What Have You Dropped Overboard?

My wife's suitcase. We were departing on a long weekend along the coast. I was handing her groceries, ice chest and then her suitcase....I had no idea how heavy this was (felt at least 100lbs) . As I tried desperately to swing it on board it slipped right out of my hands into the water! Retrieved it as quick as I could but it really is surprising how fast water can enter a floating suitcase. All her clothes, her make-up, shoes, hats, and electrical stuff soaked! Needless to say I had a very upset wife on board. Hung clothes and everything else all along the sundeck. Lost just a few items with the wind blowing through the back deck.
Which brings me to a rather sexist question. I can't believe all women bring their closet and bathroom with them on 4 day boat trips? Apologies ladies!

ragin cajun said:

I can't believe all women bring their closet and bathroom with them on 4 day boat trips? Apologies ladies!

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Wifey B: Hubby is just as bad. We do take a lot of stuff with us on trips. However, most of my clothing takes very little space. His takes more. We keep stuff on the boat. Toiletries we only have to bring when we run out of something. We use the same shampoo as it has to be fragrance free for his allergies and he does get very close to my hair. No perfumes. I don't wear makeup on the boat but will if we go out on a dress up night.

If we were packing for a 1 week trip to NC and SC and home by car, I'd probably pack something like this. Yes, we're definitely bad about this....very bad.

-Basic toiletries as we use our own soap and shampoo in hotels.
-10 Casual outfits for both of us plus 3 dress up outfits/dresses.
-5 pairs of shoes each. Mine would be 3 casual, 2 heels

We'd have at least two large suitcases and a couple of hanging bags.

You have to have choices. Ok, I'll be fair. My hubby wouldn't have to have so many choices, but I have to have them for him. We must be coordinated.

Ok, I'm guilty of all you said about women regarding the closet. Very guilty. And, because of me, hubby ends up guilty too.

On the boat we'll be returning to in a couple of weeks, I would guess I have 20 outfits, 10 pairs of shoes on board. Oh and we have at least 30 things of suntan lotion.

One of my best friends packs very organized. She has things to mix. She has exactly what she'll need to wear. She's never taken more than one suitcase on any trip in her life and not a huge one. I just can't do that. It stifles creativity and impulsive choice of what to wear.

I think that may be the thing. Even when I'm just putting on a tshirt and shorts, what I wear is important to me. Even on a boat. It's not to hubby except I determine what he's going to wear mostly.

I plead GUILTY.

A cell phone
It was on a belt clip, I leaned over to tighten a line and it jumped off and dove over the side. It was an inexpensive flip phone, I didn't bother looking for it that was about 8 feet of water and a bunch of mud on the bottom.
A fish pulled a rod and reel out of my hand once.

Wifey B: Sounds like Samsung is making so much of their water resistant phone, they need to come out with a floating one.

One past September, docked alongside Ballard's in the old Harbor at Block we left the boat for the morning while we tooled around the island. when we returned there was a boat rafted along side ours which seemed strange because there was plenty of empty dock space forward and aft of our boat. As we climbed aboard a person on the rafted boat apologized and explained that the previous weekend, he and his wife had a "disagreement" and she took off her engagement ring and through it at him; he had hired a diver who was scanning the bottom with a metal detector. He explained his boat that weekend was rafted in the same spot. When my sister-in-law asked how much it was worth he clammed up which we all took to mean it was pretty valuable. We didn't stick around long enough to see if it was recovered, but if it wasn't, there's some treasure to be found.

hmason said:

Wife (retrieved)

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Portage_Bay said:

Inventory of items in 'wet storage'...

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Wet storage! I like that. I may steal it.

I was hanging out with the family in the cockpit years ago, getting all excited telling a story, when I slapped the glasses off my own face and into the drink. A nearby boater was a diver. He looked a day or two later, but by that point, they'd ceased to exist in this reality.

I was working as third mate aboard a cargo ship several years ago. We had a really terrible vacuum cleaner in the pilothouse. I'd spent hours trying to get the damned thing to suck, but all it ever did was make noise and redistribute the dirt. Finally, after months of waiting, we receive a shiny new one. I decided I would make the old one pay for what it had done to me. The boatswain and I set about the task with hammers and fury. I decided at one point that it would be a good idea if I swung the thing around over my head by it's cord, so I did. Well, the cord let go when the vacuum reached critical velocity, and the vacuum sailed over the side and into the Rouge River. Oops.

