Son of a BLEEP!!!! Newbie mistake... UPDATE!

[BigDaddy in GA]

Hey guys...not the way I wanted to introduce myself to this forum, but it is what it is.

I've been wanting a boat for sooooo long, so I finally stepped up and picked up a new 2023 252SD that a dealer was blowing out. They gave me a price I couldn't refuse and were great to work with. I'm keeping the boat in a marina slip surrounded by houseboats and nosey neighbors. Pulling the boat into the slip using the DRIVE system was flawless! I had a crowd around me gawking, and was still able to bring her in smooth as buttah, that was 2 days ago. Yesterday, I grab my family for our maiden voyage. Imagine everyone is excited and can't wait to see what this is all about. I fire up the engines, and try to back out of the 90' slip I share with 2 other boats. Pulling the paddles on the steering wheel isn't doing anything, then I remembered I have to futz around with the levers to put it in gear, or something. Honestly, I didn't remember, but I was just trying things. Similar to pulling the paddles with nothing happening, my brain thought it would be a good idea just to test the throttle to see if it was working, so I pushed it forward, way forward (I was thinking revving a car) and she lunged forward into the back of the sh*tty pontoon boat in front of me! WHAM! Family is flipping out, I'm in shock, I yanked it back quickly and managed to blackout of the slip without further incident.

I broke the engine cover of the pontoon, which again should be in the junkyard.....it doesn't even run...and scratched the heck out of the front of my boat. But that doesn't compare to the biggest damage of all....my ego. What have a done? I ruined the maiden voyage and potentially ruined boating for my entire family. We went on to have a wonderfully day though. I found a quiet cove, dropped anchor, and tried to shake what had just happened.

Fast forward 4 hours and it's time to pull her back in the slip and face my demons. By now, news had travelled around the dock that some jack@ss with more money than sense has already crashed his brand new shiny boat. Apparently not much happens on these docks, so when there's an incident EVERYBODY is talking about it. I had a crowd of spectators pulling back into the slip, and I honestly did a great job getting her in there without a problem at all. Then, all the crap talking started. "That's what happens when you get a jet boat, no one can drive the d@mn things", "your first boat is a jet boat, probably not a good idea", "didn't take you long to figure out why people don't buy jet boats".

I left with my head in my hands. My 2 boys (10 and 12) think I'm superman, and they just watched the old man crash the boat, and heard the negative nellies talking smack about jet boats. In reality, the first and last 15 minutes of our maiden voyage were s**t! But the middle 4 hours were about as much fun as I've had in a long time. I have a big ego, some would say too big, so I'm really being a diaper baby about the whole thing. But I need to suck it up, and understand that I did it, and it was my fault. In the end, a scratch on the boat isn't the worst thing in the world, I just don't like being the talk of the dock. But I can't control that.

For those that read this whole thing, THANK YOU, it makes me feel a little better typing this for the eyes of folks that have a jet boat as well! This too shall pass.

 

[Oafy44]

No worries. It happens. Not sure if your asking for advice or not but Drive system ….at least for me - both engines in neutral -(I have a 255xd ). then push the bottom right icon on the Connext screen that shows the throttle picture. Push that icon till the upper right corner of the screen says Driive- then the paddles will work.

 

[Ronnie]

@BigDaddy in GA , What happened to you i chalk up to $hit Happens that wasn’t in “The Plan”, that is, that’s life.

I’m no life coach but think you handled everything as well as possible under the circumstances. You made a mistake, owned it and didn’t let it ruin your or your family’s day. In the process you may have taught your kids a valuable lesson. I would not give the dock shit talkers a second thought, they don’t boat with me, cover any costs and with few exceptions help in anyway. Moreover, I will rarely if ever see them again whereas I live with my family and interact with them daily.

If you want opinions on repairing the damage post a pic or a few when you are ready. Surface scratches are no big deal but if they are though the gel coat and into the raw fiberglass (pink stuff) you should at least seal that if you won’t have it repaired right away. The start of the season is usually the worst time to bring your boat in for repair.

