What was your worst day??

[n8dawg]

Describe your worst day on the river or lake for us all to read before this season starts. Where, when, and what happened? :cry:

[GUGS102]

Last Memorial day Roosevelt Lake, AZ
I've been boating there my whole life, I've seen the nasitest storms that lake has etc.
Coming back into camp, storm came in and started to produce 4-6 foot swells, three little 19' boats, diverters all up trying to keep the tip up. quarter mile from camp, down into the swell, next one crashes over the bow. Knocks my 2 passengers out of their seats, the two foot wave travels over the deck and straight into the motor. With no power, 14" of freeboard and the swells getting bigger, I thought we were going to swim. Got towed to the downwind side of an island and waited for the worst of it to pass. Pulled the plugs, cleaned the motor out and fired it right back up and drove it in. Drank a lot that night.
The storm sunk three boats and capsized two that afternoon
No fun!

[beerjet]

I just bought my first boat and its a jet so I take it out and plowed water like crazy. Finally got it up on plane and everything is Ok until later in the day I had to take (or leave) a shit , get back in it and it goes out about 50 feet and dies , turn the key and the starter wont go . Luckily for me my buddy swims like 300 feet of really cold water and then hikes the hills for 20 minutes just to get on his jet ski and tow me back in.
As it turns out some of the intake manifold bolts were barely finger tight and I had a bad starter connection. Now that I think about it , maybe it was my friends worst day. Anyhoo it sucked .
-beerjet-

[Wicked Performance Boats]

It was CB03 and we were all cruising down to the Sandbar. Everybody was going too slow around the rock bars. I know that area of the river really well. So I jumped out front and made a fast pass, then cruised a while, thinking there was a little more water in the boat than usual. THEN I made another pass in front of my buddy's house. As I was slowing, Julie , my wife says, " there's a wall of water coming in the boat!" I looked back and saw a large hole in the transom! I thought, OH SHIT!!! I didn't want to sink my boat, so I turned toward a rock bar near the shore, and yelled " hold on " I waited till I was real close to the rock bar and stabbed the throttle. To my surprise, the boat popped on top the rock bar! The San Bernadino boatcop was nearby and came over, and asked me how much I had to drink. I said none. He said, then why did you run aground? To save my boat, it was sinking I said! Julie asked him for a ride to our truck and trailer and he said he couldn't do that. She said, well get out of here then! All the guys and a couple of the girls stopped in their boats and helped salvage the boat before the water came back up. It really sucked BUT we made some good friends. Thanks again everybody. Budlight& Mrs. Wicked

[TahitiVC]

Well we had just had the boat about a month or so last summer. Took the wife and kids out to a local resevoir in early september to cruise around and have lunch. I was going to teach the wife how to drive after lunch and pushed away from the beach. Got out into the middle of the lake and the thing just dies. She says "its a good thing I wasn't driving or you would blame me". The resevoir was pretty empty and my 5 year old son starts getting nervous. Then he starts in with "Were going to die out here". Worst part is the only guy on the lake that stopped was a jet ski. Towed us in. Got home figure out the rear float had a whole in it and the motor was flooding out. Problem solved.

[IMPATIENT 1]

so its late in the day(i'm drunk) and me,my wife and a buddy decided to take one last cruise around the back side of our local lake when it comes time for a piss break.i don't like this side of the lake because it gets real choppy(@3-4ft.rollers) but the wife wants a bathroom to use so i beach it at the closet one.she's gone 20min. and the rollers are so bad now we turn it to face the rollers to not to sink her.wife makes it back and i try to lite it up,no go.out with the paddles,to no effect,and the boat is taking major rollers over the bow now.call the marina for help,be there in 30 they say.40 minutes later we're bailing as fast as we can,bilge pumps whirring.a rental pontoon shows up and drags me at @5mph to the ramp where my boat has half the hull submerge inside and out.marina wants gas money for the tow,i get pissed(i've towed this shitty pontoon in at least 3times prior to this at no charge to them or the customer),cut their tow line loose and paddle the additional 30yards outta spite(didn't pay shiat!).back my truck down the ramp into the water up to the cab to get under the boat,got ticket on the way home for no taillamps.i should be a commercial:
water seperator: 45.00
taillamp ticket: 50.00
rear end grease and gasket for truck: 30.00
new floor,stringers in boat: 250.oo parts @20hrs labor
my 78 taylor to me : priceless

