first outing in my new-to-me boat 3/1/14

To the South Beaufort / Hilton Head
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About a month ago I bought a refurbished '68 13ft Whaler with a '97 2s Johnson 25hp. Haven’t been able to use it since the check ride until today. Not sure how many miles I covered but I burned about 4 gallons of gas. It used quite a bit more gas than I would have thought. I launched at Haigh Landing between Bluffton and Hilton Head about 8:30am on a very high tide.

I don’t remember ever launching, piloting, and retrieving a boat by myself. The last time I did it with some help was about 1982, so I was almost a total greenie today. My goals for today were to successfully launch and retrieve the boat, and to not hit anything. Scored an A+ on those. I was a bit nervous retrieving the boat. When I got back to the landing at 2:00pm it was almost low tide and the water was ripping across the ramp. I angled the trailer with the back end a bit downstream to make it a little easier and BINGO - ran it right up on the trailer on the first try. Only had to winch it about a foot or two.

The boat ran well, got on plane easily, and was trimmed out nicely. The 2 stroke is loud as the dickens, but it didn’t let me down…except once. I was up in a feeder creek off of Bull Creek. I was trying to float down but kept getting pushed into the bank so I decided to get it pointed downstream so I could motor out. At one point the motor died while idling as soon as I put it in gear. Then I couldn’t get it out of gear which meant I couldn’t start it. And I did not know how to fix that problem. So I started paddling out of the creek since the tide was going out and I didn’t want to get stuck back there. I made it back out to Bull Creek and was paddling downcurrent towards the May River when some gentlemen in a CC Scout pulled up to help. One of the guys said he knew how to fix that so he got on my boat and had the motor out of gear and running in about a minute. And he showed me how to turn the flywheel if that happens again. (I knew how to turn the flywheel but I didn’t know that was what I needed to do.) So I learned a little some

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Nice looking little boat…Forrest Gump looks like he’s say’n. get in the boat lets go

19ft. Carolina Skiff
w/115hp Yamaha 4stroke
27ft. Contender
w/twin 225hp Yamaha 4stroke

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He was funny. He was acting timid and a little scared, which is not his usual behavior. After an hour or two, I took his lifejacket off of him and he was instantly back to his normal behavior. Not sure what was going on in his little brain, but he didn’t like the lifejacket.

13ft Whaler with 25hp Johnson

If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.

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We were glad to help you today Steve. It was nice meeting you and little Forrest Gump. We didn’t catch squat (except the first Flounder of 2014) but enjoyed a great day in the sun. Nice little boat you had there. Stay safe.

2004 Scout 187 Sportfish
115 Yamaha

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Thanks again Sam. Hope to see y’all out there again soon. It was a great day to be on the water…not really when I first launched but it did get nicer.

13ft Whaler with 25hp Johnson

If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.

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Glad to see that you and the Gumpster made it back safely! We were glad to stop and help you out! Please wish us much luck with our wives tonight!

2013 Key West 210 Bay Reef 2013 F150 Yamaha

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I hope it went well! Thanks again.

13ft Whaler with 25hp Johnson

If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.

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Glad we could help. I was the crazy one that climbed aboard. Great looking boat. Have fun and don’t catch them all.

2004 World Cat 250 DC Twin 150 Honda’s

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quote:
Originally posted by Fullhouse

Glad we could help. I was the crazy one that climbed aboard. Great looking boat. Have fun and don’t catch them all.

2004 World Cat 250 DC Twin 150 Honda’s

Man, you guys are great. I’ll let y’all know next time I am in the water so you can come check on me :smiley:. Thanks again for the help and for the lesson.

13ft Whaler with 25hp Johnson

If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.