Never EVER!! follow my lead

bigeasy1 · #1 08-30-2018, 01:23 PM

Well, made the 6.5 hour drive up to lake Ontario and my camp for three weeks of fishing on the 23 Tsunami.
More than three hours of it were in torrential rains and spray on the NY Thruway.We arrived to find a very muddy entrance to the camper and also to find a flat tire on the boat trailer. I wanted to get on the water but didn't want to change a tire in the pouring rain so we decided to pull the boat to a covered area where we could stay a bit dry.

The campground where I keep the RV and Boat had a convience store and Gas station and restaurant that are now closed but still standing.
lots of people will rig their boats under the cover of the old gas station that was over the gas pumps.Charter boats take advantage of that protection if they have to work on them as well.

So we decided to pull the boat down to them and change the tire without having to get wet and would have a nice asphalt pad and overhead protection which was a nice bonus.

We hooked up the boat and trailer and proceeded to slowly pull my truck under the cover and get the boat under as well.

We got the truck under and started to get the boat under enough to get the front trailer tire under cover.

All was going well until we heard that " Sickening sound of crunching and cracking"
Immediately I knew that the tower on the boat had hit the overhead roof.I literally was sick to my stomach.
I imagined that we were going to find broken fiberglass and crushed rod holders and a wrecked Radar dome and Gps antenna along with other ruined stuff.

when I built up the courage to assess the damage I found a completely damaged Radar dome (ripped off the tower) but luckily nothing else was damaged.
Now we had to get the truck and boat out from under the cover without more damage so we let air out of the four tires on the trailer and were able to just squeak by.

To top it off this was one of the worst trips we ever had. Of the 14 days we tried to fish we were only able to get 3 half days of fishing. .The winds were relentless,day after day it blew out of every direction. It was no fun 5 to 7 foot waves from every direction. One day noaa was calling for 9 footers. AAAND! the power winch decided to crap out when the boat was halfway up the trailer on our last day and then when I got home My truck started sounding like it was misfiring.

Never try to squeeze an 11 foot high boat under a roof that says 11 .5 height.(turns out they measured wrong)

ANYONE HAVE A RAYMARINE PATHFINDER 2KW 18" SL72 RAYDOME FOR SALE?

DonV · #2 08-30-2018, 03:52 PM

Ya know John we all know exactly what that sound sounds like when we have clearance issues and take out antennas, etc.. Old story I've told before, went to Gasparilla Invasion fifteen years or so ago and had had enough of the 500 boats, free flopping boobs, plus we were getting real low on beer, so we're heading back home the "back way" and as we are approaching the Davis Island bridge there were three or four young ladies dressed up in their pirate outfits, beers in hand and as we got closer a couple of them kinda lifted their skirts up, teasing us and I guess the young ladies must have forgot to put on underwear that morning, whatever! As we are passing under the bridge looking up under the T-top there was "that sickening cracking sound" and sure enough my only two week old VHF antenna comes falling down in the boat. I'm also blaming it on clearance measurements!!!

jtharmo · #3 08-30-2018, 05:01 PM

Arg John, I’m sorry to here that. I recall you had a rough August weather-wise last year too. I see that a few small crafts went down on Ontario this month.

bigeasy1 · #4 08-30-2018, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonV

Ya know John we all know exactly what that sound sounds like when we have clearance issues and take out antennas, etc.. Old story I've told before, went to Gasparilla Invasion fifteen years or so ago and had had enough of the 500 boats, free flopping boobs, plus we were getting real low on beer, so we're heading back home the "back way" and as we are approaching the Davis Island bridge there were three or four young ladies dressed up in their pirate outfits, beers in hand and as we got closer a couple of them kinda lifted their skirts up, teasing us and I guess the young ladies must have forgot to put on underwear that morning, whatever! As we are passing under the bridge looking up under the T-top there was "that sickening cracking sound" and sure enough my only two week old VHF antenna comes falling down in the boat. I'm also blaming it on clearance measurements!!!

Thanks Don, Now I don't feel so bad, however given the choice I think I would have felt better if it was a bunch of young ladies in skimpy pirate outfits.that caused my dilemma.

"Ay matey,here's to swimming with skimpy dressed women"

bigeasy1 · #5 08-30-2018, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSPBill

Arg John, I’m sorry to here that. I recall you had a rough August weather-wise last year too. I see that a few small crafts went down on Ontario this month.

Thanks Bill
The last couple years have been tough in late August. I'm thinking of maybe changing to the last week of July into the first two weeks August.The winds on this trip were nasty and it was day after day.We ended up leaving three days early as the report was for more wind and lousy water conditions.

Like we all know our Seacrafts can handle rough water conditions incredibly well But trying to troll in 3 to 5 and 4 to 7 footers is just not worth the risk. A friend of mine fishing in his boat had to grab a guy by his belt to keep from losing him over the side. I don't take crazy risks,when its ugly we wont go out.

There were two drownings in the few days we were there. One was a capsized boat with a missing person(later found) and another that was lost in the Niagara river. These seem to be more and more common Both the US and Canadian coast guards are frequently warning boats to keep an eye out for missing people and overturned vessels

jtharmo · #6 08-30-2018, 09:23 PM

Two more were lost on the Canadian side of Ontario just recently and 2 jet skiers on back to back days up here last week. Out of curiosity I looked up the stat’s and there have been 77 drownings this year on the Great Lakes with 43 of them on Erie and Ontario. 700 total since 2010!

NoBones · #7 08-30-2018, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonV

Gasparilla Invasion fifteen years or so ago and had had enough of the 500 boats, free flopping boobs,

Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Easy on ole' John he fishes where
the girls wear Eskimo Parka's......:
Free flopping boobs !! He moves to Florida he will drop dead
of a heart attack after the first trip to one of the many islands through
out this state with all boob shaking going on down here ..

John, quit beating yourself up to be able fish 2 months out of the year..
BTW: There are several Raytheon domes on eBay for around $200

DonV · #8 08-31-2018, 09:29 AM

Sorry John! If you make it down for a gathering we will stay away from those "clothing optional" islands, we want everyone to stay healthy! Hey Bones, wasn't too sure about this Parka thing, however as luck would have it our LL Bean Fall catalog just came in the mail and now I see how an Eskimo Parka would put a damper on checking out bouncing boobs! Fortunately we don't see too many of those Parka things in Florida!