props2you
Jetboaters Captain
- Messages
- 533
- Reaction score
- 817
- Points
- 217
- Location
- Round Lake, IL.
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2016
- Boat Model
- 242 Limited S E-Series
- Boat Length
- 24
I will preface this with my wife and I are extremely proficient at launching and retrieving our boat, as many bystanders comment how "military precision like" we are. With that said.... This was purely a captain error. It was a normal day 15-20 knot winds, nothing unusual for our area and have launched MANY times in inclement weather.
Most of us have pre-launch routines and apparently mine was disrupted somehow, I'll find out soon enough what I forgot...
As my wife is launching me I start both engines and when deep enough I start to back off the trailer, but it seems like it's not powering up enough to get me off the trailer. Hmmm, maybe the 20 knot winds at my stern are stronger than I thought. So I power up again and no movement (I'm sure you can guess at this point what was forgotten). So as all of this is happening, I'm running through my pre-launch checklist in my head trying to figure out what I'm missing. At the same time, the boat is blowing towards the rocky shore since I was off the trailer at this point. I jump out into the 62 degree water and push/swim the boat to the dock so the dock master can hold it, luckily I caught it in time and the boat didn't touch anything. In the mean time I realized I FORGOT TO INSTALL MY CLEAN-OUT PLUGS!!!! With 20 knot winds my 2 additional female passengers and dock master are holding on to the boat for dear life as I install my clean out plugs and start up and shove off.
I ended up using my label maker and creating a label that says "3-HOLE CHECK?" and stuck it on the dash where I see it every time.
So, the learning lesson is aside from your pre-launch checklist, how do you remind yourself to engage your clean out plugs? Why isn't there an alarm letting the captain know the clean out plugs are not installed?
Most of us have pre-launch routines and apparently mine was disrupted somehow, I'll find out soon enough what I forgot...
As my wife is launching me I start both engines and when deep enough I start to back off the trailer, but it seems like it's not powering up enough to get me off the trailer. Hmmm, maybe the 20 knot winds at my stern are stronger than I thought. So I power up again and no movement (I'm sure you can guess at this point what was forgotten). So as all of this is happening, I'm running through my pre-launch checklist in my head trying to figure out what I'm missing. At the same time, the boat is blowing towards the rocky shore since I was off the trailer at this point. I jump out into the 62 degree water and push/swim the boat to the dock so the dock master can hold it, luckily I caught it in time and the boat didn't touch anything. In the mean time I realized I FORGOT TO INSTALL MY CLEAN-OUT PLUGS!!!! With 20 knot winds my 2 additional female passengers and dock master are holding on to the boat for dear life as I install my clean out plugs and start up and shove off.
I ended up using my label maker and creating a label that says "3-HOLE CHECK?" and stuck it on the dash where I see it every time.
So, the learning lesson is aside from your pre-launch checklist, how do you remind yourself to engage your clean out plugs? Why isn't there an alarm letting the captain know the clean out plugs are not installed?