Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Me and the wife took the toon out sunday afternoon to do a little fishing... well, the lake level isn't as bad as it was this time last year, but it is down considerably... anyway we were trying to get up under some trees for shade and the water went from about 4 1/2 feet to under 2 feet when we got up under the tree... no problem, slowly pulled in, tied up and fished for a couple of hours... but when it came time to leave, holy sh%&.....couldn't move the boat, my wife had untied the front end of the boat, I pulled up the anchors on the back and when I tried to ease on out, nothing... motor was running, but boat wasn't moving...somehow, not sure how, we had gotten stuck.. After 10 minutes or so of trying to manuever the boat out we ended up just using oar boat paddles to push off trees and the lake bottom... took us another 15 minutes to get out...It confuses me 'cause we didn't bump or feel like we were grounded when we pulled in.... and we didn't move the boat til we were ready to leave, yet somehow, someway, my little toon was stuck.... Ok, I know the water wasn't deep, but it's a very soft muddy bottom and I was pretty sure I'd lose my shoes in the muck so that was my last resort.... btw, checked the toons and prop out when we got back on the trailer, everything seems ok...

The big fish she caught added more weight and sunk you in the mud!

Wow, that doesn't sound like much fun. I bet you were pretty surprised! Glad no damage was done. We beached the pontoon a few weeks ago, on a nice sandy beach we go to. They dropped the water at Lock 14 and we were stuck pretty good. Couldn't pull or push the boat off. Had to fire it up, stick it in reverse and saw the steering wheel right to left to zig zag it off the beach. A few of the big cruisers had to be pulled off. Love the Army Corps of Engineers, when they do stuff un-announced.

Roland, I find the opposite happens to me. I don't catch anything, and drink a bunch of beer which then ends up over the side. The boat is always getting lighter.

I was out on the Bohemia last month and we had an unusually low low tide. I'm sitting there chatting away and notice there's a lot more beach than normal

I was sitting in a foot of water. Just pulled my anchor rope and the boat moved into deeper water.

I find that when I am hung up on the beach everyone wants to run to the front to see why. I'm not racist but it's then that I send everyone to the back of the boat. This usually gets enough pressue off the bow to float it off with the motor. I'm glad to hear you were able to get loose with no damage. I know it's stressfull when things don't go as planned. Last time I was worried about getting stuck I was letting my buddy fish off of my boat. Needless to say that was water I didn't want to jump into so I could push off. I try not to fish becasue I like the water that the fish don't care for L.O.L.

, shaun

Trim full down. Everyone to the back. Hammer it. Sometimes it takes a body up front to & push back. Never got stuck, even with the front 9' totally out of the water.