[wright27]

On mud hole lake buena vista. This was in a friends boat. I was wakeboarding and dislocated my shoulder. Had my girl and my buddies pulling to try and get it back in (this was the 8th time I dislocated it in a one year time frame). Could not get it back in. Went back to shore had to put my boat on the trailer and drive 2 hrs back home. Dropped of boat, went the hospital. After alot of demeral and morphine 9 hours later and three hospitals, my shoulder was back in. They gave me so much pain medication, this happened on sunday and don't remember shit till thursday. Not really a boat thing, but true story and it sucked.

[garret]

Every Sunday when I have to go home from the river and go back to work!!!!!!!!!

[RCB19]

Never had a bad day at the river. :D

[El Prosecutor]

Went out to Ming one day and the jet had really lost power. Wouldn't get up on plane. Engine started to overheat. Bad. :220v: Had to pack it in, and when I got home and opened up the hand hole cover I saw aluminum slivers around the edge of the suction side of the impeller. I did not know at the time what this meant, but knew it must be really bad. :skull: Even having been stranded a couple other times with starting (coil / battery) problems, this was the only time I truly felt discouraged. I think it was because at the time I didn't know if it could be fixed. :mad: It was about the feeling of finding your best dog run over in the street. Fortunately, with lots of help from y'all she has made a full recovery.

[QuickJet]

Testing a new combo late last year at CFW. Only 3 boats on the water and not a wave in sight. I cruise around a little bit to get things warmed up. Cruise to a troll and toggle it out of gear. Strap on the Lifeline and get seated. Bring it up to about 20 then stab it. Watching the tach and oil and everything is fine. I can instantly tell that the changes were the right ones. Then as the tach aproaches 6,700 rpms everything goes silent except for the ratcheting of the whirlaway. The little water that is in the boat rushes forward. I'm a little startled as to what happened until I notice piston AND BLOCK material sliding around next to the gearbox. Ends up #5 cylinder decided it had had enough and the piston decided to explode taking the block with it. Being that no one else was around I had to wait for 45 min as I driffted slowly down the lake, getting further and further from camp. The paddle was useless. I got towed in by a jet ski. I wasn't to pissed about the motor since this was going to be the last trip on it anyways, I was however pissed that the guys I was with (jet boat owners) thought I had ran out of gas and were going to teach me that I should have kept my jet with 20 gallons on board rather than my V-drive with only 7. Damn assholes!!!!

[Cas]

Describe your worst day-
It started about 1pm one day in 1986 with wedding music......
As far as on the lake.....hmmmmm, probably 4 years ago. I took a day off to take the kids to Lake Berryessa in NorCal. It was a great day, smooth water, hardly any boats to mess the water up. Kids were having a ball tubing and kneeboarding until we stopped to have some lunch. When I went to start the boat it didn't fire right off and it backfired through the carb. In doing so, I think it had a little reversion and sucked some water into a couple of cylinders.
Since we were in a cove, there wasn't anyone around to give us a hand so I started paddling. and paddling and paddling. About an hour later, I finally got it out of the cove and near the main body of the lake....no friggin boats. 100º out, kids are overheating, food and drinks were gone so I keep paddling. Only have about 5 more miles to go. Wind kicks up a little and it's blowing in the wrong direction. After about another 1 1/2 hrs a couple of guys in an older MasterCraft hooked us up and towed us in. I offered them $50.00 and they said forget it and wouldn't accept it.

[BA Kurtis]

The WORST day of my life, 8/7/05 my buddy called me from big river and infomed my boat was gone out of storage, stollen Kurtis flat that I had just spent 3 yrs. restoring :mad: :mad: boat had mabey 10 hrs. on it everything new. I will never stop looking and the BEST day of my life is when I meet the SCUM face to face that took it.

