Back to the main site

What was your craziest or scariest boating adventure?

SEMPERFI8387

SEMPERFI8387

Moderator
Messages
13,396
Reaction score
7,385
Location
York, Pa
I bought my first boat back in 08, it was my initial foray into boating (what was I thinking). A 90’s model Four Winns Jet boat. Got it for $1300 with blown head gasket. Bought a short block, swapped parts over and I was good to go.
It had manual (cable) steering, which seemed to work surprisingly good . Messing around one day doing high speed figure 8’s on north end of river and the steering cable snapped. 5 miles from the docks … uh oh.… what to do??? Well I rigged a rope to the jet steering housing, brought it through the left and right stern cleats, then up to the helm. I put loops in the end of each rope and held them, one in left hand and one in right hand. When I needed to turn I’d just push with one hand to pull the rope on the motor. Couldn’t go much more than 5 or so mph as the torque was too much to overcome, but it worked. Made it the 5 miles back to docks, slow but sure, loaded up and home we go. I sure miss that little speed demon …. 50+ mph in that little thing was a blast.
I also used to have to pull the carb off and do quick rebuilds out in middle of the river as the floats would stick and flood the motor. Learned a ton about working on boats with that little “Four Winns Fling”. Sure have come a long way since that, but thankfully I bought that boat, as it transitioned through the years into our 23’ Bennington. To think it all started at $1300.
Most expensive investment I’ve ever made … :p

Oh the best thing about that boat was to submarine it. Panthergirl would sit up front. I’d be going at a pretty good clip, throw it in reverse to drop the bow, then throw it back into forward gear quickly and it would drop the bow under water and a huge wave of water would come over the bow. She’d get drenched!!!! What a blast that thing was!!

Im thinking I need to pick up a jet ski or something for some speed. This 20Hp lake is ok but I need a little speed fun sometimes.
 
McGyver would have been proud of your ingenuity! Poor Panthergirl!!! Bet she wasn't happy! Ha! Craziest/Scariest boating adventure?!? I'd have to give it some thought. I have many .......
 
When I was 15 or 16, my Dad got an old speedboat that we'd run up and down the Mississippi. I had some friends that lived on the water, and we'd pick them up and go water skiing with an old 17' fiberglass runabout with a windscreen and closed bow, and a 60 horse merc from the 60s. I attached pics of the closest I could find - but that 'ol gal just flew across the water.

We'd been water-skiing all day, and my little sister had just finished her last tour behind the boat. She hopped in the boat with me and 2 of my friends, and we proceeded to zip around at top speed - maybe 35 or 40 mph - upriver to just cruise around. It was a glorious day.

And THEN... at top speed... something completely unexpected happened. The controller just... shot out of my hand. There one second, and then just gone. The boat made a weird noise, and I looked back to see the motor flopping back and forth about 15 feet behind the boat, held on only by the throttle linkage! We slowed down rather rapidly at that moment, and the motor promptly sank below the boat. Again, still held on by the cable.

My friends and I grabbed the ski rope and dove down to tie the motor onto the back of the boat so we wouldn't lose it completely. Luckily we were upstream, and after about an hour we floated into view of my Dad and our friend's parents, who were all sitting on the dock, wondering where the heck we went and why we were gone so long. Once we got in earshot my Dad yelled out "where did you go? What's wrong with the boat?" and I yelled back "Uh, Dad.... look at the back of the boat!"

Some expletives were exchanged, and after we got close to the dock we tied off and were able to tag-team to get the motor back on the transom. It was a big, heavy mid-60s lump, and I'm amazed we got it back on.

Once back on the trailer we took the cowl cover off, popped the plugs out and turned it over, changed the oil, and the old Merc fired right up.

Tuns out that the motor was only secured with the turn-screws to the transom, and it had worked its way loose. I still shiver to think that 10 minutes earlier my sister might have had to dodge the crappie-flopping outboard as it flew off.

Unsurprisingly we sold that boat not much later in favor of an I/O :D I still triple-check the bolts on my 350 before I go out on the water.

Screen Shot 2022-04-11 at 3.18.05 PM.pngScreen Shot 2022-04-11 at 3.19.55 PM.png
 
Oh, SemperFi, our next boat after that was a FourWinns tri-hull. The first boat I ever bought myself was a Larson 180 Fish/Ski, and the throttle/gearing linkage popped off like yours did. I had to run circles backwards to get back to the dock - luckily I was only a couple hundred yards from the lift. I towed it to a shop about a mile away and through two channels with our SeaDoo PWC. Good times!
 
Last edited:
We were in Havasu for a friends jet-ski race back in the 90's. It was great weekend, until her dad started giving away her fuel to other racers who underestimated the course length. By the time she got to the pits, her fuel was gone and they lost the race. There were words spoken, as that race paid $1000 to win. They would have easily won, as no other teams has spare fuel like we did.

