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THE POOR MAN'S BILDGE PUMP! EVERY BOAT HAS ONE!


Shack

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Does anyone know the poor mans bidge pump? Or the I forgot the plug and your in 1' 1/2 of water, get ya out of trouble so you do not ruin the day trick? Well I'll tell ya! You get the boat to full throttle, or the fastest your boat will go full of water. This is key, so pay attention. Slowly carefully take and pull the drain plug out. As strange as it might be, the same thing that got you into this mess (in that case do not even put plug back in, get her to full throttle right away) can get you out of it. I my self have fallen victum to the rush at the launch. You want to get out fishing badly or impress your buddies on how cool of a set you have. Most times first trip of year. During the launch time, you forget the one little most important thing of fishing from a boat, "the plug". This little F.M.er tip is from me to you. I hope it will help. For all of you that had know of this trick, you know what I mean.

P.S.,

At least your boats floor and carpet are clean after this. After finding out 1/4 to 1/2 mile from launch that you forgot to put plug in and saving a badly sinking boat before your fishing buddies eyes. 9 times out of 10, the first things out of there mouths after this drama is "at least your carpet is clean"

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I was out on a lake for the last time last fall, and, I asked a buddy to put the plug in, I was in the boat already and the plug had to go in from the outside. Anyways, we get to the spot, drop our lines and he noticed that the water was filling the boat, bilge pump could not keep up. He started to panic wondering what we hit.. I looked over the transom and noticed the plug was gone, I gave him a whole bunch of grief, then, as I was getting my lifejacket on I told him we have to swim for shore. Talk about panic, what about all the gear? I yelled at him what about our lives? Then I said if you had put the plug in... that was immediately followed by you watched me put it in, I said I did not, I saw you go back there, but, I did not physically watch you put it in. I told him we had better hope a boat comes by within a few minutes of jumping in due to hypothermia... it was cold . He started panicking even more, I was laughing histerically on the inside, knowing that the water problem would not be an issue as long as we were moving. (I know I am not very nice) well after the water was up to my feet, gas tank floating, battery just about under, I started the motor and proceeded to head back to shore, granted I did not have to go full throttle, (which was impossible) By the time we made it back to the landing, the boat was empty, at this point I dropped him off to get my truck and, while waiting for him, I sat back and watched a very comical incident at the landing, unfortunately while watching these goings on I forgot about the plug being missing blush.gif, and, well, I had to make another trip around the lake. I felt bad for putting him through this, I told him I knew the whole time we were not going under, that was followed by a shot to the arm. I had to buy lunch that day as well. I also learned a couple very important lessons, 1. Do not trust that a buddy knows what he is doing even if he has done it many times, well with your boat anyway. 2. Always have a spare plug in the tackle box.

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It still works well... Had to use mine last week. Helps to put that plug back in, before YOU back in. I bet I do it 1 or 2 more times this year.

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Good story! I have been in similar situation before!

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Ah, yes,...the spare plug.... now there is something that needs to be on everybody's list if it isn't already. Good tip!

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I could have used a spare a couple of years ago. I was fishing in my small boat and I was accumulating quite the collection of water in the boat. Being as lazy as I am an not wanting to bail by hand, I started up the motor and pulled the plug to drain the boat. Problem being, I broke the plug when I pulled it out. This incident ended my glorious day on the water and made for an interesting boat landing on shore.

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The best laughs in life are playing jokes on fishing buddy's

so when you are in the old folks home, you can still think back and laugh at the jokes you played.

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Eyes,

You bring up a good point. I think replacing your plug is a good idea, so you do not run into this problem. I on the other hand, pull my plug every fall when I put boat away. Every spring, by then I loose the plug and have to replace it. I am sure I have about 5-10 plugs rolling around in my hull area some were.

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Great story.

My guess is that when you find the missing minnow scoops,

ice skimmers and the one of a kind gloves........

the missing plugs will be right there with them.

tweed

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I had my 9 year old son out on Winnie one afternoon when after bout 3 drifts over little muskie bar I noticed quite a bit of water on the floor and all of a sudden the gas tank was floating. The plug actually worked loose from backtrolling and went under the floor. My son's eyes got as big as 50 cent pieces. I told him not to worry and fired up the motor and headed for the landing. By the time we got back there, no more water. We laugh about it now, but I know he was freaked out. I now keep a spare plug in the rod locker. He makes sure it's there everytime we go out.

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I agree the poor mans bildge works well, but you guys have to make sure you don't gun it to fast. I've watched a boat that was in trouble like this. He hit the gas and all that water came to the back of the boat real fast. The back of the boat sunk and then the whole boat completely swamped. You could only see the top few inches of the boat. If he would have taken it a little slower at first chances are he would have slowly drained the water and been fine. It was pretty new 1775 Pro V, so this is proof size doesn't matter grin.gif You just need to know what you're doing.

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You can use just about anything that will fit into the hole to stop the water flow,Even a piece of cloth will work in a pinch.Slow leak beats sinking/hypothermia anyday! confused.gifsmirk.gifgrin.gifc63

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Oh yea,now I understand why some manufacturers put a small chain on the plug connected to the transom so stupid me can't loose the plug! grin.gifc63

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A great emergency substitute for a lost boat plug is your typical styrafoam slip bobber. It works equally well in the expanding type plug and the threaded type. It will get you by in a pinch. I figured this out in a time of despair on White Bear Lake when and a buddy an I beached our boat at the beach to check out the scenary and grab a bite to eat.

Hopefully you will never have to try this. It does work very well. Just push and turn with some force.

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Good idea, I think I will chain my plug (t-style expander type) to bildge line or other area. Thanks!

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