Another fun topic - Who's sunk what?

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We are having so much fun with the trailer stories and the crazy go-fast stories, how about a who-sunk-what thread?

Me first - only one - a 36' Chris Craft Aqua Home houseboat! A freind and I were doing engine work and had disconnected the rubber exhaust hoses from the engine exhaust and left them high - no problem, right? We had a slip with the stern facing the lake (in AZ) and it was a pretty calm lake. Along comes the 100 year strom with wind that was blowing 4-5 foot waves toward the boat, and it starting forcing it's way into the exhust lines, through the flappers! Next moriing, she was sunk to the top deck in the slip, hanging from the dock lines. So sad, such a great boat. It was a total loss from insurance, but I took on restoring her and got about 80% done when I moved. All new interior, a new pair of V-6 volvos, hundreds of hours...

That's my only bloober in about 45 years of boating - not too bad!

Jim
 
I have had a lot of experience with boats, starting in Catalina as a teenager and building Glasspar boats in Costa Mesa while in college. I consider myself an experienced boater. However, as you all know when on the water, things will happen. About eight years ago, on a family outing, we rented a 56 ft Euro design houseboat out of the marina just west of Paradise Point on Disappointment Slough (forgot the name just now) Houseboat was brand new and by the time the long weekend was over (I will spare the details) we bent both props, lost an anchor and smashed a plate glass window on one of the sleeping compartments. Had to do with about a 35-40 mph wind that came up Sunday and turned that huge houseboat into a huge unsteerable sail boat. The boat finally made it home and we went home about 500.00 lighter in the wallet.

DBH
 
Watch out for those Delta Destroyers! aka rental houseboats.....
 
It continues to amaze me that those rental folks will rent a very large, very difficult at times to steer, vessel to folks who have never even driven a rowboat. Great name, "delta destroyers"....maybe thats why there are so few companies renting boats of any kind. Had a big one come down sideways under the Isleton bridge, steering out the captain shouted, as he ran into me while I was at anchor. Low current and not much damage and if it wasn't the very pretty first mate on the houseboat who was wearing very little, I might have been a little more upset.

DBH
 
I forgot to mention: I sank a cell phone into 17 feet of water. Does that count?
glug, glug, glug.......
 
Houseboats and idiots - years back on Lake Berryessa a dude in a big rented house boat when over a ski tow line on a nice 24' or so daycruiser and hooked it to the point where it didn't break, until AFTER he had drug the ski boat by its stern - and sunk it! I guess the extra weight of the sunk boat was more than the ski rope could stand! It is amazing that they rent those giant things out to totally untrained people - hell, I would worry about driving some of them, and I have a little experience. Always good to stay way clear of them!
Jim
 
On my Honeymoon in the Bahamas in 1969, rented a 20' runabout. Guy was required to give me a map (I found out later) of what beaches I could dock on? Anyway, haviong fun but the weather was kicking up. I tried to beach nose in at what looked like a good flat spot? Waves & surf started breaking too hard at the shoreline for the boat's size. One finally flipped us out & over. Got my new wife on shore & dove back in chasing my pants with all my cash. Then pulled the boat by the Anchor line to shore & secured it (with help from those on the beach). totally swamped. My wife is still a little boat shy in rough water to this day almost 40 years later? We were lucky as the boat was on top of me in the surf. At 21 we're bullet proof right?
 
When I was about 12, my dad chartered a boat and took me salmon fishing on Lake Michigan, It was a beautiful day and we were hauling in some nice salmon while it seemed like the other boats were not having as much luck as we were. I thought that the skipper of this boat must have been the best on the water.

Everything was fine until I went down below to go to the toilet. I noticed a couple inches of water sloshing around so I went back topside and asked the skipper if the was normal, although I had a good idea as to what the answer would be. The skipper immediately ran below and as fast as he went down, he came back up and opened the engine compartment. There in the engine room was a couple feet of water and although one of the engines was running, it wouldn't be for long if something wasn't done. So the skipper firewalled the throttle and called out a mayday to all boats for assistance. Soon another boat came alongside and transferred us over in case the engine quit and the boat sank.

Luckily for the skipper, he was able to make it back to his slip and secure the boat with a number of lines to hold it up. Now remember, I said that one engine was running? Well, the reason it wasn't running is because it wasn't in the first place. So we went out on one engine which wasn't a really good idea on his part. But it was even a worse idea for him to not reconnect the exhaust system on the dead engine before we went out. ;(
 
Speaking of disconnected exhaust hoses. I was replacing the manifolds and risers on my new to me Carver. I didnt finish the job that day and was at home reading the boards on boatered and read about my mistake. Drove back to the marina at midnight in a hurry. Boat was fine. I think that was the first thing I learned on here. Thanks all
 
After a late night of partying some friends took an old pair of topsiders off Angel island in a dingy for suitable sea burial of the long serving shoes.
.
The next morning after searching his boat for a while the new topsiders were not to be found, only the old shoes were in the boat. Had the old shoes returned from the sea or…………..
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Yup it was the new topsiders that received the sea burial.
 