[kp216]

Not really my worst day, but actually my worst time.
About 1974 I took my first ride in a jet boat, a Sanger. It took me 27 YEARS before I finally got my jet. Everything has been gravy since then! :D

[Devilman]

First trip to the lake after buying the boat on a weekend camping trip. Unload the boat, bring it around & tie off in front of campsite. No big deal, we used to leave our boats in the water overnight all the time. Wife wakes me up at 6 a.m. telling me the boat is sinking.
See the blue stripe down the side?
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/2812Cropjetfestpic.jpg
That was under water, is how close it was to going under. We rush out there & start bailing like crazy with a couple of mixing bowls out of the trailer, water was sparkplug deep in the boat. Although the weekend didn't get much better, we did save it & get it out of the water safely. Definitely, the worst time out, but we laugh about it now. :cool:
This was due to a leak the prevous owner "forgot" to tell me about.... :rolleyes:

[fleetimus]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/3150/4155fall_2005_misc_1___073-med.jpg
Mine would be NYD 2005 at CFW. First time out in the TX-19 Condor I had gotten out of Oklahoma. About 9:30 AM, idling to get a little warmth in the engine. Gave it it a little throttle and heard a POP! Boat stopped moving but engine was running. Looked back and saw water filling the bilge. Jumped in the back and could not find the leak!! Within five minutes the boat was headed for the bottom. Got it out three weeks later. It sat in 100' feet of water for three weeks.
I took it to my shop the day after it surfaced, flushed it and it fired!!! It got completely re-rigged. The amazing thing was the MSD box and distributor still worked after being underwater for three weeks.

[El Prosecutor]

It sat in 100' feet of water for three weeks.
I took it to my shop the day after it surfaced, flushed it and it fired!!! It got completely re-rigged. The amazing thing was the MSD box and distributor still worked after being underwater for three weeks.
Dang! Ever figure out where the leak was coming from?

[JLB440Stroked]

Got it out three weeks later. It sat in 100' feet of water for three weeks.
I took it to my shop the day after it surfaced, flushed it and it fired!!! It got completely re-rigged. The amazing thing was the MSD box and distributor still worked after being underwater for three weeks.
Sorry, to jack the thread but how much $$$ was that recovery? WOW, compared to this I never had a bad day on the water and I have had my share.

[QuickJet]

http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/3150/4155fall_2005_misc_1___073-med.jpg
Mine would be NYD 2005 at CFW. First time out in the TX-19 Condor I had gotten out of Oklahoma. About 9:30 AM, idling to get a little warmth in the engine. Gave it it a little throttle and heard a POP! Boat stopped moving but engine was running. Looked back and saw water filling the bilge. Jumped in the back and could not find the leak!! Within five minutes the boat was headed for the bottom. Got it out three weeks later. It sat in 100' feet of water for three weeks.
I took it to my shop the day after it surfaced, flushed it and it fired!!! It got completely re-rigged. The amazing thing was the MSD box and distributor still worked after being underwater for three weeks.
That was a bad day for everybody, from people who were there and to those who wittnessed it through video and pics. Obviously no one felt it as hard as you, but deffinatly a bad day for the boating community.

[Mighty Thor]

I had spent all spring putting parts back together to make a boat, and we had run it enough times to think it might be useable so made the big plans to have the brother-in-law and family join us at the river for the big weekend. My daughter and I (she has taken a big interest in the boat) launched in the boat while everyone else gathered gear near the dock. The dock was overflowing with other boats and people so I decided to go for a quick warm up romp with just me and my little first mate. I stab the throttle and the engine roars to life and as the boat pops up on plane about 200 people standing on the dock all turn as one to watch the mighty Ford Roar. Which is when the exhaust valve head let go. It bounced around a few times then expanded the piston through the cylinder wall. a hush fell across the water. Then there came the putt putt putt of the little outboard that came and towed us back to shore. I don't know which was worse, breaking the motor or having everyone stand there and watch me do it.

