Boat Safety Check!!!

Guys, I know we all take care of our boats, but today while on Ft Gibson my son and I had to help a gentleman who's boat had sunk up to the top rail. The back end was pretty much under water except for the motor. I jumped in to assist him in trying to keep it above water. Another older gentleman had already tied on to him to get him moving to the shore. Once I ran him down to Wahoo Bay to get his truck and trailer and he drove around to Taylor's Ferry South and we got the boat onto the trailer and up the ramp just out of the water he checked his plug which was in and then I mentioned to him that one of his aerator or bilge pump hose may have came off. He then mentioned that everything seemed to be fine until he turned the aerator pump on and then after about 15 minutes he noticed the back of his boat was at the water line and about that time 2 waves came over and pretty much did him in.

So let's all make sure we check every thing before launching and that includes the hoses mentioned above and not just making sure our drain plug is in.

Simply wanted to remind everyone of our safety checks before going out.

I learned about the drain plug the hard way. My boat has 3. This is my first boat. 2nd time out was back in March and the wife n kids wanted a boat ride. Thier first time out. Beautiful lake Murray. Unloaded the boat and motored over to the dock. Tied the boat off while the wife n kids got in and got life jackets on and got comfy. I left to pull the trailer out of the water and park the truck.

When I got back everyone was on the dock and my wife says "honey I think there's a problem". You know that voice wives use when you done did something dumb.

Boat was about half full of water. Its a good sized boat, 18ft center console. I ran back and pulled the trailer back down and just managed to get it back on the trailer when the top of the transom was at water level.

I had ctually put all three drain plugs in, only I had put 1 in the livewell tank drain and another in the bilge pump outlet.

I haven't made that mistake again.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Automatic high volume bilge pump will be my first indication of a broken live well hose or plug out.
Launched in January, and it kicked on.
Forgot to check the drain plug.
Fortunately on the tracker, one can reach down while on the water to put it in.