Stupid stuff you've done

SimonCh · 16 February 2021, 15:35

Apologies if there's a thread like this already...

Thought i'd share some of my less intelligent moments on the boat....

I was talking in another thread about half an hour of fault finding the engine only to find the kill chord was out.

Another time we'd serviced my pal's engine and didn't realise we had missed the gear selector spline when re-connecting the gearbox. whilst reversing his trailer down the slipway, I put one wheel off the side of the slip, so we had no option but to push the boat in to the water to recover the trailer - I told him to start the engine to make sure it was OK prior to pushing him off. He did so, all seemed well, he tossed me a line and I pushed him free... obviously he couldn't go anywhere. I had to wade in to deeper water, allow him to throw the anchor down, sort the trailer out and collect him...
We then recovered his boat, launched mine and went out for an hour.... Now time to recover my boat and we joked about me making a mess of reversing his trailer and I gave him my handheld VHF as he reversed mine down, I was shouting "Kenny, thats far enough, Kenny... STOP" *crunch* right off the side of the slip, same as i'd done. Turns out he'd thrown my handheld on to the passenger seat and it changed channel! Luckily it was a horrible day and nobody was around to witness. We looked a right pair of amateurs.

Thought it might be fun to share similar stories, i'm sure we all have plenty of them!

Pikey Dave · 16 February 2021, 16:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonCh

Apologies if there's a thread like this already...

Thought i'd share some of my less intelligent moments on the boat....

I was talking in another thread about half an hour of fault finding the engine only to find the kill chord was out.

Another time we'd serviced my pal's engine and didn't realise we had missed the gear selector spline when re-connecting the gearbox. whilst reversing his trailer down the slipway, I put one wheel off the side of the slip, so we had no option but to push the boat in to the water to recover the trailer - I told him to start the engine to make sure it was OK prior to pushing him off. He did so, all seemed well, he tossed me a line and I pushed him free... obviously he couldn't go anywhere. I had to wade in to deeper water, allow him to throw the anchor down, sort the trailer out and collect him...

We then recovered his boat, launched mine and went out for an hour.... Now time to recover my boat and we joked about me making a mess of reversing his trailer and I gave him my handheld VHF as he reversed mine down, I was shouting "Kenny, thats far enough, Kenny... STOP" *crunch* right off the side of the slip, same as i'd done. Turns out he'd thrown my handheld on to the passenger seat and it changed channel! Luckily it was a horrible day and nobody was around to witness. We looked a right pair of amateurs.

Thought it might be fun to share similar stories, i'm sure we all have plenty of them!

Left the drain bung out, got 5 miles out to sea with a boat full of divers & thought “she seems to be bogging”.....[emoji849]

jeffstevens763@g · 16 February 2021, 17:47

At ardoran marine slip pulling my quicksilver 500 pilot house out with front wheel drive rav 4 too slippy to get traction so decide to put on rope and pull from top of the slip parked the rav but the hand break wasn’t on properly due to a camera stopping it lifting up far enough went to the boat got a rope half way up misses shouts cars moving ran to put foot on brake pedal but slipped on the slipway on to both knees unable to get up I just rolled out the way as it pasted me toward the boat at speed it ended up just missing the boat sideways in the water with very little damage.

SimonCh · 16 February 2021, 17:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

At ardoran marine slip pulling my quicksilver 500 pilot house out with front wheel drive rav 4 too slippy to get traction so decide to put on rope and pull from top of the slip parked the rav but the hand break wasn’t on properly due to a camera stopping it lifting up far enough went to the boat got a rope half way up misses shouts cars moving ran to put foot on brake pedal but slipped on the slipway on to both knees unable to get up I just rolled out the way as it pasted me toward the boat at speed it ended up just missing the boat sideways in the water with very little damage.

Crikey - that sounds a bad one!

beerbelly · 16 February 2021, 17:59

hired a boat on holiday had a great run about then spotted a beach bar with lots of people sunbathing drinking ect and a couple of hire boats pulled onto the shoreline .so askes the mrs fancy a beer and a bite to eat .yes she says so am approaching the beach slowly mrs steering us in on tick over me at the bow loads of young folk watching us approach get to about 4 metres from the sand waters clear nothing on the bottom i jump over the bow waters 5 foot deep .boat keeps going forward and runs me over .luckily a tarzan type guy pulls me from under the front of the boat and helps the mrs out .his parting words were lots of people think its shallow here .felt a right fool

jeffstevens763@g · 16 February 2021, 18:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimonCh

Crikey - that sounds a bad one!

