Just to make me feel better... what stupid thing did you do last boating season?

[gthh]

I forgot about the portable toilet and left it full of water in the large storage compartment and after a few freeze and thaw cycles can only imagine what I will have waiting for me in the spring.

 

[Zarrella]

Ouch!!...lol
Fortunately I can not think of one stupid thing I did last year. So either I had a good year or my memory went to shit!

 

[007]

Oh, I did all kinds of sill things, but that is another story!

 

[Bruce]

We went half way to Bimini (25) miles with only one strap up on the bimini top!

But it sounds like you could have quite a mess!

 

[txav8r]

Just smile and go on, admit nothing! Well, we all forget things, like ICE, the drain plug, clean out plugs, lanyard, throttles in neutral, etc. We usually only forget those things once! After that, we adopt better checklist discipline, or we just use the mental note technique, until the wife or kids interrupt our mental note technique!

I forgot I was dangling my box anchor 10' deep to clean it off before full retrieval. OUCH! I generally dangle it there and run at low speed no wake mode for a few minutes to clean it off. It works like a charm...unless you forget about it nd either increase the no wake speed or take off! I did neither, I mistakenly set a no wake speed of greater than low, and that was enough speed to get it to bounce off the hull. Luckily, it was only cosmetic, but what a PIA, or rather, PIB (pain in bow).

 

[After You]

I jerked my best friends back out of joint learning how to pull a skier last year with my boat. He could hardly move for two weeks. It's funny today, but it wasn't at the time. I also unfastened the buckles carelessly on the stern of my boat and smashed my thumb badly. I still don't have a nail there. All and all it was a fabulous year for my family.

 

[Julian]

One time out I neglected to re-insert the clean out plugs.....

Wonder why I have so little thrust....??? D'Oh!

 

[sysinu]

I got stuck overnight at a an unmanned fuel dock

 

[Scottintexas]

I got out of routine at launching and forgot the plug, I was the only adult so I docked the boat, ran and parked the truck, get back to the dock and notice the bilge running, ugggh, I know what this problem probably is, run back get the truck to reload, back to the dock for the boat and reload, luckily no one else was at the ramp,

I had somebody blow their hamstring out trying to get up slalom, I don't take the blame for that one though,

 

[BoaterGuy]

We went half way to Bimini (25) miles with only one strap up on the bimini top!

But it sounds like you could have quite a mess!

Ha! I drove ALL the way to bimini with my fuel cap open! I guess the design makes it water resilient because I had no running problems there... Thank god.

 

[RightStuff]

I chipped the gelcoat on the underside of the bow...

My wife was driving, picking me up at the dock and went bow first as she normally does. I grabbed the bow to catch the boat stood up and stepped on the anchor locker which pushed the nose into the dock a bit right where a screwhead was that was for the dock bumpers (public dock). Took a nice dime sized chip out of the black gel under the bow.

Needless to say I will be teaching myself gel coat touch ups this upcoming spring!

 

[gthh]

@Zarrella Funny! OK guys I don't feel better but I did get a couple of laughs Thanks

 

[waterboy]

Last year my brain was failing me big time. Launched the boat a few times, forgetting to install the plugs. Wondering why the boat wouldn't move forward...

In a hurry too much I guess

 

[Williamsone46]

I let my buddy hold it (212x) off the dock while I got the dock lines and he spaced out and let it bounce off the dock giving it a nice little chip. Needless to say it wasn't damaged long. I had it fixed the next day.

 

[TN888]

Dove off my AR240 and lost my $220 Maui Jims. Bought a new pair and repeated my mistake following week.

$440 lost within 8 days.

 

[octavio3311]

Alright I'll play along.
Backed my boat in and could not get it off the trailer - backed it in deeper and was still perplexed. Asked my son if he undid the transom straps like I asked - he says "oops".
I'm an idiot for asking him in the 1st place.

 

[H2Joes]

At the end of the season I went to pull my boat out of its slip. The drive is about 20 minutes from my house to the marina. Then I have to wait about 20 min more for another family using the launch. I finally back the trailer in and no boat keys!

 

[Bruce]

Alright I'll play along.
Backed my boat in and could not get it off the trailer - backed it in deeper and was still perplexed. Asked my son if he undid the transom straps like I asked - he says "oops".
I'm an idiot for asking him in the 1st place.

I have done that, except @Rana was at the helm and I had forgotten to remove the transom straps!

 

[Speedling]

I didn't make any mistakes like that. I made them all the season before. All of them.

 

[PEARCE]

Dove off my AR240 and lost my $220 Maui Jims. Bought a new pair and repeated my mistake following week.

$440 lost within 8 days.

Ouch! Is the water too deep or murky to dive for them?

When I was a kid we had a sailboat that we kept in a slip at the marina. It was probably 10-15' of water at the slip most of the time. The water was always a muddy brown color. A few different times my Dad would lose his Ray Bans or somehow his stainless divers Rolex as he would be working on the boat in the slip. We had a neighbor down the street from us that was a fellow sailor and diver that was capable of swimming down and retrieving the lost items. I don't know if my Dad ever paid him with anything more then beer, but I know he saved my Dad thousands.