Thank You power loaders ~

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Pemnuts

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Rochester Minnesota
Mothers Day was perfect for fishing - we had a great time right up until the last minute. After catching fish all day and the sun was almost gone, my son and i pulled up to the concrete dock in our 16 foot canoe and started unloading all the small and easy to reach items. all that was left to unload was the 3.5 hp outboard, and the class 31 battery. I moved to the middle of the canoe to get the battery, and while kneeling down on my knees, i lifted it up towards my son and said to him, "grab half of it!" "i got the other half!" The canoe started leaning towards the dock more and more so fast, the battery slipped from both of our hands and the canoe was taking on water, my son was holding on to me, i was holding on to the dock, looking down at all the water rushing in, i said, "grab the side of the canoe so water doesn't come in anymore!" but by then it really was to late, it all happened so fast. The canoe with the motor still mounted on the side was going down. When i looked behind me i saw the motor taking on water so i jumped out of the boat as fast as my handicapped butt could, and released it from it's mount. After handing it to my son and asking him to put it carb side down, i asked, where's the battery? He replied, "It's down there" I kicked around for it, and found it, and pulled it out of the water. At that exact spot, there is a hill of sand and what not from power loaders moving away from the dock to get lined up to their trailers and i was standing on it, and the battery was easy to reach.
After bailing out the entire canoe i took a couple steps towards the ramp, and found that the hill where the battery and i stood dropped off very sharply, so much that i could only take 2 steps further in any direction before it was easily over my head. I pushed the canoe within reach for my son to grab it, and we finished loading up and got on our way home. The entire drive consisted of what went wrong, it all happened so fast.
The lesson we learned was simple.. both of us at fault. If we simply tied off the canoe when we first got there to the dock, none of this would have happened. Leaning over just a little bit in a canoe would have been safe to unload if we just would have secured it to the dock.
After inspection today, i found that the battery didn't take on any water in the cells, but sand was trying to get in and under the caps so i cleaned it all off. I drained the gas from the motor, not taking any chances, and put the motor in a large dumpster and it ran like nothing ever happened.
Talk about lucky, we won't be taking things for granted so easily any more after this. We even made a commitment to wear our life jackets each time we go out, and take the time to do things as right as we know how every time we go out fishing.
 

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Check you local boating laws, I'm pretty sure it's mandatory to wear a PFD at all times while in a canoe or kayak... and since you're handicapped it's doubly important that you wear one a triply important for you to set a good example for your son.
 
First post, great site btw!

Best thing for that motor was to run it asap.

Pretty sure where I'm from Illinois, it's not required to wear pfds at all times....only children.

Never seen anybody wearing one at the dock either.

I've never stepped foot in a canoe either, for that exact reason.


Good thing everybody was okay, you can laugh about it now!
 
I find loading the heavy objects into a canoe works best on land or in extremely shallow water like the edge of the launch. YMMV.
 
Nothing against any one with a canoe but i freaking hate them with a passion. i'm tall 6'7 and i tend to make canoe's top heavy, give me a semi v anyday if i had a choice, but canoe's if small and light enough are great for getting to remote lakes or river's that the bigger and havier boats cant get to.
 
Not a canoe, but I had a two seat sit on top kayak before. When one person leaned one way, the other person better be paying attention and counter act that movement! I'm sure it's a lot worst in a canoe.
 
I've spent a lot of time in a canoe with no problems, I'll even stand up to fish in them. You just have to know how to move in one. I guess I have good balance and coordination??
 

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