Is your wife a good boater ?

[a70eliminator]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

I'm w/ eliminator to T she looks good laying the sun but as far as being a good boater that's a pretty wide open statement that I will answer like this she has no interest in doing the trailer thing or the launch and retreval thing and thats ok with me because I wouldn't want her showing me up. Merry xmas

A-men brotha, not to mention It feels good to be in charge once in a while.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

Im not married but have a girlfriend and we live together, have kids, etc. While im at work, she gets all the food, coolers, towels, clothes, etc packed and ready. She gets in the boat and helps load and organize it, and she also backs the trailer down the ramp. I took her to an empty parking lot so she could practice backing into parking spots with no one around. Shes pretty darn good at it now. And not worrying about driving the truck and trailer to/from the ramp is a huge relief. She doesnt operate the boat yet, but I am thrilled with the level of participation by her and my daughter so far.....

The first trip was a little rough as she was by no means a "boat" person (NEVER been on one before mine), but it all got worked out quick enough

 

[BTMCB]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

A-men brotha, not to mention It feels good to be in charge once in a while.

Well said!

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

No pics of good wife boaters yet huh? Well my rarely drives but here's a pic of my good first mate friend who likes to putter around in mine.

 

[gearjammer]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

NO! She's a good complainer

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

My wife is good at catching the fish and holding the bow line wile I do every thing else. But any day we go out is a good day.

Once my wife bailed over the side with the bow line to get us back to shore when we ran out of gas. It was funny because there were a dock full of people watching and I had to say out loud (and she cooks and cleans). If looks could have killed I would have been a red smear.

 

[dan t.]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

my wife will back the trailer in the last bit while launching and will pull out, but backing down the ramp is out of the question. she drives the boat on a regular basis but is a little shy about docking when there are spectaters. she usually catches bigger fish than me too:redface:

 

[scutly]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

if looking good on the boat at 45 is the only criteria for being a good boater, well then heck yeah! if ya need more than good looks, well then not so much...

 

[vicman]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

I told my wife when she started learning, there are two rules:

1) Always watch what your doing and what others are doing around you so
you don't get anybody hurt. It can happen in an instant on the water.

2) What ever happens....Don't scratch the boat. (Even if rule #1 has to be
broken.)

She doesn't want anything to do with the truck, but she is such a great help operating the boat at the ramp.

 

[ashleygoodin]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

I was about to post a new thread related to the wife and the boat when I found this one. I have a bit different take on this....I have the helpful yet over-confident wife and I would like to ask what you would do or how you would try to teach without getting chewed out.

My wife had no boating experience prior to our first boat together last year. I had some from many years with friends with boats prior to our getting one boat as a gift and then buying another last year.

She is great with all of the preparations...food, cooler, towels, sunscreen, organizing the friends, etc. every time we go out. I do all of the backing, but we taught her (with the help of an experienced friend of ours in the boat for the first few times) how to take the boat off of the trailer and pick me up at the dock and then to drop me at the dock and go back onto the trailer with a bit of verbal coaching from me on the ramp. This all works out just fine.

HOWEVER - she loves to drive the boat. The problem is, she doesn't know all that much about it, won't listen to me "because I drive like a "grandma" and am "too cautious", and then gets mad when I try to explain the why she should or shouldn't do something, especially when there are people in the boat with us. She believes that lots of slack and WOT is the ideal way to pull tubers because it is "more fun" and "you have to throw them off"..... I also hear phrases like "I wasn't too close to that boat / stump / bank / buoy / etc. , you are just being paranoid!" Or...."I was close enough to "no wake", if I go too slow it's hard to steer".

She doesn't understand why it isn't acceptable to pull tubers / skiers close enough to docks to throw major wakes.

She was coming around to pick me up from a ski run, crossed over the rope, cut the new rope, spun the prop and stalled the motor, and with me sitting there dead in the water 50 yards away from the boat yelling at her to stop, fires it back up and limps over to me.....where I have to untangle and fix the newly created mess. I don't think she will do that again.

I think that I have convinced her to take the optional DNR boater's safety course this year before the water warms up enough to get out. Other than just absolutely saying - "NO - YOU CAN NOT DRIVE THE BOAT!!", which would probably give me some couch / doghouse time, how can I teach my wife to drive when she apparently knows it all already?

 

[jkust]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

We started off with good intentions when we bought our boat. I taught her to drive the boat and started working on handling a trailer. The first time she went to park the tow vehicle and trailer at the access she hit a brand new trailer that was parked which she didn't realize until the law caught up with us upon returning from vacation. After that she lost all interest in any trailer handling or boat driving. Now I don't get to ski or tube since she won't drive which is a bummer.

 

[Bearfan]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

My wife is the best boater in the world. Why? Because she is willing to go boating. I've learned that it doesn't matter if she drives the boat, trailer, packs, cleans, or anything. If she is willing to spend her day out on the boat and allow me to divulge in my passion of boating, then that is enough for me.

I'm not trying to suck up to her or discount anyone elses post. I'm just sooooo happy that my wife likes boating.

I second this. My wife always makes sure we have food too and I make sure we are well hydrated all day/night so it works well for us.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Is your wife a good boater ?

had an experience with a gal last summer... she dropped off her husband at dock and proceded to side swipe me at full throttle and never look back.... she was in a 17ish' i/o and nearly knocked my down in my 26' cruiser... she went out of sight into the river for several minutes while her husband went for the truck and trailer...... neither acknowledged the incident untill I walked over to them.... as soon as I mentioned that she hit me she started crying and cussing me out and he acted like he wanted to fight.... I calmly told them both I had made a mistake thinking we could work it out and I'd be calling the police to file a report.... I also told him that while I had no interest in fighting I would have no problem defending myself..... amazingly he now wanted to look at the boat and make it right and she just kept crying and cussing.... I turned my boat around and he spent an hour sitting on the dock buffing the black rubber left on my hull from her rub rail and we went our seperate ways with a handshake..... I'd say this incident had little to do with her abilities as a woman but she sure had a hard time gaining control of her emotions..... I imagine he was probably a very poor teacher and often it is very hard to overcome poor teaching.... Also being good at a task doesn't make one good at teaching that ability to others and sometimes one may need to consider that someone else might be better at teaching the sig other than them...... are there safe boating classes that actually go in a boat and teach boat handling?