best launch ramp story

[ddb0]

ok so i know we all have them. what is your best story of someone or your self being a total rookie or even that had great skills around the launch ramp?

[Hagman]

Last July that took my comp in and out by myself one afternoon . At the end of the day when it came time to load my boat on to the trailer. I moored my boat at the loading ramp.
Walked up to get my truck and trailer. Waited my turn and backed my trailer in the water. I got out of my truck walked across the Dock which was literally 10 steps, untied my boat, and preceded to back around the Dock to load. At this point I realized some other guy was already lined up at my boat trailer with his boat. He preceded to load is boat on my
trailer. Meanwhile his wife is standing on the dock screaming at the boat driver trying to tell him this is not his truck. At the same time the husband is screaming at the wife to get in the truck and pull the boat out of the water. I looked up the ramp and there was a black Ford excursion that did look a lot like my black Ford pickup. Except the excursion didn’t have in big red and gold letters my company name on the back window.
No harm no foul.

[Jetlink]

This thread will most likely result in countless minutes and hours being wasted as people go to Youtube and look up launch ramp mishaps. Last year, we took our boat out at the launch. We have to "power load" but when we load, it is basically an idle on, give it a little gas and then done. Guy after us sees it and decides that he is going to try and power load even though I advised him against it. He decides to try it anyways, problem is he has a much larger boat. He proceeds to wash out the entire ramp as he attempts to power load his twin engine 32 foot cabin boat on his trailer. Then manages to get his entire trailer stuck as the concrete slabs shifted from his action.

On a side note, we have launching and recovering our boat down to a science. It takes us about two minutes on each end to get the boat on to or off from the trailer. Love seeing peoples jaws drop when we can beat anyone into or out of the water.

[ddb0]

ok well know that theres a few bites ill share a few of mine. so where i usually launch is a verry tight ramp all the way around. a tight dock to getinto with a boat and even tighter and steep with a truck and trailer. that being said im waiting my turn and i see a small 2wd toyota pick up back down the ramp and then i see a 28 foot byliner cabin cruiser pull up and im thinking no way. but sure enough this big ass boat pulls on the trailer and im thinkinging theres no way. sure enought this guy can even move the boat. so someone finally walks up and says ok what are you gonna do and the guys response is well it put it in fine. hahah so long sory short the guy in front of me backs down with a strap hooke to his boat trailer pulls his boat the other truck and the big boat up the rampmad skills and extreme stupidity all in one

[ddb0]

so all that being said all of us that live at the resort where we launch are boats have learend you dont pull your boat out at the end of a busy weekend just leave it till tuesday. now what we do is get back early enough to put lawn chairs down on the dock with an ice chest and watch the events haha. i keep telling all my buddys next step is to make up score cards

[scotthons]

Last July that took my comp and out by myself One afternoon . At the end of the day when it came time to load my boat on to the trailer. I moored my boat at the loading ramp.
Walked up to get my truck and trailer. Waited my turn and backed my trailer in the water. I got out of my truck walked across the Doc which was literally 10 steps, untied my boat, and preceded to back around the Doc to load. At this point are realized some other guy was already lined up at my boat trailer with his boat. He preceded to load is boat on my
trailer. Meanwhile his wife is standing on the dock screaming at the boat driver trying to tell him this is not his truck. At the same time the husband is screaming at the wife to get in the truck and pull the boat out of the water. I looked up the ramp and there was setting a black Ford excursion that did look a lot like my black Ford pickup. Except the excursion didn’t have in big red and gold letters my company name on the back window.
No harm no foul.

I did this last summer. Not quite to the extent of pulling up on the guy's trailer, but pretty close. We were using my buddies white Avalanche for the weekend as the tow vehicle. Well a white Avalanche had backed down the ramp and so I was headed that way and another boat was also headed towards the ramp. I am looking over at him and he is looking at me. We were getting closer to the ramp and I was thinking what the hell is this guy doing and I am sure he was thinking the same. Well he was right and I was wrong. Thankfully I noticed it was the wrong trailer and had enough time to avoid complete humiliation. We still had a good laugh about it though.

