Daves Idea - Stupid boat mistakes:

Lets see...

Left hat on and lost it: Check
Left ladder down while underway: Check
Left drive down at the ramp: Check
Hit the dock coming in too hot: Check
Hit sandbar: Check, Check, Check

Isn't learning fun?

AJ
 
Oh yeah, forgot, Waking up in Potter's Cove.... Daddy, where did the water go? 3 hours later, floating again.
 
Shinecock locks .... aft cabin got spun around by the current.. powered right into retaining wall...

Rob
 
Almost forgot this one:

Left cell phone on middle of slopped bow....no big deal.
Call gots him, phone is in vibrate......yep, vibrated into the bay!
 
Rob,
That was you? I see a few of these a few times every season.
 
I went to buy a new used boat with a friend, my wife at the time and my three year old son. The boat was a 26' PennYan with a flying bridge. There were a couple of problems getting the boat ready to go, but finally it was ready. The boat was in a travel lift and about a 100' backout before there was room to turn around. The old owner was there and offered to back it out. My wife said "oh could you" ( which is part of the reason why she is my exwife ) but no I said "I've been on the water my whole life, I can do this". So here I go up on the bridge Mr big shot on my new boat. I start backing the boat out and the boat will not do anything I want it to do. I glance at the people on the dock and they all have this smug look. The sweat is pouring off my body and I'm starting to feel real stupid. I keep trying and look on the dock again and now everyone is laughing. Now I'm getting pissed. Finally some one says " where's your son". I panic with all my problems I lost track of where my son was. I jump off the bridge to find him at the lower helm singing and spinning the wheel like he was popeye the sailor man. Of course he spent the rest of the trip seated right next to me. Kids they will get you every time. Billy K.
 
Billy, Nice...

I have plenty more but here's one last one while fishing. We're bass fishing with eels in Moriches Inlet and the water is outgoing...winds out of the south so the waves were stacked pretty good. Oh...btw,I'm a rod builder and this was my latest project. Probably had 50 hours of work and $200 invested in parts not to mention the reel was a high end-millionaire series. My buddy hooks up with a nice fish as I'm baiting up. Get my rig down and am using one arm to hold the net and the other the rod. As I net his nice Striper. I get a huge hit which detaches me from my rod because I never washed the slim off my right hand. I watch my rod "swim" out the inlet and we can't give chase due to the seas...crap...
 
This is a funny thread. So far this season, THE HUSBAND has lost the keys to my TRUCK in the water. Yesterday he jumped out to tie the boat to the dock. For some reason he thought he was superman because he jumped over the windsheild and almost fell between the boat and the ramp. Yeah...he got banged up. Before you start yelling about why I didn't help him out...I had offered to jump to the ramp to catch the line and tie us up but I was holding my 15 month old who just yesterday discovered that he can climp over the back door thing onto the swim platform. I still love boating though!
 
Originally posted by Radiowaves

Someone going from I/O’s to inboards for the first time and forgetting the 4 levers instead of two. Now in reverse about to hit a pole, needing to go forward quickly and pushing the throttle forward instead of the shifter… ending up going faster in reverse… Crack … Boom.. Split… Downed Pole, Cracked Platform… Bent Prop after running over the pole…

Red face Captain. Admiral very “quiet” dock neighbors consoling but giggling on the inside.. Not a good end of the day for this “person”

Ok I will now admit 9 years later in 2003... This was me...
Click to expand...
 
the place: crowded jetski ramp at Venetian shores, Saturday afternoon, crazy busy. I'm by myself, the rest of the family is at AYC at the slip waiting for me, I'm pulling the jetski out. Back my Isuzu Rodeo down the ramp, turn it off, grab the keys, walk over to the jetski (in the last slip at the end), and plunk!! drop the car keys in the water with no floaty thing on them.

3 feet of water, 4 feet of the most disgusting mucky mud imaginable, but my truck is blocking the ramp, people are watching, literally sitting by the dock like spectators while I dive down and feel around for 45 minutes in this disgusting sh_t until finally I find the keys.

Drive the jetski onto the trailer, to a round of applause from the assembled crowd...yeah, I wanted to crawl under a rock at that point. Especially when the remote wouldn't work due to salt water immersion and it kept setting the alarm off...
 
Take my 2 little boys (at the time 2 and 3), 100 lb newfandland and wife to short beach for the day. Place is packed, 1 slip left. It's tight but I think I can make it.
Boat is a 28' chriscraft with a big back deck where everyone is. Just as i get the stern between the pilings the dog decides to hop up on the walkway and go to the bow, something she had never done before. I shift to neutral.. She takes a few steps towards the bow and decides its not really where she wants to go and starts backing up. Dogs don't backup well, into the water she goes. At about the same time the boat wedges between the pilings at about midship. Wife is trying to hold the kids who want to watch the dog swim, dog is panicking because it doesn't know which way to swim and I'm trying to make sure the boat doesn't hit the dog or either boat on my sides. A true family moment. Once I make sure the boat is firmly wedged I head to the swim platform and lower myself in. The dog can't see me so everyone is coaxing her to swim to the back of the boat, we now have many helpers on the dock. The dog finally swims to the stern and I use myself as a makeshift stair for her to climb up onto the swim platform. A panicked 100lb newfandland swimming and climbing on you makes you look like your body has been combed with a clam rake. put a good show on for the dock and learned to keep the dog in the cabin when docking :).
 
