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So I Threw My Buddy Outta The Boat(long post)with pics of said boat!!
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So I Threw My Buddy Outta The Boat(long post)with pics of said boat!!
So me and my buddy decide to go in halves on this lil boat I have sitting in the back yard, been sitting out for about 4 years, I got the boat and trailer and he gives the motor and makes it work......The boat is a 1984 kencraft, no title, came to me on a trade and took it as was never did anything with it until now, my buddy sees it and want's to make it work, his buddy has the merc 75 on an aluminum bass boat and the hull and floor is trashed, so we scored the motor,controls and fuel tank for 200 bux,( was spose to be a bunch of paint work on the guys house but he was hard up for money and settled for 200 bux)...So we get the motor and head home to clean the boat out from leaves and whatever from five years and find the floor to be soft, that night cut the floor out, find the stringers rotted and they go too.......Replace the stringers and floor with the same material that was removed,3/4 marine plywood.....used epoxy west and put it all back together......worked out awesome.......hung the motor, got a title for the boat everything is coming together...... here's the pix....
go for a test ride on the intercoastal and it runs great,(quick too probably in the 40's if I had to guess) but we have some issues doesn't steer as well to the left as it does to the right....the cable is in a bind, but these are all minor details to be sorted out.......So we go for another boat ride, these are the pix you see above with said buddy prior to the (incident)....We probably put 40 miles on this thing hauling ass wherever having a blast like 2 teenagers, (a lil boat is so refreshing)......so we are heading home and begin to overtake a small 20 ish bowrider in one of the straightaways of the channel, this is where it all went wrong( the incident) we're running on the pin somewhere near 40 mph and my buddy is on the lil console seat and I'm driving, so we begin to overtake the bowrider and go over the first wake on the port side all is good, get into the second wake and the bow bury's and sends the boat lurching to port and ejects my buddy.... he grabs for the gunnel on the way out and almost holds on but in the process puts about 40 gallons of water in the boat, after realizing what just happened I'm thankful I'm still in the boat, I thought it was gonna flip, I get my bearings and realize my buddy is 50 feet behind me and his shoes are taking him down, I spin around and get him in the boat and we start to weigh our options, water back aft was gunnel deep so we try to get the boat on plane to pull the scupper plugs and the bow points skyward, I move forward a lil bit to get some weight on the bow and a steady hand on the throttle manage to get it planed off, he pulls the scuppers and we get it drained, he's soaked wallet cell phone the whole nine yards, we weren't wearing life jackets but had em in the boat, a fat lot of good they did us, so we continue to head back to the ramp, nice flat water so back wot she goes, as we get to the ramp we see the guy we were trying to over take, I drop my buddy off at the dock and ask if he saw me throw him out of the boat, his responce and I quote,"We saw it happen and we wondered if ya'll were okay" but he never slowed or turned back to check....I'm curious as to how much he wondered, it was probably more like "honey did you see those idiots??" and just motored on......The end result of this long story was us being thankful it's early september and not mid january......water was a balmy 80 degrees, had it been winter this could have been catastrophic, no one was injured and the boat got back in 1 piece, It's crazy how fast this happened but yet as it started to occur it was in super slow mo...... I thought the boat was going to roll over to the port side for sure but I think luck prevailed and I found myself still in the boat and able to respond to the issues presented to me.....I find myself guilty of poor judgement and a bad decision but thankful that I take away a hard lesson learned, a wet buddy, and a bruise on my pride......
Tight Lines
Monty
That's a nice little boat ya got there. I see lots of dead fish and a few empty beers in it's future.
As for the story, I'm glad you learned about the handling of the boat without someone getting hurt. And for the guy driving the other boat, I can't believe he didn't stop and at least laugh.
Running a boat at wot that you dont know in flat water is one thing but, to pass another boat and hit its wake at wot is stupid. Thats how you end up with a run away boat that kills someone. Glad you guys were ok, slow down next time.
When you first put the boat in the water how does she look at the waterline when you compare the water to your painted waterline? You may be stern heavy.
Kill switch lanyard always a must, if no PFD, clip it on your belt loop at least.
