The Worst Boat Ride Ever
Now look Frank, I understand that you are new to boat ownership, but what were you thinking? Sorry but I am going to have to share this.
A buddy of mine who’s first name I will mention (Frank) and I went out on the Potomac River yesterday. Frank had recently just purchased a new ‘08 Triton TR186 from Anglers Choice Marine down in Martinsville, VA. The boat is nice. I really like it, but when Frank gave me a call on Tuesday to see if I was willing to head out with him on Wednesday, I was expecting the brand new boat to be fully water ready…..and it almost was.
As we met at the ramp, I went ahead and helped launch his boat by backing his truck into the water. I jumped on after I parked his truck and we then preceded to idle out of the channel. As we entered the main river I said to him, “Alright, let’s see what this baby can do”. He then said, “OK, here we go”. As he pressed down on his hot foot, we didn’t go above idle. After messing with it for a minute, I jumped into the driver seat and found that Frank hadn’t bolted his hot foot down to the floor so when he was “pushing on the pedal”, he was just sliding it to the back of the console.
The short of it was we ended up making a 20 minute run with him steering the wheel and me sitting in the passenger side controlling the speed/rpm’s with a hot foot throttle in my hand. First off, you can imagine how difficult this is and second of all, it is tough to hold a throttle with two hands, keep my butt secure in the seat by grabbing the OH S*IT handle, and pointing in the direction we needed to go. It was not the funnest, smartest, or coolest thing I have ever done and my back has been mad at me all day long for it.
What I can’t figure out is why the marine dealership he bought it from would install the hot foot without securing it to the deck. If some of you can’t imagine how it can be difficult to use without securing to the deck, than imagine your trolling motor pedal flopping around the deck of your boat during a bumpy ride. That is exactly what was going on with his hot foot when he tried to press it with his foot .
Well needless to say, I ended up catching all the fish and he caught none. No big deal. We went out so I could show him a few tricks to try on the river and hopefully it worked. I did tell him however that I would not be getting back on his boat until he had his hot foot completely installed and appearantly he understood the importance and safety issue because he already has an appointment to have it done tomorrow.
At least he remembered to put the plug in!
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2 opinions for The Worst Boat Ride Ever
Frank Tellez
May 8, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Don,
I got admit that is one of the funniest and most memorable fishing stories that I have ever read on line. I am glad that you shared it with the rest of the fishing world here in Northern Va.
Frank
Don Zaegel
May 8, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I knew I would get a response out of you if I wrote about it. I have had countless mishaps on my boat. Some worse than others. For the record, I will go ahead and tell everybody that if we were catfishing than the catch ratio would have been reversed in your favor big time. Next time we will take my boat.
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