One little thing starts the ball rolling Simon always the way misses went ape nearly got all boating passes cancelled phew lucky

jakew009 · 16 February 2021, 20:16

Launching boat without the bung in.

Dropping bung whilst fitting and watching bung roll all the way down slipway. Bung was never seen again.

Both of the above happened within 10 minutes of one another.

On the plus side, a bit of electrical tape wrapped around a stick works perfectly as a bung.

diver 1 · 16 February 2021, 20:28

Dropped the leg off a newly acquired Mercury outboard for servicing water pump and panicked when the engine oil poured out all over the place. Thought I'd knackered the shaft seal or something until a phone call to my friendly local dealer confirmed I should have read the manual first and those engines need the engine oil draining before you remove the leg.

willk · 16 February 2021, 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakew009

Launching boat without the bung in.

This is a thing. When I trailered, I kept the bung on a carabiner attached to the engine keys.

I've done a sh1t load of other stupid stuff. Too much to recount, TBH.

GuyC · 16 February 2021, 21:22

I bought a boat.

spartacus · 16 February 2021, 22:22

Launched the boat with the bung out. I've just done it just the once, and it's on my pre-flight check list like a Lufthansa captain now!

Trying to launch the boat, and would it come off the trailer. No, quick check reveals the ratchet strap is still attached to the trailer at the stern!

Not really a mistake, but we were fishing a few years ago out of Gardenstown minding our own business, enjoying the sun and drifting waiting for the fish to bite. Radio comes to life and coastguard reports of a vessel drifting in our area? We're the only boat out we could see. My brother was napping and I was pouring another coffee. Before I could radio it in - all I heard was RNLI Fraserburgh lifeboat launched to investigate. Oh for **** sake!

Spoke to coastguard like something from Where Eagles Dare...'Broadsword calling Danny Boy' to say we were drifting but have engine power and only looking to get a mackerel or two. Coastguard officer said she couldn't stand 'em down and they would need to check for themselves.

10 minutes later their Trent class lifeboat was en-route. We met them half-way and told them we were fishing and I think they saw the funny side.

lakelandterrier · 16 February 2021, 23:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by spartacus

Launched the boat with the bung out. I've just done it just the once, and it's on my pre-flight check list like a Lufthansa captain now!

Done that with my Avon 400. Launched fine tied to pontoon. went to park the trailer up.
Sauntering back down thinking "launch was smooth, kids aren't fighting, we're going to have a good day...." I suddenly see Mrs T waving & jumping up & down shouting words to the effect "she's sinking" even though it is a rib and it's tied fore & aft to the pontoon. I Run down & immediately see I'd forgotten to to put the bung in (left it out ashore so rain water drained). Ankle deep in the finest Dart water I quickly insert it .
Then - and, this was the stupid part - I turn to Mrs T and say "the bung wasn't in - why didn't you just jump on board and put it in instead of shouting & screaming about it "

Let us just say it was not the best start to a day on the water.

Salty Pete · 17 February 2021, 03:28

I'm with Spartacus here.

Fortunately all of the afore mentioned problems I have performed with my first boat, early 20s. About 200 years ago.

I have a check list laminated and check each item off with a White Board Marker.

After each trip I wipe it clean, ready for next trip.

The Gurnard · 17 February 2021, 08:52

Im not sure if I ever do anything sensible .. so could write a book on daft things I have done .. but will spare you the boredom of reading it.

Possibly my most embarrassing moment was when I launched my wee F Rib (shown in photo) in a small sheltered bay between rocks at a caravan site so plenty folks would testify my stupidity.

All was going as planed as the boat built up speed ..went over the hump and onto the plane. I was hanging onto the rope in the bow to stop myself being bounced out the boat as there was a bit of a wave on the water. My left hand was working the tiller. Leaving the shelter of the bay, the wind gusted and started to dislodge my hat. Instinct took over and I put my hand on hat to stop it blowing away.

Of course I needed my right arm to keep hold of the rope to stop myself bouncing out so without thinking used my left hand. I hit the bigger waves at the bay entrance and because I wasn’t holding the tiller..the boat swung into full lock and turn round throwing me out the boat and into the water. It all happened in the space of a second .. which shows how quickly things go wrong.

The kill cord..even with its extension .. worked perfectly and I clambered back on board .. soaked to the skin. I avoided looking at the launch point as I didn’t want to see the many sniggering caravaners.

