I yelled for him to stop and pull the boat back up, but by this time the rear tires on the truck had reached that mossy, slippery part of the boat ramp – that one that so many people slip on at low tide.
Our crew of advisers had been depleted by now – they had launched and left. New advisers were watching, and I yelled to ask them for some help. Some sat on the back of the truck to put more weight on the rear axle. Some pushed. In a bit, we had the boat – now half full of water – up on the trailer.
It was about then that our advisers began to smile and chuckle (they had to be dying laughing on the inside). I wondered why until I saw it. Firmly attached to the boat’s transom was the tie-down strap (aka torpedo) we had forgotten to remove.
Totally embarrassed, we finally got the boat drained of seawater and launched it. It launched quite easily once we removed that torpedo.
A run of about ten miles across Florida Bay was ahead of us. No worries – we had a brand new engine. Actually, it ran quite well, and we headed out to fish. It turned out to be a good fishing trip as far as fishing went. We caught quite a number of trout and snapper.
On the way back in, the afternoon sea breeze had kicked up and we were bouncing in a three foot chop. About half way in, as I turned to see our wake and watch the flats around us, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye – another torpedo had been launched at us. As we quartered the oncoming waves, the boat rolled back and forth in those waves. The movement I caught was that of the new engine. It was wobbling back and forth, left and right on the transom! But, this time luck was with us.
I yelled and we stopped the boat. I went to the stern and saw that the engine had two hand tightening knobs holding it on the transom. Had the dealer mounted it, he would have drilled and bolted it down. Since my friend mounted it himself, he figured that the hand knobs would do just fine.
They had loosened, and it was sheer luck that we caught it before the engine actually came off the transom. I began tightening the knobs, only they would not tighten. Oh, they screwed in – into the transom – but nothing got tight. They actually had broken through the fiberglass on the transom and were mushing through that rotten wood.
Suffice it to say, we idled the rest of the way back to the ramp. Once on the trailer, we found that the engine was so unstable that we had to lift it off the boat, disconnect all the wiring, and put it in the back of the truck.
My friend began the day on top of the world - new (to him) boat; new engine; and, a day of fishing. He ended it with several torpedo holes in him and in his boat.
Once we got the boat on the trailer, he asked me to drive home. He said he didn’t feel well for some reason. It was a tenuous ride home.
It would have made a better story had that other tire blown – a final torpedo. But the old tire held, and we made it back safely.
The boat? It got repaired – actually he had a new transom put in it, and had the engine professionally mounted – this time with bolts. And he still uses it today. And, I believe I can safely say that he now goes fishing and really does feel on top of the world!
