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10 dumbest boating things I have seen


ilovetrains

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5. No blower engaged and/or engine compartments down at waterside fuel stations :Doh:

What's this? You have to open your engine compartment when you fill your boat? I realize you should run the blower before you start the engine, every time (not that I do) but what does it have to do with the fueling? Dontknow.gif

Perhaps, I was not clear, I stated on water fueling. You don't have to open the engine compartment, I just make it a habit, and a good chance to check fluid levels. Where do you think fumes accumulate at when starting?

It certainly can't hurt and might be slightly beneficial, but opening the engine cover isn't going to do much for gasoline fumes as they have a vapor density in the 3-4 range making them heavier than air so they will settle in the bottom of the engine compartment. Using the blower is the most effective way to remove them.

Totally Agree. My point was aimed at the dumbasses who have to be yelled at by the dock diva's to turn on their damn blower. Biggrin.gif

My point was, what does getting gas have to do with it? The gas goes in from the outside, and vents to the outside... you'd be no more likely to have gas vapors in your engine compartment after fueling than any other time..

Guess better to be safe than sorry I suppose

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I totally disagree with skiing w/o a observer. 80% of our trips are with just me and the chica, it's legal and safe to a point.

1. Anybody who wants to tie up a loading or unloading dock with their boat better be prepared for my chica to walk over their boat, seats or fiberglass. Only a few people have ever said anything, and it wasn't a bright idea ROFL.gif

2. Tubers doing S pattern down a narrow line, my God, get a skill, learn to ride or ride in the boat.

3. Always roll down windows at ramp, that if things go bad and the door are locked, watched this one unfold Clap.gif

4. Towing with Wakeboards in Rack, this one always amazes me.

5. No blower engaged and/or engine compartments down at waterside fuel stations :Doh:

Don't know the situation down in Texas, but it's very illegal here in Washington.

Its illegal in Oregon too, but we know the Sheriff's schedules and when they come up river. With that said, I don't think we do it more then once or twice an entire season. But in the early AM when a 3rd is no where to be found it works!

BTW-I see no danger in doing this, and I wish we didn't need to have a third. Just because there are others in the boat, doesn't mean they are watching the rider. We were at Shasta last year and saw a rider fall, we watched as the boat (which had 4-5 people in it) just kept going and going and going. We went over to their fallen rider and was getting ready to load him up, but the boat finally circled back around Crazy.gif

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I never said riding w/o observer was the best practice, in fact the exact phrase was "safe to a point". I will agree that an observer or two is much safer. However, where I do ride, there is decent traffic in a small area, that could help if necessary. We have went through the scenarios. I am confident, I could do what is necessary, I am more worried that the chica might have issues getting me back into the boat if totally unconscious (I have not missed many meals Biggrin.gif) and have discussed contigency plans.

Hell driving in Dallas is not safe but I do it. Biggrin.gif I plan proactively and hope for the best. I refuse to go through life scared.

If both you and your driver agree and aknowledge the associated risks, ride and drive accordingly, then go for it. I agree one can't be a worry wart.

I just wanted to point out a story where the observer contributed to more than just saying 'down' . I would hope in a two man operation the rider wouldn't be silly enough to perform anything out of the ordinary for his level. For the other stories mentioned, I would also say that more than 2 observers probably gets dangerous as people get distracted in groups. I only try out new tricks when I know the people in the boat are serious, competent, and able to get me out of the water fast if anything goes awry.

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i saw a 2 seater sea doo yesterday with one fat guy driving and 3 chicks behind him. none of them had life vest on. Biggrin.gifThumbup.gif

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Over Memorial Day we got the pleasure of watching some people surfing behind a 27 ft Cobalt. We just kept waiting for something really bad to happen, just glad I won't be there when it does.

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I never said riding w/o observer was the best practice, in fact the exact phrase was "safe to a point". I will agree that an observer or two is much safer. However, where I do ride, there is decent traffic in a small area, that could help if necessary. We have went through the scenarios. I am confident, I could do what is necessary, I am more worried that the chica might have issues getting me back into the boat if totally unconscious (I have not missed many meals Biggrin.gif) and have discussed contigency plans.