 

[David Martin]

No worry's crap happens.............good thing no one was hurt other than the ego......it seems you are handling it better than most. We all make mistakes and have to do the walk of shame sooner or later.......LOL

 

[WiskyDan]

If this is the worst thing that ever happens to you with your new boat you are way ahead of 90% of the people on this forum. Oh, and eff the negative nellies at the dock - all of them have done something similar at some point but just won’t admit it.

 

[BigDaddy in GA]

Thanks for the replies folks! I feel like this is therapy in some strange way, and your comments make me feel better about my mistake. Sincerely, thank you!

 

[rkluck]

As was said above "Sh*t happens". It took awhile for me to get it down too and "back in the day" I added the Cobra fins to help with low speed steering. The one key thing I learned never go faster than you are willing to hit the dock. I have had several boats and by far the jet boat was the best all around boat! Once you get the handling down you can do anything with the boat. Move on and enjoy your boat!

 

[WiskyDan]

The one key thing I learned never go faster than you are willing to hit the dock.

Great advice!!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Glad you and your family are okay! The biggest injury appears to have been your ego! Been there done that!

In my opinion that ego check is a good thing, a lesson in humility, scratching up your new is bad, BUT, it is a thing and things can be repaired or replaced, and your family was not injured!!!! You will always be Superman to your kids and your wife, they love you, guess what? Superman got his ass handed to him a few times and still came back to win the day! So get on with your Superman self! I used to keep a dirty crash helmet on the wall of my living room, first one I’d ever bought with graphics and it coast me a grip, it lasted three months before I got off and landed face first in a rock pile, had bruises on my forehead that corresponded to the shape of the styrene crush liner, and a nice concussion to go with it, people would come to my house ad ask why is that helmet on the wall? I’d say that’s to remind me that I’m not as good as I think I am sometimes!

Now then……

With some dedicated practice you will learn to handle this boat like a boss ! That boat is bad ass, quick and maneuverable, you’ll be riding in style ! What do those shit talkers drive? Some piece of shit old pontoon boat ?

Don‘t worry about the haters, haters gonna hate, that’s it.

Next time tell those haters that, Lemme, Ozzy and


Uncle Ted said Hi !

 

[IA_210SX]

Most of the people in at the marina I am at are really humble folks who have all had a bad day docking. I’d be happy to throw anyone a line or give them a push out. The more money than sense comments are BS, when you give your kid stitches due to a poor trailering maneuver let me know. Each day on the water is a gift. Cheers.

 

[BigDaddy in GA]

Thanks again guys…love the comments!!!! Much love…..

As an update for day 2, we hit the lake at about 1. Drive system allowed me to pull out flawlessly and off we went. After a 20 minute ride at 35 mph we stopped for lunch. Used no wake mode getting to the restaurant slip and then getting back out after lunch. After leaving the the no wake zone I throttled up, and the boat shook when the starboard side engine rpms went thru the roof, and it sounded god awful! I quickly found the port engine was fine, but once the starboard side eng hit 4K rpm’s it sounded like the damn thing was going to fly apart.

I quickly jumped in a cove and began my research. Sounds like cavitation is the culprit, I think. I did see to do the reverse forward reverse trick, and I did that several times…actually maybe 10 times. I opened the clean out port, and there was absolutely nothing in there. The one thing i didn’t try was the reverse/kill the engine/jam it into forward trick, that I just found. Maybe that will work?

Anyway, pretty crappy first weekend with the boat! I’m assuming Yamaha won’t send a tech to the marina, so I’ll have to drag this thing out of the water and take it to a service center. Giant pain in the @ss! At least today’s problem wasn’t my fault….maybe.

 

[I_squared_r]

Your boys will remember how their father owned the mistake, repaired everything, smiled, and still managed to have a fun day on the water. One of the biggest life lessons is knowing how to react to situations without getting flustered. I can get philosophical about this. As men it is our responsibility to be the rock in s**t situations and more importantly we teach that to our children. They will remember that before they remember some silly accident. As for the people at the marina, they need to take a lesson in humility because we've all made mistakes.

I think my 2nd year boating I backed my trailer into a car at a gas station and with me was a few friends and a girl I had just started dating. The car's owner was pissed, but I owned my mistake and spoke with him calmly and assured that everything will be fixed. I told everyone "that was completely my fault, but it's ok, I'll fix it and we'll enjoy the day". Fast forward to today and I'm a pro at towing.

