boat mishap/problem stories!

[BrdHunter01]

We had this happen on Mille Lacs It was NOT a fun paddle to shore and a walk through the woods

Well what had happened to us was we were trolling raps on a reef. It was Aug or so and we were getting about 1 keeper an hour. After about 6 hours and 6 keepers later we ran out of gas in the little motor (trolling motor). We had the lights on, radio on the whole time. We went to start the big motor..... NOTHING. We had a jumper pack in the boat but needless to say that was dead also.....

Moral of the story is we now CARRY 2 BATTERIES ALL THE TIME. We use one for the big motor and one for the lights....

Just on a side note, before we left the dock my dad had grabbed the spare gas can WITH gas in it and said "we won't be needing this" and set the thing on shore!!!!! That has also never left the boat since.....

[dfv87]

Went to ML for a late season trolling run 10-12 years ago, actually had to break some ice at the landing (casino landing) to get the boat in. Dressed in ice fishing gear, I climbed into the boat and my suit caught on something (plastic Kill switch) and when I pulled to free it snapped the the platsic piece and now the motor wouldn't start. I couldn't bypass it and we had to reload the boat and go home. Fun night taking the boat for a drive for some fresh air...

[GrizzlyAdams]

Love the stories so far. I guess I better add mine to the list.

Last summer my girlfriend and I took my dads boat out to test it out because we just got it back from the shop for a tune up and starter repairs. We were planning on taking it up to rainy in a couple weeks so we wanted to get familiar with it and make sure it ran fine. We went out on a week day to have the lake mostly to ourselves and just cruise around with the boat. It is an old boat with a 1960's 65 hp johnson on it. We had a 6 gallon can full of gas and figured that should be plenty for 2 - 3 hours out on the lake. Not correct. Found out the gas line was really stiff and starting to leak. Everytime I turned the steering a certain way gas would shoot out of the hose. Well we were getting ready to head in and load up and yep ran out of gas. Now this isn't really a big deal except that there was a wake board competition going on and we ran out right in the middle of where they do there runs. So my girlfriend and I are trying to paddle the boat back to the landing (where there happens to be a bunch of people with some really expensive boats). One of the spotters saw us and came over and gave us a tow in but we had to pull up in front of all the people at the docks and observation areas. Everyone saw us as if we were part of the show. It was just a little embarrassing. Moral of the story is make sure your gas line is flexible and always bring extra gas. We laughed pretty hard for quite a while after that.

[Chode2235]

Fuel pump died on the way out of the upstream lock and dam on the Mississippi (Bass camp). We were a little anxious that day and cut right out to the channel and put the throttle down. That killed the motor, and we couldnt get it started. We started floating back downstream towards the rollers. Very scary.

Eventually someone came over and gave us a tow to shore. We fiddled around with the motor until we realized what was wrong. We then decided to paddle back down through the lock and dam (not easy with a 19" bass boat) with the spare paddle. After an hour or two of paddling we made it back to the dock at bass camp.

Horrible day.

[Iambjm]

Mine happened 2 years ago, out on a small lake at night, no lights on shore. All I have is a small flashlight and the boat lights, I do not have great night vision. Thought I was further away from the shore, hit the gas so I could get to the shore and beach it. Needless to say I was a lot closer than I thought, hit the shore, knocked myself out of the seat, hit the seat in front of me and beached the whole front third of my 16 foot lund on the shore. I had to have a friend come out there the next day to help me push it back in the lake cause I couldn't budge it. Good thing it was on private property.

Took the same boat to Carlos last year and let a friend take it out, she proceeded to come back in and asked me why there was so much water in the boat.....yeah you guessed it. I am going to Carlos again next week and yes the boat plug will be in.

[efgh]

My wifes uncle, his wife and my father-in-law and his wife went too Millac lake fishing. they took my wifes uncles 17 ft. lund which had twin 60 H.P. outboards on it. They used the axcess that is closed now which was about 75 ft. from 169. They unloaded the boat, Uncle Bob said wait here, I;ll warm the engines up and be right back to pick you up. On the way back he though I;ll give my brother a thrill, wound the motors up and head for shore, back them off about 100 ft. out, the boat will set up and float in to shore. Everything worked just like he planned, but the kill swich didn;t work. The father-in-law told me the nose of the boat was pretty close tom the black top and the motors were still running wide open spitting sand out into the lake and brother Bob just stood there like a zombie.

