Tell us your boat horror stories

[glockusr]

Fishing an IL Bass Federation Tournament on Mississippi River Pool 19. Had a major storm blow in, tornado blew over our head. Caught a nice sack and decided to head the 6 miles up river to be closer to weigh in. the wind was from the South at 50 MPH against a very strong North current. 18' Ranger in 20'+ waves took over 3 hours to go them 6 miles. Tourney had 10 boats sink but the good lord was watching over us and everyone made it in safe.

[Al Czervik]

My boats are always in the water, and I fish a LOT...mostly solo.  I have a few stories, but blown motors, and big, stacked waves with lightning are the worst.

But, the things that break your heart, especially while fishing solo, are when you hit the zone, have 4+ on, and know you aren't going to boat them all.

[JMag]

My boats are always in the water, and I fish a LOT...mostly solo.  I have a few stories, but blown motors, and big, stacked waves with lightning are the worst.
But, the things that break your heart, especially while fishing solo, are when you hit the zone, have 4+ on, and know you aren't going to boat them all.

Just add in a few waterspouts while fifty miles offshore and you’ll have one of mine.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Silentpoet]

I once had an amazing gun collection and lost them all in a horrible boating accident.

[Roger123]

12 hours ago, Silentpoet said:

I once had an amazing gun collection and lost them all in a horrible boating accident.

Good point, now that I actually have a boat......

[Haldor]

On 7/7/2018 at 7:22 AM, jmohme said:

Wheel bearing failures are very common on boat trailers.

We had a customer at my fathers automotive shop that owned a small sail boat. Every spring he would take it to the lake and drop at the marina for the summer. He would immediately bring the trailer to me to pack the wheel bearings and they always had water in them. 

Thirty miles on the road to heat up the bearing and then backing into the water. The cooling effect would create a negative pressure inside the hub and suck the water in.

The next year, he repeated the cycle. This time I thought I would try something. Since he put a total of 120 miles a year on the trailer (two times to the lake and back) I figured that I really did not need to bother with keeping grease in so much as keeping the water out, so this time I put the seals in backwards and never had water in the hubs again.

He still had me pack the bearings every time anyway.

I hate trailers. Scariest things on the freeway.

Don't get me started on home brew or modified trailers. People who think they can weld, just make the most incredible abortions. And they kill people when they come apart. I weld, but not on trailers.

Yah, that will hold.

[PNWguy]

Now that all the boat people are in here...

What is good and bad about this boat?

https://pullman.craigslist.org/boa/d/1986-bayliner-boat/6633190010.html

1986 Bayliner 19 foot closed bow boat with trailer. Well maintained 8 cylinder 225 horsepower Volvo Penta motor. Lots of power! Upholstry is in great shape. Cabin has a bed for sleeping. Perfect for skiing, fishing, or family outings.

 

Seems like a heck of a deal for $3000 considering you can't get new Jon boat for that much it seems.

 

[Roger123]

1 hour ago, PNWguy said:

Now that all the boat people are in here...

What is good and bad about this boat?

https://pullman.craigslist.org/boa/d/1986-bayliner-boat/6633190010.html

1986 Bayliner 19 foot closed bow boat with trailer. Well maintained 8 cylinder 225 horsepower Volvo Penta motor. Lots of power! Upholstry is in great shape. Cabin has a bed for sleeping. Perfect for skiing, fishing, or family outings.

Seems like a heck of a deal for $3000 considering you can't get new Jon boat for that much it seems.

No idea if it’s any good or not but my next boat is going to be that style.  Either a bow rider or cuddy.

 

[DWARREN123]

I always heard a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money in.

[PNWguy]

Bust Out Another Thousand is my dad's favorite saying...

[NCGunner]

Mine horror story is simple...the day I bought the stupid thing...dumbest purchase I ever made. Shoulda bought a Harley....

[misterfox]

Not my boat.

About 30 some years ago, I was heading home on a Saturday afternoon.  Northbound on I 77 at I 480 (Cleveland area) and all traffic stopped.   Nothing was moving and people were getting out of their cars to see what was happening.  So I walked up past the stopped cars, and there is a boat, sideways on the freeway, blocking all three lanes.  A little further up on the shoulder was a pickup with an empty boat trailer.