Thanks again guys…love the comments!!!! Much love…..

As an update for day 2, we hit the lake at about 1. Drive system allowed me to pull out flawlessly and off we went. After a 20 minute ride at 35 mph we stopped for lunch. Used no wake mode getting to the restaurant slip and then getting back out after lunch. After leaving the the no wake zone I throttled up, and the boat shook when the starboard side engine rpms went thru the roof, and it sounded god awful! I quickly found the port engine was fine, but once the starboard side eng hit 4K rpm’s it sounded like the damn thing was going to fly apart.

I quickly jumped in a cove and began my research. Sounds like cavitation is the culprit, I think. I did see to do the reverse forward reverse trick, and I did that several times…actually maybe 10 times. I opened the clean out port, and there was absolutely nothing in there. The one thing i didn’t try was the reverse/kill the engine/jam it into forward trick, that I just found. Maybe that will work?

Anyway, pretty crappy first weekend with the boat! I’m assuming Yamaha won’t send a tech to the marina, so I’ll have to drag this thing out of the water and take it to a service center. Giant pain in the @ss! At least today’s problem wasn’t my fault….maybe.

Most likely you sucked up a bag or something. If you can get it on a trailer, you can look into the jet intakes to see if something wrapped around the impeller. I once caught a small rope or a plastic bag that caused this type of issue. Fortunately it's not something very common and was easily resolved.

And most importantly, congrats on the boat!! That's a beautiful boat and you and your family will enjoy it for many years to come. (Hopefully with less mistakes lol) now let's see the carnage photos so we can give you advice on how to fix it.

 

[Acard7]

If it makes you feel any better.. Two stories lol.

#1 - I was pulling into a lakeside bar and swung the starboard rear out too far and clipped a dock in front of at least 30 people damaged gel all the way to the glass but a patch kit repaired it easy. I was able to park it in the slip just fine, but embarrassed was definitely an understatement.

#2 - I let my buddy captain my AR230 one time, and he’s never had any experience with jet boats. I even tried to give him a crash course on what not to do…..

He first didn’t throttle down slowly as we were getting close to the entrance to the slips of a lakeside bar, he threw it into neutral detent, which absolutely submarined the front lol. The drunk wives were freaking out with how much water we took on, which I was trying to calm them down because we all know the boats are self bailing AND it’s okay that the boat gets wet. I was too busy calming them down that I didn’t see we were approaching the dock slip way too fast. My buddy was already embarrassed so he wanted to get off the boat pronto. By the time I noticed it was too late, the nose smacked the front of the slip hard. Thankfully the boats were built pretty tough in 08. It did damage the gel coat all the way to the glass, but it was something I could repair.

My poor buddy got shit the rest of the trip but owned up to it and apologized a thousand times. I was just happy no one got hurt, since we had 8 adults onboard. Also told him I’m glad he damaged this boat and not our future nicer boat! I didn’t make him pay for anything since the guilt and embarrassment was enough.


With the time we’ve owned our jet boat we have agreed we don’t want to own anything but a Yamaha jet boat. The advantages of the jet boats far outweighs the learning curve it takes to captain them. I’ve come to realize that slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I don’t have the drive system like you [yet], but I rarely use throttle at all and only use the forward and reverse detents around the dock. Obviously in no wake zones we use no wake mode and if I need to give it some juice to correct something I will.

You’ll get so good at captaining your boat that people will eventually talk about that and the memory of the first voyage will become a laugh instead of an ego killer!

 

[YoDaddy292]

Took a nice digger out of the gel coat backing away from the dock on it’s maiden outing. I wasn’t watching the front end at all (boats pivot in the center) and drug on some bolt heads by just watching my back end. My wife and daughter were in the boat and I was livid with myself. Like you, we had a fun day and forgot about it. We got back and were wiping down and the wife started on the area where we scratched it and she gasped......well I came running around the boat and realized her reaction was worse than the damage . Turned out to only be about two inches long with an inch down to the gel coat. I filled it in as professionally as I could with some 5200 and it is still that way. After that we have become a real boating family who all knows their roles when either docking or loading/unloading and we communicate prior to situations instead of everyone (okay me) yelling and screaming in panic because none of us thought ahead and no one knows how to help. Turns out the wife is the best at loading and unloading from the trailer and I handle the truck backing duties. We are about equal in docking and my daughter can get it all done but has no real interest in the responsibilities of it all .

