What a NIGHTMARE!

[Gotcha]

MAN! What a pain in the a$$. Well, I don't own a boat so I rented one from the outdoor recreations center on base. I've rented from them before and I've never had a problem but today was different. I rented a 15' SmokerCraft with a 15HP Mercury OB. So after I get the boat all checked out and signed off I head home to pick up my wife and son, we load everything up and head out to West Medical lake. We get there and right before I launch I notice that there is no boat plug. Ok... I drive about 20 minutes to pick up a plug, turn around and drive 20 minutes back to the lake. So we launch and make our way to the end of the lake near the pump house... long story short; motor dies, the wind blows us into the reeds, we're stuck for about 30 minutes, my temper and frustration break an oar and when I finally get the motor to run we BARELY make it back to the launch.

We spent about 1 hour on the lake and over half of it was stuck in the reeds trying to get the motor to run. NOT A GOOD DAY! And since it was a rental I figured I'd better replace the oar. So after another hour wasted on driving to Sportsman Warehouse and back and $30 later I got the oar. Maybe tomorrow I can trade out this rental for one that works.

If anyone who reads this just happen to be out on West Medical and saw my break that oar over the side of the boat please feel free to make fun of me. HAHA!

[Marc Martyn]

Hmmmm........ well tomorrow will be Saturday The 14th. Hope your second day goes better.:thumright

[Dave]

I don't blame you at all. The Outdoor Recreation Center better refund your money and give you a boat and motor that works without question to use free of charge. If they don't you might consider telling them you will be happy to share your story and their poor customer service with the local media. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Hopefully you will get great customer service and a reliable boat and motor to use for the next week free of charge. You deserve it! Sorry to hear about the trip. I would be furious.

[clam man]

wow,

breaking the oar was a nice touch. I wonder why the boats at the outdoor rec center are all beat to heck sometimes. At least you replaced it. Everyone with a boat has had problems like the drain plug. Make a checklist of stuff you need, and double check it before you head out. It will save you many worries. Did they refund you?

[TroutCowboy]

oh man, i feel for ya. i had a similar experience yesterday (father's day, of all days). after sliding the boat off the trailer at a busy launch, getting all the kids jacketed up, the truck parked and fees paid i go to start the motor. nothing. i jump the main battery with my trolling battery. nothing. not even a spark or attempt to start. the kids are getting hot & impatient, i'm sweating and filling up the inside of my sunglasses with beads of sweat while leaning into the engine compartment. all this on boat with a brand new motor! five thousand later i can't own a boat that will start?

well i knew that since the motor wasn't even turning over with two batteries it had to be something electrical, and as it turned out i had a loose connection on the starter. as i went wiggling looking for the culprit, one wire fell right off. hooked it up and we were in business. *whew* day saved!

sorry you had a rotten day. you're a better man than most by replacing that oar. i've rented boats, cars and skis where the previous renter wasn't so courteous. i think we've all been there, though. if not drifting in a dead boat, then on the side of the road with a flat tire on a family road trip or something (that is another story -- flat tire on pop-up camper, no tire iron, 111 degree heat, middle of eastern washington).

hope the rest of the weekend went better! ;-)

[Rich McVey]

Boating failures just simply STINK. Had the motor on mine die on the water.

Just after I dropped off the lil woman at the dock to get the truck, We pulled the boat away from the dock and started to head over toward the ramps, the motor died. We were at the N end of Tapps and the wind was blowing S. In the time it took me trying to get it started, we were blown out past the end of the park area. It took over 30 minutes to get back to the dock on the trolling motor going against the wind.

SOOO glad it waited to die close to the boat ramps and not at some secluded spot at the south end of the lake.

[tmusky1]

Oh, I've got to jump into this one. The worst boating incident I had didn't even happen near a lake. We had just picked up my grandpa's old 22 ft boat and with plans of fixing it up, we were heading for home when I looked in the rearview mirror and there was a boat that looked just like my grandpa's sitting in the middle of the road! Yep, the bow and transom eyes weren't stainless and had rusted completely through, all it took was one little bump and the boat rolled right off the trailer onto the road.Luckily I was going pretty slow and nobody was behind us. Well, try to grab a heavy boat off the road without any bow or transom eyes, not easy. Thanks to the firefighters that showed up, we wrapped an old fire hose around the back of the boat, cranked the truck 90 degrees to the trailer, hooked the other end of the hose to the fire truck and it pulled the boat onto the trailer. After some chains and binders, we were on our way.
THAT my friend, is a nightmare!
Bye the way, I'm not trying to downplay anyones horror stories or hijack this thread, I just wanted to share cause we all know misery loves company.

[Fish Antics]