[minnygriff]

I have a nice one from the opener. Simply embarrassing. I have a 14 footer I fixed up this spring and have a 6hp Evinrude on the back. I bought a MinnKota transom mount trolling motor and reversed it to use on the bow to distribute weight better. Clamped on firmly with a 2 x 4, it has worked great this year. On Saturday on a Mpls lake I kicked it into high gear on the way back to shore and the motor flipped off the edge of the boat and I somehow held onto the motor and saved it. Close call. We then went out to a lake in west metro for some northerns. Trolled with the MinnKota for awhile, then went to the outboard. Outboard was acting up while we trolled so I gave it some more gas. NOTE: We had left the trolling motor down. Bye bye trolling motor, enjoy your new home in 12 feet of murky weedy water. It sunk like lead. It even occurred earlier in the day and I still let it happen again. Didn't let it keep me down as I went out on Monday and bought a new one so we're back in business, albeit with a lighter wallet. Ironically it was probably the cheapest piece of equipment to lose but seemed worse when you see a motor sink and disappear. Live and learn.

[tinytimmy37]

Here is a tip when your fishing with your dad in a little 12 foot herters boat. If the 1960's motor dies on the windy side of the lake while trolling spoons don't stand up and start casting while he is working on it.

And no it don't matter if your only 7 years old. To that day I thought my dad was the nicest person I knew

[Far-I]

One time I was in my boat, equipped with a small trolling motor and ores only. The motor tooled me around for a while and died, but I was close to a crappie spot so I anchored down and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon fishing. After dark I decided to row back across the tiny lake to the landing. I never remembered rowing my boat being so tough. When i got closer to shore I thought i was being held up by this little stream that flows into the lake, because I wasn't making much ground. I decided I needed to go into power-rowing mode so I hunked down, closed my eyes and let 'er rip for a good few minutes, only to open my eyes and be surprised by how little gorund I'd covered fo how hard I had been rowing.

It was at that moment that my whole face went flush with embarrasment as I noticed I never pulled the anchor, and as soon as I got to the shallow side of the lake I couldn't drag my anchor any further. If you could have seen how hard I was trying to row there for a minute.....

[jwmiller33]

hahahahah far-i that is a awesome story! i got a good laugh out of that one!

"power rowing" w/ eyes closed!

[hydro]

Here's another one from the archive.

I used to have a 14' Alumacraft F7 with a 20 HP motor that I used for many years. It was just the basic "fishing boat" with 4 bench seats and the classic anchor horn. Well, I had installed a cast iron fluke style anchor and had it securely latched in the horn up front and I was cruising across the lake at about 25 MPH, through some 2' waves when the catch let go of the anchor rope. It was just for a moment, but long enough for 11' of rope to spool out, and when it caught, the anchor immediately slapped up against the bottom of the boat just under my seat. Unfortunately, the flukes of the anchor were pointed up and they both punched through the bottom of the boat. I stopped to survey the situation and quickly determined that I was sinking and needed to get back to shore or I would be SOL in the middle of the lake. I restarted the motor and opened it up, water spraying all over under me seat, and headed to shore. Made it with about 6" of water in the back of the boat.

One trip to the welding shop and we were good to go again!

[LwnmwnMan2]

About 4 years ago my dad and cousin went to go fishing.

When he pulled onto Hwy 8 just west of Chisago, the whole boat rolled off of the trailer and landed in the middle of the intersection.

It was a 16' Grumman, 85 hp Suzuki.

The boat sat in the intersection for about 1/2 hour until 2 cops stopped and about 5 guys pushed the boat over to the shoulder.

He then went to the house, leaving my cousin there to watch the boat, loaded up the bobcat with the forks, went back up to the boat, loaded it up on the boat trailer, took the bobcat back home and then went fishing.

I was so glad I was in Vegas that weekend and not in the pickup when that happened.