launching a boat rule #1: DON'T FORGET THE PLUGS!!!

[Lt.]

When- last friday (June 29)
Where- Kokrine hills bible camp. (I'm a Christian) The camp is located in the interior of Alaska about 350 miles north of Anchorage and 200 miles west of Fairbanks, on the Yukon River. The only way to get to the camp is by boat or plane.
What happened- So I'm there as staff for a week and a half, and Im assigned a maintenance position. Which there means general labor. Once per camp they take kids downriver to a sandbar for a day in the mud. So I and 2 others were given the job of launching the second of 2 boats that would be transporting people to and from the sandbar. The boat was on a normal trailor, nothing improvised. So we took a front loader with an improvised hitch on the front of the bucket, which was the normal machine for launching boats in the camp, and moved the boat to the boat launch, which was a shallow part of the river, and we took our time putting the boat and trailer in the water. One thing, no put the plugs in, none of the 3 that go in it. so we get the boat in to where its floating, and the water is starting to come in, and we have a guy climb in as we are about to disconnect the boat from the trailer. And as soon as he gets in, he screams PULL IT OUT PULL IT OUT!! So me and another guy start pulling it out, another problem, the current of the river has almost pulled the boat off the trailer, meaning we can't pull it out without destroying the trailer AND boat, because the boat is too heavy for only the one side of the trailer that is keeping it from drifting away to hold it. So we are standing there, boat sinking, guy in the boat, and we can't find the plugs either. So the guy in the boat climbs out and runs for help as we don't know what to do. He comes back with one of the camps bush pilots, now this guy comes and sees the boat, and says, while holding back laughs, you idiots forgot the plugs didn't you!? We nod and just then, Gunner, the guy who basicly runs the camp comes and says, who forgot the plugs!?! And then proceeds to ask questions as to what we've done. Also by this point the boat is 2 inches from sinking but has stopped going down because the trailer is stopping it, but it is slowly bending and breaking. So Gunner proceeds to give orders, one guy in the water to put the outer plug in, and another guy in the boat to put the 2 inner plugs in. Then we drive boat out into the rive a ways and the turn around and bring it back in, realigning with the trailer, and the we pull it back out on trailer and pull the plugs back out to let the water all drain out. But when I say we drive it out, I mean Gunner drives it out. So we put the inner plugs in like nothing, but the guy in the water is have ling trouble, he can't get it, so Gunner ignores common sense and disconnects the boat, and drive it out in the river, turns around a little to hard and puts a back corner under water and then guns the throttle and bring the boat onto the trailer just right, all the while the back of the boat is under water, and we hook up the boat and pull it out with about 300 gallons of water all through the boat, and one side of the trailer an inch off the ground. So we pull the plugs and water pours out. And the boat is just fine. And the three of us are simply told not to forget the plugs again, and then are left to relaunch the boat.
Moral of the story- don't forget the plugs when launching a boat

[MarkSF]

Thought about maybe splitting it up into paragraphs?

[captainKJ]

would be easier to read

[bruce smith]

lord works in strange ways

[Coops]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

Thought about maybe splitting it up into paragraphs?

He did. One little one and one biiiiig one.

Coops.

[Lt.]

Sorry I forgot to split paragraphs, but that tends to happen when typing on a phone.

[HopCar]

My store is just down the street from the Bertram Yacht factory. A couple of Saturdays ago I was driving to work but the road was blocked. Bertram was launching a brand new eighty footer. It was dangling from a crane over the road. Of course I had to get out and watch. The crane guy was good. He swung it gently out over the Miami River and started lowering it right next to the dock. I was standing next to one of the big wigs from Bertram and just as it was about to touch the water I heard him ask, "Did anyone put the plug in?" Some things are universal.

[rgscpat]

Boats with holes in them... who'd have thunk it? Next they'll be touting the advantages of screen doors on submarines.

[capn_billl]

I'll bet a lot less boats would sink, if those holes came with ball floats.

[GaryMayo]

Bibles use lots of paragraphs. Makes it easier to read and number important bits.

For me, one giant paragraph is like falling into quicksand. You can't seem to get anywhere and you can't wait to get back out again.

[SkiprJohn]

And when you launch a 36 footer using a crane its best to close all the seacocks before lowering the boat in the water even though you think everything is all hooked up to hoses. And, double check. Don't ask me how I know this.

[jeanathon]

I think everyone will forget the plugs / seacocks until they have forgotten them once.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Lt.

Sorry I forgot to split paragraphs, but that tends to happen when typing on a phone.

You typed all of that on a phone?

[SkiprJohn]

Also have had students of mine sail off in Widgeons with the plugs not in place. Had to go rescue them. Of course it was my fault because I was their instructor and it was embarrassing because they drifted into the USS Bowfin, a retired Navy submarine. It's hard for a student to sail a boat full of water in the inner hull.
I don't think I'll ever forget that one.

[goldiphlox]

When i was a kid we used to go camping all the time at Occoneechee Stare Park in Virginia on Kerr Reservoir....one day we were out fishing in the jon boat and about done for the day heading back to camp. Well the boat had a minor leak so it gradually fills with water so my dad would take off fast ....pull the plug and it would drain....well....the man on the reservoir pulls up and tells him to stop....he stops...forgets about the plug..and we start sinking.....so without explaining he takes off.....the man is not happy....he tries to explain....they took him right off the water and threw him in the slammer!