Hell driving in Dallas is not safe but I do it. Biggrin.gif I plan proactively and hope for the best. I refuse to go through life scared.

Rockon.gif

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I totally disagree with skiing w/o a observer. 80% of our trips are with just me and the chica, it's legal and safe to a point.

1. Anybody who wants to tie up a loading or unloading dock with their boat better be prepared for my chica to walk over their boat, seats or fiberglass. Only a few people have ever said anything, and it wasn't a bright idea ROFL.gif

2. Tubers doing S pattern down a narrow line, my God, get a skill, learn to ride or ride in the boat.

3. Always roll down windows at ramp, that if things go bad and the door are locked, watched this one unfold Clap.gif

4. Towing with Wakeboards in Rack, this one always amazes me.

5. No blower engaged and/or engine compartments down at waterside fuel stations :Doh:

We tow with wakeboards on rack, but not on highway and not over 35. The racks are designed to hold boards when boat is moving across water at those speeds so I do not believe there's a problem for the boards or the rack. Also, our boards don't stick out far enough, but I watch for branches and things.

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5. No blower engaged and/or engine compartments down at waterside fuel stations

I thought the 'new/revised' procedure (several years ago) was to have all electrical items off while refueling, then turn blower on after finishing refueling...

Engine compartment up or open could help if there's a breeze, not so much if not.

Edited by weinrdog
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5. No blower engaged and/or engine compartments down at waterside fuel stations

I thought the 'new/revised' procedure (several years ago) was to have all electrical items off while refueling, then turn blower on after finishing refueling...

Engine compartment up or open could help if there's a breeze, not so much if not.

You are correct on the new refueling procedures on water, at least that's what USCG squadron told me a few years ago. I just worded it poorly. Whistling.gif

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We were coming in to load up a few years back on our jetskis (pre-BU days) and there was a family of folks that had just put there boat in the water. You had to be there to see this! The boat was about a 1960 model of some sort with an outboard and looked every bit it's age. There were probably 8 people in this boat that I would guesstimate at about 14 feet long and 5 feet wide. There were two more in the water on each side of the motor, one of which was the driver/owners son. Someone had forgotten to put the old transom plug in and the SS Redneck was quickly sinking....There must have been 50 lbs of garbage floating in the boat including many beer cans.

Well, junior had the drain plug and was attempting to put it in. He dove down several times and finally got it. He popped up and said "Got it Dad!" Now keep in mind he is still hanging on to the back of the boat right beside the motor. Dad proceeds to fire her up right at that moment! Shocking.gif I was maybe 20 feet away taking all of this in and I nearly wet myself! I thought for sure that poor kid had just lost a leg or foot or worse. Thank GOD he miraculously did not get hurt. He screamed DAD!! at the top of his lungs and Dad looked around and finally shut the engine off. The son, who was maybe 11 years old, was crying hysterically. You know what Dad did? He yelled at the kid! He said "How the hell was I supposed to know you were there!!" They finally decided the only way to get the water out of the boat was to re-load it on the trailer and pull the plug back out. (no bilge pump of course). The boat was half full of water and was so heavy they could not get it all the way on the trailer. When they attempted to pull up the ramp the rear of the boat fell off and landed right on the prop!!

I have never to this day seen anything on a boat ramp to rival this....

Sounds like you were at our lake...... ROFL.gif

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Ok kids, here's the STUPIDEST thing I have seen so far this season......a Sea-Doo that pulled up to fill up on the lake. Apparently he wasn't paying any attention to the IDIOT that will filling his Sea-Doo with gas because he filled it in the vent, not the gas tank. Result: the hull of the Sea-doo had $20 worth of gas in it. Later, the kid on the Sea-Doo wondered why his Sea-doo wouldn't run since he just had $20 of gas put into it...this was after he had run it for awhile, but not long enough to go thru $20 worth of gas, which means the entire thing could have blown up on him from combustion....could have been a real serious accident. Needless to say, the marina got a real chewing out for that mistake! Mad.gif I am not sure what the result has been, as I was just observing the incident from the boat launch docks.

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Toobs in general.

