General Outdoor Discussion
Boat launch idiots!
We have all done it. First time new boat launched in 1993 w my brother. Yup forgot plug. We both yelled at each other then laughed as we thought the other put it in.
Better one for all. Up in the UP about 8 years ago and launch boat. Friend puts his in and they can’t get on plane, bow way up in the air. I hear a few expletives across the lake. Go back to launch as his boat going on trailer....he put plug in the wrong hole and pressure kept it in. He kept saying I put it in. Think it was live well drain. I still bust his chops. That boat drained for about 20 minutes as all of us laughed our butts off!!!
Interpret that law however you want. All water drained from the boat. Some boats are bone dry, but mine gets water in it if I am on plane cause the transducer produces a rooster tail. So I pull the plug and twice since that law has gone into effect I have forgotten to put the plug back in! Once it happened with my son fishing with me and we hadn't left the dock yet, the second time happened to me when my daughter was with me and I had just pushed off from the dock. After that the wind pushed my boat away fast and it was a rush to try and get the plug back in. I couldn't reach the plug hole easily so next I tried using the bilge pump - it broke. Next I tried starting the main motor, but the battery shorted! So I rushed to the front of the boat to hook up the trolling motor. The water started rushing to the front of the boat from my weight up there, but I got it hooked up. I set the motor down in the water and it got buried in the mud! So I raised it up a bit and struggled to get it back to the dock, but I made it. Took almost a half an hour to drain all of the water that had gotten in the boat in just a matter of ten minutes! But my daughter still wanted to fish so as soon as all of the water drained we went out fishing. The motor started too, so it must've just gotten shorted out while the battery was under water.
I thought in Wisconsin it was the law that you have to pull your plug after leaving any body of water? Because they don’t want to spread disease or zebra muscles etc. to other lakes. I thought I had heard of people being pulled over and ticketed driving down the highway with the plug in. I always pull my plug out when leaving the launch.
Please correct or educate me if I’m wrong.
Buckman.
262, I gotta hand it to you for going back out. I forgot the plug on my old Alumacraft Lunker a few years ago. I was up north fishing in early November. Hardly anyone out on the lake but me. That old boat didn't have the foam floatation that newer boats have and I was well away from the dock when I realized the boat was sitting way too low in the water. My 25 hp barely got me up on a plane. I got it to the dock and ran to my truck. By the time I got the trailer in, the boat was bottomed out on the ramp. I managed to get it on the trailer but my confidence was shaken to the point where I just went home. Forgetting the plug has only happened to me once but it was a good lesson. I now double-check my double-checks.
Yes. It is pretty standard for the dealer to pull the plug whenever they are working on a boat. MW got me this summer with that trick.
My internal bilge never runs by itself...yet it kicked on. Instantly I knew they pulled the plug and I simply didn't look as I never pull the plug. Luckily I had the mechanic who worked on my boat on speed dial. I gave him a call and he laughed at me. Told me he gets these calls all the time. He said if they are doing any kind of electrical work (and he was putting on a new trolling motor for me) they pull the plug.
At least that one made me feel a little better than my first trip about 12 years ago when my new Ranger didn't have any electronics working, or trolling motor. Trailered that thing back to the shop to have them simply flip my breaker switch to restore power. Even got a funny fake bill from them for $120 of labor!
Bringing this back to the top with my own story...
I had the boat in for maintenance, dealer pulled the plug and didn't replace it. I didn't check because I never pull it out. Chaos ensues. If you want to see how it all played out, here's the video for your viewing pleasure... https://youtu.be/2ErL5GM6EkI
As long as I'm doing a shameless plug (actually, this one's pretty shameful), I'm doing a fund raiser for no shave November, making a donation based on new subscribers, thumbs up, view minutes, etc. I promise most of my videos aren't as pathetic as this episode!
I feel like one of the BLI's when I prep my boat right in the launching lane when there's noone around. I feel like noone will be coming in the 2 minutes it takes me to unstrap my boat, then sure enough, today someone comes and had to wait an extra minute or two for me to launch and get my boat off the dock. Personally this never bothers me, but it might bother some that are in a hurray to get out on the lake.
Launched on Green Bay on Saturday. Dykesville. Lower lot was full of rigs. We were first in "line" and started prepping our boat right where the signs told us to. Never takes us more than a minute or two. Friends were behind us, some guy in a Green Lund comes in behind them. The Green Lund proceeded to pass the both of us and move to a launch lane, well, he tried. Instead of being on one lane, he was in two. And? He then stopped to prep his boat while in the launch lane. Boy was I po'd.
Wife and I are ready, we whip behind him and start backing in. I shoot him a look and he puts his hand on his cap and ducks his head.
He knew what he did was wrong. So, I'll not call him a boat launch idiot, just anxious.
12packabs, yes, this was actually at Olin-Turville. I've done it at Lake Farm as well. If you're good at backing out of a stall, might as well to save time. I've even parallel parked with a trailer once, when I needed to park out on the street. at Olin-Turville.
I couldn't believe how many people at that launch couldn't read the signs! Several vehicles and trailers parked on the grass where it says no parking on the grass! Every one of them got tickets!
