Garboard drain plug!!

[seasick]

I hate to admit this but today for the first time and maybe due to the virus and my brain dead demeanor, I launched my 208 but skipped the step where you install the bilge plug
Now to be honest, my boat always activates the bilge pump when launching after winter layup. I just assumed it was typical forward bilge water. Well when I got from the launch ramp to may dock, I looked over the side and saw that the bilge pump was still pumping. I popped a deck plate and saw water rushing in. I quickly closed the sea cocks and then it hit me. I didn't put the plug in!
So I took off my shorts and put on a bathing suit which I had nearby, grabbed a wrench and a plug and climber down the swim ladder into the water. Plug installed and boat still in good shape.
So I learned a few things: My bilge pump works, I am an idiot at times, and I got lucky
It can happen to anyone.
Maybe later I will tell you about my adventure replacing the poppet valve. I think I am getting a bit mentally challenged.

 

[Bloodweiser]

the mind is marvelous thing, sometimes it works good and sometimes it is somewhere else, I find myself checking that plug at least twice before wetting the boat. I install it at the house, I tell myself that the damn drain plug is installed, but when I am prepping to back into the launch I will check it again to make sure I did. maybe because I have done like you once before and forgot it , never again...

 

[Sdfish]

Yeah - that one worries me.. I launched my old whaler with the stern straps still connected to the trailer, noticed when I walked on and the trailer was floating with the boat... 2 weeks ago, I left my motor down when pulling out of the water, not one of my finer moments.....

 

[seasick]

That cheered me up. Thanks

 

[DennisG01]

I always say that you're not a REAL boater if you haven't forgotten the plug at least once. Apparently I'm a fantastic boater as I've forgotten it three times Each time yielded a fun story, though! Welcome to the club, Seasick.

 

[Sparkdog118]

I think we have all done that with the drain plug. True story. I got called out to a customers deck boat about 25 years ago to see why it wasn’t planing. (New boat). The boat was at the dock when I arrived at the house. the boat was sitting a little low in the water so I started poking around the transom to check the plugs and transom holes. Then I was absolutely amazed at what I was seeing. There were trailer straps on the rear eyes attached to a boat trailer. Went up front and the trailer winch was still attached to the bow eye. Now this took a few minutes for me to digest. So I gathered my composure and confronted the owner. He spoke mostly German, so he was very hard to understand. I finally was able to explain that when you launch a boat, you have to not unhook the trailer from the truck, but unhook the boat from the trailer.
I think that has been my craziest experience as a boat mechanic.

 

[RussGW270]

I have done it but I learned a trick from flying with my dad. I have a small red flag that hangs from my steering wheel. If it is there, my plug is out....and it reminds me so I do not forget

At least it keeps me from forgetting and launching, may still forget heh.

R

 

[leeccoll]

Yep, left mine out once too Seasick, it's kinda like a defining moment in a boater's life.

Boat launched solo, tied up to dock and wondering why all that water is gushing out the thru hull.

The good news is it won't happen again anytime soon.

Enjoy your summer, I definitely am brain dead these days too

 

[wrxhoon]

Don't be so harsh on yourself Seasick, I'm sure everyone has done it at least once . Over the years I have done it a few times ( I don't know how many). I have a habit now , I start the engine before I drive off the trailer. By the time I trim the engine down and start it the bilge pump starts pumping if the plug is not in place. I tilt the engine up again my driver drives up I screw the bung in and off we go again.
No harm done, by the way I don't need a wrench to do it up, I drilled a small hole on the square bit, where you normally put the wrench on, put a S/S wire (about 1/8" thick) through and bend it on both sides so it can't come out. That gives me enough leverage to do it tight

 

[SkunkBoat]

did that "at least once" with my 16 Sylvan back in the 80s. When I moved up to the V20 I started docking it and now the 265 is docked ..so less oppurtunity for brain farts...