Another day, on the same ship actually, I had had a really bad day. Everything was going wrong, nothing was working. Then one of the hatches came apart while we were trying to close it. I was using a 4' long steel pinning bar to try and horse the thing back on track, but it wouldn't budge. It was a nice new pinning bar, too. Still had paint on it and everything. Took about 2 months to get the thing, and we only had about half as many as we needed. Well wouldn't you know it, when I lost my temper and threw the thing down on the deck, it bounced right over the side. It was amazing how it levitated right through the railing just perfectly. Oops.

great topic.

I was trying to fix something on the swim step and laid down, then turned on my side. Heard something "plop" into the water and realized something had slid out of the pouch pocket of my hoodie sweatshirt. Hmm what was in there? Just my phone and my driver license and ATM card in the case with it. ARGH.

My husband has lost at least two pairs of prescription sunglasses. one pair, he took them off to see the chart plotter screen better and just nonchalantly tossed them overboard. then realized what he had done. all we could do was laugh. Another time he was stepping onto the boat and he had put the sunglasses on the front of his hat, like raised them off his face and replaced them above the hat bill. I am not sure if he bumped his hat or intentionally took it off as he was stepping aboard but in any case the sunglasses went in the water, never to be seen again.

One time on the sailboat we were at the marina and Matt had barbecued dinner. He went out to put away the barbecue and was gone what seemed like a long time so I went to check on him. He was spread out on the dock finger, soaking wet, with a huge gash on one of his shins. What had happened was, when he unscrewed the mini propane tank it had fallen in the water and he was trying to rush to retrieve it, slipped on the dock steps and gone in the water between the finger and the neighbor's boat. I am very thankful that 1) he did not hit his head and 2) he was able to get himself out of the water. The ER doc had the gash irrigated with so much saline, the nurse thought he was nuts. It took quite a few stitches to close up. Yikes

A friend was trying to pull start his dinghy motor and his custom made wedding band flew off his finger. His diver could not find it and his wife had another made. They mentioned the story to another diver a short time later and that diver offered to try to find it. He basically scooped up everything at the bottom in the vicinity of where they thought the wing was and lo and behold, there it was in the mud and shells. It was a snug fitting ring so I am not sure how it managed to fly off!!

Another friend was Commodore at a yacht club we belonged to and part of the year end festivities was a Commodore's Roast. I don't know if someone had specifically paid a diver to retrieve this item or the diver happened upon it. At the Commodore's Roast, the Commodore was presented with a small table that had been retrieved from behind his slip. It was in the water because his wife had thrown it at him in an argument.

Pineapple Girl said:

My husband has lost at least two pairs of prescription sunglasses. one pair, he took them off to see the chart plotter screen better and just nonchalantly tossed them overboard. then realized what he had done. all we could do was laugh.

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That's hilarious. I can definitely see myself doing that someday. hahaha

Art said:

Peggie - I had laughter tears in my eyes by 1/2 way through! Thanks! - Art

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seriously Peggie, I woke my dog up I was laughing so hard.

ragin cajun said:

Which brings me to a rather sexist question. I can't believe all women bring their closet and bathroom with them on 4 day boat trips? Apologies ladies!

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Oh heck no. I would say if anything, Matt packs more outfit options than I do. We don't leave much clothing on the boat as it ends up with "boat smell." All the toiletries stay on the boat. AND we do not use suitcases, we pack it in collapsable bags that we can stuff out of the way once we are unpacked. To stick with the topic of the thread- we have so far managed to not have anything fall out the top of one of the bags in all our years of passing them back and forth across the great divide between dock and boat!

One day when our dog was just a puppy and we took him out on the boat, he brought along a small racquetball as a toy. We were doing a slow cruise, and to keep him entertained were playing a small game of catch, where we'd drop the ball into the cockpit, and he'd bring it back and drop it next to one of us sitting on the built-in seats.

At one point he drops the ball, it bounces, and it drops overboard. We saw it happen, and turned around to retrieve the ball. We were in no hurry -- the ball floated after all. Unfortunately, his sharp puppy teeth had cut into the ball, and it quickly filled up with water and sank.

Now, we've all dropped things overboard, and we know they are gone. Puppies don't necessarily understand this.

For the rest of the evening he was forlornly looking out at the water trying to find his ball.

