Left the plug out once, retrieved a few hats that's about it.

So far i have drove from irving to my brother in laws house in athens to fish up there and relized i forget the keys, lucky my wife drove all the way back to get the keys and got back to athens at 11 pm.
Second i took my other brother in law fishing on lake ray hubbard and we fished for a couple of hours and i went to get something from the cup holder and accidently hit my bilge pump button and man did the water come flying out, opened the battery area and was full of water, drove back to the launch to drain the boat and put the plug in and started back out again, i guess nitro's don't sink.lol

Always make sure you have some sort of tolls on the boat at least some plyers and a screwdriver.

And if you are going across the lake and the motor stops running for no reason, always and i mean always check your kill switch.lol

And it help to always raise your trolling motor up before getting on plain.lol

ray

Jason,
I did the same thing several years back when taking my daughter camping at Ray Roberts. Found out tents don't work too well without the poles! Luckily the next door camper had a screened awning they let us sleep in. Sure haven't forgotten them since then!

Hey LakeAthensMan, I did the same thing a few years back when taking my daughter camping at Ray Roberts. Found out tents don't work too well without poles! Luckily the camper next door had a screened awning they let us sleep in. Not much privacy but sure kept the skeeters off of us. Have never forgotten them since then!

Here are some things I do.

Ialways unplug the troller motor before loading onto trailer. Seen that blade turing to fast and to close to my face one time when reaching over the bow to hook up the strap.

I Always remove my fishfinder before trailering. Place it in it's case with the plug and keys and then the case goes into my truck or storage in the boat.

Some other things that you may already know.

Please turn off your head lights when on the ramp at night. Others can not see when backing down.

Please spend as little time on the ramp as possible. Another words remove load boat and remove rear straps before getting on the ramp.

Enjoy the your boat and respect the water and weather.

Sorry about the repost. Didn't think the 1st one took!

EVER WOKE UP AND YOUR WIFE AND CHILD ARE GONE ALONG WITH YOUR BEST ROD,TACKLE BOX,TRUCK AND BOAT? WHEN I WAS A YOUNG FELLA,
MY DAD USE TO STAY OUT ON THE LAKE ALL WEEKEND. SO ONE FRIDAY NIGHT WE PLAYED A NICE TRICK ON HIM. WE TOOK THE TRUCK AND THE BOAT AND WENT BANK FISHING AT RAY HUB BY THE POWER PLANT CAUGHT A FEW FISH AND WHEN TO MY GRANNY'S HOUSE AND SLEPT THE REST OF THE NIGHT. WELL, THE NEXT MORNING HE HAD THIS BIG FISHING TRIP ALL PLANNED, HE SAID, "I TURN OVER, NO WIFE"! HE SAID, " THAT WAS A GOOD THING"! HE GOT UP TO GET READY AND COULDN'T FIND IS BEST ROD. HE SAID, "HELL IT MUST BE IN THE BOAT". HE GOT READY TO WALK OUT AND HE SAID,"MAY I SOULD TAKE MY BOY"? BUT HE THOUGHT HE WOULDN'T AFTER ALL. TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT! NEVER DIS OBEY THE WIFE AND PUT YOUR BOAT KEYS ON YOUR TRUCK KEY RING!

One more for you: Going down road and ride feels funny. When you get home you see you forgot to wrench down the front of the boat and it has slid back almost off the bunk boards and your lower unit has scraches on the bottom of it where it was hitting the pavement!!! Also you are on the lake and you see water coming in the drain in the floor of the boat, so you drive like HELL to the dock thinking you have a leak and find out you pulled the plug out on the last stump!!
One thing I would sujest if you have a rubber plug in the transon DO NOT USE the plug with a lift handle, use a T type plug that you screw in tight. The ones with a flip handle come off to easy.

Yeah, try getting your wife outta bed at 3 a.m., driving to a boat ramp 2 hours away, boat won't crank, drive 2 hours back home, your neighbor coming over and saying, "Oh yeah, your kill switch was disengaged."

Wife used choice words.

Geez, it only happens to ya ONCE !!

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Ax Man Mac

Well now I have another one to add to this post,, My brother gets the dumbar@s of the year award.. for anyone that saw us Sunday on hubbard,, he fired up the motor to chase some birds and totally forgot about the anchor thus chopping the rope in the prop and killing the motor, fortunately all it did was loose the anchor, What the heck it's his 20 bucks +

Jason,

I like the one about turning the front wheels to one side before setting the parking brake when backed up at the ramp by yourself. I launch-n-load by myself all the time and I had never thought of the turning the front wheels to one side before geting out of the truck.

Come to think of it, I usually like to use the end ramps as well so's I don't hold up anyone on the middle ramps. You probably just saved me from a big heartache down the road....Thanks.

While I'm on the subject, I'm convinced that I can safely launch and load my boat faster than most of the partnered boaters I've run across at the ramps that I've been to lately. Seems to me that it's a new experience for them everytime they get to the ramp.......and the "headlight's off at the ramp" comment was priceless. I am always amazed at the lack of common sense displayed by an over abundance of people while loading their boats at night.

And...don't forget roaring out of a cove with the trolling motor still down -- you realize it when the spray of water is coming over the windshield!

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fishinfanatic

So, back to the post, do all outboards with electric start recharge the battery? I have a 1955 Johnson with electric start (my first boat). Does it recharge the engine? I never even thought about it...

Here's a tip that most probably already know
I keep a pair of jumper cables in the battery compartment so I can jump the crank battery off of the trolling batteries if I have a problem.

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"If the Good Lord's willin and the creeks don't rise"

So many things to remember. So many things to do. I forgot why I came to the lake. Maybe I should get rid of this boat.