"I learn't about Ribbing from that"

nikster · 07 October 2008, 23:27

The one thing i have learnt in life is to learn from others!! - and i am in the fortunate position to meet many, many people on a daily basis that drive various boats for a living or a hobby and they all have a story to tell....!

Im asking you all to put your tales of daring or woe here for everyone to read and take note of................... WE can ALL learn from others no matter what the expereince level or situation......... so please post if you have something that may well be a valuable lesson for all.

Note: for the serial posters... please try and leave the banter out.... just let people go for it without ridicule etc.......

Cheers

nick

PS Any chance you can sticky it.............. for safety reasons of coarse...!!

Ian M · 08 October 2008, 13:03

OK, here's one I learnt whilst out on the club diving RIB.
Don't clean your diving 'treasures' on top of the tubes with your diving knife!
Seen it done, and was not quick enough to stop the inevitable

We did not see much of him after that

PeterM · 08 October 2008, 14:05

One from me- first time out in new boat a few years ago & not used to the handling. There were ' reasonable' size waves coming up over the bar at the entrance to the harbour.

The engine was trimmed out ( as its is shallow & I was worrying about the prop) . I bring the power up to speed up the boat to level it off when going into the wave , planning to chop the power at the top & drop in the back of the wave , BUT ..............

All that happened was the nose went up , the boat slowed down, the wave went under the bow , the nose went up higher , the engine & transome vanished under water ! I by this point was hanging on praying the boat came down the right way & didn't flip backwards .

After what seemed liek 3 days it did flop back down , but I now have 1 ton (or more) of water in a 4m boat - so its not exactly handing well ! So I've now drifterd out of the channle & the prop strikes the bottom ( and half of it stays there ) . I've now got a huge vibration at anything other than idle & need to turn the boat & get out of the surf ! ( i'm thinking I've pulled the leg off the engine etc). I somehow turn round get out of the surf & back in the flat calm harbour and manage to tie up at a bouy. Spend the next half hour getting the boat empty & getting up the courage to even look at the prop etc, and once done crawl home.

What did I learn ? A new boat wont always do what you think it will ,& I nearly totalled the boat for the sake of an £80 prop! Maybe I should have thought about the possible outcome before I got there !

Hightower · 08 October 2008, 21:26

When I went to Sea Trail Kohaku (my last RIB) the owner backed her down the slip when the winch let go and dropped her on the concrete. Scraping and chipping the hull bottom and trailing edge of the transom.

I always use a ratchet strap and wind the Bow painter around the winch post a couple of times, just to make sure. I also make sure there is no one standing between the trailer and bottom of slip after seeing a fishing boat being recovered when the rope snapped causing the Trailer and boat to career down the slip and broadside another guys cruiser. No one was hurt luckily.

ian parkes · 08 October 2008, 22:26

more infothe last good weekend out 2 weeks ago , we were just leaving the beach when a chap came running into the water wearing a very posh full steamer wetsuit asking for a lift to his boat . He pointed to a brand new bayliner bowrider that he must of anchored at low tide which was about 400 yds off shore , he said he felt it was too far to swim and it was his first trip out and he didn't realize the tide came in so far. He commented these wetsuits are so hard to swim in

No problem I said jump aboard and the fellow rather awkwardly pulled himself into my rib . He looked a little strange and sat rather awkwardly on the tube . I noticed my wife facing the bow with a big smile on her face trying not to look back into the boat , anyway i was too busy getting the motor started and out through the small surf to take any more notice. I dropped the guy to his new boat and he kind of crawled aboard it very awkwardly on all fours as if he had some sort of problem
As we drove away my wife and daughter were laughing their heads off , I started to tell them off for being cruel and they both said din't you see what was wrong with him , He had his new wetsuit on back to front

Mollers · 08 October 2008, 22:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by ian parkes

more infothe last good weekend out 2 weeks ago , we were just leaving the beach when a chap came running into the water wearing a very posh full steamer wetsuit asking for a lift to his boat . He pointed to a brand new bayliner bowrider that he must of anchored at low tide which was about 400 yds off shore , he said he felt it was too far to swim and it was his first trip out and he didn't realize the tide came in so far. He commented these wetsuits are so hard to swim in

No problem I said jump aboard and the fellow rather awkwardly pulled himself into my rib . He looked a little strange and sat rather awkwardly on the tube . I noticed my wife facing the bow with a big smile on her face trying not to look back into the boat , anyway i was too busy getting the motor started and out through the small surf to take any more notice. I dropped the guy to his new boat and he kind of crawled aboard it very awkwardly on all fours as if he had some sort of problem
As we drove away my wife and daughter were laughing their heads off , I started to tell them off for being cruel and they both said din't you see what was wrong with him , He had his new wetsuit on back to front

I've seen that, zip up the front and a gaping hole at the back of the neck.

ian parkes · 08 October 2008, 22:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollers

I've seen that, zip up the front and a gaping hole at the back of the neck.

Yes i think his real problem was his tail between his legs

Chris · 08 October 2008, 23:40

How about you Nikster?

Got any tales of woe

nikster · 09 October 2008, 08:25

chris, soon as i get off this boat....and im home i will share 2 experiences, one was the whitby accident and the other was to do with a lobster pot at night......... :-)

Dirk Diggler · 09 October 2008, 08:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikster

chris, soon as i get off this boat....and im home i will share 2 experiences, one was the whitby accident and the other was to do with a lobster pot at night......... :-)

ooh, please hurry back.