[86 century]

If any of you remember the first time driveing an inboard in reverse.

Imagine not knowing that the stearing wheel is all but pointless. This ramp is just wide enough for the trailer on a chanal with lifts along both sides that makes is about one and half bravuras wide.

It took all four of us to turn around the thing around by hand without wipeing out a lift or a boat I didnt own yet.

[cadunkle]

This was with my last boat, not my Saltare.... River with unsheltered ramp and 8+ MPH current at tidal swing. I go to pull on my trailer as I always have but the current is stronger than I usually load. Start way offset up-current and going at an angle, not gonna happen I'm going sideways too fast but I'm almost on the trailer. Hit reverse hard to get out and away from the dock, no love... Slam the back corner hard into the dock with a crowd of non-boaters watching. No damage, rubrail did its job and fiberglass held strong, but I had to push off and go again. Got it next time but had to come it hot and hit the trailer hard... and never drove on again at that ramp unless it was near high slack tide with little current.

Another time at the same ramp, which is very steep to accommodate the 7' tide swing, I arrived at low tide after work. Tide tables were not entirely accurate so water level was not where I expected it. Ramp has a tall drop off at the end, which I did not know. My truck has a manual trans and at the time parking brake cables were shot. My buddy and I decide to back down and see where we're at since tide is coming in. So I back down and stop with one of my trailer axles hanging slightly off the ramp. Put truck in gear and turn off. BSed with some guy at ramp with an old Prostar and we debate when to try to launch as water comes up and sun goes down. So I decide to try it, reverse boat, and the truck rolls back, turning the engine and dropping the trailer axles both off the end of the ramp. So my boat is in the water, but my trailer is framed out on the edge of the ramp. My two buddies lifted the trailer and I was able to drive back up. Lesson learned: Don't try to beat the tide!

The last time was in my Saltare at a different ramp. Nice and sheltered in a Marina about an hour after low tide and ready to pull out after a day of riding. Silly me for assuming a marina would have water in it. Coming into the marina and thinking why is that dude's boat stopped in the middle of the row of docks and he's on a tube. Suddenly everyone on the docks starts waving and yelling, and my Saltare stops... D'oh! Soft mud bottom and I was still floating so I had my friends all get in the bow (X14 incident anyone?) and managed to get it back into deeper water, tie up, and wait for the tide to come back in. Sad thing is marina owner would dredge it more often but the State will only let him dig it out once a year. Oh well, at least no current to deal with when loading there.

So yeah, I've made a few mistakes over the years... I have no shame!

[TitanTn]

I witnessed a family on the first ride of their new boat.

I saw a local dealer that I recognized, and he was taking them to the lake for their shakedown cruise. The boat was a 20 bow rider. The man was dressed in his best khakis, button up polo, and hard soled dress shoes. She was wearing black dress pants and a white blouse. Their 10 year old son was straight out of the local prep school.

The dealer unloaded the boat by himself and tied it to the dock. He then gave the family instructions on how to manage their new boat. The dealer took them out on a ten minute ride and re-docked the boat upon their return. Then he left (this is when it gets good).

So now the man gets behind the wheel and takes the family out. Apparently the dealer forgot to tell him about no-wake zones cause he barrels out of the dock area creating the largest wake possible. People are yelling at him, but he's oblivious. About 20 minutes later, they're coming back. And yes, they're coming in at about 15 mph.

People are still yelling. He's still ignoring. As he's coming close to the dock, you can see on his face that he has no idea how to stop the boat. Where are the brakes! So about 15 feet out from the dock, he throws the shifter into reverse as hard as he can. In the blink of an eye, the shear pin is snapped. The boat slowed slightly, but it's the ramming of the dock that actually stopped them. The wife is shamelessly telling the husband what she thinks of his driving skills. It's painful to see a new boat with bow damage so quickly.