 

[Legend]

When I and ready to launch in the spring they first question my dealer asks before deploying the fork lift is- is the plug in, It must happen because every year because they ask the same question like it is programmed into every lift operator.

 

[nuclear]

Did it once on my old boat since I only put it in the water in the Spring and then never launch again until the following year. Luckily was still at the dock when I realized the problem, but unfortunately I could not get it threaded back in underwater and had to back the trailer back down to pull it up some.

 

[seasick]

I have done it but I learned a trick from flying with my dad. I have a small red flag that hangs from my steering wheel. If it is there, my plug is out....and it reminds me so I do not forget

At least it keeps me from forgetting and launching, may still forget heh.

R

I did the water pump over the winter as well as a few other maintenance things on the LU. I didn't fill the LU with oil and thinking that I might forget, I tied a red tag on the prop shaft that said, LU needs oil! I guess it should have said "LU needs oil and don't forget the plug!)

 

[HookUp]

I launched the boat a couple of years ago to work on the trailer in the parking lot - had my back turned to the boat while I worked on the trailer. I looked up after about twenty minutes and the transom was at the water line
Also had to jump in the water to put the plug in - It was a real comedy show.

 

[Fishtales]

Wow. Luky you observed it and had the time to get it in. Won't forget to do it going forward I'd imagine.

 

[Captain TJ]

Like every boater I have also done this. Most memorable was an old jet boat with a 460 in it. I launched and hopped in the boat to take off and it took a few seconds to realize why I was standing in 3 inches of water. I dove in right away and had to dive under to get to the transom because this was the old Glastron with built in swim platform so it was further under than I could reach. Not to mention it was early spring first time out for the year and still really cold water and only about 60 degrees outside. Everyone else at the lake got a good laugh out of it and I caught it before we got any water in the engine so no harm no foul.

 

[Topjimmy]

Been there done that and when i noticed i was taking in water I hit the throttle Hard and got up on a plane to force the water back out and got back to the loading ramp ASAP and put the plug back in it is one of many bonehead things I did with with my first boat on the same trip as I was towing it back home and the ball on the hitch came off somehow and snapped the safety chains and the Boat passed me up on I-5 at 55MPH ! but that is a story for another time LOL

 

[Sdfish]

Been there done that and when i noticed i was taking in water I hit the throttle Hard and got up on a plane to force the water back out and got back to the loading ramp ASAP and put the plug back in it is one of many bonehead things I did with with my first boat on the same trip as I was towing it back home and the ball on the hitch came off somehow and snapped the safety chains and the Boat passed me up on I-5 at 55MPH ! but that is a story for another time LOL

We need to hear that story!

 

[bartoma]

Yep, did it once with my first boat about seventeen years, about a year after I got it... Everyone is bound to do it once...

When I was in college, I was working out, about to change the weight on a pull-down bar... When I pulled the pin on the weight stack, the heavier-than-zero-weight bar came crashing down on my head... To this day, 30+ years later, I always grab the pull-down bar before I change the weight...

 

[Topjimmy]

We need to hear that story!

Yep too bad there was no You Tube back then,all we can figure is that the ball was really rusty and I did not put any grease on it and we think every time I made a turn it acted like a wrench and unscrewed the nut underneath and all we heard was a BAM! and the Tongue slamed into the back of my tailgate so I hit the brakes and turned toward the shoulder but the trailer had other Ideas and passed me up in the middle lane Sparks flying from the front of the trailer on the highway as I looked at it passing me people eyes were as big as Melons as they avoided it(and so were mine!) nobody hit the boat Thank God and it went in front of me and went to the shoulder of the I-5 and bounced off an overpass guardrail and came to a rest so I pulled in front of it laid out flares drove to the nearest auto parts store bought a ball GREASED it up and drove home You can't make this stuff up folks LOL True story and I have told the story to alot a people and they always get a kick out of it it's is funny now buy I soiled my pants that day but it all ended up fine and nobody got hurt Thank God it was just an old light 17ft Tri-hull if it would have been a cabin cruiser or something YIKES!