SeaRay Tales

[bljones]

As so often happens, a discussion has prompted another discussion, which prompted some introspection, and about halfway through a bottle of Sailor Jerry's, I made the connection:
SeaRays are the devil's tool.
Have you ever notice how many tales of mishaps, accidents, and general poor seamanship revolve around SeaRays of all shapes and sizes? On land, you know that nothing good can come after the phrase, "hey bubba, hold my beer" - perhaps "let's take out the SeaRay.." is the waterborne equivalent.

so, what the hey, let's hear your "One time there was this SeaRay..." tales.

Here's one of mine:


Saturday night, about 6:00, we have just returned to our slip and over the radio we hear a CG request for assistance. A Sea Ray has called for help, stating they are out of gas, about 5 kms southeast of the marina. Not much we can do- we carry diesel, I don't have a spare fuel tank for gas, and the fuel dock is closed. I decide to monitor the VHF anyway. If the request is repeated, I'll scoot into town and pick up a five gallon jug of gas, and take it out- we were planning to head out to snap some pics anyway. In any event, no more was heard. A couple of hours later, just as the sun is setting , the CG RIB comes rumbling into the harbour, towing a 23-25' Sea Ray with four 20something guys lounging in the cockpit. Turns out these bozos are the same bozos i had noticed the night before, blasting into the marina after midnight and backing into the wrong slip, realizing their mistake, roaring out, and then roaring into the correct slip, which just happens to be four fingers down from us. I make the connection that this was the boat that alerted the CG earlier. Apparently nobody came to their rescue. I trotted down the dock to give them a hand landing. We got the dead boat nosed into the slip so that the tow line could be released, all the while the apparent owner is complaining that the boat should be backed into the slip! I toss the line back to the Coasties, and the bozos start attempting to manhandle the boat out of the slip so it can be backed in. no fenders are out, the mooring lines are on the dock, no lines on the deck, one guy holding a boat hook on deck and three guys trying to simultaneously push the boat out and pivot it around the boat hook. I ask if they wannt help, we get things straightened out and I get the story:
They were coming back from a day of fishing and drinking, and realized they were low on fuel. When they were down to an 1/8th of tank, the pilot thought they couldn't make it and shut her down, then called for help!

"So," I says, "you still have fuel?"
"Yeah, a little."
"So, why are we PUSHING this boat around?"
"We were listening to the stereo while waiting for help and killed the battery."
Apparently the aftermarket stereo is wired directly to the starting battery. And no tools on board to swap batteries.
In any event, this brought to mind a question- how out of fuel do YOU have to be before you call for help? Should you run her until she's dry, putting you closer to shore and shortening the trip for any would be rescuers, or do you do what this bozo did, determine you can't make it and kill it?

Now, remember, these guys were all of 3 miles out. I don't know the tank size and consumption rate of the engine on this boat, but my suspicion is they had enough fuel to make it... or at least get within paddling distance.

[Cruisingdad]

WHoa Boy... this should be an interesting thread.

[cb32863]

/* Getting my popcorn and a cold drink */

I have folks on my little lake, maybe 3 miles wide and 6 long, lots of nice bays, that have boats that are around 38'........ with radar...... One of the big boys never slows down around any other boats. Motors on through no matter what. One would think with radar in the light of day he would know there are other boats around and his wake is annoying as hell..... Not sure if it is a SeaRay but, does it really matter?

[QuickMick]

not that this has anything to do with seamanship, but there was some party going on... people were imbibing fairly heavily. i turn around and look--and now im not sure if im seeing this or ive been transported into some david lynch movie--and see an aged (60ish?) man who had absconded someones black thong underwear (all he was wearing) dash by me down the dock.... right onto his searay

image burned into my brain oh the humanity!!

[jrd22]

Originally Posted by QuickMick

not that this has anything to do with seamanship, but there was some party going on... people were imbibing fairly heavily. i turn around and look--and now im not sure if im seeing this or ive been transported into some david lynch movie--and see an aged (60ish?) man who had absconded someones black thong underwear (all he was wearing) dash by me down the dock.... right onto his searay

image burned into my brain oh the humanity!!

And you found this unusual?

[QuickMick]

he was a skinny little man, giggling maniaclly--and sagging in all the wrong places...

[JohnRPollard]

Okay, here's mine. I've posted this before, in some other threads, but it seems appropriate here too. I view Searays and express cruisers as all one in the same.

Originally Posted by JohnRPollard

Except for the incident below, we had a nice weekend too. But the winds were light.

We hunkered down in Harness Creek off the South River. We had a nice, clear spot to set anchor and swing.

Mid-day Sunday, two older 30+ foot express cruisers anchored/rafted upwind of us, only about 1.5 boat lengths to windward. Too close for comfort, plus I watched the guy anchor and knew there'd be trouble.

A little after lunch, Captain Knucklehead pulls in what little scope he'd deployed. I see the bows of the rafted boats begin to fall off the wind, as the two boats turn broadside to us, dead upwind. I jump to the bow of our boat and shout that they're drifting down on us. The guy with the anchor rode in his hand (Captain Knucklehead), says "I was just pulling it up to see if it was holding alright."

I'm not kidding. That's what he said. He actually pulled the anchor completely up to check on it.

Meanwhile he shouts to his rafted neighbor to start the engine and back them off. Too late. They've swung down on us and we are trying our best to fend their rafted boats off our bow pulpit. They are broadside to us, but fortunately their running gear is not on top of our rode (line). The other boat starts engine and slowly -- with lots of fending -- backs them off our boat and rode.

So I think we're done now. They are well clear and they will go find a better place to anchor, right? I can go back to the cockpit and relax finally.

Nope.

The boat that started it's engine was the downwind boat, i.e. the one up against our pulpit. After completely clearing us, he keeps his boat in reverse, which causes the raft to spin a 180. He continues backing down and drags Captain Knucklhead's boat right across our bows again, snagging and tangling our rode on Captain Knucklhead's running gear.

The ensuing "de-tangling" was another goat rope. I can't even bring myself to write about it. Suffice to say, I want an all chain rode now.

And of course, they plunked anchor down in the same spot again when all was said and done.

P.S. CD, don't you have a story a about a former partner of yours?

[sailjunkie]

Originally Posted by Cruisingdad

WHoa Boy... this should be an interesting thread.

You got that right!

This is the kind of stuff that is normally associated with Bayliners. Can we trash them too? I ask because more often than not, when the local CCG relays a Pan Pan, the boat make is a Bayliner!

Maybe the OP is talking about a Bayliner disguised as a Sea Ray?

[bljones]

In my experience, SeaRay owners are just Bayliner owners with better credit or an inheritance. So, sure, post your Bayliner tales too.


BTW, I don't know if it is just a local phenomenon or not, but what is it with powerboaters leaving their mooring lines attached to the dock, ie casting off from the cleats on the boat rather than the dock cleats? I get that it means less clutter on board and you get to make full use of those fancy retractable cleats, but it makes for an absolute flustercluck when returning to the slip. Entertaining, though.

[smackdaddy]

I've only had one real problem with a SeaRay where he refused to give way in a head-on situation while I was under sail - despite my impressive horn blowing. A hassle, but not that big of a deal.

However, we were almost run-down by a 50+' house boat like the one below while sailing into our marina..



He screamed that we were supposed to give way because he was a larger vessel....blah, blah, blah. I assured him very loudly that he was, in fact, a flaming bonehead. Couldn't even drive a freakin' house!