The loading ramp area is very busy, but they now have to load their broken boat. The man attempts to back the trailer in the water, but you can guess how that went. He resorted to getting out of the truck and trying to manually pull the trailer straight. Finally someone offered to back it for him and he brightly took their offer. Now the trailer is in the water, but he has to get his broken boat from the dock, to the trailer (about a span of 40 feet).

In a moment of brilliance, he talks the wife and son into "catching" the boat as he pushes it to the trailer. After lots of wrestling, he finally pushes the boat about as well as he backs a trailer. To make a very long story shorter, both the son and the woman end up waist deep in the water trying to man-handle the boat. The man runs to help them and he eventually ends up neck deep in the water before they actually get it loaded. The wife is now telling him what she thinks of his brain, family, and how he is a waste of oxygen. They mostly get the boat tied to the trailer and get their soaking wet bodies in the truck.

As he pulls the boat out, everyone in the ramp area (except him) realizes that he forgot to raise the outdrive. The skeg is dragging a nice groove in the ramp. He makes it 20 feet up the ramp before someone can stop him and explain what he needs to do. He raised the outdrive and finally is able to leave.

Pretty sure they never came back.

[DAFF]

I witnessed a family on the first ride of their new boat.

I saw a local dealer that I recognized, and he was taking them to the lake for their shakedown cruise. The boat was a 20 bow rider. The man was dressed in his best khakis, button up polo, and hard soled dress shoes. She was wearing black dress pants and a white blouse. Their 10 year old son was straight out of the local prep school.

The dealer unloaded the boat by himself and tied it to the dock. He then gave the family instructions on how to manage their new boat. The dealer took them out on a ten minute ride and re-docked the boat upon their return. Then he left (this is when it gets good).

So now the man gets behind the wheel and takes the family out. Apparently the dealer forgot to tell him about no-wake zones cause he barrels out of the dock area creating the largest wake possible. People are yelling at him, but he's oblivious. About 20 minutes later, they're coming back. And yes, they're coming in at about 15 mph.

People are still yelling. He's still ignoring. As he's coming close to the dock, you can see on his face that he has no idea how to stop the boat. Where are the brakes! So about 15 feet out from the dock, he throws the shifter into reverse as hard as he can. In the blink of an eye, the shear pin is snapped. The boat slowed slightly, but it's the ramming of the dock that actually stopped them. The wife is shamelessly telling the husband what she thinks of his driving skills. It's painful to see a new boat with bow damage so quickly.

The loading ramp area is very busy, but they now have to load their broken boat. The man attempts to back the trailer in the water, but you can guess how that went. He resorted to getting out of the truck and trying to manually pull the trailer straight. Finally someone offered to back it for him and he brightly took their offer. Now the trailer is in the water, but he has to get his broken boat from the dock, to the trailer (about a span of 40 feet).

In a moment of brilliance, he talks the wife and son into "catching" the boat as he pushes it to the trailer. After lots of wrestling, he finally pushes the boat about as well as he backs a trailer. To make a very long story shorter, both the son and the woman end up waist deep in the water trying to man-handle the boat. The man runs to help them and he eventually ends up neck deep in the water before they actually get it loaded. The wife is now telling him what she thinks of his brain, family, and how he is a waste of oxygen. They mostly get the boat tied to the trailer and get their soaking wet bodies in the truck.

As he pulls the boat out, everyone in the ramp area (except him) realizes that he forgot to raise the outdrive. The skeg is dragging a nice groove in the ramp. He makes it 20 feet up the ramp before someone can stop him and explain what he needs to do. He raised the outdrive and finally is able to leave.

Pretty sure they never came back.

LMFAO..... You win!!!