Problem is they are so "entry level" in appearance

but they require just as much if not more driving and observing skill than more "skilled" watersports.

But a vast majority of the users are extreme novices which results in many injuries.

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Toobs in general.

Problem is they are so "entry level" in appearance

but they require just as much if not more driving and observing skill than more "skilled" watersports.

But a vast majority of the users are extreme novices which results in many injuries.

Excellent point.

Edited by srud
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Last year-I towed A friend of a friend (who supposedly was an experienced skier) on a wakeboard for the first time. We were on the delta and had to move slightly right to avoid oncoming traffic. The boarder thought he would be cool and go right close to the shoreline and cut back. Well, being that he had never been on a board before, he didn't have great control. He ended up eating it on the rock levee. Crazy. None of us could believe it. It could have been really bad, but he ended up just tweaking his shoulder and arm really bad. He also messed up my board a bit. When we got him in the boat he fessed up that he was just being dumb.

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I chewed out a guy with an RLXi on our lake last year who loves to play superman with his kids on the boom. They'll be out on the boom just hanging (boom out the port side) and he'll turn hard to starboard (not a bat turn, but a pretty sharp turn) lifting them up in the air. He turned white when he realized what I was telling him. If one of his kids were ever to fall off the boom when he was doing that, the running gear would be raked right across their back. "Oh my God, I never even thought of that!!! THANK YOU!!!" I felt good that he was receptive to it, but was just pissed that someone with zero common sense can afford a nicer boat than me. :)

Other than that, it's just bad drivers trying to pull skiers. This can range from gunning the engine when trying to pull out a 60 lb kid, pulling those with no control too close to shore, docks, rafts, etc. I saw a tuber hit a raft a few years back when his driver was coming in to shore. The tube was outside of the wake on the same side the raft was passing by relative to the boat. The driver was throttling down. The wake was getting wider, pushing his tuber wider and wider. The people screaming on shore didn't make him realize what was going on until it was too late. 8 year old kid ended up with a broken arm from the impact with the raft. EDIT: And the spotter was facing backward so he (or she, can't remember) had no idea the raft was coming up.

Edited by UWSkier
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Reading these other threads, and just thinking back to my own experiences... tubes are really dangerous. Almost every injury that has occurred behind our boat has been on a tube.

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Reading these other threads, and just thinking back to my own experiences... tubes are really dangerous. Almost every injury that has occurred behind our boat has been on a tube.

Agree completely. Being a tube rider behind my own boat taught me a valuable lesson about letting others drive my boat. Of course, not wanting to miss out on the fun, I took somebody's word for it that they knew what they were doing when pulling tubes.

As they were cutting in front of somebody (mistake #1) they gunned the engine to go faster in front of them (mistake #2) and cranked harder into the turn (mistake #3). As soon as I saw the situation presenting itself, I bailed off the tube and watched it wip out and bang into the side of the oncoming boat. I'm not sure who was more ticked, the other boat driver or me.

Needless to say, the only people "qualified" to drive my boat are myself, my wife, and my ski buddy.

Badger

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The dumbest things I have ever done have been on a jet ski (go figure) but when I was young a stupid Whistling.gif

1. Racing through trees (sticking out of the water) on the Pit Arm during a major drought year.

2. Taking Chadellts advice and seeing who can launch their jet ski UP ON THE SHORE the furthest

3. Many other things involving driving WAY too close to each other, spraying boats (friends only), getting chased by pissed people, mooning ALL other boats on the lake, etc...

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The dumbest things I have ever done have been on a jet ski (go figure) but when I was young a stupid Whistling.gif

1. Racing through trees (sticking out of the water) on the Pit Arm during a major drought year.

2. Taking Chadellts advice and seeing who can launch their jet ski UP ON THE SHORE the furthest

3. Many other things involving driving WAY too close to each other, spraying boats (friends only), getting chased by pissed people, mooning ALL other boats on the lake, etc...

And you're allowed on this site? What's the staute of limitations stunts such as those?

I guess we'll keep you as long as you behave now that you are all growed up.

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I totally disagree with skiing w/o a observer. 80% of our trips are with just me and the chica, it's legal and safe to a point.