A couple of years ago . . . on the 4th of July . . . I went to Sekiu to fish a short king opening. I arrived late the afternoon before the opening and was unable to find a motel room. Had no choice but to sleep in the back of my car. Somebody decided to let off fireworks on the shore right in front of my car until after midnight. Crap! Had to open the window to let air in while waiting patiently for the annoying fireworks to eventually quit. I was so excited to fish for kings again that I just knew I would wake with the early 3:00 am crowd. Next thing I knew I heard someone talking by the car. It was 8:30! Crap – I had badly overslept!! ! I reached for my pants to get dressed as quick as I could while rolling around the back of the car! Got a Charlie horse in my leg. Crap! It hurt but couldn’t afford to stop – fish could be biting! Rolled out the door to put my boots on, not realizing when I opened the window during the night it had let the rain drain directly into the boots. So the boots were sloshy wet when they both went on. Crap! I drug my gear off to the rental boat. Picked up a coffee. Set the coffee cup down on the seat while I layed out my gear, turned around and saw this fluid in the bottom of the boat – CRAP! it was MY spilled coffee . . motor wouldn’t start . .finally started . . made it out to immediately set a line to start trolling –hooked my mooching line to my portable downrigger . . lowered the bait and looked up to notice I was in a patch of floating kelp. Crap! Still not fishing! Reached over and pulled the line in by hand to check the bait - -sure enough it was fouled. Crap! Had to hand-over-hand the line with the bait all the way in to re-bait it (the mainline was still attached to the downrigger to save time. .) I went to set the trailing hook in a new herring and all of a sudden there was a loud crack as the downrigger pulled off the boat and fell over the side into the water . .Crap! that was my portable expensive downrigger!! .. and a second later, when the line that had been unknowingly wrapping itself around the prop (that’s what had pulled the downrigger over) tightened it pulled the herring bait hook I was still holding INTO my hand and pulled my hooked hand quickly over the side –under water - toward the prop. Splash! Just as my hand got to the prop the motor stalled. (whew!) Good news was that barbless hooks came out better than barbed when your hand is stretched under water. The bad news was that I fished hard that day, and the next, and never saw a salmon. Crap! As I look back, it was not a nightmare day , but in many ways . . . a LUCKY day for me!!!

[TroutCowboy]

Oh, I've got to jump into this one. The worst boating incident I had didn't even happen near a lake. We had just picked up my grandpa's old 22 ft boat and with plans of fixing it up, we were heading for home when I looked in the rearview mirror and there was a boat that looked just like my grandpa's sitting in the middle of the road! Yep, the bow and transom eyes weren't stainless and had rusted completely through, all it took was one little bump and the boat rolled right off the trailer onto the road.Luckily I was going pretty slow and nobody was behind us. Well, try to grab a heavy boat off the road without any bow or transom eyes, not easy. Thanks to the firefighters that showed up, we wrapped an old fire hose around the back of the boat, cranked the truck 90 degrees to the trailer, hooked the other end of the hose to the fire truck and it pulled the boat onto the trailer. After some chains and binders, we were on our way.
THAT my friend, is a nightmare!
Bye the way, I'm not trying to downplay anyones horror stories or hijack this thread, I just wanted to share cause we all know misery loves company.

That was a pretty ingenious way to get the boat back on! I was at Lake Roosevelt one day (Fort Spokane launch, specifically) and saw the same thing happen to a guy pulling his boat out. He got all the way to the top of the very long, steep ramp (50+ yards, maybe?) before he tapped his brakes and found out he didn't lock the winch. His boat slid right off the trailer onto the concrete launch. He was too far away to just push back into the water, so it took about a dozen of us to herf it back onto the trailer. Could have used some fireman engineering/MacGuyver skills that day!

If we were voting, I think I'd give Micropterus my vote for best story so far! If, to top it all off, you are still a fishing man, I'll give you another vote!!

[Fish Antics]

If we were voting, I think I'd give Micropterus my vote for best story so far! If, to top it all off, you are still a fishing man, I'll give you another vote!! cheers

Still banging away at it TroutCowboy . . embarassed to say I have more stories!

This thread is a good reminder to double check things at the ramp. I know I like to get out of everyones way as quick as possible!

May we never see our boats "way back" in the mirrors!

[tmusky1]

Oh, I almost forgot,, the state trooper that arrived on the scene didn't issue me a ticket after she saw the bow eye dangling from the safety chain on the trailer and the transom eyes dragging on the road at the end of the straps. She was actually pretty hot too as far as state troopers go. To all the single guys out there, I wouldn't recommend trying to meet women this way!

[Marc Martyn]

Oh, I almost forgot,, the state trooper that arrived on the scene didn't issue me a ticket after she saw the bow eye dangling from the safety chain on the trailer and the transom eyes dragging on the road at the end of the straps. She was actually pretty hot too as far as state troopers go. To all the single guys out there, I wouldn't recommend trying to meet women this way!

Had you called the state trooper "Babe" or "Honey", I am quite sure you would have walked away with a rather Large ticket[-x

[BassinBomber]

Sounded like a rough day on the water Gotchya,..it'll be better next time.

[ruthven78]

man and I thought I had a bad day when I forgot my oars and fins......

[Denman]

those are all tough stories to beat...heck, my day is ruined when I forget the net or a favorite reel or something.

[BassinBomber]

Well Gotcha,.. had that kind of day today. Hit Sawyer about 1pm w/my nephew {bassfanatic} and my son {Reels_N-Rods86} and put the Trihull in the water,..dropped the 70 HP Johnson in the water and trolled away from the launch via Minnkota,..soon as we were clear I pumped the ball on my tank and tured the key,..motor cranked but didn't fire,..did this for 15 mins or so till I figured I flooded the motor,..let it rest and fished for a bit,...couldn't really enjoy or focus because of the motor,..tried for another 30 mins then gave in,..battery started to weaken,..had to make a choice,..head in or chance it with the Minnkota,..we opted for the latter,..long story short,..got skunked and barely made it back to the launch,..my son did catch 2 Bluegill and 1 Perch,..no keepers. This was to be a prime day for us at a primo spot,..but alas the "Fishing-Gods" were not smiling on us,..anyways we still managed to have fun and got back safely!

BB

[BassinBomber]

Found out after I removed the cowling that the #1 sparkplug wire was faulty,..gonna give her a good tune before the weekend then see what happens!

[BassFanatic]

dont worry brownbomber got the batteries charging away we will be back out there in no time!!!!

[BassinBomber]

That's what I'm talkin about! It'll be fine,..we need to tune it b4 we hit the Potholes anyway,..get at me!

BB

[skeetrzx225]

what are u doing today bb.