[sybrmike]

Early 80's, Lake Sommerville - watched a fixed keel sailboat, a little over 20' long, slide off the trailer as they were pulling out (didn't fasten the bow strap). Landed about halfway up the ramp laid over on her side. After much many expletives, the owner enlisted the help of us bystanders to push her back into the water to reload. I can still hear that sound of the concrete grinding down the gelcoat & fiberglass.

[DAFF]

I remember a few years back thinking about buying a Sea Doo. A good friend insisted that they are nothing but issues. Since then, almost every time we leave the launch ramp there is a different young guy sitting on the end of the dock with his newly accuired machine, broken down.... Got to love them old Reliable inboards!!!

[Hagman]

I witnessed a family on the first ride of their new boat.

I saw a local dealer that I recognized, and he was taking them to the lake for their shakedown cruise. The boat was a 20 bow rider. The man was dressed in his best khakis, button up polo, and hard soled dress shoes. She was wearing black dress pants and a white blouse. Their 10 year old son was straight out of the local prep school.

The dealer unloaded the boat by himself and tied it to the dock. He then gave the family instructions on how to manage their new boat. The dealer took them out on a ten minute ride and re-docked the boat upon their return. Then he left (this is when it gets good).

So now the man gets behind the wheel and takes the family out. Apparently the dealer forgot to tell him about no-wake zones cause he barrels out of the dock area creating the largest wake possible. People are yelling at him, but he's oblivious. About 20 minutes later, they're coming back. And yes, they're coming in at about 15 mph.

People are still yelling. He's still ignoring. As he's coming close to the dock, you can see on his face that he has no idea how to stop the boat. Where are the brakes! So about 15 feet out from the dock, he throws the shifter into reverse as hard as he can. In the blink of an eye, the shear pin is snapped. The boat slowed slightly, but it's the ramming of the dock that actually stopped them. The wife is shamelessly telling the husband what she thinks of his driving skills. It's painful to see a new boat with bow damage so quickly.

The loading ramp area is very busy, but they now have to load their broken boat. The man attempts to back the trailer in the water, but you can guess how that went. He resorted to getting out of the truck and trying to manually pull the trailer straight. Finally someone offered to back it for him and he brightly took their offer. Now the trailer is in the water, but he has to get his broken boat from the dock, to the trailer (about a span of 40 feet).

In a moment of brilliance, he talks the wife and son into "catching" the boat as he pushes it to the trailer. After lots of wrestling, he finally pushes the boat about as well as he backs a trailer. To make a very long story shorter, both the son and the woman end up waist deep in the water trying to man-handle the boat. The man runs to help them and he eventually ends up neck deep in the water before they actually get it loaded. The wife is now telling him what she thinks of his brain, family, and how he is a waste of oxygen. They mostly get the boat tied to the trailer and get their soaking wet bodies in the truck.

As he pulls the boat out, everyone in the ramp area (except him) realizes that he forgot to raise the outdrive. The skeg is dragging a nice groove in the ramp. He makes it 20 feet up the ramp before someone can stop him and explain what he needs to do. He raised the outdrive and finally is able to leave.

Pretty sure they never came back.Thank you for a great story. I agree you win. I have to wonder was this on one of the three big weekends of the summer

[Jetlink]

Thank you for a great story. I agree you win. I have to wonder was this on one of the three big weekends of the summerOh god!!! Those are the best for spotting idiots! We usually try and get an early morning run in on those weekends, otherwise we lay low by the pool or set up chairs and watch the debacle that is a boat ramp on the holiday weekends!

[86 century]

I would haft to agree the best is about half way through the year all the people that just drug dads old boat out that has been setting for ten years.
Most of the time dont know fpr the life of them why it wont start.

[TitanTn]

Thank you for a great story. I agree you win. I have to wonder was this on one of the three big weekends of the summer

I don't remember the date exactly, but it was a crazy busy summer day. The ramp in question can handle four trailers at a time, but it has no lanes designated, so it totally depends on the skill of the driver. I would estimate that there were 40 boat either in line, on the ramp, or waiting for the ramp. This is at a marina, so there were a couple hundred boats right next to the ramp. There was probably 200 people around that area. It was quite a spectacle.