[Schiada76]

Needles last year in my friends blown injected Howard with a FRESHLY BUILT 588BBC and a 1471. We were just putting around making sure everything was fine on the new install, whacked it up to about 70mph a couple of times when he decided to make a pass. I reached around for my Lifeline and it had blown out. :mad: :mad: We tried to find it for about a half hour but some scum bag had grabbed it. While looking around at about 2500 to 3000 rpm the motor went away. :mad: :mad: :mad: The fawking idiot that put it together used the wrong lifters in the Dart block!!!!!!!!! Damn good thing we weren't making a pass at 100+ when it went away. :220v:
So we drift down river for a while trying to paddle to shore and finally beach it. For the next two hours no one would fawking stop, people would actually turn their heads and look away when we tried to wave them down. :mad: :argue: :mad: Eventually an antler boat stopped, gave us a tow AND beer. :D

[centerhill condor]

so my girlfriend buys me a boat for my birthday... '86 condor 240 hours, all the things I wanted in a first boat...jet, covered engine, closed bow, bbc, swimstep, 4 wheel trailer, etc. etc...
so I decide we're going boating the first weekend we have it... like the 2nd saturday in feb.. gonna be 45 'f/sunny today and that is warm enough for me.. we live 5 mins from Percy Priest lake around nashville and fully fueled, boom box, laptop for movies, sandwiches, all that stuff and put her in the water... I'm used to ky lake, barkley, the gulf of mexico, and leave the ramp having a blast seeing all these bass boats running 70 mph and I start easing into the throttle 30... 40... 45... eaze into the diverter a little bit... I notice some birds standing... how do they do that... standing in water.,. this boat is great.. sounds awesome and can run in this shallow water... well... the birds are not magic they're standing in 3" of water and we come to an abrupt halt accompanied by the sound of boat and intake dragging on rocks! after the crash... a couple of fishermen come about 50 yards as close as they can and ask if we're ok? I tell 'em we're kinda stuck... he says no... you hit at 40 mph do you need to go to the emergency room? kinda like gone in 60 seconds.. "are you sure? you just went through a wall". thank god it was a jet...
and we're stuck... the 454 weighs about 700 lbs and fully fueled you get the idea... all those years of boy scout training could not budge the big heavy boat off of the rocks... so I call game & fish get their voice mail... call my boat buddies of course they're not at home... call the marina get more voice mail... beautiful day and the sandwhiches are awesome.. the girlfriend is handling this much better than the ex wife could...must be the plastic knife or fear of pirates.. who knows...
so anyhow... I call my next door neighboor and they are loading their boat to come to the same lake.. if I had called 15 mins later I would have missed them and the boat would be there until who knows...
so, in the interim, this guy comes up our finger of the lake kinda quick and I start waving my hands and he doesn't slow.... I begin to walk on water and he stops his boat... and thanks me..
another guy comes up and he stops 50-75 feet from us and puts on his waders and comes over... we give him a sandwich and he points out the props, lower units, and other boat components that have been sacrificed to this saddle in the lake...he thinks the nozzle is where the lower unit was supossed to go! the marina boat shows up and stops about a half mile away and says he's not going there for any amount of money...
So my neighbor, wife and two dogs show up in their pontoon... he comes to us from a different direction and still can't get within 40'... so we tie the mighty condor to the pontoon with the 40 horse outboard and we huff and puff and push and pull and the boat comes off the rocks...mangling his prop.. funny thing if we had gone another 20' we would have made it! and those fishermen would have crapped their pants... you know James bond drives his jet boat down the street in a tux and doesn't get his hair out of part...maybe I should have worn a tie???
So we spend the rest of the afternoon gratefully watching the neighbors drink beer and the bassboats go buy at 40-70 wearing full face motorcycle helmets...( I still don't get that)...warm enough for short sleeves and bare feet..so the sun begins to sink a bit and it gets colder...
we head back to the ramp and hit more rocks... a horseshoe formation of underwater rocks... at much slower speed we push the boat off the rocks and idle back to the trailer...and home...
that night I decide to buy maps and realize that I should have done that earlier... even when the lake is up you can still have problems... duh...big stupid...I get it now...
so the girlfriend and I go to sleep and, no sh$t, we have night terrors... we both wake up screaming and shouting about rocks...very vivid dreams... post tramatic stress disorder...where are my valiums...
the next day I make us get back on the horse and go to a different lake and we have a map and are idling around in the safety of 80' deep water at Tim's Ford... once we get over the "careful... its only 60' deep here" we begin to relax and enjoy the boat... the rest of the summer was a blast and did the camping sleepover fun stuff... the boat is a big hit! etc.
I learned several things that first day on the lake:
1. always have a map, always!
2. a prop boat would have been destroyed!
3. we would have been seriously injured in a prop boat
4. don't spend $80k on the first boat
5. she really loves me...and she's a "keeper"!
6. rock trumps boat everytime... :220v:

