What's the worst thing you forgot to do ?

alt

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Anyone looking for a good laugh?

Re-fitted my out-drives today. Newly painted, new bellows, anodes etc. First one went on, great!

As I was re-fitting the 2nd one a friend came into the yard and while it was great to have a hand, I got distracted. Put it all back together, we stood back to admire the work, then realised I forgot to fit the hook-up-fork bushes: Keypart

I always replace these when the outdrive is off and in my distracted state, forgot to fit the new ones. We had *everything* back together when I realised, even the clip for the steering cable / split pins etc...

We walked away, had a drink and came back an hour later :D All done now, though. Lesson learned.
 

LittleSister

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In my marina berth, filling the water tank. Lifted the front half of the cockpit floor to see the water tank sight gauge in the engine compartment below. Tank filled. I removed the hose, replaced the bung, and went to turn off the tap and coil the hose. As I got back onto the boat the chap in the adjacent boat came out into his cockpit, and I exchanged a few pleasantries with him.

As I did so I stepped backwards off the cockpit seat into the cockpit, as I'd done so many times before. Only this time there was no floor 18" or so below the seat! Instead my foot plunged a couple of feet further, down the gap beside the engine, dislodging various pipes and cables on its way, and I fell backwards, grabbed a wheelhouse door on my way down, which tore its securing hook out, and fell hard against the opposite cockpit seat and cockpit floor lip.

Luckily, no bones were broken or serious damage done to the boat, but I was painfully bruised and not up to boating for a few days, and had to cancel the trip I had been filling the tank for. :rolleyes:

Beware of gravity. It can bring you down!
 

Momac

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Not only gravity can bring you down - I nearly did the splits stepping in the boat the other day - the pontoon was very slippery despite having been jet washed by the marina a few weeks previously .
 

CLB

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I like Blue Sunray's "Don shore going footwear". When I have remembered everything else that is one I always forget until I get home. Must add it to the list.

That reminds me. Not boating related but, I once got home after an afternoon out with the family and it was only when I got through the front door I realised I was still wearing the bowling shoes from about five hours earlier. Had been and had dinner and all sorts since leaving the bowling alley. Had to go back the next day to sheepishly retrieve my shoes. :oops:
 

stuartwineberg

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Check the fuel in a "new to me" boat, the fuel gauge was showing half full, but in reality, it was empty, I broke down in the Solent , fitted new filters, and then I was towed in by Sestart, suspecting water in the fuel, got all the gear together to pump her out, removed the fuel sender inspection hatch, the tank was empty, the gauge clearly had never worked...
+1 almost exactly that on a delivery trip from Falmouth to Solent, right down to the Seastart tow to a buoy in Studland bay. uncomfortably near St Albans race. Took a nut tied to a bit of string as a tank dipper to discover the problem.
 

Bubblegtt

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Reading all these posts, I don't feel so bad now!

First boat was a Mariah bow rider. The second time that I was launched by the park and ride, in my haste, I forgot to put the bung in. As the tractor was reversing down the slip, I saw it sitting there on the dashboard. "Stop" I yelled as the stern went into the water and the boat was nearly all the way in. It was then that I discovered that the bilge pump worked, as it shot a shower of water over the chap in his waders holding the stern. ??

Current Prestige 32 and we were preparing for the day out. Went to start the engines and the starboard engine was turning over, but not firing up. Checked everything, even bleeding injectors etc. I even phoned the marine engineer....

Turned out that in my haste to get everything ready, when I stored the shore power lead in the rear locker, I had caught one of the pull out fuel stops. It was only out about 5mm out of 30mm, but enough to cut the fuel flow - doh!
 

LittleSister

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That reminds me. Not boating related but, I once got home after an afternoon out with the family and it was only when I got through the front door I realised I was still wearing the bowling shoes from about five hours earlier. Had been and had dinner and all sorts since leaving the bowling alley. Had to go back the next day to sheepishly retrieve my shoes. :oops:

Following that line of Fred Drift, we don't use our front door much, for various reasons, and outside the back door is rather rural - i.e. very muddy in winter - therefore I kept a very tatty, muddy pair of old shoes I normally put on if I went out the back, in order to avoid getting my work or other smart shoes too muddy. I once got out of my car at work and realised I still had those scruffy shoes on. I had to go into town to buy a new pair of shoes before I could face going into the office.

Many years earlier I was going grape picking in France for the second or third time, but this particular year on a motorbike. I took wellingtons as these would do both on the bike and in the field amongst the vines. Departure had been a bit frantic due to an engine rebore being prolonged and completed only hours before heading off for the ferry. When we arrived at my French friends' house they announced they were taking us out for a meal. At which point I discovered that I'd forgotten to pack my other shoes. It turned out the restaurant they were taking us to was rather posh, with many of the customers dressed up to the nines. I tried in vain to hide my wellies under the table.
 

dave1dpc

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Seviced both outdrives.Yard tractor pushing me back in on their trolley. Half off when yard guy shouted 'give it some wellie' Shot back up onto the trailer. I had only swopped over the outdrives. Quick swop over the props for rest of season but not ideal as prop wash was apart rather than together. God I could write a book.
 

wilkinsonsails

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Forgot to check the cutlery drawer at the start of a 48 hr delivery ?.Previous owners wife emptied the boat .
Amazing what you can improvise with a multi tool and a hacksaw blade .??
 

