MercMan2004
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2004
- Messages
- 13
Hi,<br /><br />This happened a couple of years back. I was on holidays and a buddy tells me to come on up to his cottage for a few days. So I hook up my old boat (1971 Princecraft 14' 50HP) and head on up. Early the next morning we head over to the boat launch, which was on the other side of the lake from the cottage. To get to this launching spot you have to drive down a narrow dirt cottage road (basically two ruts). It was winding and steep with somewhat huge pot holes and rocks, so I was cautiously weaving my way trying to save my car and the old trailer from too much abuse.<br /><br />At some point I noticed in my rearview mirror a nice, black pickup towing an impressive ski boat had pulled up behind me. I could see that the guys in the truck were rather annoyed at the pace I was going. The road eventually cuts across a field and then turns and crosses a corner of a swamp where there is a culvert, however, as I came to the field I could see that the road was flooded out at the swamp (there had been rain the previous week and the beavers had been busy building their dams).<br /><br />With the flooded road ahead I came to a stop. Was the water too deep to cross? Was the road too soft underneath? Could you see the road under the water? The dudes in the truck laid on the horn. I contemplated making an attempt but my friend says I'm crazy to try, so I pull over as far as I can, careful not to bog the car down in the wet field. The guys in the truck pull by, call me a 'wus', call my boat ugly and make some rather rude comments, then head on towards the swamp, and in doing so snagged the boat's cover on a dead branch. The driver gets out unsnags the branch and glares at me like its my fault. <br /><br />I watched them as they entered the water and was able to answer my three questions. Was the water too deep? No. Was the road too soft? No. Could you see the road? Obviously not. They started the turn too late and the right side of the truck began to slide off the road. They gunned it and would have made it if the trailer had not then slide off the road. The boat floated the trailer and the momentum swung the back end of the truck out. The exhaust went under and the engine died out. My friend and I howled with laughter.<br /><br />I turned my attention back to my own situation. We had to turn around and the field was soft so we didn't have a lot of room. I unhitched the trailer and then managed to turn the car around. The two of us then started to swing the trailer around manually, which was a lot harder that I had estimated, as their was a downward grade to the road. At that point we were distracted by frantic activity down by the truck. Apparently they did not have the plug in their boat and it was now filling up with black ooze and sinking. One of them raced around the back with the plug, up to his waist in swamp water. I laughed, but the distraction proved costly as our lack of attention resulted in letting the boat start to roll. I grabbed the winch handle and was pulled to the ground, being dragged on my butt and ripping the rear end of my pants out. My friend quickly found a rock and threw it behind the tires and we narrowly averted disaster.<br /><br />A minvan with a boat and family of 5 had arrived unnoticed and had been having a great time watching us and the idiots in the swamp. I felt stupid standing there with my pants all ripped up. They did help us get hitched up we helped them get turned around and we all went home. As I looked back towards the swamp one guy was bailing the boat and the other one was likely heading towards the farmer's place to get a tractor.<br /><br />(The next day some locals opened up the beaver dams and we were able launch the boat and had a great week. Never saw the ski boat or the<br />guys again.)
