Yes, I pumped out the rest of the water from the ramp. But, I�m glad I wasn�t in the middle of the lake to find out if it could keep up with the substantial amount of water that was filling the hull at an alarming rate.

I do a lot of business with BPS in Garland (not sure which one you bought from) and most are very knowledgeable about their products, especially electronics. However, their make ready and service dept. leaves a lot to be desired. I bought and had them install two Lowrance graphs, one at the console and one at the bow. Very disappointed in the workmanship. Had to redo some of their work including re-routing some wiring and relocating a transducer. What you described is totally unacceptable and should be reported to management. You are very fortunate no serious damage was incurred. Having said that you may need to make yourself a check list for launching and loading your boat at least until you establish a routine. I've seen trailers floating with boats on them more than once and it can happen to anyone especially if you're in a hurry. I've also seen guys trying to back their boat off the trailer and the hook is still attached to the boat. $hit happens at the worse time too. Congrats on your new boat.

Nitro?

Hate to hear that. I would drive that sucker in there first thing tomorrow morning and tell 'em to break out their fine tooth comb, cause they got work to do.

Things happen it won�t be the last time something goes wrong we all make mistakes

Turns out the fitting that connects the hose to the port was broken. Dealer MAY have the part and will take it first thing in the morning to Cabela's (shoutout to them for taking care of the situation when they had nothing to do with this ordeal). I wouldn't be so upset but this may effect my plans for Thursday which include somebody else's time and I HATE holding other people up or cancelling plans last minute.

Been there and done that on the loose hose. Also have forgotten the plug a few times.

I also have slung the boat off, with a rope attached to the winch strap.....and forgot to latch the catch in the on the strap ......and watched my boat drift away. Also have launched my old boat with a transom save still attached to the lower unit.


Only thing I've done on the new boat was launch it with the steering stops still snapped onto the sea star. Felt weird having no steering.

I've pretty much done it all at one time or another.


Glad you caught the FUBAR by the manufacturer. That could have been nasty

Sounds kinda "Nitro-ish". Am I right? Hopefully it was.....I wouldn't expect that from a "higher end" brand boat, but I've seen it all having owned a couple Nitros.

Ok, so I remember your screen name from a post a few weeks ago. Did you buy the boat you were referring too after all? If yes, can you post a pic of it?

Did you get to test drive the boat before you bought it?

My intention was not to be a smart A or anything. I've learned many lessons through my mistakes and the mistakes of others. I've been fortunate enough to only have left the drain plug out twice in my years of owning boats. The first time I was in a hurry and forgot. I was by myself fishing a bridge that was twenty feet above the water. I was wondering why all the people driving over seemed to be staring at me. After about fifteen minutes or so of fishing I figured it out. They were thinking to themselves I wonder how long it's going to take before he realizes he's sinking! The water was almost up to my knees when I was sitting at the console. Thankfully I was in a wide open body of water and was able to plow to drain enough out to get back to the launch.

I've forgotten straps, transom saver, bow hook, plug, etc. The weirdest one, was I pulled the livewell pump cartridge to clean it. There is an o-ring on the cartridge for the seal. Apparently it came off as I was standing on my head in the bilge to remove it. I launched, parked, and went fishing. A few minutes after I stopped, my auto bilge came on. No big deal, water came over the back when I stopped. A few minutes later it comes on again. Strange. No biggie. A few minutes later again. I look in the bilge, and water is coming out around the pump. Fortunately the o-ring was floating in the water. You would be surprised how much water comes out of the livewell pump housing when you remove the pump. Ha. Stuff happens, and stuff gets forgotten. It won't be the last time. When I bought my Champion, new, off the showroom floor, I picked it up and went straight to Fork. Got up the next morning to launch and go thru the break in routine. Boat wouldn't start. No power to anything on the motor. Did some checking and couldn't find anything. Haul butt back to the dealer on Saturday morning. It was a ground wire to the motor that wasn't connected. We're all humans, and we all forget things. Have fun with the new boat, it's just part of it.

I've had the exact same thing happen. Used boat though. Bought a Basscat Pantera II, backed into water, was rapidly filling with water. Turned out aerator pump cartridge that attached directly to inside of transom had busted, so there was just a hole in the boat. Was an interesting one to fix... I don't like that style of aerator so I changed it.

first boat , 15 years ago , brand new . I have the dealer install an extra battery for the TM . Couple trips getting used to being a first time boat owner --all OK . Third time out , my son and I are on catching em with C-Rigs . One gets gut hooked kinda bad and won't swim down , so I decide to see if putting in in my live well will help it survive. Several hours later , I try to get on plane , and the entire back end of the boat is full of water , and under the lake level , I slightly panic and try to get her on plane , making it sink worse . I pull off the big motor and turn of both bilge pumps , water starts pumping out , After an hour , middle of the lake , the boat pumps out . Dealer had disconnected the livewell pump to add the battery , never reconnected it up . Dam near sank the boat . PISSED OFF would be a complete under statement .

"Bilges" do not "work". A bilge is a low level interior SPACE in the bottom of a boat. The bilge is always there, whether it contains water or not, and pumps, hoses and wiring, or not.

Did he have an automatic BILGE PUMP, and did it work? .....he might not have noticed given the other distractions. An open livewell drain fitting will out-flow most stock bilge pumps, so I would not be surprised at a lot of water in the bilge. This is why I upgrade the bilge pump system on any boat I buy. My current boat has pumps with a combined flow just shy of 2500 GPH.

I'm surprised being a brand new boat that the dealer didn't, at the very least, lake test the boat before delivery.

One would think that the factory would test before leaving the factory.