True story. It gets good at the end.
We were staying a week at Lake Cumberland. Broght two boats. Small fishing boat and a 23 foot cabin cruiser. Two couples with kids. I filled the cruiser up with gas first and my partner offered to split the difference. Since he worked for me I said I would pay for the first tank.
We put in and boat for two days. Me I am trying to get in the little boat and striper fish. With two women and a guy who likes to play golf none of them understood nor could I get away.
We pulled up to the dock on the second day and I filled the gas with my credit card. My partner offered and we agreed he could get the next tank.
We boated all day until dark having fun by all, (I am jonesing to fish by this time) We pull both boats out of the water because there was no slips available. He mentioned more than once that he was going to get the next tank. I agreed but the bourbon made he mention it more than once that night in our cabin.
Off we go the next day and I got to fish around noon. Bad timing as I wanted to fish early morning. I finally got my chance to go the next morning. My partner wanted to take the kids tubing all day and run the gas down as far as possible so he could fill it next.
This is where the story gets going. I told him we have a 65 gallon tank and it would last two days before getting close to 1/3 of a tank. The guage was bad it was my boat but he wouldn't listen.
I get in the little boat and catch my bait and am ready to go before daylight.
As I am back at the cabin lining up my equipment for the next day he starts to boast that he is going to the new Krogers in Russellville and fill up the tank. It is opening day and he is going to save 25% of what I paid at the dock. I didn't really care as all that was on my mind was a big striper.
I got up way before daylight and on the water at opportune time. Marked fish all morning and was sure I would nail one. Around 9:30 in the morning I was trolling in front of where we were staying. We stayed way up a clift and I saw the kids on the deck. I got on our motorola radio and got the kids to wave.
My wife gets on the radio and says you might want to get up here there is a problem with your boat. We had a discussion where she wanted me to come in and I wanted to stay out one more hour as I knew this was my last chance of the day. She agreed.
I get back to the cabin and there is my boat with everything out of it and on the ground. My buddy is working in panic mode. Sweating profusely and could hardly look me in the eye. My wife says we had a gas leak in the boat and we have been working on it all morning. I walk back to the rear of the boat and there he is drining 20 gallons of gas out at a time in Rubbermade containers.
He starts to explain what happened. He is at Krogers opening day and it is crowded as all get out. He climbs up on the boat from the outside and loosens the gas fitting and begins to fill the boat. Determined to prove me wrong on how much gas he ran out the day before. His wife is watching the gas pump as it nears $100 and ok thats enough. He claims no that we filled the tank up two times and it is his turn. As the pumps reach $200 he has had enough as well and gives his wife the credit card and says to go inside and pay.
He climbs up on the outside of the boat to put the cap on the gas fill and all of the sudden the bilge kicks on and gas comes flying out of the boat. Hits the garbage can on the side and goes everywhere. He panics and runs around to the back climbs in the boat and the bilge kicks on again. Spewing gas all over Krogers new parking lot during the grand opening.
HE climbs inside the aft cabin to turn the batteries off thinking of a major explosion is about to occur and steps in gas that reached right below his calf muscle. He turns off the batteries and gets out of the boat.
At this time everyone is standing around in amazement. His wife comes up and following him is the store manager. Obviously his first store manager position. His wife is asking him what the hell just happened. He can't even talk because he just saved Russellsprings from the biggest explosion they have ever seen.
The store manager is flipping through his policy book trying to do everything the correct way. He calls the fire department then he calls the sheriff and I don't know who else.
My buddy who is in a panic mode and still can't speak well enough for anyone around him to understand what is going on; is trying to explain that there is gas inside the boat. He looks at the manager and says there is gas in the boat and he is on the phone and is saying things like yessir I know there is gas in your boat but the first thing we have to do here is contain the spill. He is stammerin and studderin saying but there is gas in the boat.
Here comes the fire department and the sherrif ambulance and everyone else. The fire department is working on containing the gas. My buddy keeps telling everyone there is gas in the boat. Knowing in his head this would put a mushroom a good 50-100 yards in the air when it goes off.
Now you can imagine a puddle of gas out of a bilge that was on for that amount of time. It is under the boat and the truck that is pulling the boat.
The head of the fire department is tired of hearing my buddy say "What about the gas in the boat" He says look sir just move it over there and points to the entrance of Kroger. He claims I'm not pulling a boat full of gas next to all those peope your crazy. Out of frustration he says look just get the hell out of here.
So he and his wife get in the car and tow the boat full of gas back to our cabin. She is mad at him; he is embarrassed; he is still in shock; he still is stammerin but there is gas in the boat. He is driving as careful as possible and watching the boat. The next thing he sees is his wife lighting a ciggerate. "Hey Put that out he yells" It makes her mad and puts him more into the shock mode again.
So the last two days of our vacation we are cleaning the gas out of everything we own and are beached at our cabin.
By the way I am an expert of getting gas odor out of a boat if you ever need the info.
After about two weeks of getting the gas smell out we begin to look for a gas line that broke or a hole in the tank and we can't find a thing. I start to look at the boat and ask him hey you didn't put gas in the old waste fitting did you? He then turned bright red. He and I just cut the tank out as we don't use the toilet anymore.
He added two hundred dollars worth of gas that was on sale into the aft cabin of my boat.
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