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First day on the water a comedy of errors


jb 156

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So thought I would tell on myself a little bit with my first voyage of the season yesterday afternoon.

1.) Boat Fired up just fine and started cruising across the lake and my bilge pump kicks on, oh crap forgot the plug (but no it was in) open the engine compartment water is spraying everywhere. So we limp back to the dock put the boat on the trailer, luckily it was just a hose clamp the dealer forgot to tighten back (the one that feeds the heater). Got it tightened back up and away we go.

2.) Filling ballast for my surf set, go to check the bag because there is no water coming out the vent line. Well I must have not gotten the vent line secured on the fitting and water is coming into the boat like a geyser again! Plug with my finger, and reconnect the vent line and we are surfing.

3.) After everyone had surfed we are cruising at idle speed and we hear a big thud, oh crap sure enough a submerged stump, luckily again it bounced off the bow and did not come in contact with any of the running gear, no shakes, shimmies or anything at wide open throttle.

4.) This is where I am asking for help from the crew, my trailer brakes are engaging when the brake pedal is not pushed lots of squeaking etc when you are pulling it and also in reverse. Is there anything I can look for? It is a boatmate tandem axle trailer.

All in all a good day just need to figure out the trailer brake thing.

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Nothing like that first day out. We had a "comedy" show ourselves. Got to the launch with no tools and left the safety lock on, Broken glass, spilt drink, dropped bumper as we came into the docks. I just shuddered. But hey that's what makes boating fun.

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1) I always raise the engine hatch on the boat ramp. I once had an exhaust fitting that wasn't tight and it was spewing all over the place. Ever since then, I always raise the "hood" and check for any water for shoving off.

2) LOL

3) always a sickening sound. We get our fair share of debris (TN river as well) that just floats down the lake just under the surface.

4) Make sure the brakes have plenty of fluid. Maybe the tongue itself needs a little grease... could be slight stuck.

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Glad everything turned out good for you.

For the first outing each year I always let the engine warm up on the ramp (it's never busy) to see if the impeller is working or not. While it's warming up I inspect the engine for anything wrong.

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Glad everything turned out good for you.

For the first outing each year I always let the engine warm up on the ramp (it's never busy) to see if the impeller is working or not. While it's warming up I inspect the engine for anything wrong.

Yes lesson learned on that one, I have owned an inboard since 2003. Was excited to get out and surf and skipped an all important post layup step.

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1) my boat was leaking from 4 places last year from the PO not getting everything tight.

4) if they are locking up in reverse then it sounds like your reverse solenoid is not working, or maybe your mc pushrod rusted up.

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On the trailer tongue there should be a little lever type protrusion. Push up on it and it may help release the emergency brakes. Also make sure the emergency cable has not been pulled forward.

The rest are things that all of us have probably dealt with over the years! Good luck with the rest of the season.

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first day of the season 2 weeks ago, we sideswiped a submerged log luckily only damage was a few minor scrapes that can be buffed out and waxed up. phew, close call, it made my wife and i flip out for a few mins there. this time of year TN lakes have tons of those barely visible logs. wife and i surfed a few sessions and then cruised around South Holston for awhile, just listening to the engine and making sure all hoses are good to go. all in all great opening day of the season, and now looking forward to watching my wife ride her new 2015 Ronix Quarter Til Midnight board...happy wife...happy life!

~aloha~

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Glad you're all safe JB!

Had to check the thread date multiple times as we see these every spring. Could pretty much copy and paste each year with a different user name. You're not alone...

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I always try and take a weekday afternoon and drop my boat in the lake with no on else around and an empty boat ramp so I can fire it up, check hoses, go over everything so that I know its ready to go for its first outing with people, booze, and tunes.

Shakedown test if you will! I highly recommend you try it to avoid a comedy of errors on your first day out of the season.

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This was the scene at my local boat ramp first warm weekend of this spring. Some bass fisherman had a bad bad day.

sunk_bassboat.JPG

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A few weeks ago when my wife and I were on our way to our shake down run, traffic was majorly backed up a few blocks from the launch. After waiting a bit, we got to see why.

street.jpg

street2.jpg

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How does that even happen?

Going to fast and overshot the trailer by a long shot in a power load? Hey ya'll watch this.

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It made my stomach sink seeing that I was pulling up to drop my boat in. Friends in the area were stuck in the traffic and sending me cellphone photos of the situation all day, including one of them getting it back on the trailer. It was in fact a roller trailer, not sure if it was not tied down or they failed or what. It was a dual prop and the out drive that hit the ground was all mangled up.

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Must be a Michigan thing

Haha! This isn't the first time I've seen this either. A few years back, dudes had a pontoon laying on the highway by Torch Lake.

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