Sometimes you have to stick things in places they weren’t made for.

Sound a little odd?

Yeah, it does, but it could save your life.

I happen to have a perfect example of this. It was consensual, of course.

A Day in the Everglades

Many years ago (over 30) when I was a teen, my buddies and I ditched school and headed to Everglades National Park.

We were searching for some snook and redfish in the backcountry.

It was a perfect South Florida winter day, and we were super stoked.

To get a full understanding of what went down, I must explain the circumstances.

It was 1990, and there were no cell phones (at least none our broke asses could afford) and no GPS.

To be fair, there was GPS, but it was expensive and showed only coordinates.

Either way, we sure as hell didn’t have one.

We were fishing in a 1972 Mako Angler 17 knockoff.

It had an old Johnson 115 outboard that had more work on it than Donatella Versace, but it ran (sometimes).

We worked on it and made it look like a flats skiff, and it sort of did.

To be honest, I loved that boat.

It allowed me to learn how to fish and dive all over the state.

Not to mention, we were the only fifteen and sixteen-year-olds that had a boat and were allowed to take it on our own.

The Adventure Begins

So, we get to Chokoloskee Island, which is still a wild place, but back then it was even wilder.

There are many other stories about that place, but I’ll save them for another day.

We launched the boat and headed deep into the backcountry to check out a remote creek I found on a chart.

It was about an hour ride through some of the most difficult waters you’ll ever want to navigate through.

Oyster bars, rocks, sandbars, and downed trees were all along the way.

Even with all the sophisticated technology available today, hitting something is a real possibility.

Trouble Strikes

After making it to our destination, we explored and fished for a few hours.

We decided to fish our way back and caught some little snook and ladyfish.

I suggested we fish a spot I found a while back to try and catch some tarpon.

We all agreed and away we went.

After cruising for about five minutes, we heard a loud bang and lost power.

After a ton of choice words, we, and by “we,” I mean me, popped off the cowling on the motor and took a look at what we were dealing with.

Luckily, I was taking marine mechanics in school, so I had some idea of what I was looking at.

Not to mention, this was before engines got so fancy.

It didn’t take too long to find the problem.

My buddy’s dad (rest his soul) didn’t like taking the boat to an actual shop, so he called a mobile mechanic.

After all these years, I’m still a little skeptical about the “mechanic” title.

Anyway, a while back, he fixed an issue we had with one of the heads, or so we thought.

He “fixed” the problem by installing a Heli-Coil.

Well, the Heli-Coil didn’t hold, and it shot out the spark plug, leaving us with no compression and two cylinders.

So now we are deep in the Everglades backcountry on a weekday, with no cellphone or any way to summon help.

We did have a VHF radio, but we were far from the ramp, and the mangroves would block our signal.

The Creative Solution

Did someone say mangroves?

After rummaging through the tool kit and hatches searching for a solution with no luck, I remembered glancing over and seeing a bunch of seeds (propagules) on the mangroves.

They look like really thick and long green beans.

Being that the motor couldn’t get compression, I had the idea of plugging the hole with the seed.

It was a long shot, but if it held, it would allow us to limp home on two cylinders.

After a couple of failed tries, I was able to get one to fit snug enough to hold.

IT WORKED!

There was no one on board more surprised than me!

It was like Wiley Coyote finally getting his Acme rocket to work and catching the Road Runner.

We were able to limp back to the dock in one piece, and a full-blown rescue effort was averted.

Lessons Learned

Now you know what to do if you ever run into a situation like this.

Better yet, if you get into any situation, remember to stay calm, figure out what is going on, and make a plan.

You may have something in your boat, car, or whatever you are traveling on.

You can also look at your surroundings; there could be endless resources at your disposal. Your solution may be sticking a thing in a thing!

Many good things have come from that.

Capt. Vince Bini