So the next day, everyone still kind of mad at each other, we decided to go for a ride on the river. Her dad was in his pontoon boat with some friends, and we were on the jet ski, riding alongside each other. We were going along at a good clip, when all of a sudden the jet-ski lost power and we jutted forward. We jump off the ski and see that there's a small stick caught in the impeller. No big deal, we swim it to shore and try to figure out how to get it dislodged. We don't see her dad, but weren't too concerned, because we could catch them once we fix it.

But the closest shore wasn't a beach, so it was tough to do. After swimming under the ski a few times to try to remove it, we decided that we really needed to get to a beach to roll it over and use the tools to take off the guard to remove it. In the mean time, we see these fishermen carrying jugs of liquor and suitcases sort of heading our way. We got scared and just pushed the boat offshore and let it take us down river. We got away from the guys, but the sun was getting close to the horizon, and we were just floating. And we were always told, if you get separated from your group, don't move, just stay where you are, and Dad will come find you.

We waived down a boat who towed us to a beach, and finally got the guard off, removed the stick, and it fired right up and was fine. The sun had just gone down, and we had about twenty miles to ride to get back to the launch ramp. We figured the rest of the group also had a problem, because they would have come back for us, it had been way too long. We headed up river for the ride back. Luckily it was a fast ski, but we still had to ride a few miles in the dark. By the time we made it, they were re-launching the boat and everyone was about to send a search party for us. They thought we were just mad and took off ahead of everyone, and were perplexed when we weren't at the launch ramp when they got there. But we explained to them that we would never do that, and were told to stay put if we had any problems. Her dad agreed, and never thought we were behind them, no one thought we were behind. And that's true, we were always riding along side them. or just in front, and no one saw when we lost power, they were all just hanging out, chilling on the boat.

Cell phones make most of this a thing of the past. And if there isn't service, we have a communication plan ahead of time to prevent this. But the biggest lesson learned was not to not be the nice guy and give away your daughter's fuel!!
 

Attachments

  • scan_742720533_1.jpg
    scan_742720533_1.jpg
    231.6 KB · Views: 21
This goes back probably 40 years ago. I had a 15 1/2 foot Glastron with a 50hp Johnson. A friend and I was running a bluff in the river channel about dusk at fort Gibson lake here in Oklahoma. Moving on at a pretty good clip off of our port side was a hand sticking up out of the water. I pull back the power, we looked at each other in disbelief. Not wanting to go back but knowing we had to, we idled back to the pale colored hand sticking out of the water. This would remind you of a scene from deliverance or something of that sort. The lake is not that clear, it was dusk and getting hard to see. I took the oar, went down into the water to see what was attached. Bottom line………. Someone took a rubber latex skin colored gloves, blew it up and put some rocks in it to keep it upright and set it afloat. We had definitely been had. I must commend whoever pulled the prank. To this day when we go down that bluff I have fun telling that story to my grandkids. True story!! ( I have one more I would like to share if it would be OK to post twice on the subject.)
 
Last edited:
We purchased our first "new to us" boat in 1991. A 1986 Sea-Sprite 23' Cuddy w/230 HP Mercruiser MR. We were lucky enough to find a slip on the Mississippi River near mile marker 813 since it didn't come with a trailer. Our neighbors had more experience on the river and knew how to go through a Lock. We decided to go to Red Wing through Lock and Dam #3 with them so they could show us the ropes. We went through the Lock w/no issues until it opened to a field of floating debris the other side for hundreds of yards long. It was still spring time, the water was high and the river banks were cleaning themselves of their winter treasures. Despite this warning to turn around, we instead headed another 6 miles to Red Wing to get a famous Cajon Chicken Sandwich at the Harbor Bar. It was delicious. By the time we were done it was 9:30 pm and we headed back towards the L&D #3. It was a bout a mile into this return voyage we went around a bend in the river and we saw it... There was fog just above the water as far as you could see. It took another 3 hours to reach L&D#3 going Minimum wake attempting to spot the debris of sticks, stumps, Styrofoam, dock pieces etc. floating downstream through a fog that covered the river from one bank to the other but you could still see every star in the sky. We were also down to less than a quarter tank of gas from the minimum wake against the current for the last three hours. We got to the Lock and the Lockmaster asked where are you going? We told him 15 miles upstream, he said no you are not, there is a tow with barges a mile upstream that has radar that will not come down two miles to the lock. We did not have radar or cell phones or even a VHF Radio (at the time). We asked to use their phone which they allowed us to. My wife climbed up the ladder and called the neighbor that was just getting off shift work. The Lockmaster said we could tie up at the emergency offload dock overnight but we must move the boat first thing in the morning. Our neighbor came and got us and laughed and laughed. He thought it was so much fun he bought a boat himself shortly thereafter. The next morning we retrieved the boat after bringing a few gas cans to ensure we would make it back upstream. Not a cloud in the sky the next morning and the fog was lifted. That Sea-Sprite was an excellent boat for us for the next 29 years till we upgraded to our Bennington in 2020.
 