 

[Acard7]

......well I came running around the boat and realized her reaction was worse than the damage …

The truest quote you’ll ever see lol. My wife acted like I punched a hole in the hull when I hit the dock, it was literally inch by inch big and depth to fiberglass.

 

[kgower]

I wouldn't worry about it, we all experience issues once in a while. As they say, Sh_T happens.

On side note, recently started an FB page for GA jetaboaters, If you're on FB check it out;
Georgia Jet Boaters | Facebook

 

[anmut]

Thanks again guys…love the comments!!!! Much love…..

As an update for day 2, we hit the lake at about 1. Drive system allowed me to pull out flawlessly and off we went. After a 20 minute ride at 35 mph we stopped for lunch. Used no wake mode getting to the restaurant slip and then getting back out after lunch. After leaving the the no wake zone I throttled up, and the boat shook when the starboard side engine rpms went thru the roof, and it sounded god awful! I quickly found the port engine was fine, but once the starboard side eng hit 4K rpm’s it sounded like the damn thing was going to fly apart.

I quickly jumped in a cove and began my research. Sounds like cavitation is the culprit, I think. I did see to do the reverse forward reverse trick, and I did that several times…actually maybe 10 times. I opened the clean out port, and there was absolutely nothing in there. The one thing i didn’t try was the reverse/kill the engine/jam it into forward trick, that I just found. Maybe that will work?

Anyway, pretty crappy first weekend with the boat! I’m assuming Yamaha won’t send a tech to the marina, so I’ll have to drag this thing out of the water and take it to a service center. Giant pain in the @ss! At least today’s problem wasn’t my fault….maybe.

Sounds a lot like a small piece of something stuck in your impeller blades - very common for this time of year when there's a lot of spring rain runoff. If you can pull the boat out of the water, use your phone to get some pictures from underneath and through the boat intake grates.

 

[sgust]

Hey guys...not the way I wanted to introduce myself to this forum, but it is what it is.

I've been wanting a boat for sooooo long, so I finally stepped up and picked up a new 2023 252SD that a dealer was blowing out. They gave me a price I couldn't refuse and were great to work with. I'm keeping the boat in a marina slip surrounded by houseboats and nosey neighbors. Pulling the boat into the slip using the DRIVE system was flawless! I had a crowd around me gawking, and was still able to bring her in smooth as buttah, that was 2 days ago. Yesterday, I grab my family for our maiden voyage. Imagine everyone is excited and can't wait to see what this is all about. I fire up the engines, and try to back out of the 90' slip I share with 2 other boats. Pulling the paddles on the steering wheel isn't doing anything, then I remembered I have to futz around with the levers to put it in gear, or something. Honestly, I didn't remember, but I was just trying things. Similar to pulling the paddles with nothing happening, my brain thought it would be a good idea just to test the throttle to see if it was working, so I pushed it forward, way forward (I was thinking revving a car) and she lunged forward into the back of the sh*tty pontoon boat in front of me! WHAM! Family is flipping out, I'm in shock, I yanked it back quickly and managed to blackout of the slip without further incident.

I broke the engine cover of the pontoon, which again should be in the junkyard.....it doesn't even run...and scratched the heck out of the front of my boat. But that doesn't compare to the biggest damage of all....my ego. What have a done? I ruined the maiden voyage and potentially ruined boating for my entire family. We went on to have a wonderfully day though. I found a quiet cove, dropped anchor, and tried to shake what had just happened.

