Thought I would tell the story of my wife and my first outing in our boat.
I was raised in a family of boats, my wife had little to no boating experience. We saved our money and ordered a new 18 foot Duckworth for our family Christmas present. We were told it would be several months at the time of order before delivery
. To our surprise a few days later we were told we could get our boat in a couple days if we would accept a different colored top. That was a no brainer, bring on the new boat, I was tired of waiting. The boat is a 1996 model and we took delivery on Dec 23, 1995. I have to admit that I spent a lot of time in the back of dads boat, but limited time at the wheel. Dad liked to be in control when on the water. It is a long standing tradition in our family to go crabbing in Tillamook bay at night on Chrismas eve, weather permitting. We paint the crab pot floats with flouresent paint, and use a spot light to find them. They shine like a new penny when the light hits them.
Well we were going to log some hours in the boat on Chrismas Eve during the daylight. A one day old boat and lots of enthusiasm. We had plans of running around Tillamook bay, getting use to the boat. It was cold and the grey skies looked like rain. The bay was rough and we didnt feel comfortable going out on the maden voyage in rough water. Feeling disappointed with the water conditions, we changed our plans to spend some time on Lake Lytle. It is small, shallow and best of all close. The boat was getting wet one way or another. The first attempt to launch didnt go well. We were on a shallow slope and had the entire pickup, and trailer in the water and the boat would not float off the trailer. After realizing the water is deeper closer to the bridge, we finally got the boat off the trailer. For those that have not spent any time running a pump, slow speeds are very difficult to steer and manuver the boat. Getting to the dock in a smooth fashion is difficult. The first couple attempts were a bit of a rough landing. We removed that little extra layer of wood off dock edge corners.
We managed to make a couple laps around the lake after a slow start. We were enjoying our new shiny toy for Christmas. I decided I needed some docking practice, so back to that end of the lake we go. When we pull up to the dock, it was looking much better. Things were looking up with a little practice. My wife stepped out onto the dock and held us there for a few moments. I told her to push us off and we would do another docking practice. Well the push off went well for a start. She did not let go of the boat though, nor did she step off of the dock into the boat. For those dont know the strength of ones toes, well she held onto that dock with her toes thru her shoes, when her body was finally level, arms extended, holding onto the boat with her hands, the dock with her toes things started to fall apart fast. As the boat kept moving away from the dock something had to give. She let go of the dock and the boat at the same time. Landing face first in the cold water. As she flailed in the water screaming for help, I looked at her and told her to stand up, its only 4 feet deep. After pulling her back on board, I was informed we were leaving NOW! We got the boat loaded, and went home with less than an hour on the meter.
Our first outing appeared to be what would be our worst. The next day (Christmas) proved to be a little worse at the Garibaldi Marina dock. After parking the pickup and empty trailer near the Troller restaurant, using the bathroom and finally getting to the boat, all appeared to be well on the surface. When the motor wouldnt start after repeated attempts I was flustrated. I decided it must be the spark plugs
Since I put a spare pair in the glove box the day before, I got out the wrench and was changing them. As I was leaned over the outboard motor with a wrench in one hand and a mouthful of short words. I noticed something didnt seem right. I turned around and see about 6 inches of water on the floor of the boat. We were nearly sank. I looked over on the side shelf of the boat and see the boat plug laying their loose. I managed to get the bilge turned on and the plug in the hole before going completely under. That is the first and only time I ever forgot the boat plug. It took about 45 minutes to bilge the water out of the boat. When I got the spark plugs changed, I realized I forgot to choke the motor all along. Good thing to, because we would have had the boat below sea level out in the bay rather than at the dock.
Anybody want to go fishing I am a lot better now?
our first and second boat outing
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