I have no problem with this either, and actually ski this way quite often in the course. Takes a driver that knows how to use the mirror. The problem stated earlier with regard to this applies to ANYONE who faces backward while driving to watch their skier. This has got to be one of the top ones for sure.

We ski without an observer at times but I am a heavy user of the mirror.

I see people driving all the time turning around watching the skier even when they have observers and a mirror. It drives me nuts and I would like to take their keys away from them.

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Ok kids, here's the STUPIDEST thing I have seen so far this season......a Sea-Doo that pulled up to fill up on the lake. Apparently he wasn't paying any attention to the IDIOT that will filling his Sea-Doo with gas because he filled it in the vent, not the gas tank. Result: the hull of the Sea-doo had $20 worth of gas in it. Later, the kid on the Sea-Doo wondered why his Sea-doo wouldn't run since he just had $20 of gas put into it...this was after he had run it for awhile, but not long enough to go thru $20 worth of gas, which means the entire thing could have blown up on him from combustion....could have been a real serious accident. Needless to say, the marina got a real chewing out for that mistake! Mad.gif I am not sure what the result has been, as I was just observing the incident from the boat launch docks.

I witnessed the same exact thing, but this guy actually flipped his over when trying to find out why it wouldn't run and had fuel dumping in the lake. Just makes you a bit ill thinking about it Innocent.gif

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The dumbest things I have ever done have been on a jet ski (go figure) but when I was young a stupid Whistling.gif

1. Racing through trees (sticking out of the water) on the Pit Arm during a major drought year.

2. Taking Chadellts advice and seeing who can launch their jet ski UP ON THE SHORE the furthest

3. Many other things involving driving WAY too close to each other, spraying boats (friends only), getting chased by pissed people, mooning ALL other boats on the lake, etc...

Have you ever been to Lake Berryessa, cause that has happened to me it really does piss people off. That is one of the reasons I don't go back to that Lake and stay off the water during Holiday weekends!!!!!

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I chewed out a guy with an RLXi on our lake last year who loves to play superman with his kids on the boom. They'll be out on the boom just hanging (boom out the port side) and he'll turn hard to starboard (not a bat turn, but a pretty sharp turn) lifting them up in the air. He turned white when he realized what I was telling him. If one of his kids were ever to fall off the boom when he was doing that, the running gear would be raked right across their back. "Oh my God, I never even thought of that!!! THANK YOU!!!" I felt good that he was receptive to it, but was just pissed that someone with zero common sense can afford a nicer boat than me. :)

Other than that, it's just bad drivers trying to pull skiers. This can range from gunning the engine when trying to pull out a 60 lb kid, pulling those with no control too close to shore, docks, rafts, etc. I saw a tuber hit a raft a few years back when his driver was coming in to shore. The tube was outside of the wake on the same side the raft was passing by relative to the boat. The driver was throttling down. The wake was getting wider, pushing his tuber wider and wider. The people screaming on shore didn't make him realize what was going on until it was too late. 8 year old kid ended up with a broken arm from the impact with the raft. EDIT: And the spotter was facing backward so he (or she, can't remember) had no idea the raft was coming up.

I never thought of the issue with the boom and someone dropping off as you turn to the opposite and then having the running gear swing around into them. One reason is that I just purchased a barefoot boom from BI as well as the "easy footer"...(the wide handle device that is used to hang from the boom while you sit in it). It comes with a instructional video from Mike Siepel...and guess what they show....you got it, a kid (maybe 7 or 8 years old) asking for a helicopter ride lifting them out of the water as they turn the boat in the opposite direction of where the boom is hanging out. My nine year old was asking if he could try this as well. I guess now I wont try that move.

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Inspired by Tracie's post, I thought I would post up the 10 dumbest things I have seen. Sometimes you see people just being stupid, and sometimes you realize that could have been you.

1. Skiing/tubing through trees. I am not sure why people think this is a good idea, but I routinely see at the beginning of every season someone leading a tube through trees on our lake like a slalom course. Unfortunately I have seen a few leave by ambulance.

