Valuable lesson learned?

    In light of the recent deleted posts,I've been pondering something lately.Being prepared.I usually am.My wife teases me,my friends tease me,they all say I'm overprepared.I always carry tools,spare tires,fluids,etc.I have saved my friends from many a chilly canadian night by fixing their snowmobiles trailside from my"unnecessary"stash of tools and spare parts.I once rigged my friends windshield washer pump & resevoir to pump gas into the carb on his truck when his fuel pump failed(long story).
   Anyways,It occurred to me that when it comes to boating I'm not prepared.I've never changed an impellar,but there's no doubt in my mind I could,problem is I don't carry one.I also rarely leave the comforts of my own lake,so no big deal,right?Maybe not.Things can happen anytime,and if I don't have one now,I wouldn't have one if I was using my boat at another lake.The reason I bring this up,is that I don't keep an anchor in my boat either.Some of you know this from the reunion sandbar.Why would I.If I need to tie up my boat I bring it back to my camp.I also do not carry my cell phone on me in my home lake because it rarely gets reception.
   I was out cruising with my father in law in his boat today.We stopped to see a neighbor and his wife came out of the house.She said"Tom is calling from his cell phone,he's out of gas in the middle of the lake,He wants to know if Mike can come get him".Well as luck would have it,the neighbor had five gallons of gas in a can,so we took it out to Tom,laughing all the way.There he was,anchored in the middle of the lake,out of gas,in sight of the gas station.I thought,what an idiot.He has a Centurion Lightning and I guess when it says "E" you're S.O.L. Apparently he was having too much fun with the kids to notice he was on fumes.No excuse,and if alone,in a desolate place,he could've been in trouble.But he wasn't.He had a cell phone with the numbers of his lakeside neighbors programmed in.He gets spotty reception as well,but in that particular spot it worked.He said to me"I feel like an idiot".I said"you should,but it's all good,because if it was me,the wind would have already blown my boat into those rocks-because I don't have an anchor,and my cell phone is turned off in my truck."I just took my boat to NECC for a 75 hour service,and before I put it back in the water,I'll have a spare impellar,a cell phone and an anchor on board! Home lake or not.


        Mike

    

Mike... a while ago I posted "what do you carry on your boat?" Interesting... some real good things that I never though of were mentioned..swimming goggles!...I recently had a tow rope into the prop...sure could have used some eyewear!
Anyway...I do have a small tool box...other than basic tools...I keep a few spare parts stuff...impeller,belts and fuses etc.

If nothing else, I am all for the first aid kit! My family were all out on a very crowded lake Saturday, and my wife just happened to ask if we had a first aid kit on board. I said yes and started to show here where. Guess what, it was not there. Upon getting back home, I discovered I removed the kit during winter lay-up and never put it back in the boat...doh!

I've got very bad cell coverage on my lake as well. I've often thought about using two-way walkie-talkies when we go out (one on the boat, the other at the lakehouse). We use them snow skiing to keep in touch with the kids. They are very useful for that purpose. Has anyone used them on the water....they should be good up to 3-4 miles, which on my lake is just about what I'd need for decent coverage.

We keep an oar in the bow incase of engine failure. Don't really have any dangers on the lake to drift into, so worst case scenario is I borrow someone's dock and walk back, pick up pontoon boat and tow the POS back to the lift.

Kevin...you young dudes are in great shape...swim the POS back!

I usually carry a bull horn with 8 fresh DD batteries. It's useful for calling for help, waking up the lake at 6:00am on a calm summer morning, screaming at drivers doing high speed turn arounds to pick up their skier, answering questions when a police/warden boat pulls up along side (that usually surpises them), and catching your pa$$engers off guard--although that doesn't seem to work as well after they've been with you for a while.

Although it's one of the handiest safety items I can think of, Mrs. Dude is constantly taking it out of the boat and hiding it from me. What the?

A whistle is handy to if you don't want to carry a bull horn like "the dude". May want to put a set of GOOD tweezers and needle in your first aid kit. Never know when you'll get that fibergla$$ splinter in your hand awith no means to remove it. Most First aid kits don't have neosporin either so through in a small tube of that. First aid tape can double as electrical tape in a pinch if you don't have any stashed in your tool box.

Keep a leatherman handy in your glove box too instead of dragging out the tool box from underneath the bow. Put a small container of vaseline or a small tube of O-lube for those o-rings you keep in there too. Throw in some electrical splices in case your radio goes out or a burned that wire that got a little too close to the manifold.

I keep a small funnel tucked away by the muffler(?) with a Qt of type III for the transmission. The funnel can be used in case of emergency if the impeller goes out and you have to bail water by hand to the engine to idle back to the ramp. ( trust me on this one!)
I've got an oar tucked up and away over the flex ducting for emergencies too. A slalom ski works almost as good ( trust me on this one too!)

Re-evaluate your cell phone service to see if it might pick up on your normal water playground. You might be surprised. I was with Bell-South mobility (now cingular)and switched to Verizon cause its service works anywhere on the local lake. I got stranded once with my starving 5 yr old daughter just after leaving the ramp at dusk when my truck died. After two hours,I was saved by a sheriff just pa$$ing by who radioed back to have dispatch phone my wife for help. A stressed out wife showed up in the explorer and we towed the boat back home. Long night!

Lake Jackson. You guys ain't got much water up there do you?

Mike- great topic. It was pretty funny to see all the boats on Milton without anchors and we were searching high and low for a pair of pliers to adjust the binding on that old wooden ski.
I have to admit that I get pretty spoiled on my home lake too. The cell phone usually comes out on the boat so we can meet up with friends.
The #1 essential in any boat is a good bottle opener- the tail end of a combo ski works pretty well to pop a top if you're in a pinch

I think we've got to be up towards the top of the list also. We're also constantly made fun of. We've even got tools! We've got a basket in the storage filled with a spray bottle of Fantastic, 303, couple of rags, a sponge, portable air horn (that would make a 2nd), first aid kit, 2nd fire extinguisher (including fireboy), 2 paddles, SOS flag (came w/ the boat), funnel, air pump (for skyski), one of those poles to push off the bottom in shallow ramps, huge oversized anchor that will garunatee a hold in any wind (that has saved the boat from the rocks on more than one occasion), goggles (as some of you know from the reunion), I know the throwable is mandatory for everyone, but ours is placed in a very accessable (sp?) location, and I think we just took our flares out... :) Cell phone just goes wherever I go... I'm sure there's more I just cant remember now... Extra ropes always come in handy...

no impeller though...

I second the portable power supply. Mine also has a 12v cigarette lighter type reciprocal (used to charge my cell phone last weekend) and a built in air compressor. Fits nicely under the bow.

Beyond a spare set of belts, two impellars, ropes, anchor, tools, emergency stuff, I also have a large spot light as we often go out in the boat at night.