Rest of the story

[conan1]

First of all, my daughter came in from Colorado after being gone for over a year, and I wanted to enjoy some fun time while she was home here in southern KY. So I get the boat out and her, my two grandchildren, wife and myself set out for Barren River Lake to swim, boat, tube and generally enjoy the wonderful weather. After putting in at the ramp, we proceed about a mile and 1/2 and stop in about 50' ft of water. The daughter and grandchiles jump in while my wife proceeds to inform me that she heard something crack. Well, being the macho man that I am, (I heard nothing) I proceeded to hook the tubes up to the back of the boat with the grandchildren on them. Sooooooo, I takes off. After about 50 ft and not coming up on plane like I kinda thought we should, I suddenly heard fiberglass cracking, looked back and saw the transom flexing while the motor tried to crawl itself up under the boat. GEEZ. I stop, look into the bilge, see way too much water, turn the bilge pump on and tell everyone, "Get back in the boat". Well, here the Griswald family heads back for the ramp straight out of National Lampoon Family Vacation. We're making a top speed of about 5 mph because more speed is causing excessive cracking sounds from the transom. Suddenly my grandson says "PaPaw"! I look over and see water up over his ankles so I speed up a little more and the water disappears. We do make it back to the ramp, everyone gets out, I go get the trailer, get back into the boat but it won't move! My daughter says "Do you want me to push you off?" Sure, Says I! And then the back of the boat goes glub,glub,glub with the motor running and then capsizes right at the ramp!!! All this time I'm worried until I get everyone on dry land and then no problem because I know I have the boat insured for more than I paid for it. lol Also I was lucky enough to have taken all my fishing gear out of the boat before making this trip so all of it was still at home. That would have made me sick. All in all, the family had an adventure they will never forget, my wife thinks I tried to drown her, ( Even though all of us had new life vests on), and you will see the final result. Come to find out that the fiberglass coated plywood in the transom was weaken'd by age and the motor clamps had went thru right below the water line. Hope you all get some enjoyment out of this even if a little long winded.
Ed

[Buzz Wing]

Good luck with it, Ed. Keep us informed as well!

[Fishbear]

And THAT is one reason you have INSURANCE on your boat!!!!!