Bone-Headed Boaters at the Boat Docks

[kandersonSLC]

I sometimes get a laugh out of a YouTube channel that shows videos of the tragicomedy of certain boaters at the Miami boat docks where boats are bashed, trailers bent, folks fall in the water, cars get stuck, and sometimes vehicles slip beneath the waves (it all certainly makes me feel better about my stupid mistakes).

We keep our boat at Strawberry, and I try to be all about getting in and out of the water as fast as possible, so I don't see or notice much unusual.

Are Utah boaters more skilled than those in Miami, or have I just missed seeing when things go wrong on the boat dock?

I'd be interested in hearing stories about "strange things afoot" at the Utah boat launches.

[RockyRaab2]

I'm a brand new boater, with a brand new boat. I plan to launch at Willard on Wednesday. Bring a camera...

[liketrolling]

Here I think 90% of boaters are good and think about the other guy it is the 10% that drive you nuts.
and then even the best of us have a bad day.

[Tarponjim]

One the whole, Utah boaters are less skilled than Florida or Miami boaters. There's way more water down there, everybody has a boat or three, the season is 12 months long, and its part of the way of life. Utah has a short season, just a few lakes, and more people who never get enough practice to learn how and get out of everybody else's way in a timely manner. Lots of stories . . . Go to any larger lake's ramps on Memorial, 4th, 24th, Labor Day, or most any fair-weather weekend.

[meancuznalfy]

Lol, any day of the week, you'll see someone doing something stupid. Watched a guy last spring launch a boat and hurry and pull it out cauy he forgot to put the plug in, took about an hour to get his boat in the water, at the ramp the whole time.

[a_bow_nut]

Watched a vehicle get towed up out of the water at Utah Lake last year.

It happens everywhere.

[meancuznalfy]

Yes it does, kinda funny to watch, hope we don't look like that, but pretty confident that we're in and out without any problems.

[MSM1970]

It don't seem like they are so bonehead as inconsiderate A$$h01es. but the ramp can have hours of entertainment.

[N.E.T.O.]

Back in the day, with our young families, we used to camp at East Canyon every weekend in the summer and spend the days water skiing and wakeboarding and a little fishing with the families. You used to be able to legally camp in the parking lot. We would sit in our lawn chairs in the mornings eating breakfast being entertained by the goings on at the boat ramp. Here are a few "classics":

- The guy that makes his wife drive the truck even though she's never driven a trailer before and takes out 2 cars in the parking lot trying to park the truck and empty trailer.

- The same guy who yells at his wife from his boat idling in the marina as she is trying unsuccessfully to back the trailer down the ramp so much that she gets mad, puts the jackknifed rig in park, turns it off, gets out and walks away leaving her lazy fat husband floating in the marina in his precious bass boat.

- The guy that has his whole family with him, including teenage sons and a wife, but insists on doing everything himself, leaving his truck and trailer at the bottom of the ramp while he parks the boat and ties it up and walks back to the truck eventually to park it. Lesson #1 with a family: Teach your wife to drive the boat...yes, she will forget to raise the outdrive and take out a prop or two but they learn to remember to raise the outdrive very quickly after that.

- The guy that arrives, backs down the ramp, then starts prepping his boat at the bottom of the ramp...clogging up the ramp for a half hour.

- The occasional guy that slams on his brakes as he's backing down the ramp and launches the boat before he gets to the water...

- The guy that backs too far into the drink and launches his truck...

- The guy that assumes his battery in the boat is still good after being stored all winter and his boat won't start.

- Almost forgot the most classic blunder...leaving the plug out. Lots of screaming and yelling!

I've seen all this stuff so many times and it used to be funny. Now it's just annoying!

The problem is, it was getting worse anyway and now with all the brand new boat owners that purchased due to the pandemic, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

We launch early just to avoid the idiots.

[steelhawk]

I'm a brand new boater, with a brand new boat. I plan to launch at Willard on Wednesday. Bring a camera...

I'll be in the same situation soon. Mine is on order.

[Tarponjim]

Plug issue. We've all done it, and we all will do it again with enough chances. I carry several spare plugs on the boat. I can access my drain hole from the boat. Don't even sweat it. So what I do: Get everybody in, run the water out on the way to the first stop, put spare plug in, fish! No big deal. If you can't access the hole, then you gotta pull the boat to drain it. Be sure boat has a high capacity bilge pump, and check to see it works from time to time.

[RockyRaab2]

Here's a nifty idea: the Lund drain plug. Look it up. It comes with a cable you screw down inside the boat so that the plug hangs free with the cable through the drain hole. You can't lose the plug, and it's hanging right there in full view to remind you to put it in when you remove your transom saver bar.

https://hot-deals-4-you.com/2020/03/22/b...g-1983670/

[JArner]

I love that channel on YouTube! I watch it with my wife on Sunday morning while we drink our coffee. I have 2 PWC, and we try our best to keep the flow going at the ramp. We occasionally forget to insert a drain plug even though they are attached. They float even filled with water but bog down and are a bit unstable with all that ‘ballast’.