OOPS!

 

And - my wife will do anything to get on a boat except buy one.

 

[Eric]

I used to have a Sleekcraft Kauai jet boat.  It lost a trailer wheel & hub once, on the freeway. 

In the water, the top of the boat’s transom was only eight inches out of the water. When you were in the throttle, you had to back off of it gradually. If you just took your foot off the gas pedal, your own wake would swamp the boat. A 455cid Olds engine bolted to a Jacuzzi pump is a hell of a lot of fun though. 

[XSIV4S]

My father use to work for a pretty rich guy in Houston named Jerry Moore. He had a couple incredible boats including a real nice cigarette boat, the boats abilities far exceeded his skills. The running joke was that he never put one in the water that didn't have to get towed out (Which happened more often than not). He had an uncanny ability to find every sand bar or piece of debris in a lake or river and hit it with the prop.

[XSIV4S]

He may need to rename that boat:

 

[XSIV4S]

33 minutes ago, XSIV4S said:

My father use to work for a pretty rich guy in Houston named Jerry Moore. He had a couple incredible boats including a real nice cigarette boat, the boats abilities far exceeded his skills. The running joke was that he never put one in the water that didn't have to get towed out (Which happened more often than not). He had an uncanny ability to find every sand bar or piece of debris in a lake or river and hit it with the prop.

Another time Jerry got way to close to a group of sailboats coming out of a cove. He hit the twin 454's pretty hard and created a wave as he turned that capsized some of the boats. I don't think he made any friends that day.

 

[Walt Longmire]

I agreed to an offer to fish for Halibut in Cook Inlet years ago with a very old man. (Cook Inlet is very unpredictable and unforgiving) Early in the season. His boat was a 16' Smoker Craft. We launch off the beach and head out a ways. Fishing wasn't good so Floyd says, "I always catch big ones further out. Let's go out." Off we go. I'm facing back towards the old man. His smile is getting wider as we go. I'm certain we will be on the 'big ones' soon. Then CLUNK, the motor stops. Floyd's smile is instantly gone. We coast to a stop. I take a quick look around. We are way off shore and not another boat in sight. Crap. Floyd puts the shifter on the outboard into neutral and yanks the yoyo. It fires up. Well, that's better. He shifts to forward. Clunk. No go. We drift with the wind pushing us at an angle towards shore. The tide is taking us out towards the Gulf of Alaska. I stand up and lean against the dead motor and using the only oar the old man had in the boat, I stroke towards land. Finally I spot a speck. Another boat. We are getting closer, but will eventually drift on by. I stand up in the middle of the boat waving a pair of orange life vests over my head. The anchored boat is still quite a distance from us, but I see someone head towards the bow and start pulling the anchor. I told Floyd to hand me his .22 revolver he had for head shooting big halibut. He didn't want to give it up. Probably afraid I was going to make him do the oaring if I had the gun. "Why do you want the .22?" he asked. "Cause if they don't turn towards us. I'm shooting in their direction." Well they came and got us and towed our little boat to shore. Thank You!!!!! After we got back on the trailer, the problem became obvious. Floyd had pulled the plug on the lower unit to drain off the old 90 weight and had never put it back in. I never went out in the Inlet with him again, or anyone else for that matter in a boat that small. BTW, he had NO visual distress equipment in that little boat. None. That's why I was waving the life jackets. No radio either. 

[Eric]

I was fishing in the Atlantic Ocean once when I was in the Army, on a boat that me and some buddies chartered. We were lined up around the rail at the stern, doing our thing. Without thinking, I drew over my shoulder to cast. Not a good idea when guys are behind you.

I felt the slightest bit of resistance and thankfully stopped. When I looked around to see what I snagged, this kid that we called Opie was dancing on his tiptoes, with the tip of my hook caught on his right upper eyelid. If I had cast, I would have given him a peephole to peek out of, when his eyes were closed. I felt badly about it, but he was a good sport. It hardly even left a mark. That could have ended badly.

[blueiron]

I have one long horror story about boats - a Marine Corps enlistment. To this day, I will never get aboard a boat or ship again and anything having to do with the beach can go straight to hell

[SC Tiger]

Boat horror story:

 

This one dark and stormy day, I bought a boat.  The next thing I knew, all of my money kept disappearing!  

