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Boat Ramp Helpful Hints & Other Pet Peeves

wow this is all to funny. Ok my very first time launching a boat was this last summer with my mate. Took me about 10 minutes only because The motor was giving me some starting trouble but one it started I was fine. I had the transom straps off and the drain plug in before I even got there. Now the fun part was getting my boat back to the ramp when it wasn't running right try that one! I had the wife bring the truck/trailer to the launch and I limped the boat to the launch met her there docked the boat got out put the trailer in the water and had to use the winch to pull it up but all went well. I was still faster than most others. Oh I must agree with everyone else practice your trailer skills somewhere else.... I have always been really good with a trailer or at least better than everyone I know, it helps a lot.
 
What about the guy in a hurry that unlatches the winch and safety prior to backing down the ramp and then hits the brakes a little to hard while backing up. :eyecrazy:

KEEL GAURD WON'T HELP!!!!!:rof:

Just when you thought you heard it all.

Sometimes speed isn't everything, thinking helps too.
 
Luckily backing with the trailer always came easy for me, I have my old man to thank for that, Im thinking for the good genes, but also from watching him pull off some crazy feats backing trailers over the years.

I guess most of you guys power load ur boats then? Ive always winched as every boat from my old mans with a tilting trailer to my mate was on rollers and I dont feel comfy powering onto those, not to mention its a breeze with my small mate.... and most of the ramps here are actually just gravel river or lake bed with a parking lot anyways

oh... and Ive always found the ladies enjoy the gun show when Im workin the winch :drool: hahahaha
 
Don't leave your cooler of beer in the truck.

If you do not know what you are doing practice during the week not saturday at 12:00

Do everything yourself do not let your freinds help it just makes things worse
 
practice @ any parking lot w/ lines painted ! ! i usually stay way back to uncover ,finish loading w/ a infant i cant pre pack everything ,(@ my favorite ramp) there is no staging lane etc . n were still in the water n under way in less than 10 min . i have to say the most common mistake i see is guys backing in to deep when reloading ! my.02
 
I lost everything several years ago in a bitter divorce plus it compounded when I found out also my partner was embezzling from me in my boat dealership. So suffice it to say when I was cleaned out in a very short time and was virtually WIPED OUT.....Everybody complains about their bad deal right? Well I didn't even get so much as my old toothbrush. Just high legal costs. ( Long story) Anyway.....

For the longest time I couldn't afford to do much. Nothing. I didn't really have any kind of a life. I just tried to exist but I did I manage to hope for better days and keep a sense of humor.

So for entertainment I used to walk over to the public access by the parking lot where I had my truck that I was living in parked . I would sit and watch the locals come and go for an entire afternoon. It was hilarious!! The best entertainment that money couldn't buy. Plus it got my mind off all my troubles. You should try it sometime. Much better than being in the line in the ramp. It's just too bad I didn't record some of that stuff. I wonder how many of those couples are still together??

By the way Merc245...Great Avatar!!! Is that somebody you know?? Because it looks like one of our resort pictures.....

Groucho.
 
Pretty sure I know her, been married to her for 5 years, I consider myself kind of lucky. So sorry to hear of your dealership troubles, that had to be extremely difficult for you, I can't imagine it. Hope all is much better now.

We would also sometime hang at the local ramp, Especially on fireworks nite on the Detriot River.I'd put in and enjoy the party but come nightfall I'd be back on the trailer watching from the ramp lot.Than the true show starts(people would be there with vidoe cameras in hand) with about 150-200 boats at once coming in with lines of 40 -50 boats long extending almost across the river with big offshores and cruisers all running thru the lines creating 3 & 4 ftrs. Most of the boaters were noticeable beginners or drunks, who else would be out there(I was once than I dummied up). But anyway a few of us would be there to help the ramp manager by offering our help or our advise to the incoming hord.A lot of people thought they were little to good for help or some advice and I'd simply step back and watch the carnage begin.

After 2-3 hours the fun would be over till next year and the ramp manager would say I'm good for a few free passes.
 
I hadn't been out in a boat for quite a few years before I bought my sportfire very late this summer. With wife, a 3 yr old and a 6 month old you can't really pre-load (wife can drive the trailer forward, but not back!) so I was a bit nervous about being the wanker. Even though I usually took an extra pull up, I was still out of there as fast as anyone else (even with a driver change). You get everything as ready as possible and try to be considerate. If you're hustling and reasonably competent, people are usually OK.