Our worst experience was at Pineview and early on in ownership. I drive the truck and my wife had both water craft tethered for towing one. She didn’t know that I had switched off the gas, there was enough in the lines and carb to get her out a few hundred feet. By that time I had parked the truck and gathered the kids to meet her at the beach. She never showed. By the time I found her she was in tears, had tried both PWC’s but had to drift to a shoreline, boaters could care less and wouldn’t help just yelled at her.

[dubob]

Back in the day, with our young families, we used to camp at East Canyon every weekend in the summer and spend the days water skiing and wakeboarding and a little fishing with the families.  You used to be able to legally camp in the parking lot.  We would sit in our lawn chairs in the mornings eating breakfast being entertained by the goings on at the boat ramp.  Here are a few "classics":

- The guy that makes his wife drive the truck even though she's never driven a trailer before and takes out 2 cars in the parking lot trying to park the truck and empty trailer.

- The same guy who yells at his wife from his boat idling in the marina as she is trying unsuccessfully to back the trailer down the ramp so much that she gets mad, puts the jackknifed rig in park, turns it off, gets out and walks away leaving her lazy fat husband floating in the marina in his precious bass boat.  A few trips to the local shopping mall parking lots with trailer in tow for some back-up training does wonders in this regard.

- The guy that has his whole family with him, including teenage sons and a wife, but insists on doing everything himself, leaving his truck and trailer at the bottom of the ramp while he parks the boat and ties it up and walks back to the truck eventually to park it.  Lesson #1 with a family: Teach your wife to drive the boat...yes, she will forget to raise the outdrive and take out a prop or two but they learn to remember to raise the outdrive very quickly after that.

- The guy that arrives, backs down the ramp, then starts prepping his boat at the bottom of the ramp...clogging up the ramp for a half hour.  I never have understood why folks do this.  There are usually signs up that tell folks were the boat prep areas are, but they whiz right by them to do all that about 3 feet from the waters edge, blocking the ramp for 30 to 60 minutes.

- The occasional guy that slams on his brakes as he's backing down the ramp and launches the boat before he gets to the water...

- The guy that backs too far into the drink and launches his truck...

- The guy that assumes his battery in the boat is still good after being stored all winter and his boat won't start. 

- Almost forgot the most classic blunder...leaving the plug out.  Lots of screaming and yelling!  There isn't a boat owner in the world that hasn't done this.  And it WILL happen to you again.  The new plug system on Lund is a nice idea and will help.  My buddies new Ranger bass boat has a mechanical switch system with the open/close lever set into the top of the transom.  Best system I've seen so far as you can close it while on the water without getting any part of your body wet and use the bilge to get rid of the water.  It would be worth the cost to install a system like that on my boat as I cannot reach the drain without entering the water and diving under the back deck that sticks out 2 feet from the transom.

I've seen all this stuff so many times and it used to be funny.  Now it's just annoying!  Yep!

The problem is, it was getting worse anyway and now with all the brand new boat owners that purchased due to the pandemic, you ain't seen nothin' yet!  Probably not!

We launch early just to avoid the idiots.  I stay away from weekends and holidays like avoiding the plague for the very same reason.  And since I really don't care about how many fish I catch, I typically launch an hour after sunrise to avoid the early launchers that think it absolutely essential to be on the water and fishing before sunrise. 

Another irritant is the folks that insist on backing down the entire length of the 1/4 mile boat ramp at some locations.  Hello!  Drive forward to the waters edge and then turn the truck and boat trailer to face up the ramp.  THEN back the boat into the water from there.  I do this at ALL boat ramps.  I am a skilled trailer backer with over 50 years of backing up trailers of one form or another.  I still take the easiest way and the shortest distance to do it.

[PACMEN]

None of us a immune. One of my stories.

Spring trip to Piute a few years back.
Launched boat and was waiting while my bride parked truck and trailer.
I noticed the ski compartment was about full of water. I turned on bilge and headed in. Boat did not respond well at all.
As I headed in I'm thinking "how the heck am I getting water?" I could remember putting drain plug in. I could remember screwing in the exhaust manifold drains.
As I nosed in to shore I realized I had not put the water pump hose back on. This was an IO and the previous use had been a late Nov. trip to the Berry. Hose was off to clear pump and protect from freezing.
Tell ya what dang water pump moves a lot of water and will fill a boat in short order.
Takes a lot longer for the bilge pump to empty it than it does for engine circ. pump to fill.

[Tin-Can]

I'm a brand new boater, with a brand new boat. I plan to launch at Willard on Wednesday. Bring a camera...

    Rocky, north or south marina ? 

[kandersonSLC]

Good stories. I'll share my bone-headed mistakes in hopes it helps someone avoid the same.

1. Got ready to launch at Henry's Lake, but motor wouldn't start. Tried for a few minutes, and then pulled it out and went through my usual trouble-shooting check list. It worked perfectly the day before, so after some thinking, the light went on and I checked the dead-man switch on the throttle. I had bumped the connector with my butt and pulled it out, so the switch was in the OFF position. I now check it every time before I launch.