I had a new 21 ft Cuddy that I used to keep in a slip in Bay Park but did not want to mess up the nice bottom with bottom paint. So being young and full of energy every week would take her out of the water on the trailer next to the ramp and give her a nice acid wash with On and Off. To get under the rollers I would loosen the winch cable a foot and back up the truck and trailer and tap the brakes so the boat would roll back alittle. Did this for years no problem until, cable snapped,boat slid off the trailer onto the ground. Talk about red faced.
Al
 
We were anchored and on floaties on Lake Berryessa in CA. I had a water proof camera. There were four floating loungers that were mesh in the middle. I was taking a couple of pics and decided I was going to jump in the water. So I tossed the camera to the raft my wife was using. Unknown to me the netting had torn in that one and she had cut out the torn spot (under her legs) so it would not spread. Of course the camera landed in that spot and immediately sank in about 25' of water. It was only waterproof up to 10'. Spent the next hour diving for it but never did find it. On the plus side, called AMEX and told them what happened. They credited my account the next day and I bought a new one. That one is at the bottom of the marina in St. Mary's Georgia.
 
Dropped keys last week somewhere on the dock and never found them. (Thank God for spares)

Pulling into the marina put the trim tabs up, but was off by one switch. Dropped my anchor that immediately hooked up and caused the boat to turn hard towards the seawall. Had no clue what was happening and just kept going back and forth thinking I was hung up on the running gear. Finally someone on the dock yelled we were stuck on our anchor. Put my tail between my legs and backed into my slip. I now ensure the anchor is secured to a cleat before pulling out of an anchorage.

MJK
 
Others I have done.
-Hit a sandbar so hard my outdrive kicked up and sprayed mud into the boat. Every where.
-Forgot to put drain plug in almost sunk
Best for Last and I mean Best ----While anchoring at a sandbar jumped off stern and thought I was in 3 feet of water but was in 17 feet and had anchor in my hands.
Al
 
Ok, this happened this weekend. I finally bought a “new” Sit on Top Kayak, versus the great deal on a used one that I have been searching for, for the last 2 years. Yes, I can drop $700 in fuel into the boat without blinking, and yet I have to save $100 on a used $400 Kayak. My wife just does not understand. Well, I get on the kayak in my marina in water that you don't want to swim in, so my biggest fear is tipping over, which I avoid doing. I get the hang of paddling and paddle out to Venetian Shores, because I want to make sure I can get back in the Kayak, in the event I do roll over, but I wanted to do it in cleaner, shallower water. I am in maybe 3 feet of water off the beach and I roll the kayak over and not allow my feet to touch the bottom, because I want to mimic being in deep water. I try to get on and the Kayak rolls back on me, so now I still don't want to touch bottom, so I figure out how to roll the kayak back over. I keep trying to get on, and now I am getting on, laying across the kayak on my belly, yes I have a belly and the kayak keeps flipping over with me going head first into the water. After battling with this plastic possessed piece of crap Kayak for 5 or 10 minutes and probably 10 or 12 attempts, I finally manage to get myself on, roll over in slow motion and get into the seat. I had to look like a beached whale doing this. I am now winded and wondering how the heck am I going to try this a few more times until I get the hang of it. Then while I am sitting there huffing an puffing, I hear clapping coming from the Venetian beach. Yes, that is right, there were people sitting on the beach watching this entire sad episode of a 50 year old man with a 38 waist trying to get into a small plastic kayak. Talk about embarrassing. Anyone want to buy a used Kayak?
 
I'm happy not to be the only one who has made some of these (most?) of these lol...now trying to think of anything really bonehead I have done...
 
brought a little 20'cc on vacation down to VA. took it out, beached it to dig for clams, wondered away with my wife watching the boat, looked up to see it floating away, while trying to get back to it she tried swimming out to it and got caught in the current had to return to beach. No one was around to help so we waited for a passerby on a boat to help, an hour later I told this guy our boat drifted away and you could hardly see it on the horizon. I dont think he believed us but finally he agreed to take us out to it. He hit bottom on the way out and tore up his prop helping us.
 
Rental boat. Threw anchor in and tied it off to nothing. Replacing a rental anchor would be double the value. We were in the mangroves in SW Florida. I was ready to pay, my buddy wasn't so in he went. Found it after a half hour.
 
I don't tie up to a dock very often. Couple of weeks ago I decided to tie up for the night. Backed the boat of the trailer, put my fenders out, got my dock line fastened to the cleats. Drove the boat to the dock and was facing up river; port side to the dock. Water was calm, a slight current, and slight wind coming from the dock. I tied off from the rear cleat since that is the easiest, quickest, safest to get to. Since the wind was pushing the boat away from the dock, the bow was starting to turn away from the dock. Not a bid deal since I anticipated that. Put the boat in foward while at idle and turned the outdrive to bring the bow to the dock. The boat is again parallel to the dock. Step off the boat to fasten the bow dock line. Everything is good; just need to adjust the lines and shut off the engine. The stern line looks a little taunt so I decide to give it some slack before getting back in the boat. I give it 4-5" inches of slack and realize that the dock line is still taunt. At the same time I look and see that the shift lever is still in forward. At this point in time all I wanted to do was to get that line tied off and hop in the boat to put it in neutral.
 
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