My dinghy line caught the latch of my stern rope hatch and pulled it off the boat while at anchor in 40 feet of water in as fast current. I saw it slide under the surface thinking "float baby float" but it sank to the depths.
It's was for my Mainship 390. Builder is out of business. Parts not available.
$750 for a custom fabricator to come to the boat and make a new hatch.
Just damn.

Pluto said:

My dinghy line caught the latch of my stern rope hatch and pulled it off the boat while at anchor in 40 feet of water in as fast current. I saw it slide under the surface thinking "float baby float" but it sank to the depths.
It's was for my Mainship 390. Builder is out of business. Parts not available.
$750 for a custom fabricator to come to the boat and make a new hatch.
Just damn.

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Wow! That's more costly than my $400 cash loss in #1 post. BTW... the money clip was sterling silver from Thailand... being as it was a gift from son, that bothered me as much as the $$$ . Couple weeks later exact duplicate clip came in the mail. Couldn't believe it. Toby had purchased two clips and had held on to one for years. Good ending to a $$$ costly story! It's in my pocket at this minute. From that event I learned to NOT put anything else in there besides the clip and cash!

BandB said:

Wifey B: However, most of my clothing takes very little space.

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Wifey B, my mind is just running wild with visions created by that statement. Thanks. You just made my day.

Now I'm sure you know the TF rule--without photos it didn't happen!

ragin cajun said:

My wife's suitcase. We were departing on a long weekend along the coast. I was handing her groceries, ice chest and then her suitcase....I had no idea how heavy this was (felt at least 100lbs) . As I tried desperately to swing it on board it slipped right out of my hands into the water! Retrieved it as quick as I could but it really is surprising how fast water can enter a floating suitcase. All her clothes, her make-up, shoes, hats, and electrical stuff soaked! Needless to say I had a very upset wife on board. Hung clothes and everything else all along the sundeck. Lost just a few items with the wind blowing through the back deck.
Which brings me to a rather sexist question. I can't believe all women bring their closet and bathroom with them on 4 day boat trips? Apologies ladies!

Click to expand...

I have yet to bring makeup on my boat.
I don't even have a hair dryer on my boat.
So far...being on the boat is being au naturale.
Of course, that would change if we ever actually go anywhere.

But to the point of the thread - an iPhone 6, a shoe, and a shirt. We retrieved the shoe and shirt with a dip net.
And we've only owned the boat for less than 2 months!

Art said:

Wow! That's more costly than my $400 cash loss in #1 post. BTW... the money clip was sterling silver from Thailand... being as it was a gift from son, that bothered me as much as the $$$ . Couple weeks later exact duplicate clip came in the mail. Couldn't believe it. Toby had purchased two clips and had held on to one for years. Good ending to a $$$ costly story! It's in my pocket at this minute. From that event I learned to NOT put anything else in there besides the clip and cash!

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Awwww....that's a great story!

Cellphone(s), binoculars, glasses. My son lost a nice camera. But the worst was many years ago, a very special knife slipped out of my pocket while I was fishing off the dock in a freshwater lake in the Selkirk. I dove on that one for quite a while but couldn't retrieve it. My wife looked in horror at me, then helped me pull off a dozen or so leaches.

Lol at the stories.

Lol We (my dad,brother and me) managed to lose a 7 1/2 hp Johnson twice. It flipped off the back of our gheenoe both times. We were lucky enough to pull it back up by the fuel hose both times.
Thank fully i have only donated a few sockets to the bilge of a shrimp boat.

HeadMistress said:

In keeping with this thread, I think y'all will appreciate this true story of a young sailboat owner's adventures with the magnet he was sure would recover all kinds of treasures that had been lost overboard at the dock over the years. He posted it on sailboatowners.com at least 10 years ago...I saved it. Here is....

The Wild Magnet
by Peter Roach

....In the end I finally got the magnet correctly tied to the line and on the bottom of the lake. After about an hour, with no beer remaining in my cooler and with only a small audience, I finally gave up on recapturing any treasure. The only thing the magnet was able to find was a great deal of rust shavings. I know the bottom of the lake under my boat is littered with all type of hardware, tools, coins, etc so I was amazed when the magnet failed to bring up even one small item. Maybe the fish are calmly swimming around with sunglasses, or they have constructed their own secret city out of all of the spare parts.

