Stories
I really should be anonymous for this....
... And I will admit that I do get enjoyment from watching the 'newbies'. But I WILL NEVER LAUGH AGAIN.
We upgraded from a 18' Bayliner last year to a new 23' Yamaha twin jet. I've been boating for many years, but will admit.. this is MUCH more boat than I have ever had and it's taking me a bit to get used to handling a boat 5' longer and the non-existent idle steering with twin-jet engines.
So we took it up to Yale last year (just before we signed at LMCH) with a full load of people and had a great two days on the water. Not wanting to suck sand (as I was warned) we anchored the bow out from the shore and tied the stern off on shore so we could walk right off the back to the beach. Worked flawlessly all weekend until Sunday when we were about to leave the beach and head for home.
Got all our gear and the 8 of us in the boat. Told my son to pull the rope in and I proceeded to fire up both engines and pull the front anchor.
All of a sudden both engines quit. I yelled back because my son was still fiddling with the storage holds and figured that he tripped an interlock or something... so I tried to restart the left and right engines... nothing.
Apparently, he didn't get the rope in the boat all the way in the boat and I managed to suck up the end of the rope in the right engine and a loop into the left engine. Now, my thought process about having a twin engine boat was that if I got in trouble “at least I have another engine to limp back to shore on!!”.. well the attempted restart finished of the knots and any hopes I had of clearing the mess from the top. I spent an hour reaching through the clean-out holes... of course the pocket knife I had back at camp would have been a big help.
I realize this is long.. but it gets better I promise ;-)
Luckily a very nice man and his wife were watching ( I did see him laugh at a few points ) and felt sorry for me and came down the beach to lend a hand. What I didn't immediately notice was that he had unscrewed two access ports which ended up being no help as they just went into the engine compartment... We eventually gave up and he offered a tow.. exhausted I took him up on it and we were underway.. for the newbie (no numbers on the boat) tow-of-shame parade in front of the ramp.
We were about half way back to the dock when the nice man stood up.. looked back at us, circled around to tell me we were getting REALLY heavy. About the time he did. My sons friend yells “captain Todd!! We are taking on water!!” Not understanding what was happening and wondering if the jam broke a seal or something, me and the nice man decided to make a b-line for the dock (luckily empty of other newbies at the time) and I took off running for the truck.. ignored the glow-plug alarm, and let the truck clank to life in a cloud of diesel smoke.. foot to the floor!.. and managed to barely get the trailer under the boat. In fact.. the front tires of the truck were in the water.
It appears that the engine compartment plugs serve a purpose... in that when your jet clean-outs are open... forward motion sends water up through them to the platform and through the plug holes.
I'm surprised the weight didn't collapse the trailer and I'm also surprised I have rear tires left.
Top that one!
... And I will admit that I do get enjoyment from watching the 'newbies'. But I WILL NEVER LAUGH AGAIN.
We upgraded from a 18' Bayliner last year to a new 23' Yamaha twin jet. I've been boating for many years, but will admit.. this is MUCH more boat than I have ever had and it's taking me a bit to get used to handling a boat 5' longer and the non-existent idle steering with twin-jet engines.
So we took it up to Yale last year (just before we signed at LMCH) with a full load of people and had a great two days on the water. Not wanting to suck sand (as I was warned) we anchored the bow out from the shore and tied the stern off on shore so we could walk right off the back to the beach. Worked flawlessly all weekend until Sunday when we were about to leave the beach and head for home.
Got all our gear and the 8 of us in the boat. Told my son to pull the rope in and I proceeded to fire up both engines and pull the front anchor.
All of a sudden both engines quit. I yelled back because my son was still fiddling with the storage holds and figured that he tripped an interlock or something... so I tried to restart the left and right engines... nothing.
Apparently, he didn't get the rope in the boat all the way in the boat and I managed to suck up the end of the rope in the right engine and a loop into the left engine. Now, my thought process about having a twin engine boat was that if I got in trouble “at least I have another engine to limp back to shore on!!”.. well the attempted restart finished of the knots and any hopes I had of clearing the mess from the top. I spent an hour reaching through the clean-out holes... of course the pocket knife I had back at camp would have been a big help.
I realize this is long.. but it gets better I promise ;-)
Luckily a very nice man and his wife were watching ( I did see him laugh at a few points ) and felt sorry for me and came down the beach to lend a hand. What I didn't immediately notice was that he had unscrewed two access ports which ended up being no help as they just went into the engine compartment... We eventually gave up and he offered a tow.. exhausted I took him up on it and we were underway.. for the newbie (no numbers on the boat) tow-of-shame parade in front of the ramp.
We were about half way back to the dock when the nice man stood up.. looked back at us, circled around to tell me we were getting REALLY heavy. About the time he did. My sons friend yells “captain Todd!! We are taking on water!!” Not understanding what was happening and wondering if the jam broke a seal or something, me and the nice man decided to make a b-line for the dock (luckily empty of other newbies at the time) and I took off running for the truck.. ignored the glow-plug alarm, and let the truck clank to life in a cloud of diesel smoke.. foot to the floor!.. and managed to barely get the trailer under the boat. In fact.. the front tires of the truck were in the water.
It appears that the engine compartment plugs serve a purpose... in that when your jet clean-outs are open... forward motion sends water up through them to the platform and through the plug holes.
I'm surprised the weight didn't collapse the trailer and I'm also surprised I have rear tires left.
Top that one!
Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 10:06 AM