Fast forward 4 hours and it's time to pull her back in the slip and face my demons. By now, news had travelled around the dock that some jack@ss with more money than sense has already crashed his brand new shiny boat. Apparently not much happens on these docks, so when there's an incident EVERYBODY is talking about it. I had a crowd of spectators pulling back into the slip, and I honestly did a great job getting her in there without a problem at all. Then, all the crap talking started. "That's what happens when you get a jet boat, no one can drive the d@mn things", "your first boat is a jet boat, probably not a good idea", "didn't take you long to figure out why people don't buy jet boats".

I left with my head in my hands. My 2 boys (10 and 12) think I'm superman, and they just watched the old man crash the boat, and heard the negative nellies talking smack about jet boats. In reality, the first and last 15 minutes of our maiden voyage were s**t! But the middle 4 hours were about as much fun as I've had in a long time. I have a big ego, some would say too big, so I'm really being a diaper baby about the whole thing. But I need to suck it up, and understand that I did it, and it was my fault. In the end, a scratch on the boat isn't the worst thing in the world, I just don't like being the talk of the dock. But I can't control that.

For those that read this whole thing, THANK YOU, it makes me feel a little better typing this for the eyes of folks that have a jet boat as well! This too shall pass.

Things happen man, just got to shake it off. When I first got my boat, when i was pulling up to the dock by going in and out of forward and reverse, my hand slipped off the throttle as I was giving it thrust forward and sent the throttle way forward causing the boat to smack the dock directly on the bow. Had a pretty good gouge in it and that was the very first day of owning it LMAO. People were watching of course too and my ego was shot after that for a while lol.

 

[TommyMcK]

Hi Big Daddy.... I was just trying to parse your description of the issue. It could be interpreted as there is a bad vibration coming from the starboard engine when the starboard engine RPM is at 4000 RPM, or that with the starboard and port engines set to the same throttle position that the starboard engine rpm goes "through the roof" (which I interpret as over-revving). Can you clarify? Also, what throttle mode are you in? You might try setting the throttle mode to single lever (in which the engines are synchronized automatically) to see what that does. If that changes things, it's not a fix, but it's a good data point.

Even though you checked the clean-out port, if you were doing that while in the water it's certainly possible that you have something sucked up somewhere that you didn't notice / couldn't get to from the clean out port. That sort of thing seems to always go much smoother when stable and out of the water where you can inspect the intake and easily see down into the clean out port. Also, there seems to be some weird magnetic force that new boats have when it comes to sucking things up. Always seems to happen on their first outing but then settles down after that!

Somewhat off-topic, but as you are getting used to the boat and its operating characteristics, you might find it helpful to ignore things like no-wake modes and the paddle controls and just set the thing into single throttle mode and leave it there. Less likely to get confused with pushing buttons in tense situations.

 

[BigDaddy in GA]

Your boys will remember how their father owned the mistake, repaired everything, smiled, and still managed to have a fun day on the water. One of the biggest life lessons is knowing how to react to situations without getting flustered. I can get philosophical about this. As men it is our responsibility to be the rock in s**t situations and more importantly we teach that to our children. They will remember that before they remember some silly accident. As for the people at the marina, they need to take a lesson in humility because we've all made mistakes.

I think my 2nd year boating I backed my trailer into a car at a gas station and with me was a few friends and a girl I had just started dating. The car's owner was pissed, but I owned my mistake and spoke with him calmly and assured that everything will be fixed. I told everyone "that was completely my fault, but it's ok, I'll fix it and we'll enjoy the day". Fast forward to today and I'm a pro at towing.



Most likely you sucked up a bag or something. If you can get it on a trailer, you can look into the jet intakes to see if something wrapped around the impeller. I once caught a small rope or a plastic bag that caused this type of issue. Fortunately it's not something very common and was easily resolved.

And most importantly, congrats on the boat!! That's a beautiful boat and you and your family will enjoy it for many years to come. (Hopefully with less mistakes lol) now let's see the carnage photos so we can give you advice on how to fix it.

Such a great comment. Really appreciate the perspective! My marina is also a Yamaha service center...lucked out on that! I need to get the boat on a lift and see if we can find anything in the intake. Also need a better look at the carnage. Honestly, I haven't been able to inspect the damage that much, because of the sword that was jammed into my soul. One of the guys at the dock said he didn't see any gouges down deep into the fiberglass, but it's about a 4' long hell of a scratch.