Definition of stern boat. : a ship's boat carried at or near the stern.
Hard credit inquiries can only affect your FICO score for a maximum of 12 months. Usually, if they have any impact, it will be primarily in the first 6 months. They will drop off your credit report after 2 years. The exact impact inquiries have on your score depends on a number of factors. There can be a larger impact with a shorter credit history and fewer accounts.
My experience is that hard inquiries don't have a negative impact on your credit scores, until you have lots of them in a short period of time (think 15+ over 2-3 days). Don't believe the you can have your credit pulled as many times as you want in a 30 day span and it won't impact your scores hype.