[Danhercules]

Worst day, The day I got the nick name, "Yellow Submarine".
Best day, Puttin Brooski on the trailer. :rollside:

[crf311]

Took my boat out on the friday before Hurricane Katrina. Just had finished a complete Restoration, new everything. Me and the wife go out for about 1 hour and make it back looking forward to laborday at our place on Bay at Bay St. Louis., MS. Well Hurricane Katrine hits, and we have 8' of water in our home, 2' at work, and the summer home on the Bay is gone. Nothing left.

[Captain Assin' Off]

We got our buddy to buy an 18' Baker BBC, Berk., he's a newbie, I'm running a couple hundred feet behind him, he turns hard port, his stearn slides out, and he is heading straight at me. I think for a split, and decide to go starboard, to avoid a head-on, he hit me, or rather, we collided, at speed, he ran over my transom, collapsed my fuel tank, showering me in fuel, I thought, "Great, I'm gonna burn to death" I barely remember looking back, and seeing vapors dancing upward, and the water was rushing inboard.. I sank in seconds, the Hondo Tee Deck actually saving my life, as I was able to get out from under the dash, without thinking. I surfaced, and was watching my pals' boat taking on water, he's yelling at me to get aboard, and I yelled back, "Throw me a line!"
I tied off one end, and swam to shore, tying my boat to a tree. The next 10 hours were spent diving, and retreiving my Hondo. A lot of people witnessed, and I have a tape of the recovery process, the guy who hit me was, and is still a great friend of mine.
It took two years to rebuild, but the boat is better than ever, with a few modifications I incorporated. If you get hit, stay cool, and survive...and remember, we're all buddies deep down. It's all part of jet-boating!+ :)

[BigDoug]

This is a great thread with some cool stories. :)

[77 Apollo Jet Boat]

Here's the WORST day of my life (check sig for pics):
Well, i was cruising along the Spillway at the Reservoir in Brandon, MS "riding" along w/ cars. I come to some polls in the water and take a right turn away from the road, come back around and head toward the spillway. i go to make a left turn to go back down the spillway and it keeps going straight. so i throw it in reverse, nail it, it slows but not enough and goes up on the rocks.
the wake the boat threw up comes into the engine bay and sinks it. all i see sticking up out of the water in about 6inches of the front-end. only damage was a little gash/hole where the front hook WAS (read on) and some scatches.
and then it gets bad. the sea-tow guy comes and hooks a strap to the front of the boat to pull it along the water so that it will "come up out of the water". well, when he gives his boat gas, he snatches a huge chunk out of the front of the boat .
so now he has to hook his strap to be BACK of the boat (2 anchor points). from then on, all i see it the tip of the boat bobbing out of the water and the rear scraps along the bottom of the reservoir
when we finally get it on the trailer, i see that both the 5in Bassett headers are pushed over to the left, the 9in velocity stack in demolished, scratches and mud all over everything and im in tears. this was a VERY sad day for me and still is. i dont know why i became so attached to this thing but i did. it was like looseing a family member

[Wally_Gator]

