An Australian angler had a facepalm moment after mistaking his boat rod holder for his gas tank. In the end, he wound up paying big bucks for the mistake.
Before the Aussie made the costly blunder, he went to fill up his boat’s gas tank at a 7-Eleven in a New South Wales community on Friday.
At the time, the boat was filling up with so much fuel that it began to leak from the boat. Thankfully, the angler managed to gain control of the situation before it got any worse.
In a Facebook video shared to a popular fishing page, viewers can see several people hosing down the ground around the fishing vessel as it was parked at the gas station following the expensive error.
The camera then pans to show the amount of gas used and its price on the gas pump’s display.
“Guys don’t make this mistake ever,” the man behind the camera said in the video, showing a jaw-dropping $536.76 cost of fuel, or 231 liters, on the gas pump.
“They thought this was the petrol,” he added, zooming into a rod holder on one side of the boat.
Anglers admit to making the same Rod Holder mistake at the gas pump
After it was posted, the video quickly gained traction, getting over 230,000 views in just hours.
“Have heard of it happening. Bloody expensive mistake,” one person wrote in the post’s comments. “That’s an expensive non-fishing day,” another wrote. Someone else added, “Wow is all I have.”
Another wrote, “It happened to a mate in Mandurah over Christmas, he took another guy with him and my mate took the cap off and when on doing something else. He only put about $40 in it down the rod holder into the bilge. He turned the bilge pump on on it caught fire at the bouser. Burnt the rear of the boat before they put it out.”
While some called the angler’s mistake error “stupid,” others also admitted they had made the same gaffe in the past.
“Not even gonna lie I did that same thing once,” one person admitted. “I did that once, bloody stainless rod holder right next to my stainless fuel cap. Fortunately, only a couple of liters before I realized,” another added.
In 2021, a similar slip-up occurred in Australia when someone mistakingly poured over 150 liters of gas into his rod holder.
Immediately after, fire and rescue were called in to help pump out the fuel from inside the boat as it filled up quickly at the marina.
