Wife at the helm...

[IVAZ]

Re: Wife at the helm...

I have no problem with "what's mine is hers and what's hers is hers"

Thats the way I use to think until my wife loaned out my previous boat while I was working out of town. She let her parents take it out and they ripped some upholstery and destroyed the propeller.
Ever since that everything that we own is hers, except the boat. She stills feels bad she loaned out something I enjoy so much.

 

[HappierWet]

Re: Wife at the helm...

WOW....I was beginning to think I was the only one here who insisted my wife learn to drive the boat, back the trailer, and all the other sundry details that come with a day out. When I was a kid, I thought women were just decoration, or status symbols......turns out they CAN do more:
No, I'm not bashing, just maturing. (read getting older)

We started her out slow in open water and learning to back the trailer, NOW I think she's better a getting a parking spot than I am. Probably all the guys thinking " A woman with a trailer, better make room"

 

[Thad]

Re: Wife at the helm...

Thats the way I use to think until my wife loaned out my previous boat while I was working out of town. She let her parents take it out and they ripped some upholstery and destroyed the propeller.
Ever since that everything that we own is hers, except the boat. She stills feels bad she loaned out something I enjoy so much.

Oh man, that had to hurt when you got home. Did the in-laws pay for reupholstering?

Our marriage is completely equall in the sense that sometimes I think SHE loves the boat more than me.

I would be more apt to loaning the boat out than her. And that just ain't gonna happen.
I usually get up at 5 to watch the news on Sat. and I give the boat a little extra polish while I do it. Now, my wife beats me to the "Shack". When I get out, there she is, pot of coffee already brewed, polish cloth in hand.
Gotta love it

 

[Thad]

Re: Wife at the helm...

WOW....I was beginning to think I was the only one here who insisted my wife learn to drive the boat, back the trailer, and all the other sundry details that come with a day out.

My wife did not ask to learn, she already knew
There are a lot of things she can do better than I. Just ask her

 

[IVAZ]

Re: Wife at the helm...

Oh man, that had to hurt when you got home. Did the in-laws pay for reupholstering?

Nope, not one cent. What was worse is that I was going to sell that boat when I came back into town to my buddy. He was going to take it on vacation with him. I sold it to him for less money than we agreed because I wasn?t going to have the chance to see if the drive took any damage (SS propeller). He got lucky because a new propeller got it back in the water and he took it for less money. The outdrive had to have weakened/chipped a tooth because the prop was really mangled. IMO it?s a matter of time before it quits working. No sweat on my part since my friend is well aware of that.

 

[BF]

Re: Wife at the helm...

hmm... my problem is that my wife is completely lacking in confidence and gets bent out of shape in a hurry. She knows she should know how to operate the boats, but when I try teaching her, (attempting to be supportive while doing it), she takes suggestions/criticisms/directions personally and gets all snippy and then comes out with "then you do it!". By the way, I'm talking about things that just plain need to be done, not really suggestions (like running the blower on the I/O before starting it). I can't imagine how she ever learned to drive a car.

I checked her out on my 15 hp (tiller) she did fine.... She had operated her Dad's 6hp for many years... She took the 15 hp out on her own (once). She managed to miss the order of the startup procedure. Not running, she forced it from F into N with the throttle about 3/4 open (she had shut it down while going fairly fast, don't ask me why). The N lockout bound up the throttle, making her unable to turn it back to the idle/start range (even though she thought she had), then she rope started it. Result was a stuck throttle with engine rev'ing wildly in N. She pressed the stop button, but would always release it before the engine completely stopped, so the ignition would kick in again and it would start over-rev'ing again. Repeat 3 or 4 times until she finally held the button until the engine completely stopped turning over. After, I tried explaining what had happened and why, but she did not want to hear it.... how do you deal with that??? There was/is nothing wrong with the motor... the problem was with the operator. It would be nice if she was competent to bring the kids out to me when I'm out fishing... or take the kids tubing so I could get out of the sun...

Funny... my FIL was the same way.... had no appreciation for how mechanical things worked and tended to abuse things by how he operated them. Must be genetics. He broke the Reverse lockout on my then new car (manual transmission) when tried to move it when I was out of town.... It was hard to shift into R (lockout), so instead of lifting the collar on the shifter, he used 2 hands and kept ramming it into R until it finally went in and stayed (=broke). Gee thanks.

Your "problem" is where I'd like to get to!!

 

[SeanMcl]

Re: Wife at the helm...

hmm... my problem is that my wife is completely lacking in confidence and gets bent out of shape in a hurry. <snip> she takes suggestions/criticisms/directions personally and gets all snippy and then comes out with "then you do it!". By the way, I'm talking about things that just plain need to be done, not really suggestions (like running the blower on the I/O before starting it).

Better to have a pleasant passenger than an angry driver. -old iboats proverb

/actually, it's a new proverb, but new proverbs have no street cred.

 

[BF]

Re: Wife at the helm...

Better to have a pleasant passenger than an angry driver. -old iboats proverb

/actually, it's a new proverb, but new proverbs have no street cred.

LOL, I hear you, but she does SAY that she wants to learn... she just doesn't act like it when push comes to shove. I think she gets freaked out by the potential pitfalls... e.g. why one needs to run the blower.... she's aware that there are potential serious consequences for not knowing what you're doing. She's afraid of damaging the equipment (or us) through stupidity. I had thought of making up a checklist or something to mount in the boat... but.... really... if one is operating a boat I think this stuff should be taken to heart/understood/ingrained... not read from a list like a cook book (IMHO). Would you want to drive in a car with someone reading from a checklist of how to operate it?

So, I'm the operator of our power boats... at least until the kids get a few years older! Maybe I'll get her to take me for a ride this weekend and see how it goes.