Mollers · 09 October 2008, 09:02

I managed to dump mine on the slip.

I'd backed it down the slip to the waters edge unstrapped everything inc. the winch. I normally leave the winch attached until I'm actually shoving the boat off of the trailer. Anyway, I, for some reason, got in the boat, there were a load of dinghies in the way on the my side of the slip. I asked the Missus to pull ahead and move us across the slip a tad.

She pulled away, the boat rolled off 'bonk, bonk'. Fortunately, there were a load of army guys there on a canoeing trip, about 10 of them picked a 6.5m rib up an put it in the water. Unfortunately, one of the biggest gobs on Ribnet was down on hols and lanching behind me.

The damage was amazingly little, a thumbnail chip off of one sprayrail and a bit to the planning pad/ transom edge.
That wont happen again.

samt · 09 October 2008, 09:25

Took a couple of mates out who'd never really been on boats before. Got back, I got off to get my car and trailer and told him to take it round to the slipway, and i'd meet them there!!

Got there to find they'd attempted to drive the searider up the slipway, and had got quite far up

. The hull was scratched, but luckily the outboard had kicked up and the gearbox and prop were ok.

They owed me drinks for a few days, and I got to take the mick out of them for abit.

But it was my fault I shouldnt have assumed.

bedajim · 09 October 2008, 13:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollers

I've seen that, zip up the front and a gaping hole at the back of the neck.

We used to hire out windsurfers etc and joe public always used to put the wetsuit on zip to the front and pretty side out
I aways put it down to the fact that they didn't want the crotch the last user had pee'd in on the inside

PeterM · 09 October 2008, 15:40

Done similar to mollers in dropping my Jetski in the middleof the road outside my house- same reason an unclipped winch strap. It lived in the garage and was kept unclipped to keep load off it, usually I clipped in on and rolled it out, but my neighbour came over to chat & distracted me !

What did I learn from that ? - Its better to appear rude , concentrate on what is going on and apolgise afterwards with no damage, than to be nice,not concentrate , break something , then be rude while you sort it out & then have to apologise anyway !

Solent-Salted · 09 October 2008, 15:53

When I first entered the world of ribadge (and fast water sports for that matter), I learnt when someone shouts "WAKE" it's for a good reason and make sure you are positioned appropriately or your mammy and daddy dept can be, shall we say, left slighty bruised.

jyasaki · 09 October 2008, 16:32

I'll repost something that happened to a buddy of mine: Opposite of the dropping the boat on the ramp.

Jeff and another buddy stayed down for an extra day of diving on Monday (I had returned to work), and were launching the boat in the morning. (Unfortunately, nobody around on a weekday morning as a witness.) Jeff does his usual, and opens the pickup tailgate so he can see, backs in, sees the boat start to float, Steve pulls on the lines, but the boat won't move. Jeff pulls forward a bit, then backs in and hits the brakes. Still nothing. Again, with a bit more reverse speed - forward, reverse, brakes - and everything in the bed of the truck slides into the water: several dive cylinders, shoes, assorted dive gear, a wooden tank rack, a barbecue, charcoal, a cooler full of food (opened when it hit the water - lettuce, bread, lunchmeats, and drinks all bobbing around the ramp.) Steve said they were laughing so hard they couldn't see, as they gathered stuff up and threw it back into the truck. Jeff takes a look at the back of the boat and realizes he had left one transom tie-down on. He wades in behind the boat, releases the strap, and a) nearly gets hit by the boat as it comes up, and b) nearly gets smashed by the trailer as it sinks to the bottom. Not sure how the rest of the day went...

jky

Mollers · 09 October 2008, 17:50

Here's another. My first boat, that wasn't the Old Man's, was a late 70's 14ft Shakespeare with a 3cyl Suzook 65. I went to town on it.

I had the deck pro painted Ford bright lime green, new seats, screen, floor and carpeting. When screwing and sikaflexing the floor in I thought that my s/s screws were a bit on the long side. I then checked the amount of void between the floor and the hull. Plenty and on I go. I then gave a carpet laying mate £10 to do a nice job of the nylon carpet.
Ready to launch now, back her in as far as poss and give her a shove. Umm, bunked trailers are always a bit reluctant. Gets in, fires up the Suzook and gives it a bit of astern, no good. Give it flat out astern, still on the trailer. Hauls it out wondering WTF was the matter with the thing. I rocked it from side to side on the trailer and all became apparent. I'd screwed the hull to the bunks.

The floor at the edges sat over a spray rail, and directly on the hull. I'd only put about 1/4" of four screws through into the wooden bunks, but it was enough to hold her fast.

Shorter screws and gelcoat filler sorted it, i never got the Suzook to run properly though.

Downhilldai · 09 October 2008, 22:06

Did you have to re-carpet the bunks?

Mollers · 09 October 2008, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Downhilldai

Did you have to re-carpet the bunks?

Yeah, bummer as I'd paid out a tenner.

I did the boat floor myself, rough as rats!!!

Downhilldai · 09 October 2008, 22:12

Nothing a bucket of self-levelling won't sort out