I guess this would qualify as a stupid human trick but I am looking at it as a lesson learned! 
So the kids weren't listening too well yesterday and after several warnings, it was decided that the day on the water was over. Much to my chagrin, I pulled up the bow anchor, got the tube back in the boat and started up. Much crying and wailing ensued from the kids as they realized that their day just got bad and was going to get worse when we got home.
Of course I was a bit peeved that my day was shortened because they couldn't behave so I did what any good dad would do to teach them a lesson and slammed the throttle to show my state of anger at them. That would show them. Or would it just make me feel better?
The boat seemed to respond a little sluggish. Did I stop and evaluate? No, of course not.
After a minute of moving along at WOT (albeit a little sluggishly), there was a sharp jerk and a loud "thwack". Great. Now what. Nothing to put the cherry on top of a crappy day like hitting a log and tearing up the prop!
Well, long story short, it looks like in my angry frenzy, I seemed to have forgotten to pull up the stern anchor. After dragging it along the bottom for several hundred yards, it snagged, the rope stretched and then slingshotted it right at the stern of the boat. You know, a 15 lb mushroom anchor can put a nice hole in your gel coat. Luckily it hit the boat and not the engine or worse yet one of us.
I guess I'll be looking at gel coat repair threads now.
But on the bright side, the crying stopped. It was a nice peaceful ride back to the dock!! I guess they figured Daddy was serious if he was willing to smack the boat with the anchor just to make his point!!
So the kids weren't listening too well yesterday and after several warnings, it was decided that the day on the water was over. Much to my chagrin, I pulled up the bow anchor, got the tube back in the boat and started up. Much crying and wailing ensued from the kids as they realized that their day just got bad and was going to get worse when we got home.
Of course I was a bit peeved that my day was shortened because they couldn't behave so I did what any good dad would do to teach them a lesson and slammed the throttle to show my state of anger at them. That would show them. Or would it just make me feel better?
The boat seemed to respond a little sluggish. Did I stop and evaluate? No, of course not.
After a minute of moving along at WOT (albeit a little sluggishly), there was a sharp jerk and a loud "thwack". Great. Now what. Nothing to put the cherry on top of a crappy day like hitting a log and tearing up the prop!
Well, long story short, it looks like in my angry frenzy, I seemed to have forgotten to pull up the stern anchor. After dragging it along the bottom for several hundred yards, it snagged, the rope stretched and then slingshotted it right at the stern of the boat. You know, a 15 lb mushroom anchor can put a nice hole in your gel coat. Luckily it hit the boat and not the engine or worse yet one of us.
I guess I'll be looking at gel coat repair threads now.
But on the bright side, the crying stopped. It was a nice peaceful ride back to the dock!! I guess they figured Daddy was serious if he was willing to smack the boat with the anchor just to make his point!!
