Yup...just like everyone else, I've done the plug thing.<br /><br />Last Friday I purchased a 1997 Maxum, 17' with a 135hp mercruiser sterndrive. My roommate and I took it out on Saturday and had a great time. Water was a bit choppy in Southern Indiana, but it was still nice. My roommate is an experienced boater, I am not. I had been around them as a young boy into my early teens, but never actually had to deal with the plugs, bilge pump, etc.<br /><br />We decided to go out again in Sunday, this time taking my sister and her two kids with us. It was my first time getting the boat off of the trailer, so I went through a few of the motions I had done the day before. My roommate took off the transom straps, so I figured he was handling the back of the boat, I was getting things ready inside. He backed me down, and I putted around to the dock.<br /><br />Everyone climbed on board and we putted out past the no wake zone and I geared it up...but the engine died. I tried this about 3 times, and then tried taking it really slow...as the boat finally started picking up speed the bow lifted out of the water, and my neice says "Where is all this water coming from?"<br /><br />I looked back and the water us coming out of the storage box between the seats! I turned to the roommate and said "did you put the plug in?"<br /><br />We headed back for shore and beached it, he jumped out as I cut the engine. With the plug in, we waited for the bilge to pump out the water. I remembered that the previous owners had left a pail in the storage with the paddle and bumpers, so I got that out and started pailing water out. I looked over to the ramp about 300 yds away to see if anyone was laughing.<br /><br />While I was pailing out the water my neice got a phone call on her cell. It was my mom, and the first thing she said was "We almost sank!" I had to reassure my mom that we were okay and would be fine the rest of the day. Dad got a kick out of it as he had done the same thing many times. Anyway, after a while it was time to try again, and this time the boat planed out the way it should.<br /><br />Water was much calmer on Sunday and we had a great time out on the lake. When we trailered the boat that afternoon my roommate said he was going to make a sticker to put on the straps that says "Don't forget the plug". 