I hope my recent stupidity does not turn around and bite me on my bum either. Every day during lockdown I have heard the radio say “Its OK to not feel OK just now ..these are unprecedented times.”

I don’t buy that as it is certainly NOT OK for me to not feel OK just now !!.
So that I can continue boating during lockdown, I have just spent every penny I have buying a house beside the sea. A hopefully dream come true .. but only assuming I can sell my landlocked city house to pay the bills ... or it could turn into a nightmare .

I always live by the seat of my pants ..and so far have had a ball out of life.

Next month I live beside this little bay

And if my house doesn’t sell ..I will need to live on these nasty brutes instead of Morrison’s salmon, at least until the mackerel arrive.

I can stomach the views from my fish shop though

So you can decide if buying a house before selling .. simply to keep on boating ..is stupid or not.

I have always lived for today and never feared tomorrow ..so acting on instinct as usual.. time will tell

Brian · 17 February 2021, 09:55

For all you sibers out there...

Picture this-I was on the slipway in Alderney harbour early one evening, attending to my sib.
It was upside down and I was trying to flip up my fixed-to-the-boat launching wheels. Each wheel locks up firmly with a sudden click which can only be lowered again by extending the wheel against a strong spring i.e.needs two hands.
I had got the both half way up and the one flipped fully up trapping my fingers.
In my panic I accidentally nocked the other wheel up which also trapped my other hand.
I was now “trapped” by both hands. It was getting dark. There was nobody around. The wind was getting up. I was getting cold and couldn't think momentarily what to do.
After getting my brain in gear, I finally was able to drag my bleeding hand out from under and release the other hand.
Motto: only fiddle with the sib early in the day, making sure there are loads of people around, oh, and make sure the sun is shining!

69cmw · 17 February 2021, 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Gurnard

Next month I live beside this little bay

Looks good Donny [emoji106]

Nasher · 17 February 2021, 10:19

If my great mate Davybuoy was still with us, RIP mate, he'd love to be owning up to this.

Wet slipway, Upper Ferry public slip Dartmouth.

Nasher.

The Gurnard · 17 February 2021, 10:25

Yup 69CMW ..Im looking forward to 24/7 boating

I can identify with your feeling too Brian.

I often beach launch and was never fussy where or how hard a task it would be. A few years back I was beach launching alone at Loch Ailort , which is remote. I puffed and panted pushing my heavy SIB on the trailer across 200 yards of this beach. As I was on my own, I kept the OB on a sack trolley and moved it separately. I had to walk backwards to assist the wheels from sticking on the seaweed rocks. As I neared the floating boat.. I tripped on a rock and fell backwards..right at the waters edge.

The outboard clattered down on top of me, knocking the wind from my chest. Struggling to catch my wind again..and unable to get out from under the outboard .. I then took a panic attack as I remembered the tide was coming in..and it comes in fast here.

The water was lapping my lugs when I finally found my wind again and got the energy to push the outboard off me. I had images of drowning ..pinned to the shore by my own outboard..as the tide waits for no man nor beast.

So in my books leaving a bung out is absolutely nothing.. tell the real stories guys.

Incidentally..I don’t look at my happenings as stupid .. its just life.. we learn every day ..some just don’t like admitting it...but once you do .. you are a better man for it ..or so they told me at AA last night

Nasher · 17 February 2021, 10:42

Me personally, I've had a few.

Forgetting to put the bung in is a popular one, my most memorable occasion resulting in Nos4R2 hanging me over the transom by my legs with my head underwater in the Camber trying to put the bung in by feel without dropping it.

A major bad decision was deciding to carry on to Yarmouth on this day:
https://www.rib.net/forum/f18/yarmou...-15789-10.html

It was a stupid decision that could have ended very badly.

Nasher.

Swifty · 17 February 2021, 10:58

Tied up in Bosham with a few yachts, went to the Blue Anchor for lunch. From the beer garden I could see the masts of the yachts so thought "if it's ok for them..." and ordered another round. A while later I thought the yacht was leaving it a bit late to leave, wandered down to find the yacht lashed to the quay and preparing to scrub the bottom!

My boat was hanging by the lines with many people watching, laughing and pointing. Borrowed a knife and cut the line free and disappeared before the harbour dried completely. Now older and wiser I have never done it since.

Another cautionary tale is don't go to the pub for a beer and wear a drysuit on the return journey. We live and learn.

Tim.