Gulfstream Rescue with my 209

[Fishballs15]

Had a good reminder yesterday that it's always prudent to check your batteries early and often. Was out fishing on the Chesapeake Bay yesterday afternoon in my 209 with only one other boat near me late in the afternoon. Looked over at the other boat to see if they were catching anything and noticed I was being flagged down. Stowed my tackle and cruised over to a disabled Gulfstream. Talked with the owner and his batteries were both dead. Noticed he was from the same harbor as me so I packed everything up and gave him a tow. Trip was about 2 miles back to the marina, but ended up taking an hour. Thankfully the Bay was very calm making it an easy trip. Was happy to help a fellow Grady owner out in his time of need and hopefully I bought myself some good maritime karma in the process. We all have our bad days out there! Just a good reminder to always check your equipment before each trip.

--Fish

 

[ioffe]

As Gulfstream owner myself, I appreciate your rescue operation and salute you captain. Thank you very much. The truth is, boaters are much nicer people than boatless folk. Learned that the hard way. :goodjob

 

[jeffjeeptj]

I agree. Good job offering assistance. There will come a day when the favor is returned. I also agree that boaters are mostly nice people. There was a 5 year period where it seemed that most any trip I took in the boat yielded a "help" event to others.
One day it became my turn to be helped (lost the outdrive bearings).


Thanks for doing the right thing.

 

[bayrat]

Good job. Ive seen too many people look the other way when someone needs help. I'ts always prudent to check all equipment before a trip, however being he was already out there I assume he has other issues which weren't apparent when he left the dock. Which points to lesson # 2 ..unexpected stuff WILL happen no matter what precautions you take.

 

[JiminGA]

This is a good lesson on why you should not have BOTH batteries selected when running. A "bad" battery is not noticed as the "good" battery is taking up the slack. When the good one finally goes bad, you are stuck. IMO, the only time you would select BOTH is in an emergency when you have to restart the engine and you need all the voltage you can get as a last resort.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

The marina where my 208 is stored in dry stack always puts it on both to start it when they launch. I routinely start the engine on batt 1, then shut if off and switch to batt 2. I want to know both are OK.

 

[g0tagrip]

Damn proud of you Captain, take an "attaboy"!