A general tip...

[HiDefFisherman]

Hey guys and gals.... just thought I'd offer up a tip to help save or make a fishing trip good, vs. bad or not happening at all.

This was spawned by the tips thread on the ramp edition, and my trip cancelation due to my lost boat key.

Keep additional boat keys in your tow vehicle at all times!!

That is the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rule in full throttle.

You may have read my post about my check list before leaving for the lake, and how it saved me a long drive for nothing last week when I discoverd my boat key was missing. Still haven't found it, but I suspect it was my father-in-law who kept saying he was going to chain the boat up so I could not go fishing. He knew I would cut the chain...LOL, so I believe he took the key... just joking really about him taking the key.

Anyway, I went today and had some additional keys made. Not much cost, just took the spare and had it copied. I now have what will be my main key, a spare I keep all the time in my tow vehicle, and an aditional spare I will keep on my tow vehicle key ring. I figure surely even I can find one of the three!!!

Anyone else with simple tips, share them. I wish someone had shared the above with me before I learned it the hard way. No sense getting up at 1 a.m. to go fishing for nothing.

Tight lines,

HDF

[Grumpy]

That is good advice, HDF, and I agree because I have kept my spare in the tow vehicle glovecompartment since I bought the boat. I also keep the keys to my drawbar lock in those same places. I keep thise keys on a FLOATING KEY FOB. I keep the key to my trailor lock with my vehicle keys.

You asked for other tips: I never leave my boat ingnition key in the boat when I am not fishing. I keep the boat key AND MY PLUG in the same place in my Van. After I have gotten everything else ready, EXCEPT FOR THE MOTOR TOTTER, I get the keys and the plug. I put the plug in, take off the totter, and then put the keys in the ingnition. I don't let anyone fishing with me take off the motor totter. I reverse the sequence when I leave the lake.

Grumpy

[DJD]

Keep a spare plug in your boat as well.

[creeker]

Any keys you get where two keys come together on the same ring (like when you buy a trailer lock)--SEPARATE THEM! Keep the keys in separate places. It only took me two trailer locks and several other incidences of wasting time looking for the missing keys before I wised up.

Also, when you hook up your boat (this would also apply for loading routine items into your boat), establish a routine and always stick to it. Don't put your trailer lock key in you pocket one time, on the bumper of the truck the next, and on the trailer itself the next time. Trust me.

[billm_usa1]

IF you have left the plug or lost it while in the water a sock works pretty good until you can get it on the trailer.

Been there done that. saved the boat from sinking while I went back up the ramp for the trailer.

Ever notice that the boat takes three times as long to drain as it did to fill up ?

[adam7456]

I usually launch my boat solo and learned a lesson the hard way.

It was late in the fall when I was launching my boat. The boat was in the water, the truck in park with the parking brake on, and left running. I got the boat off the trailer, tied it to the dock, and went back to move my truck. I got to my truck, pulled the door handle and nothing happend. I looked and door lock was in the down position! So there I was with the truck running parked on the ramp, trailer in the water, boat tied to the dock, and all the doors locked, obviously with the keys inside.

I am guessing I bumped the locked with my arm getting out and due to the heavy jacket I was wearing I didn't feel it. I tried to jimmy the rear sliding window open...it shattered instead. I reached through, unlooked the door, parked the truck, and went fishing. Didn't have much luck that day fishing. Then when I was done and getting out of the boat at the dock my sunglasses fell off and into the lake. I should have stayed home that day.

I need to get a copy of the truck key and either have it hidden on the truck or in the boat. Since I haven't done that yet I have made a habbit of rolling down the drivers window at least far enough to get my arm in to unlock the door any time I am on the ramp.

[Dakota Kid]

Everyone is talking about spare keys for boat or truck. Hide a key for your truck in a box under your truck on the frame rail. Most boxes are magnetic. Strap a ziptie around it to safe gaurd it falling off. Keep handy spare wheel bearings, grease, and tools for your trailer. My partener and I would have been dead in the water, so to speak, if we didn't keep a spare set. When you buy outboard oil, pour half into the tank and store the other half or just keep a spare quart handy.

[sglass]

I keep a ratchet set in my boat along with electrical tape, spare electrical wire, fuses, spare switches and everything i need to make a quick fix in case anything bad were to happen. I have shorted a blacklight out once launching by myself and almost burned my boat up. I sat in the parking lot for a while and replaced a couple switches and a few wires and was able to salvage some of the night.

[DJD]

I usually launch my boat solo and learned a lesson the hard way.

It was late in the fall when I was launching my boat. The boat was in the water, the truck in park with the parking brake on, and left running. I got the boat off the trailer, tied it to the dock, and went back to move my truck. I got to my truck, pulled the door handle and nothing happend. I looked and door lock was in the down position! So there I was with the truck running parked on the ramp, trailer in the water, boat tied to the dock, and all the doors locked, obviously with the keys inside.

I am guessing I bumped the locked with my arm getting out and due to the heavy jacket I was wearing I didn't feel it. I tried to jimmy the rear sliding window open...it shattered instead. I reached through, unlooked the door, parked the truck, and went fishing. Didn't have much luck that day fishing. Then when I was done and getting out of the boat at the dock my sunglasses fell off and into the lake. I should have stayed home that day.

I need to get a copy of the truck key and either have it hidden on the truck or in the boat. Since I haven't done that yet I have made a habbit of rolling down the drivers window at least far enough to get my arm in to unlock the door any time I am on the ramp.

Man that sounds like the day we had years ago...My buddy backed the truck and trailer in so I could drive the boat on. He wasn't that good at it so he pretty much had both lanes block. Well as he got the trailer almost into the water we ran out of gas in the truck!

So here we are blocking a double ramp on West Lake Toho in FL on a weekend. I had to park the boat go to a local marina and borrow a can get some gas and return to the scene...took about 45 minutes. By now many people are pissed off and a few friends are giving me a hard time about it. It wasn't funny then but now we laugh about it.