Glad no one was following you close.
Looking forward to many more stories with you two and that boat, let's keep on the "entertaining" side.
sounds like you didn't adjust your operating procedures from the the big guy in the bottom pic to the little skiff. just goes to show that bad things can happen to anyone (even experienced people) on the water.
glad all turned out well and thx for reminding us that things can go from fun to fudge in the blink of an eye.
I had to remind myself of being more careful in passing boats yesterday. I was going INTO a Seacraft's wake to get behind him at about 22 knots or so - angled me way more to the port side than I was comfortable with. I WAS wearing my kill switch lanyard all day. (that Contender video really made me conscious of what can go wrong)
I'm also used to running big boats that don't flinch when going in and out of wake - I need to remember to operate differently now...
I got one of those round key chain floaties that goes around your wrist and attached it to my kill switch lanyard. I find it easier to work with than the clip so I use it more often. If I do go in the drink, at least the lnyard will float.
I also do not like the kill switches that take a special key. If you go over and lose the key, how is anyone supposed to drive the boat back and get you/help? Mine is just a little loop that goes over a toggle switch. I show my passengers how to reset the toggle and restart the boat if I go over.
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I'm also used to running big boats that don't flinch when going in and out of wake - I need to remember to operate differently now...
I think this was a lot of my problem, that and the fact that I made a poor decision to cross a wake at wot, I'm gonna get a kill switch as someone else mentioned, in the aftermath we talked about what would have happened had we both been ejected and only came up with nightmares.....As far as the boat rating it's rated for a 75hp motor per the manufacturer's label plate, and the water line is just about right on, so the scuppers are underwater at rest, In the process of redoing the boat we redid all the closed cell foam, used about 27 cubic feet of the A B 2 part foam, thats some nasty stuff to work with but it came out pretty well I think.......
Thanks for the responses
Tight Lines
Monty
I'm glad everyone was okay. Life vests are a little uncomfortable but we wear them every time we are running. We got the Revere automatic inflatables because I figure if someone goes over, something bad happened and they might not be able to pull the toggle to inflate them and I figure if I get thrown out, it's gonna take them a minute to get the boat back on and get back to me. The inflatable vests are a lot more comfy then the standard PFD's and I don't get much grumbling when I ask everyone to put them on.
Glad everyone was safe in the aftermath!!! I have been ejected from a boat and thrown someone out the boat before. Both were a combination of stupidity and operator/ passenger error and luckily no one was hurt.
Everyone learns lessons, some hard and some not. To be able to admit and correct it is the tough thing to do. Kudos to you for admitting it and knowing how to correct it going forward.
That is a cool little boat.
PS - Is that the boat ramp right behind Ski Boats Untld?
ALB
__________________ ALB
1985 BW Montauk
1996 Evinrude 90
Give me oysters and beer for dinner everyday of the year and I'll feel fine - Jimmy Buffett
I believe this has been posted but worth repeating when it comes to this subject!!
In this clip is is a bass boat going at a high rate of speed crossing a wake (about 1:25sec. into the clip) .
What happened to the OP was at a lesser speed but being ejected from a boat is not a joking matter. Broken bones, hitting your head, twisting your back, another vessel following or crossing, etc, etc, then not to have a PFD on ....by the time you (anyone) would have gotten back to an injured person could have ended much different.
It amazes me how people will let a boat sit uncovered for years. A $10 tarp replaced every other year would have kept the floor and stringers from rotting.
I got behind some huge party fishing boat and stupidly ran up behind it before I realized it was hauling the mail and throwing a monster wake. I am in a BW Outrage 19, not exactly unseaworthy. Now here I am, I have to slow down, it comes off plane ahead of me and the monster wake and me in the Whaler now coincide! Well, it filled the boat with water and I have to say, I was afraid I might go over but I just nailed the throttle and it chugged back on top. I know better, just forgot that I knew better, I suppose.
Glad your buddy was not hurt, y'all be more careful, have fun. Nice boat too.
So I Threw My Buddy Outta The Boat(long post)with pics of said boat!! 
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