LittleSister

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Forgot to check the cutlery drawer at the start of a 48 hr delivery ?.Previous owners wife emptied the boat .
Amazing what you can improvise with a multi tool and a hacksaw blade .??

Not exactly 'forgotten', but that reminds me of a tale I was told about friends of friends who were doing a transatlantic in a (Wharram?) catamaran. They had a clever 'automatic dishwasher' - a plastic dustbin full of water tied to the mast. All the dirty pans and cutlery were dropped into the bin, and the motion of the boat would have them all thoroughly washed by the next time they were needed.

One night in mid-Atlantic, the crew on watch kept seeing flashes that he assumed were distant lightning. Eventually he happened to look back and saw the boat was on fire! It seemed the beams that joined the two hulls were working loose, and the electric cable that ran across had been stretched at the beam/hull join, broke and started arcing, and then started the fire.

A quick thinking crew member untied the bin and dumped the water in it over the fire. This put out the fire, thankfully, but in the process all their cutlery, and various other items, were now on their way to the bottom of the Atlantic.

For the remainder of the crossing tins had to be opened using a hammer and chisel, and improvisation along similar lines to Wilkinsonsails' for all other cutlery requirements.
 
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dave1dpc

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Up on the flybridge one sunny evening with a few good mates?? a few bevies poodling down the hamble. Decided to show off how I could steer using just my new fitted auto helm. Called up on the vhf when the auto swung hard to port. This obviously was due to interference to the auto compass [never done it since] Panic set in and I dropped the mike through the spokes of the wheel and desperately spinning it to starboard it all tangled up. So much for my good old mates who fell about laughing . Moral of the story... don't drink and drive and don't show off. God I could write a book.
 

asteven221

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Too many to list!

Worst example was having left Tarbert Marina and whilst motoring out into Loch Fyne, my wife and I suddenly noticed that our 5 year old son was not on board! He had gone to the toilet and we assumed he was down below. The boat was a 30 footer for goodness sake - not a superyacht!!! Anyway we went back and he was on the pontoon just talking to passers by, seeming unperturbed that his lovely caring parents just have left him!!!
 

JJS54

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Also not exactly 'forgotten', but..... Setting off from the quay in Padstow harbour with wife and kids on board, there was a sudden splash behind us, and a child bobbing about in the water. The dad jumped in, and after fishing him out with our help, we set off wondering how on earth the lad had managed to fall into the harbour. Later, after I'd moored the boat and lifted the outboard, I noticed there was some line twisted round the prop. The kid had been crabbing.
 

rpetersson

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Forgot to haul bow anchor before setting off... No major damage, but the 15kg stainless Bruce anchor received a little twist in the incident... Major damage to my ego though.
 

michael_w

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Club launch hard aground, she dried out on every tide. Hmm, there's a fair bit of rainwater in her, so pulled the bung and then went to the pub. Yes, forgot completely and she filled up on the next tide ...

Fellow club members found it odd that the vandals left the bung on the thwart. Didn't own up for ages and swore my mates to secrecy.
 

ash12

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We were once on a friends boat and had gone out for the day. We moored up in the rain and put the fly ridge cover on whilst unbeknownst to us knocking the gear levers into forward gear.
We came back and took up control from downstairs and went to reverse off the hammer head. Bit more throttle to move backwards but ended up going straight into the harbour wall ahead of us.
 

asteven221

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Years ago when I got my first sailing boat I didn't get the full concept about anchoring. I thought it was just a weight thing. So it was a nice day and I decided to do a bit of fishing. So I dropped the anchor which was all chain and that was that. Caught nothing. I didn't think anything about anchoring in about 80 feet of depth with about 100 feet of chain - no electrical assistance of course. It nearly killed me trying to haul up all that chain vertically. After that episode I thought I had better buy a book on anchoring!!
 

asteven221

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Another one! I did say earlier that there were too many to list!

Many years ago we got our first boat with radar. That made me feel invincible and clearly I could sail anywhere anytime with this device keeping us safe & sound.

We left the marina on a particularly foggy day with no visibility for a short trip back to our home marina. Obviously that was not a problem for us with our radar fitted. When the fog lifted, I didn't immediately recognise the bay and the houses around the shore. but soon did. We were in a completely different loch miles away from our home port. I thought then I should by a book on radars - to add to what had become my growing sailing book collection.
 
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