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Peggie, someone needed to tell the fellow that good quality stainless steel, the stuff most valuable things lost overboard are made of, (in case of glasses usually titanium, these days), is not magnetic, anyway...

But it made a good story...

last time we dropped something was our port side stabilizer fin

free nut

but at the end we pick up with our own crane and put on front deck to go back home
lucky day

some days after we put back on water but was nightmare fin was empty of water and floating could you imagine to bring down of water to put back on his axle !!!

Do you know the solution to Loctite underwater ?

GFC said:

Wifey B, my mind is just running wild with visions created by that statement. Thanks. You just made my day.

Now I'm sure you know the TF rule--without photos it didn't happen!

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Wifey B: And I'm sure you know it won't happen.

Just saying short skirts and shorts and light shirts take virtually no space. Mens shirts and shorts or pants are bulkier. Can pack two of my outfits in the space of one of his.

Now for the start of this trip, different story as it was cold cold cold, so did have to pack other stuff. But warm now.

Two stories to share.

Early in his career, son the yacht broker was helping deliver a recently sold Defever with new owner from Destin, FL to NY. They pulled into a marine on Captiva, South Seas I think, and Will, wearing a bathing suit, went aft to handle the stern line, owner at the helm. Now Will was old enough to know better, but as they were snugging up to a side tie, he placed a hand on the piling and jumped from the aft rail to the dock; but the owner had put the boat in gear at that precise moment to pull slightly forward. This placed Will, now airborne, a little closer to the piling than he had intended. His trajectory placed him in close vicinity of the cleat bolted to the piling, which caught his shorts and removed them as he fortunately came down on the dock. Apparently he "stuck" the landing as several bystanders cheered. His shorts ended up in the water, along with the cell phone and digital camera that were in the pockets.

I dropped the dinghy overboard.
My wife and I were lowering the new dink and just as the Livingston with a brand new 6 h.p. 4 stroke had cleared the rail, the cable parted dropping the dinghy towards th water. One of the hulls, it is a cat, caught the spring line and the boat flipped so it landed upside down, the boat floating at the surface with the engine shaft sticking up like a periscope. We were at our dock, so upon retrieval, I was able to disassemble the engine, with the help of a neighbor, which still works like new. It helps to have a retired machinist as a neighbor.

Last Friday we had just secured the new solar panels to my hardtop at days end. The sparky left and I took a shower, leaving a 10 ft ally ladder in place from the boat deck to the hardtop. Just as I was finishing my shower I heard quite a lot of noise on the boat deck, and assumed the wind gusts were blowing the ladder around a bit. No problem, I would secure it after getting dressed. So I go up onto the boat deck, and ladder is not to be seen anywhere. Peer over the edge, its not on the dock either.

A good look around the next morning and i just had to accept that it had not just blown off the boat deck it had also managed to then slip between the boat and the dock to land in the mud. OK, time to put a line on a reef anchor and trawl the bottom. Eventually, after moving the boat sideways about 4 ft I managed to snag the ladder and retrieve it. I'm still amazed that the wind gusts were strong enough to blow it off the boat.

Now, in terms of me dropping/losing stuff: just a cheap pair of glasses, a hat and a few fasteners so far.

HeadMistress said:

The Wild Magnet
by Peter Roach

I bought a 150 lb magnet.

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Thanks for that, I could hardly read this without busting out in laughter.

MB

Wifey B: Does losing something water skiing count?

I did when I fell one time.

BandB said:

Wifey B: Does losing something water skiing count?

I did when I fell one time.

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I ask respectfully - bottom, top or both?? Aw shucks... maybe it was just the nail polish on your toes!

Art said:

I ask respectfully - bottom, top or both?? Aw shucks... maybe it was just the nail polish on your toes!

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Wifey B: Top.

They say you're not supposed to wear bikini's to waterski, but I have nothing else.

A rod and reel with hooked bluefish. Lucky for me the blue tangled in another line so I was able to get everything back!
Sunglasses, reading glasses, fire dept pager, work pager, several filet knives, 2 wrist watches.
Its amazing to me how the dropped object seems to just float until you try to grab it, then goodby.

BandB said:

Wifey B: Top.

They say you're not supposed to wear bikini's to waterski, but I have nothing else.

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Bikini's are a creation from the devil. That's why they are so damn HOT ... Thank God!!