I watched a couple of guys work to try to get a big cuddy on a trailer that was too close to the dock for well over 20 min - They were still fumbling as I left
 
Just spent some quality time watching the utube vids about the boat launch. There is some funny stuff right there.
Still to this day the best one I ever saw was in Jacksonville launching in the St. Johns river.
When we got there and put the boat in the water there was no one there. We launched the boat and motored out to the main river. There was a guy in a brand new bayliner I/O. Everything he
tried​
to take off the boat would nose over and water would come over the front. He tried this a bunch of times. We where watching all of this. Not sure what to think i motored over to see what the problem was. Pulled along side to see what the problem was. This Is when I
figured​
out they where new boat owner's. All the
life jackets​
where still in plastic and not stowed. The coast
guard​
kit was still in the new packaging and many other sign's of the new boat guy. I pushed away and told to him to try and take off again while I watched. I wanted to see if there was anything I could see. I was just off the port
qtr​
watching when he
tried​
again.
Ahh​
there is the problem. I pulled along side again to ask a few investigative questions.
1, Is this your first boat - Yes
2, Asked the
gentleman​
if he was int he boat when it was put in the water - Yep
3, Asked the wife if she
unhooked​
the boot at the launch - Yep again.
4, Asked the hubby if he turned the boat and headed to the dock to pick up wife as soon as the boat was floating - Ah yep again ( there is no dock at the launch, its in the little channel about 50 yards away).

By this time the hubby is getting a little upset at all the questions. So I let him in on the punch line. YOU ARE STILL ATTACHED TO THE TRAILER.
The stern straps and bow hook where still attached. Ah the joys of boating.
Took us about 30 min. to get the trailer attached to the truck and the boat off.
I really thought the guy was going to have a heart
attack​
when he found that out.:popcorn:
 
Here's one for you. Several years back I launching my little 14' aluminium boat off a gravel bar / launch (that was the launch, small lake). A guy and his two buddies cut in front of me and my buddy to put a 24' pontoon boat in. When I say cut in front of me, we were the only two boats there and my tires were in the water. So we pulled forward, asked a few questions of our own, didn't get a response, and then waited. The gravel bar is very shallow. They had to back the new Ford F150 into the lake about 50 yards to get the pontoon off. The driver crawled through the cab window to help push the boat off. When they finally got the thing into the water, the driver must have forgot why he climbed out the window. He opened the door to get into the truck and the truck door bottom was about 6" under the water level. When he drove the truck onto land water ran out for about a minute. Now that was a fantastic payback. We had a poor day fishing but laughed all day long.
 
I pulled up behind a guy a ceasars creek lake who was blocking the ramp prepping his boat, I politely told him that I prep my boat over in the lot
then approach the ramp as to not hold up others that are ready to go, I
figured maybe he didn't know, so this guy pipes off about how he'd been
launching boats like that his whole life and blah blah blah - I then clarified
that he'd spent his whole boating life doing it wrong - he tried then to be tough guy with a yackety yack then his wife told him to shut up - he did!
What an idiot! That's my boat ramp story for the thread - I have many more
like the guy who's truck was to little to haul his boat and the boat/trailer and his truck slid down the ramp and water was flowing in thru the windows - that was a site! some learn the hard way.
 
i think everyone has ran into that guy , plus i see alot of people that are so intimidated by the backing up or towing they cant focus , ive had a couple ask for help after watching me go in/out and the best is when you offer help and a guy actually takes it ! it just depends on how you say it ! as i stated b4 w/ babies/infants you can't preload it all so . . . patience is key !
 
ever have a forklift loose its brakes on the way to the river. i was setting docks into the water when that happened. i popped the clutch and stalled the engine but not before the front wheels were half in the water.

i grabbed a yard guy and a couple of chains and chained the truck and trailer. i told him to put it in 4-low and light the tires up because i was going to pull us both in if he didn't. he didn't believe me, and as i pushed the clutch in we both started rolling in(that's when he stomped on the gas) - i got the engine running and backed it out just before my feet got wet - talk about a pounding heart!

that's the most fun i've ever had at a ramp - don't wish to repeat it either
 
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