Worst day for me was at Friday afternoon At CBBB04...
After re-building the motor on my 70 Rogers and new gel
The boat was ready for it's first major outing. CBBB.
We decided we would try to go to lunch with CS19, Mudpumper,Tom and meet up with Roostwear at Lazy Harrys...
The water was too low to get into lazy's so we head up to the bend and stop for a couple. At this point I have my two boys and my 1 year old daughter in the boat held by my wife. I notice that a storm is coming in and I tell the guys that I am heading back to the beach as I do not want my daughter in the storm. (I used to run the river for 3 years in a prop boat a couple of years earlier) But I head down river and then see brown water and think "Oh S**T!!" I am traveling slower than normal and then I hear the sound of rocks... I shut her down fast...
I landed her hard on river rocks and no one is in sight.
I get out and the wife gets out and we try to move her. It wont budge.
Next we see MudPumper go by and we are waving to him. He does not see us. Tom goes by and he does not see us, then CS19 is flying by and he sees us. He pulled up and we got the boat turned into the current as Tom and Mudpumper come back..
We get the boat to shore as we are preparing to tow it to a ramp.
Then a Lady who lives on the river with a private ramp offered her ramp to us , offered to house my family while I went to get the trailer. This just as the storm rolled in hard and heavy. Mudpumper gave me a ride back to the AVI and rolled with me to pick my boat back up.
Thanks to Mike, Chris and Tom we got off the river safe and fast, and after pulling the inspection cover and pullign a couple of rocks out, I was back on the water that afternoon. The funny thing was, another 10 feet and I would have cleared the rock bar. Had I been running a little faster, I would have not even hit. Had I a prop boat, I would have been done for the weekend.
There are some dam good people here on HB and again Mike, Tom and Chris...
Than you....

[Sanger Jet]

Lets see :rolleyes: I've Sunk her, Grounded her, Gone to Jail for her :rolleyes: Spent countless sums of money on her!! :rolleyes:
Kinda hard to decide? But I LOVE HER !!! And she's getting a new 532 for spring :cool:

[probablecause]

Enough said!
http://www.aflacracing.com/images/albums/userpics/10001/gotsand.jpg

[Sleek-Jet]

The day I joined ***boat Forums...
I've wasted more time and money since than I could have imagined. :crossx: :skull: :crossx: :D

[n8dawg]

The WORST day of my life, 8/7/05 my buddy called me from big river and infomed my boat was gone out of storage, stollen Kurtis flat that I had just spent 3 yrs. restoring :mad: :mad: boat had mabey 10 hrs. on it everything new. I will never stop looking and the BEST day of my life is when I meet the SCUM face to face that took it.
I think you take the prize. Sad, day for anyone who gets there boat stollen!

[gqchris]

Mine is a good one! I had bought one of those 13' Addictor Boats 5 years back, (the small little 2 seater ones with the 40 horse Suzukis on the back! 80's style) off of a guy on Ebay in San Diego and had picked it up the week before. I had spent a month primping it and restoring it. All new gauges, steering cable, new controls, upholstery etc. It looked great, and it was time for the maiden voyage! My girlfriend agreeded to go with me to Marine Stadium in Long Beach for a test run, since we wanted the boat to cruise around the canals in Naples Island.
I had to work that night, so I had a 4 hour window to run it and test. This was my first mistake, dont rush a boat trip! I have learned tremendously that if you feel rushed at all, scrap the trip! But No, I had to run this boat!
We launch it, everyone is watching of course cause it is such a unique boat. Beautiful day out, nice and sunny. I tell my GF to put on her lifejacket and so did I since it is such a low profile boat. (Good Idea we did!)
Motor out into the stadium and stab throttle to get on plane. Boat is not wanting it, and ass end is plowing. I turn my head around and see water pouring out bilge pee hole. Well, doesnt take long and we are sitting in water. I tell Stacy to jump out and swim away from the boat! It goes down ass first, and I happpen to catch the front bow line still tied to the cleat. Well the dash catches an air bubble and it bobs there, me in the water holding the line in the air, asking for help! A Crownline comes by and hooks up to us, and then the lifegaurd boat came. We get towed back to the beach, and I flip it over and lifeguards use the giant pump to suck out the water. This is of course with 100 people on the beach watching the whole ordeal! It was definately an experience I wont forget!. Stacy still remembers it like it was yesterday, and everytime we run a boat, she is on edge! Every time I check the bilge for water level she freaks :) But we have certainly learned alot about boating from that time!
After we brought it home, i took the outboard off and dumped it in my swimming pool at home. Flushed it to get the salt out, WD-40'ed the cylinders, new plugs, new starter, and I got 2 more seasons out of her. What let the water in? The steering cable boot in the back was not sealed, and I was too inexperienced to know it was right at the water line! New boot and a ton of sealent later, she ran great in Havi for the next summer. Fun boat, great learning tool!
Chris