How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

[Viking...]

I'm curious.
How long has it been since you've made a mistake or experienced a mishap?

Forgot the drain plug.
Forgot the tie downs.
Anchor not tied off.
Got home and discovered the trailer wire not connected.

You get the idea.

Been so long you can't remember?
Good!
I want to hear about all the years of worry free boating because your routine is bullet proof.
We read every day how someone forgot a simple thing, and had a near disaster.
Of course, if you have one of those stories...it's always an interesting read!

 

[_chris_]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

I forgot my drain plug Sunday. It's funny because that is usually the only thing I don't forget.

 

[jdlough]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

1 day.

I left the depth finder switch on with the battery switch set to 'both', all night, on the lift.

Both batteries dead.

Jim

 

[jakebrake]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

I respectfully refuse to answer under the grounds that it may incriminate me at a later point in time. Sir this is my right under the fifth amendement, and I choose to excercise that right.....


my lawyer says to always say that.

 

[Adamf24]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

It seems like I leave the bow or stern ladder down on my boat every single time we pull up the anchor and head back. Someone is always shouting at me from the distance to tell me to pull my ladder up. =/ lol

 

[david_r]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

1 day.

I left the depth finder switch on with the battery switch set to 'both', all night, on the lift.

Both batteries dead.

Jim

wow!!!!!!1 how many fishfinders do you have?....... i know this isnt the forum for it but have you checked all your wiring and connections?............ i have left mine on all night, along with the gauges, and it only pulled out like 2.3volts.


but yes i have left stuff on all night, almost gotten raked off the boat by current and overhanging trees, forgot the plug (still on trailer this time though..but in the water), left trailer lights unplugged after launch, etc,etc,etc D)etc,etc,etc, and etc ..........

if im with my fishin bud everything goes smooth.......... if im alone everything goes smooth.............. if i have someone else for some reason i get these brain farts and forget to do stuff.......... i could find someone to blame, and sometimes i do, but ultimately its my boat and my responsibility

 

[rp23g7]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

First time out with my (new to me) 88 20' Capri, sterndrive blew up, got towed in.

2nd boat 92 20' Capri, boat started at home, wouldnt start at launch a hr later, drug it home.

Havent forgot the plug yet.

Havent lost it in any way, off the trailer yet.

Havent run out of gas yet

Havent forgot to plug the trailer wires in yet.

Havent run over/into anything yet.

Notice i say yet.

 

[jdlough]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

wow!!!!!!1 how many fishfinders do you have?....... i know this isnt the forum for it but have you checked all your wiring and connections?............ i have left mine on all night, along with the gauges, and it only pulled out like 2.3volts.


but yes i have left stuff on all night, almost gotten raked off the boat by current and overhanging trees, forgot the plug (still on trailer this time though..but in the water), left trailer lights unplugged after launch, etc,etc,etc D)etc,etc,etc, and etc ..........

if im with my fishin bud everything goes smooth.......... if im alone everything goes smooth.............. if i have someone else for some reason i get these brain farts and forget to do stuff.......... i could find someone to blame, and sometimes i do, but ultimately its my boat and my responsibility

Yeah, surprised me, too. It's a new-to-me boat, still learning it. And it's not a fishfinder. It's just a round-gauge basic digital depthfinder, with backlight. Actually, I guess it's 1% possible it could have been left on for maybe two days...

Maybe depth finder transducers really don't like being on while they're outta the water.

Definite dead batteries. Power tilt wouldn't lift the motor more than about 4" before total battery death.

Recharged both batteries and all is well now, though.

Jim

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

if i'm lucky i can go at least an hour. that is if the hour comes when i'm asleep

 

[rjlipscomb]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

I'm trying to get all routines, well... routine. I have a set of procedures for pre-departure, pre-launch (prep) and return. Sometimes, in the confusion of life, something gets screwed up. But, I keep trying.

I liked it better when I lived in Palm Beach Co., the boat was at a marina, call and get in, return and get out... so simple. All I had to worry about was paying the bill.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

What mistakes / mishaps?

 

[QC]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

Your list of issues is usually not a problem, but something happens every trip. Last one my 16YO hit the dock pretty hard while I was parking the trailer. The whole family must've been sworn to secrecy because I discovered it at the beach later that day . . . All came out with some polish . . . I had a truck move over, hit my trailer, and tear my cover a year ago. Not my fault of course, but it still blew. Somebody dragged an Ice Chest across the bow loading it and it scratched the Gelcoat pretty good. Wife spilled a whole pitcher of Bloody Marys on the carpet, that sucked pretty hard. My best tube's plug just got cross threaded so it leaks and I need pliers to get it out now. Shredded one of my dock lines recently, but I can't recall how that happened.

The point is that something breaks or gets damaged almost every trip. The list was longer and the damage more expensive 25 years ago. These days, to anyone who asks "how was your trip?", I say, "nobody got hurt, so it was a good one."

 

[jakebrake]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

qc;

words to live by

 

[redone4x4]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

with 15 years experience, we chewed up 2 tubing lines this season already, .....yes, like QC said its always somethin lol. oh, forgot the air pump for the tube once this year also, but dad (me) had to blow it up manually so the day wasnt shot lol.

 

[scipper77]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

I have only messed up a handful of times in the last 4 years since I bought my boat. Lets see, I forgot to trailer up the outdrive when retrieving and ruined my prop, went cruising into a cove that I've been in many times before but this time the water level was a foot lower than normal and dinged my prop. Then there was the second time I forgot to trailer up my outdrive (bye bye prop #2). I just wish I could make a mistake that didn't damage my prop. Those things are expensive oh and lets not forget the time at the 1000 islands that we didn't notice the underwater power line marked on our map and we hooked into it with the anchor!! Had to cut the anchor free.

 

[Floatsum]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

At the gas pump. Always wrong side.
Boat fill on opposite side from truck's tank.

 

[Pierutrus]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

Forgot the drain plug on the second outing of the season.
Remembered I had forgotten to put it in halfway to the launch.
Next thought was, thank goodness I bought a spare when I got this boat and put it in the glove box of the towing vehicle!

 

[RWilson2526]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

At the gas pump. Always wrong side.
Boat fill on opposite side from truck's tank.

I have that same problem....I really dislike it too!!! I actually go fill up the truck the night before so I dont have to do rediculouse maneuvering around the gas station parking lot....Here in NJ especially where our gas stations are not the size of airplane tarmacs like those southern states!

 

[leshadow]

Re: How long without any mistakes/mishaps?

...if you don't make some mistake, or learn something you might have done better, each and every time you're on the water, you're either fibbing, or a potential danger. So my answer is that my boating experience is a string of mistakes, hopefully not of the repeating variety.