This past weekend my father and I went fishing on what turned out to be a not so good day on the water afterall!!!!!
I have attached a picture of my boat.
Here's the story!
Everything was fine on the way out to our desired fishing spot. It is only a couple of miles of travel from where we launch and in the intercoastal way (West side of FL). We do a little fishing, which turned out to be horrible, and decide its time to head back. I get curious and check the gas tank. Well, It USED to be a full tank of gas and I hadnt bothered checking it since this was the first time we got the boat running and actually out for more than testing. But as it turns out the tank nearly empty. So, with fingers crossed, I start it up and start to head back. By this time the seas are turning rather rough (about 1-2 ft waves). Ofcourse we run out of gas and decide to drift to a nearby causway and figure out what next once on land. I call my wife and she comes to our aid. We figured we have 2 options: Go get the trailer and bring it to us or get more gas and go to the trailer. Since we determined that loading from the beach would not work, too shallow, I go for gas. Now we have a full tank of gas and are ready to go. By this time the seas are a little worse, about 2-3 foot waves now! We get the boat in deep enough water, only about 20 ft. from shore and only a couple feet deep, to start the engine and it doesnt want to stay started when put into gear. The boat is constantly rotating and heading towards shore causing me to get out and reposition. I finally jump and stay out in order to hold the boat still and start and warm the engine. With the engine warm now, I throw it into forward gear and off we go (me trailing in the water with a death grip on the side of the boat!!!!!) I roll into the boat and get in my seat. As it turns out the motor has a problem! I can only get about half the rpm's I should. I attached a link to the post about my engine problems at the bottom. So with waves at a solid 3 feet now we are getting slaughtered. I thought for sure the life jackets were going to be used and I was already figuring out what I was going to grab from the boat before it sank. With wind and the water coming over the bow of the boat I was freezing! I start looking towards shore to see if there is somewhere we could dock. Everywhere is private property and no ramp that we could use. I am sure these property owners on the water are visited by boaters from time to time and would understand us pulling up! But, I see a building that looks "public" and takes no time at all for me to head that direction. Upon getting closer I reconize it to be a small marina, with a ramp, and thank my lucky stars we didnt have to go any further.
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!!!!!
I am glad I still have the boat and that all this happened. I now understand what they mean when they say the water can turn ugly, very quickly!!
The link of my mechanical problem:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=230653
I have attached a picture of my boat.
Here's the story!
Everything was fine on the way out to our desired fishing spot. It is only a couple of miles of travel from where we launch and in the intercoastal way (West side of FL). We do a little fishing, which turned out to be horrible, and decide its time to head back. I get curious and check the gas tank. Well, It USED to be a full tank of gas and I hadnt bothered checking it since this was the first time we got the boat running and actually out for more than testing. But as it turns out the tank nearly empty. So, with fingers crossed, I start it up and start to head back. By this time the seas are turning rather rough (about 1-2 ft waves). Ofcourse we run out of gas and decide to drift to a nearby causway and figure out what next once on land. I call my wife and she comes to our aid. We figured we have 2 options: Go get the trailer and bring it to us or get more gas and go to the trailer. Since we determined that loading from the beach would not work, too shallow, I go for gas. Now we have a full tank of gas and are ready to go. By this time the seas are a little worse, about 2-3 foot waves now! We get the boat in deep enough water, only about 20 ft. from shore and only a couple feet deep, to start the engine and it doesnt want to stay started when put into gear. The boat is constantly rotating and heading towards shore causing me to get out and reposition. I finally jump and stay out in order to hold the boat still and start and warm the engine. With the engine warm now, I throw it into forward gear and off we go (me trailing in the water with a death grip on the side of the boat!!!!!) I roll into the boat and get in my seat. As it turns out the motor has a problem! I can only get about half the rpm's I should. I attached a link to the post about my engine problems at the bottom. So with waves at a solid 3 feet now we are getting slaughtered. I thought for sure the life jackets were going to be used and I was already figuring out what I was going to grab from the boat before it sank. With wind and the water coming over the bow of the boat I was freezing! I start looking towards shore to see if there is somewhere we could dock. Everywhere is private property and no ramp that we could use. I am sure these property owners on the water are visited by boaters from time to time and would understand us pulling up! But, I see a building that looks "public" and takes no time at all for me to head that direction. Upon getting closer I reconize it to be a small marina, with a ramp, and thank my lucky stars we didnt have to go any further.
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!!!!!
I am glad I still have the boat and that all this happened. I now understand what they mean when they say the water can turn ugly, very quickly!!
The link of my mechanical problem:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=230653
, that and the salt water can be bad on the motor. Even in fresh water there are such things as lake wind advisories. And loading from the beach would of gotten you stuck adding more problems to what you already have or had at the time. There are reasons that ocean vessels have high sides.
