The Three Stooges and the Boat

A friend was using me as his spiritual and menu advisor in the purchase of a boat. That was mistake one.

He found one, 23-foot Chris Craft Amerisport 230, at a great price. The boat had been for sale for a year. He enlisted me and another friend to help him with a test drive. We took the boat to Gull Lake and prepared to launch it. When all was in order, we put the boat in the water and started it up. We idled until Bernie got back from parking the truck and then backed out into the lake. Just then, my friend noticed that the cabin was a bit awash AND the engine stopped. Turns out there was a bit of a minor miscommunication about drain plugs and, after some searching, there was a quick dive to plug up the drain. The boat was in 65' of water with a weak battery (quickly going dead) and a no-starting engine. We got it back to the launch and out of the water, which is a chore when you are hauling a few extra gallons of water. After a drain and a relaunch, it started with Bernie's truck battery. I'm not sure Hal Roach or Max Sennett would have thought up the story. It was right out of those movies except the boat didn't sink.

Boat was great, but by that time the prospective buyer had been having second and third thoughts. Learned to always LOOK at the drain plug and VERIFY it is in the boat.