Stupid but avoidable mistakes.

[Duncan]

I have never forgotten the plug (yet) ... but when I do I will not be too worried with three x 1200 gph bilge pumps

[retox1]

Like many here i left the plug out once. Luckily the truck and trailer were still on the ramp so once i noticed i just pulled back on the trailer. After that i added a second 1000 gph bilge pump just in case.

Last summer i went to visit some friends in BC and i had the boat tied up to a buoy just off shore. One morning i swam out and untied and when i went to drive away i got too close to the cable and got it caught in the prop. It made a sound i hope i never hear again. No damage but i was scared. Pretty stupid mistake but i won't do it twice.

Maybe the dumbest one was a few years ago i installed a bow sac under the seats in my old Mastercraft. First time i went to fill it i couldnt figure out why it was taking so long. Turns out i left one of the bottom drains out and it was all running out the bottom. Pure genius.

I have more stories but i already look kinda stupid so i'll stop for now.

[jslayde1]

Wow Duncan, a buddy of mine did that with a danforth anchor and a length of chain. His was tied off to Port cleat up front, he had about 50 feet of rode out, just as he hit cruising speed someone on the boat saw the danforth surface and skip behind the boat.

Yep, same thing happened to me. Only it was my wife on the wakeboard - I looked back to see her boarding beside the anchor...!!!

....I shut it down realy quick and told her I had to fix something really quick!!

[robert theisen]

On my first boat a 1989 Four Winns I/O 17 ft. I lost 3 Danforth Anchors to the prop. That was enough to get me in the habit of making sure Anchors are up before we are under way.Other than that left the plug out a couple of times,but always had the truck and trailer still on the ramp.Got the rope tied up in the prop twice. All in all not too bad for 25 years of fun on the water.

[25cents]

Last season saw a post about keeping certain items on the boat. Someone listed a snorkel mask and a dive knife. I remember thinking that was silliy, but I had an old mask that foged up alot and an old dive knife so I just through them in a utility box in the boat.... Well I learned that it was a wise addition when I wrapped a tube rope around my prop....twice in one day. Yeah I know how do you do it twice in a day. We had 12 youth from a church group and it was chaos all day.

[whiteflash watersports]

We too have run over the tow rope and wrapped that sucker. First time had to be untangled using our feet. Fortunately my friends son was limber and patient enought to get it done. We then added the mask. Always carried a knife but never a mask. Next time it happened it was a quick fix. Stupid to do it in first place but a quick fix.

These anchor stories are scary as sh#$!!

[JohnnieMo]

These anchor stories are scary as sh#$!!

I hear that! I always idle for a bit after being stopped in my boat. Gives me time to think through anything I might have forgotten (such as ropes in the water, fenders, anchors, ladders etc.)

[IDBoating]

Just imagine wrapping an anchor chain around the propshaft... cinching the anchor up nice and tight against the hull....

[Wakeman22]

Think I have done them all. Forgotten key. Forgot to pull in anchor a time or two. Forgot drain plug. Forgot to raise the keel in a sailboat in the shallows. A hard full stop. But the worst on the Tige was not getting the sack hoses on good and filled the bilge up with water till the engine ran rough, the water was coming from under the seats and the cop I was talking to stalled me from taking action faster than needed. But all in all not too bad for 40 years of boating.

[lollyudubber]

My two incidents happened within 16 hours of each other. Came into the beach to anchor up for the night and left the tube rope behind the boat. The prop quickly ate it up. Fortunately we were right near the cabin where I could get a knife. It took me an hour and a half of diving in the dark to get it unraveled. Never used my lungs so much in my life. Will always carry goggles and good hunting knife from now on. The next morning the kids were tubing right from the beach. I started hauling them and noticied something popping up right in front of them. At first I thought it was a big fish surfacing then I felt the prop slice the anchor line. I did not have another anchor and we were way out there on Lake Roosevelt which is a huge desolate lake. Had to pay a guy a fair amount to bring in an anchor from Spokane.

[mls6722]

ok, I have left the plug out - no big deal if you can get on plane while another fetches the trailer. I have also dragged the lower unit of my I/O up the ramp. I have also had a ballast drain line come off and it filled the bilge. Years ago I was on a friend's boat and we anchored by a park on lake Washington to go swimming. For some reason he thought it would be a good idea to put the boat keys in his pocket After a long time looking for the lost keys, we were able to start the boat after destroying the ignition switch with a screwdriver. my boat keys rarely leave the ignition and never on the water.

[ChrisBarnes05-12-84]

I left the plug out on my 01 20i. Some girl sitting in the back asked me how come water was seeping up around her feet. . I panicked and dove in and put the plug in. Took 30 minutes or so to get the water bilged out. I have never taken the plug out again on any of my boats.

[Ewok]

Watch out for leaving the plug in all the time. There is a thread on this site where a guy left the plug in over the winter and the boat filled up with water from rain and it ruined the motor and interior.

[begone]

Guilty on the drain plug...picked up the boat from the dealer (Moomba Dealer) - went straight to the launch to put the boat in the slip. Would have been nice for the dealer to remind me that they took the plug out - said it was standard policy....HA, they were covering their arse! Almost sunk our boat on Day 1. Never again.

[Ewok]

I bet it is standard policy to remove the drain plug. It's been taught to me to remove it every time the boat comes out of the water. Reason is to drain whatever water may be in the bilge, look for any petroleum based leaks in the bilge (the water draining will have a sheen to it), to reduce the moisture that could be trapped and form mildew when you put the cover on the boat, and to avoid this kind of mess:



Here is the thread where that picture came from. It filled up with rainwater over the winter when the owner didn't check on the boat very regularly. Of course this is the extreme but it can happen. If he had removed the drain plug this wouldn't have happened.

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...t=left+plug+in