[RandomGuy]

I was running for home on Bankhead Lake (Alabama) after a day of fishing when a big Ranger bass boat ripped past me at 60+ mph, leaving my johnboat rocking in its wake. I saw 3 teens look back at me and wave and realized it was my cousin and his friends out in his dad’s new boat. They started a turn to come back and everything went sideways. I watched as the nose popped-up, caught air under hull, and the entire boat flipped over sideways. It threw my cousin and his buddy clear, but the girl stayed with the boat. I honestly thought I’d just watched 3 people die, including  my cousin. I got there as quick as I could and was happy to see the boys were wearing life jackets and slowly swimming towards me, but there was no sign of the girl. I got the boys into the boat and headed to the turtled Ranger. As we got there, we could hear the girl crying for help, and realized she was under the boat! We got her out and into my boat, tied a towrope to the flipped Ranger, and headed to the nearest dock. 

Turns out they had hit a large log floating just beneath the surface of the water. The impact cracked the hull, the transom, and bent the lower of the outboard making the boat a write-off. All three of the kids were beat-up from the impact but more scared than anything. 

[XSIV4S]

The Titanic...

 

I had to set through the movie, it was excruciating.

 

 

[Lazy R]

Early 1990's, Long Lake WA just outside of Spokane. Heading home, we lived above the lake, the road turns up from the lake up a fairly steep hill with a passing lane going up. At the top of the hill it bends 90 degrees left, in basically a zero-camber turn.

We're part way up the hill and coming down before the bend is a new Jeep Cherokee pulling a nice new bass boat. He's going pretty good, and not beginning his turn. Guy suddenly realizes the road bends right, and he yanks the wheel and hits the brakes.

The whole shebang lurches right, with tire traction busted loose. Boat swings out to his left into our lane. He corrects and the boat swings back to his left, now perpendicular to the road, with the Cherokee now sideways as well, right as he goes by us on our way up.

Four young people in the Jeep, two guys two girls. Eyes very large at this point, very near us. Just as they go by, the trailer is getting traction sliding perfectly sideways, and catapults the boat.

Bass boat, not having been tied down in the back, does a perfect 180 barrel roll in the air and lands on its top in the road, skidding shortly to a stop. Jeep stops right behind us just as its front bumper kisses the guardrail on my right.

The boat was ravaged. Crap aaallllll over the street, stuff that was in the boat and stuff that used to be part of the boat. Three of the kids get out holding their heads in classic OMG status, the driver just sat there holding the steering wheel, doubtless wondering what his dad was going to do to him for destroying the new boat.

Kina thinkin' beer was involved.

[Walt Longmire]

Went out halibut fishing with 2 of my brothers and 3 friends. We had chartered the boat just for us. Really nasty weather. We usually fish down towards the Gulf of Alaska, but on this trip we could only just barely make it out of Kachemak Bay. The deal is when we rent the whole boat, we ain't going in cause someone starts puking. If you're on a charter with tourists and they start 'ralphing' the skipper will use it as an excuse to cut the trip short and head for the beach. Not us. Someone barfing will be given no quarter. Well it doesn't take long for the 1st guy to be on the rail 'chumming.' Soon enough there are 2. Then my oldest brother joins them. Now I'm feeling the urge. Never barfed off a boat, but was headed to the rail to join them. As I step up behind my brother, who is letting one fly,  I hear this. "Weak stomach, huh Charlie?" My brother responds, "Weak stomach my ass. I'm getting it out there further than you." I laughed so hard I forgot to puke. Went back to fishing even though I was still very close to barfing myself.

[Atomic Punk]

i used to work for a lockshop. they also had a fire suppression devison. 

 

had one of the local boat guys come in for a new fire extinguisher. he got a fire on his boat somehow, and the cheapo fire extinguisher he had ( first alert, kidde, something ) failed right then.  a common failure is the pickup tube inside falling off the inside of the head, so quick burst of gas, no chemical. so, his boat burns up into a total loss.

he decided the $50 for a new Amerex was to rich for him, and declared he was going to walmart for a $20 unit.....