bass tournament was coming in for weigh-in. One guy who was fishing by himself tried to power his boat onto his trailer without first raising his trolling motor on his bass boat. That wasn't pretty either.

[Fin Bender]

I was talking with two guys as they were launching a john boat on a medium-steep dirt ramp. They had the boat backed down and mostly over the water when one said "wait, wait, wait we forgot something." The tuck driver pulled forward up the ramp, but the winch cable and safety chain had both been unhooked and the john boat came off the trailer and landed 1/2 in the water 1/2 on the ground, WOW.

[thump55]

I've shared my story before of trolling a 6 planer board spread right through a big high speed sailboat race.

It wasn't one of my better days.

[Steven Pederson]

i've had a few mishaps with plugs i forgot to put in. pulling up the ramp, seeing water pouring out the side of the boat from the bilge in the rear-view mirror. Usually gets the heart pumping. LOL.

[Custom Eyes]

Luckily, the time I forgot my plug, I was just dipping the boat in at the lake still on the trailer to winterize it. Backed in, started the engine, then went back to the truck to let it idle for a while. Sat in the truck for probably 6 or 8 minutes, maybe 10, then went back to the boat to find the bilge pumps pumping water out and water all the way up to the front seat posts. Took a while to drain out. lol

Missed this incident in the pic by a couple minutes. The guy on top went to move his boat and fell on the throttle, launching his boat at WOT onto the boat in front of him.

[IaDave14]

My story goes back to my first boat. I was fishing a lake in S. Iowa and I didn't know there was a bass tourney going on at the same time. It was one of my first times with the boat and I was by myself with a dog. It was a two boat ramp and when I pulled up there were 2 boats just pulling out. By the time I got my truck backed down there were probably 6-8 boats lined up waiting to pull out. To make matters worse it was very windy with it coming sideways. I was very nervous and took me 2-3 times to get loaded properly. What kind of p*ssed me off not one of them offered to help they could tell I was a rookie. I jumped out of the boat winched it up and put the chain on. I pulled up to the far end of lot to tie it down. As I was getting ready to get out of the truck 2 idiots drove by and shot me a funny look- I was so flustered I forgot to shut off the boat motor. I'm sure others have done this.

[stjoeguy]

Sorry Dave, but my mind's image of your motor running gave me a chuckle. I've never left the motor running, but I did ride 25 miles down St. Joe with the plug in the live-well intake instead of the boat drain. Water over the rear of the floor at the dock while unloading was my first clue.

[Watertank1]

Heading up North in Minnesota for a tournament, don't remember the road #, but it was raining pretty hard....noticed a vehicle heading in the opposite direction smoking real bad - as he passed by me, it was a black van pulling a boat---with the outboard still running.

I fish alone quite a bit and pride myself on being pretty quick at the launch ramp. On a trip with my new Ram truck and Lund boat, I had returned to the launch ramp and quickly put the boat on the trailer - I have a Drotto system on the trailer - hopped in the truck and tried to drive away - truck wouldn't move....after a protracted amount of time with others patiently waiting, i chanced to close the door on the truck and it pulled the boat out of the way...guess new trucks operate differently than my old 1 ton.

[Dacotah Eye]

I watched as a guy by himself drove his boat onto his trailer, got into his truck and drove up the ramp and out of the parking with his outboard idling in forward gear. He must have let it idle in gear to hold it on the trailer while he hooked up his winch strap. My wife is very good at helping get our boat ready to to launch, but there was a time she put the plug in the live well drain instead of the bilge drain. Luckily I always turn on the bilge pump and make sure no water is being discharged before leaving the launch area.