2. Non swimmers and life vests. A girl my wife grew up with lost their 5 year old last summer. She was allowed to take her vest off while in the boat, which by the way, is against the law in this state. The girl jumped in after her older brother, and drowned in 5 feet of water. The family was unable to find her in the murky water.

3. People who want to help you launch/land you boat. My father in law is a boater, and brother in law would like to be. They want to be helpful when out boating. A few years ago, despite my telling him not to, my brother in law jumped on the trailer as I was landing the boat to catch it and hook on the rope. As he was standing there, a wake came up from behind, pushing the boat up the trailer and catching his leg between the hull and roller. His leg was not seriously injured, but he passed out from the shock and fell backwards, hitting his head and splitting it open.

4. Riding in the boat on the way to the water. My father in law lives very close to the water. Generally everyone piles in the boat for the short ride to the ramp. We were following a wake boat through the area to the ramp, people riding in the boat were dancing to music. The tower hit a branch from a tree, causing the branch to whip into a rider, who was knocked clear out of the boat onto the ground. She had a broken arm.

5. Letting others park you trailer. I sat in my truck, waiting for a spot to launch, and watched a husband and wife launch their new appearing Crownline. Wife got back into their SUV, started up ramp, and proceeded to drive over the rear of three trailers when parking. She got out and could not believe what had happened. Variation, is my mother in law, with boat on trailer decided to pull to a "better" parking area. She dropped a wheel off the road surface and almost flipped the boat.

6. Towing tubes from the tower. Honestly, I could not see what was wrong with this, except possibly the weight. Last summer, some kids were pulling a tube from the tower. Their apparent object was to make the tube do a 360 around the boat. Towers are engineered to withstand a pull from the rear. Probably never pulled forward on your tower before. As they got the tube going forward of the boat (by putting the boat in reverse at some point, which honestly took some talent) the tower folded forward crushing the windshield. That is going to be hard to explain.

7. Outboards and skiing/tubing. Every year I see the same thing, usually on a pontoon. tube rope or ski rope attached to stern eyelet of boat, darn near next to the motor. This never ends well. They sell those tripods that put an eyelet up high for a reason.

8. Straps or the plug. We have all done some variation, forget to put the plug in etc. Few years ago watched a guy in a bass boat launching. forgot to undo the trailer straps. I was surprised the th trailer weight was enough to pull the transom under water, but sure enough it did.

9. Jumping other boats wakes. Several years ago, someone flipped a 18 ft open bow on our lake. This story starts bad, and gets worse. The boat was observed trying to jump other boats wakes. There were children aboard, who were injured. Dad, apparently oblivious to the plight of his kids, with the boat still semi-floating swims to another boat, apparently a friend, and ties on a rope. They then try to pull the other boat back on top of the water. Rope breaks, strikes passenger in another boat who was also "helping." Meanwhile, in effort to try and attach more ropes, second boat is swamped. Water patrol arrested 11 people, and issued 36 citations. No one died, which was a miracle.

10. People riding in boat while launching. Sitting on river, waiting for dock to clear to unload passengers. I see a 20 ft open bow I/O at top of ramp, pulled by Astro mini-van. Boat is full of 8-10 people, gear etc. Driver only in van. Ramp wet. About half-way down, van brakes lock, driver loses control, jacknifes just before water. Boat and trailer strike another boat just at bottom of ramp, keeping first boat from rolling over, most passengers end up in water. A lot of damage, few people went to the hospital.

Okay, one more dumb thing that I have witnessed and been a part of. Pre BU days, I owned a boat with a 150 hp Mercury outboard. After a day of skiing I trailered the boat and pulled it up on the ramp a bit. There was no one in line to get in or out of the water so I started pulling stuff from my boat, checking the trailer, etc. I handed my buddy a large flat screwdriver and asked him to pull the plug from the back of the boat to let the water drain (had the old screw type nylon plug). A couple of minutes went by and he asked, "what is this brown milky looking stuff coming out?" Innocent.gif I went back and found that he had removed the oil drain plug from the lower unit. No real harm as the engine wasn't running and I could add more oil, but I learned not to assume that everyone knows what they are doing around boats.....not even the simplest of things.

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