TOPIC: Drain plug poll comment thread.

I'm kind of a ditz. I've done this many times both on the boat lift and off the trailer.

Just a friendly tip. Look the boat over right away after launching. By the time you park the trailer and lock up the truck and grab your gear, and get back to the dock, there can be 8" of water in the boat.

Now, after that happens, there is no way you are going to be able to go get the truck and get the trailer under the boat before it is too late. The better solution is to fire up the motor and get it up on plane before it is so heavy you can't. After it is planing water will run back out of the drain hole.

Been there,done that. Some boat have plugs that screw in on the outside of the boat.

Remove before flight Steamers come in handy. Put one on your winch and it will remind you to install the plug before launching

You can use most anything. Just like a string on your finger. Take an old belt and paint it red. Wrap it around the winch handle where you must remove it to launch the boat

Or you could have a nagging wife that will never let you forget it.

In looking at that poll, I'm guessing that most who answered that they have never left the plug out of the boat either haven't been boating much, or they lied about it. Ha Ha - Iv'e lost count how many times I've done it.

Done it. Another little part of boating that can get ugly quick.
I helped a couple at a boat ramp on a Fourth of July weekend with this little "accident". Saved the boat, made a friend, and reduced the boat ramp traffic jam to just a couple. Red faces, white boats, and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Neil

Yup, think I even "owned up" and admitted it here when it happened a couple years ago? It's amazing to me that a 12 gal plastic gas tank full of gas will float! (kinda) Turned the Starflite into a wakeboard boat when I tried the "plane it out and drain it" trick, porpoised like a pig, ended up having to put it back on the trailer to drain it! Most embarrassing, but lesson learned hopefully. Now we have a bilge pump!

I found out the worst part of doing something dumb is to have an enthusiastic audience all to willing to point fingers at you and they know in their hearts they did it too. Learn to laugh at yourself. I did it and what made it real bad was the fact that I stopped to talk to a friend while my boat settled as far as it could go. Good thing was the sides were still above water. Put the plug in and dumped my bait and started bailing. I keep a coffee can in the boat after that. Saved a very old man once. he had not been on the water in several years. He had a brand new Merc 20 hp outboard and no drain plug. I gave him mine. I had an extra. Boat only had a few more inches to go. I stood in water over 5 foot deep to find his drain hole. Helped him get his bilge pump working. Seen him later in the day all smiles. He was by himself. He was 80+ years old. A few others left him in trouble. Didn't want involved.

its never happened to me! i did leave the bow winch strap connected once. ron

Has happened to me over the years several times, BUT for the past 7 years now with the G-3, I have mastered Putting the Plugs in when I hook the trailer to the car in the back yard!! I make sure both plugs (boat proper and the false bottom plug) are in before I drive away from the house!!!!!

I forgot to mention that this was also the time when I had my unrestored 1960 Larson Sea Lion and a really crapy truck I kept at the lake. A guy standing on the dock, launching his new boat says just loud enough for me to hear, "Why don't you just back the whole thing in?" This was the kind of fellow who tries to impress everyone with what he can buy. The love of goofy old stuff is just lost on people like that.

Nope haven't done it YET. Have left the transom strap on once though. Transom doesn't like to float off the trailer when the hook is still hooked over it for some crazy reason, DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob

I've done it several times, I'll admit.

My first embarrassing situation with a boat was when I tried to pull away from the dock on a 30 ft. sailboat with the lines still tied on!

I've been very close several times to giving the boat a good shove off the trailer, before there was a rope tied to it to get it back to the dock. Fortunately Ihave realized just in time.

Especially with Larson Falls Flyers, where a rope can not lie on the deck, it is common for us to remove the bow lines from the boat when they are not needed.

Guilty as charged!

Had one of my boats gently float down the river all lonesome cuz someone forgot to tie it to the dock when he went to get the vehicle. Wonder who that could be???? Went swimming in my clothes that day. All alone at the dock thank goodness.

Really amazing how fast water can come gushing in through a 1" hole. The woodie in my avatar has the plug under a floorboard through the bilge. You don't know it's not in place until the floorboards start to float and it don't self bail. Happened once. Now I leave the floorboard open and close it when launch prepping.
This is a picture of where the drain is. Picture was taken in '05 before restoration. The "geyser" goes about 10" high at first.

One winter my dad had the bottom replaced on our wooden inboard. The boat sat in a heated workshop all winter. Looking at the amazing craftsmanship on the new bottom, we foolishly dumped it off the trailer and took off across the lake. We barely got it back to the boathouse before it sank. In fact, it sucked water into the updraft zenith and killed the engine. We did manage to get it on the lift and no actual harm was done, but it could have been much worse.

I can't believe we did that. We normally set the sprinkler under the boat for half a day before we launch. I guess it was just the excitement of tetsing out the freshly refinished boat.

DOH!

MMMM Funny place for a drain plug. That old man I helped out. His boat was inches away from going down in about 5 feet of water. I stood in the water neck deep with my finger in the plug until he found something to stick in it. Then I ran for my boat and got my plug for him. I bet i was a sight.

The "Three Stooges" were famous for boat bailing.They had a boat with a hole in it. Curly drilled another hole in it to drain it out