I've had a pair of perscription sunglasses sitting on the bottom of Lake Berryessa since the summer of 1996.
 
OK, this is a common mistake, but I handled it really poorly!

Lake Oroville is 890 feet and this summer it got down about 250 or so, just to give you some perspective on fluctuation. One year when it was only down 100 or so, I was single handing my 15' Bayliner bowrider. I prided myself on one office-to-launch, with beer and fishing pole in hand, in 20 minutes flat on one occasion! This day wasn't going to be a record breaker because the the ramp's quite a bit longer when the lake's down that much.

Anyway, I launched the boat, tied up to the dock, hauled the trailer up to the lot and walked back down the ramp. When I got into the boat, there was water showing behind the seats, and it was quickly rising in the battery compartment. These baby bayliners have a ton of built in flotation, but this wasn't good. Yeah, I forgot the damn plug. Frantically I start asking the people around me if they had anything I could put into the drain hole and someone handed me a rag. Better than nothin'! There's no way to get to the hole from the inside, so I had to cram it in from the water side, hanging over the transom and reaching as far as I could without falling into the water.

I jumped up on the dock and "walked briskly" up the ramp. I was still an active smoker at the time, so I know I didn't "jog" let alone "run" up the ramp. (In retrospect I'm probably lucky I didn't have a stroke or heart attack heading up the ramp!) I'm thinkin' to myself, a terry cloth rag is probably not gonna work very well for very long. Got the truck, raced back down the ramp, backed the trailer in and ran to the boat.

Of course, the rag wasn't doing a very good job stemming the tide, so to speak, and the battery was about to go under. I had to get this puppy out of the water pronto! If you've ever driven one of these little guys, you know they're pretty nimble and almost squirrelly when you're loading. In this case, this little Bayliner was handling more like Albert, my current boat. I drove onto the trailer and got stuck before the bow was anywhere near the rollers and winch.

I hadn't accounted for the extra weight, so I hadn't backed the trailer in far enough. I ended up power loading the boat and hit the rollers squarely. Then I wondered if the trailer and its bunks were going to handle the weight. Oh and the truck was a 2-wheel drive Chevy S-10 pickup.

I pulled the boat out of the water and to the side of the ramp and let it drain. While I was watching the water pour out of the bilge, the guy who'd thrown me the rag - and who'd been watching this whole production - pulls up next to me and says, "So where's your plug?" Where's my plug? Where is my plug? Well, of course, it's right where I ALWAYS put it, right there in the glove box!

I thought, "What a MAROOOOON! Speedo, if you had half a brain you'd be dangerous!" I am a creature of habit for things like my boating routines and that plug only ever had one place other than the bilge drain, and that place was the glove box! Did I remember that when I needed to? No, I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find something to plug the drain while the plug was in the glove box!

Albert's in a slip, the drain plug doesn't come out, and I have bilge pumps, now. I like that.
 
I launched a cell phone 2 years ago. Otherwise, it has only been a knife and
a few screws, nuts and bolts.
 
We had a funeral service & Viking buriel at the dock for a BBQ Grill that fell in the water loaded with food.
 
Art, I lost a brand new BBQ many years ago. Fortunately, we were in a cove with little current and shallow water, so my BF was able to recover it. After that, he made a life line for it with airplane cable covered with vinyl tubing. I always secure the cable to the boat prior to positioning the BBQ over the water now. 20 years later I still have that very same BBQ and the original cable. Whew!
 
Flutterby, that's a good idea. I'll bet it's also great for cleaning the BBQ too. Just crank er up to 20 knots & that grill is washed but good :)
 
LOL! How did you know i left the BBQ in the water one time? Fortunately, I noticed the strange spray off of the transom before I tried to put the boat on plane!!!

Since my BBQ is a charcoal type, I do gently dip the unit into the water to rinse it off. If it is really dirty from meat drippings and such, I'll soak it overnight, swish it around, then let it drip dry on an old towel prior to stowing it. But I still have to give it an occasional polishing at the dock!
 
I now (after last Sunday) have 2 pairs of prescription eyeglasses that I've sacraficed to Neptune. Boating sure is expensive!
 
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