I really screwed up today. REALLY. When I bought my current pontoon the gas gauge did not work. I found a wire broken off of the sender unit and repaired it. The gauge worked somewhat. When the tank was full it showed half full. when it showed empty it was still half full. I filled the tank Friday morning (holds 24 gal) and fished Friday, Sat and Sun mornings. When I put the boat up Sunday it showed Empty which I assumed meant it was half full. ( I guess I ran a lot more than usual because after fishing Tuesday morning on the way in we ran out of gas. No other boats anywhere, three miles from the marina, Called Rick, he was working, called the marina, no one available. Set the Xi5 on cruise control and aimed it at the marina. Two hours of sitting in the shade and trolling for little sandbass we made it in. The trolling motor must be pretty good on batteries because it was still going strong after two hours running on high.

Things to do.

1. Get the gas gauge fixed.
2. carry a small can of spare gas.
3. Get my head out of my a.....

#3 comes to mind 1st.....lol

Glad you got the larger breaker before your brain fart

I could have towed you in. Glad you made it back safe.

Dang Ernest. Should have called. It would have a been a perfect excuse for me to take off work to rescue a fellow angler in distress.

I had a fuel pump go out on me once in the middle of the lake. Tried trolling in. Trolling motor started smoking under the foot pedal and burnt up. My dad and I sat on the bow sharing one oar and passing it back and forth. My grandpa was in the back laughing his arse off!

It's dark up there!!! lol

We've all been there too...

That sounds like an adventure. I always wondered how that would go if my gas motor crapped out. Glad you made it back safe.

Ernest I have been there. That is part of what makes fishing an adventure, and not always a fun adventure.

Yes.... A real "sinking" feeling! Just like all these other "mishaps" ...been there too!!

Good fishin'

I think I'd feel sorry for you...if you hadn't told me three times you had to get the gas gauge fixed. So now, what about the:
1. running lights
2. 60 amp circuit breaker on the TM batteries
3. getting a new pair of shoes that don't mark up the floor
and I'll stop there as it'll take you a while to do all this

Don't hold back Guy ha

Well that was a bad way to finish off a day of fishing but glad you made it back. I call those 'Senior Moments' and have been noticing that I have been having more of them as I grow older. I just hope one of them doesn't end in my demise.

Sorry Jacob, I feel for your situation but I probably would have been laughing with your Grandpa and yelling "Stroke, stroke, stroke".

I never trust the gas gauge on a boat after every couple of trips I fill her up.

Worked with a guys once that lived in Miami and they took his boat to Cuba fishing 90 miles out and broke the steering cable. Luckily their were 3 of them in the boat and were able to limp back to Miami.

Glad things worked out and you arrived safely.

I can vividly remember a cold January night on Fork..I flat forgot to even look at the gas gauge before I launched..I was thinking all day that I had put gas in the night before and didn't need any.

It happens to the best of us!

Happens to all of us, I had my outboard fall off the transom in 70' of water, I had taken it off to paint the trailer and did not crank it down hard enough. It was calm at least and just used the trolling motor back, seemed like forever. I saw too much of Cochiti lake that day.