Friday the 13th

[Island Runner]

I know exactly what you mean. I was headed to my boat Friday evening, to finally get out and fish saturday/sunday, when I got a call from a buddy who was launching his, new to him, 27' Sportcraft. He asked when will you get to the marina? I said 2.5 hrs as I live 150 miles from my boat and had just left. He said I need your help, my boat died and the wind blew me up against a seawall and now I'm tied up to the seawall and I have a thru-hull that is leaking water. At that point I already knew my fishing for the weekend was shot!
I hate to talk bad about a buddy, but WOW! This boat was is no way ready to be launched and ,to be honest, I can not believe the marina allowed it to be launched!
Upon arriving at my marina, I found him up against a seawall ankle deep in water trying to get his boat started. I said turn on your bilge pump. He said I did, but when I turn on the bilge pump, my horn blows! And this was just the beginning. Luckily I have spools of primary wire on my boat and two extra 2000gph bilge pumps and switches as I had just upgraded my pumps to 4000gph the weekend before. I rigged one up to pump him out and installed the other once it was pumped out. He did not even have a working bilge pump in his boat! I then was able to stop the leaking thru-hull with a homemade gasket and lots of 3M 5200.
Once the threat of sinking was gone it was time to get running. It was pretty obvious he had water in his gas and spinning off the water separator confirmed it. Of course I had a extra one on my boat and after hooking up a small pump and pumping the water and bad gas from the bottom of his tank, and a new filter in the carburator, which I also had a spare of, it was able to make its way to his dock. And the funny thing is, his dock is the closest dock at the marina to the crane! Its less than 50 feet away and he didn't make it!
Anyway, after we got it tied off, I said I need to run to my boat and put my food in the fridge etc. He road with me and when we got to my boat he drank 6 of my beers! Like he was dying of thirst. He then sees I have an extra shore power cord and asks if he can have it!!! I said no, thats for when I travel to other marinas and I need it. I instead let him borrow the 2 end connectors that make it possible to use a regular extension cord. I didn't need them anyway I guess.
Saturday, I gave him 2 brand new battery cables that I had as his burnt somehow. After rewiring half of his boat Saturday, I'd be damned if I wired the whole boat, I said I had to get going and he would need to finish the rest. He had the nerve to ask if we could take my boat out to fish! I said I had things to do and left, without a thank you or a how much do I owe you for the 2 bilge pumps, 2 float switches, 2 power adapters, a water/fuel separator, carburator filter, 2 battery cables, 3 spools of wire, 5 packs of terminal and but connectors, and 3 packs of different sized heat shrink tubing, and 1.5 days of labor!!!
Some peoples mentality I will never figure out!!!!!!

[boonie]

Guy's.......Friends like that, you don’t need enemies

[walleye2go]

Hey you guys want to be buddies? Where do you guys dock at? I could use some help figuring some stuff out. LOL...WOW...

Greg

[Hoss928]

A little humorous to read about. But I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time.

The nerve of some people.

[wakina]

LOL: Island Runner, your post doesn't change anything that has happened to me on my end but it does make me feel better knowing that I am not the only one who has had a jerk for a friend! I eliminated my friendly fishing jerk from my list of fishing friends! He is done on my boat I told him point blank!

[ReelTime]

Guys...those kind of folks aren't friends. I call them sponges! You both have more patience then I do. I am always the first to help someone but treat me like that once and we are DONE.

Wakina as you know April 1st was the first time I had ever launched at Deep Creek. When we came out of the Toussaint river there it was so shallow I was concerned about getting back in if the wind picked up. I was showing less than 3 F.O.W. so what happens if it's a north wind blowing 3 to 4's?

[wakina]

Guys...those kind of folks aren't friends. I call them sponges! You both have more patience then I do. I am always the first to help someone but treat me like that once and we are DONE.

Wakina as you know April 1st was the first time I had ever launched at Deep Creek. When we came out of the Toussaint river there it was so shallow I was concerned about getting back in if the wind picked up. I was showing less than 3 F.O.W. so what happens if it's a north wind blowing 3 to 4's?

North or NE brings the water up quite a bit but the water between those large wave tops will allow your boat to bottom out in the sand with a thud so it can be a real P. I. A. when going out or returning.

[CATCHNRELEASE]

Your boat sounds awsome but it sounds like you fish alone alot in that big 32footer so have you ever considered downsizing to something that would use less gas or have a smaller second 18-20 foot aluminum boat for those days when you don't need such a large boat. $200 a day in gas would do in most fisherman (or their ol lady would do them in first). Filling up on a regular basis must be brutal. But then with Erie there always is a trade off with too little (safety issues) vs too big a boat (cost of gas). Anyone else out there with this same situation who has 2 boats for this reason? So what is the perfect size boat all around for erie fishing ?21 ?22 ?23 ?24 footer. I am curious on someone's opinion as to the one size fits all boat for Erie that fits safety needs and economy needs. Thanks.

[Island Runner]

Wakina, I still know what you mean and how you feel. If you wanna read about a really bad day, read my post the Eastern Lake Erie fishing reports section under a thread named "lets talk about the bad days" or something like that.

Funny thing about this "buddy" is he used to fish on my boat quite a bit. But he is one of those guys who always wants to go fishing but never has the money to help on fuel. After too many free rides, I told him he had to pay. I can remember at least 4 time last year when I told him he must pay and when we would get back from a day fishing and pulled into the fuel dock, he would be broke. I finally had enough and said no more free rides and now its pay up front a flat $50. He thought that was ridiculous and quit asking to fish with me. Hell, I can hardly turn my engines on for $50 in fuel. A day of fishing is a minimum of $200 in fuel. I was eating the rest of the cost! He went a bought a boat instead. He called me knowing that I am up there every weekend and he knows no one else. I couldn't let a boat sink.

I believe what goes around, comes around. Boating fishing and cheap mix like oil in water. He'll learn he has to pay to play and pay alot more when its your own boat! No more free rides/parts/service from Island Runner!

[ReelTime]

At 50 bucks a day he was getting a helluva deal. He had it made and will soon realize that. Sounds like he already has.