A number of years back when we had a bowrider, we decided to go out on an evening cruise. Because of the windy conditions and wave height, there were very few boats out. At some point, I did notice a sailboat enjoying the stiff wind but I didn’t pay much attention.

Awhile later I noticed it had gone over and when it remained that way I figured I’d go see what was up. As I made my way through the heavy seas, I happened to glance to my starboard and noticed something in the distance so I decided to change course.

At this point, the sun had set and dusk was settling in. As I approached I saw a person barely floating and not moving, but because of the wave action I had to come in slowly. Figuring out he was still alive, we threw him a life vest but he was too weak to grasp it. At this point, my brother went in to get him and between the two of us managed to get him in the boat, all the while bobbing up and down.

We called 911, covered him with towels and headed for shore. By the time we got there, he was starting to come around and talk.

He said he was a life long sailor and was out by himself when the boat went over and he went into the water without a life vest. Unfortunately the waves took him in the opposite direction and he soon found himself alone in the water. Being cold and exhausted, he figured he’d try to keep his head out of the water as long as he could.

Needless to say, we were frazzled with what took place over the proceeding half hour but we went back out and recovered his boat. He was embarrassed but extremely grateful that his story didn’t end that evening.
 
Wow! In the midst of his harrowing experience, a guardian angle was certainly looking over that guy. What an amazing stroke of luck AND vigilance, for you and your brother to have saved that guys life.
 
M Jay Farr said:
In my case, just learning how to operate the pontoon in the wind into a very narrow slip is enough of an adventure :)
Click to expand...
But you got that thruster! Does it help?!?
 
Michiman said:
A number of years back when we had a bowrider, we decided to go out on an evening cruise. Because of the windy conditions and wave height, there were very few boats out. At some point, I did notice a sailboat enjoying the stiff wind but I didn’t pay much attention.

Awhile later I noticed it had gone over and when it remained that way I figured I’d go see what was up. As I made my way through the heavy seas, I happened to glance to my starboard and noticed something in the distance so I decided to change course.

At this point, the sun had set and dusk was settling in. As I approached I saw a person barely floating and not moving, but because of the wave action I had to come in slowly. Figuring out he was still alive, we threw him a life vest but he was too weak to grasp it. At this point, my brother went in to get him and between the two of us managed to get him in the boat, all the while bobbing up and down.

We called 911, covered him with towels and headed for shore. By the time we got there, he was starting to come around and talk.

He said he was a life long sailor and was out by himself when the boat went over and he went into the water without a life vest. Unfortunately the waves took him in the opposite direction and he soon found himself alone in the water. Being cold and exhausted, he figured he’d try to keep his head out of the water as long as he could.

Needless to say, we were frazzled with what took place over the proceeding half hour but we went back out and recovered his boat. He was embarrassed but extremely grateful that his story didn’t end that evening.
Click to expand...
You saved his life!!! I'm sure he appreciates you every day!!!
 
Last edited:
One last story that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Years ago we were out fishing enjoying the day, crusing along in the little tri hull Glastron with a friend of mine. He was in the bow and opened the little storage compartment in the very front. Out of the storage compartment came a mouse, and when it did I throttle back all the way. As soon as I throttled back my friend went right over the bow into the water and over the top of him I went. The boat slowed down very quick, I stood up and was ready to go in knowing this wasn’t going to be a good outcome. About that time he popped up out of the water behind the boat. The good Lord was definitely watching over us. No clue how the motor shaft or prop did not make contact with him but so grateful it didn’t. That incident will never be forgotten. We were very lucky that day.
 
Last edited:
mrob said:
One last story that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Years ago we were out fishing enjoying the day, crusing along in the little tri hull Glastron with a friend of mine. He was in the bow and opened the little storage compartment in the very front. Out of the storage compartment came a mouse, and when it did I throttle back all the way. As soon as I throttled back my friend went right over the bow into the water and over the top of him I went. The boat slowed down very quick, I stood up and was ready to go in knowing this wasn’t going to be a good outcome. About that time he popped up out of the water behind the boat. The good Lord was definitely watching over us. No clue how the motor shaft or prop did not make contact with him but so grateful it didn’t. That incident will never be forgotten. We were very lucky that day.
Click to expand...
REALLY lucky!!!
 
BigKahuna said:
You saved his life!!! I'm sure he appreciates you every day!!!
Click to expand...
Don‘t always count on that theory. Did you see the story about the boater that saved a guy and had to end up shooting him (sadly, fatal) when he attacked him?
 
SEMPERFI8387 said:
Don‘t always count on that theory. Did you see the story about the boater that saved a guy and had to end up shooting him (sadly, fatal) when he attacked him?
Click to expand...
No never heard that one. What exactly happened?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top