2. As Rocky noted, the Lund plug is connected with a wire cable, and so far I've always remembered to put it in. But one time I forgot to release the rear straps holding the boat. Got into the water and hit the brake to launch and felt a sharp tug on the trailer hitch and the boat went no where (luckily I didn't bend anything on the trailer). Lesson learned, check the straps when you put in the plug.

3. Once at Strawberry got ready to launch, and the starter would only click. Pulled out of the water and found battery to be dead. Pulled our car battery and used that in the boat for the day (a pain but better than canceling a day on the water). We store our boat at Strawberry, so it's not something I can check at home. I bought a battery tester, and now check the battery at the end of each trip to ensure it's in good health (if it's low, I take it home to charge). I also installed a voltmeter/phone charger for the cigarette lighter. I test the system voltage in the launch prep area so I can address the problem there rather than finding out on the launch ramp.

4. Launched once at Ashton Reservoir with wife in boat. It drifted over an underwater cement piling from an old bridge and got hung up. Didn't want to scratch the bottom anymore than already occurred so wanted to avoid powering off. She got the bright idea to pull out the oar we carry and she used it to push down on the piling while locking her knees on the side. This lifted the boat enough that the current carried it free with minimal damage.

I now do a double check of these things before launching in hopes of avoiding these problems. But I'm sure I'll find new things to forget or new ways to screw up.

[Tin-Can]

I made that typical "forgot the plug" blunder on my first boat, a 2004 Lund 17' Pro Sport. It also had the chain connected to the plug so the plug would not get lost. But I couldn't reach it thru the transom deck access plate. I was at East Canyon, less than a week after buying that brand new boat.  Fortunately, my son said he heard something strange back near the motor. Said "Dad sounds like something is gurgling back here". I hadn't started  the big 115HP otbd yet, and still had the bow ring hooked to the trailer bow crank. So I had the son climb off the left side into about knee deep water, get in the truck and pull us back up till back end was out of the water. Yep, water came spraying out that plug hole. I reached over the transom, got the plug put in and tightened down. All good. Ran the remaining water out of the boat by turning on the bilge. 

Now I have a 2007 Lund 14' open boat, drain plug is accessed from inside the boat under the transom plate, in a recess just below deck level. I can see it and reach it from my seat at the tiller, but haven't forgotten to put that plug in since.   

Want to watch some the craziest, most inconsiderate, boat operators  ?  Just go sit at the Willard Bay north marina any summer weekend......     The size and horsepower of most boats DO NOT equal the skills, or etiquette levels of their operators.  

[TubeDude]

As a float tuber I get to witness a whole lot of boater bozos without them even noticing me...mostly.  And there have been a lot of times when I have helped boaters get properly launched or trailered...sometimes with expressed gratitude.  Other times not so much.

There have been several times when I have served to retrieve improperly  secured boats that drifted away from the docks while the owner was parking their vehicle.  One of the choicest was on Magic Reservoir in Idaho.  While kicking strenuously to get back in...during a strengthening offshore breeze...I heard the sound of water slapping behind me.  I turned around just in time to grab the bow line of a small boat that had blown free from a poor tie down job.  Just about got a hernia (or hisnia) dragging that boat back the couple of hundred yards to where the owner was waiting on the dock.  As I handed him the rope he muttered something that sounded like "thanks", and then jumped in his boat and boogied.


Best "payback" happened late one sunny morning at the south marina of Willard.  I had a pretty good morning fishing but had to be back earlier than usual.  As I was methodically kicking my way to the ramp I heard giggling and derisive laughter.  A big wakeboard boat full of barely teens was looking my way and evidently had some clever things so say about my lowly craft.  They had been waiting for the "skipper"...hardly shaving age...to get down to the boat from the truck.  He got in, they cast off the ropes and hit the starter.  We all know that sound when there is not enough juice to kick over the starter.  Click-click-click.  The really bad news is that a building easterly breeze was moving Daddy's boat full of kids out toward the opening to the lake.  With nobody else around to render assistance, TubeDude to the rescue.  I kicked around to the front of the big heavy boat, reached up for the bow line and began the tedious kick back to the dock.  From that point on I did not hear a sound from any of the passengers.  Nary a peep.  Even when I got them close enough to the dock for someone to get out and secure them there was no "Gee thanks" or anything.  But I already had my reward...establishing my "ascendancy".

On one occasion I was privileged to witness the all too common scenario of a husband in the boat screaming directions (and obscenities) at his wife trying to back a trailer down on a busy ramp.  I ran up to the truck and had the wife slide over while I completed the maneuver...pulling the boat up out of the water to the prep area.  The wife thanked me profusely and suggested that I may have just saved their marriage.  Wonder what happened "the next time".

[RockyRaab2]

Forrest, I'll be at the north marina, probably early afternoon when it's a bit warmer. I don't plan to fish at all, it's "motor break-in" day so it'll just be two hours of cold boat ride.