[gogger]

I bought my first boat when I was 16. It was '66 Correct Craft with a 4 cyl I/O, 16 foot mustang I believe. Anyways, I usually pulled it with my mom's El Camino. But it wasn't always available, so I put a hitch on my first car. Which was a 1980 ford pinto. It actually pulled it ok. But coming out of the water could be a little exciting. Especially if the rear wheel got wet. Nothing to exciting, but I am sure a lot of people laughed at us with that rig.

Last summer a friend bought a boat and we went on vacation with them to Folley Island, SC. When he and I went to the ramp to launch the boat he backed it in, and I was in the boat to drive it across the bay to the dock he had rented at their condo. When I started the boat and began to back up I realized the current was pushing the boat up against the dock. Tide was coming in. So I turned the wheel and gave it a little more gas. The throttle was a little sticky so when I pushed it went all the way to full throttle. Luckily I had the wheel turned the right way. But it was half way around and still in between the two docks, the space was a little wider than the boat but not much. I dropped into forward and went to give it some gas and the throttle stuck, and then went to full that way. The boat basically did a full throttle boot leg 180 degree turn. I barely cleared the dock and was out in clear water. My heart was racing as I thought I was going to sink his new boat and ruin both of our vacations. I backed off the throttle and just sat there a second to gain my composure. I heard him say from the dock, "wow that was cool, you pretty good." I didn't tell him it was all a big mistake. We learned real quick about the ocean tides pushing the boat as we tried to dock and undock every day.

[pap]

Titan that is an epic story.

What irritates me is how useless the steering is on a v-drive when trying to dock/trailer. I had all my experience with i/o before and they are SO much easier to steer at low speeds so when people see me struggling in a wind to get on the trailer or to dock, I know they think I'm an idiot - I did too of others when all I had driven was an I/o.

Live and learn.

Keep 'em coming, these are great stories so far. I must have watched 100 youtube dock disaster videos last year before we bought our (1st) boat last year. I was DETERMINED not to be on one of those. Despite that, it was probably maybe our 5th time out or so and I forgot to put the plug in. We get the boat off the trailer, I take the truck out and park it and come back and notice that the bilge is pumping out the side and the boat is pretty low in the water, the fact of which my wife and kids sitting in the boat are oblivious to. I instantly remembered I forgot the plug and (I must say rather calmly) grab it and jump in the water to get it in. A few amused people around, but i laughed it off and we went about our day. Thank goodness my wife isn't yet comfortable pulling the boat away from the dock while I park the truck, it was close enough I could just jump into the water to fix it.

[Hagman]

O you mean the ones that nobody gets out of the tow vehicle until the boat is backed halfway down the launch ramp. And they have to load everything into the boat take the tie downs off. Someone's wife is spouting instructions in that irritating tone of voice that only half the people are listening to. Do this do that grab the dog. The boat gets put in the water. Anybody put the plug in? Ha guy summer's coming. We're gonna love it.
I would haft to agree the best is about half way through the year all the people that just drug dads old boat out that has been setting for ten years.
Most of the time dont know fpr the life of them why it wont start.

[86 century]

Yea that two.

[csuggs]

There are so many . . .

When I picked up my boat from Viper Customs a few years ago we took it for a lake test at Tellico. It turns out that someone connected the shift cable incorrectly so that everything was opposite. We went ahead and did the test, but try loading your boat on the trailer when the throttle is backwards!

In 1993 ( this is before kids) we used to ski with some friends behind their 70- something Glastron with a 75hp outboard. Pretty soon he bought a brand new Prostar ($25K with trailer!). It was red and white. He didn't have a truck to pull it. However his good friend( that's me) had a brand new Dodge Dakota that was the exact same shade of red. I didn't have a hitch so we mounted a trailer ball on the step bumper. He borrowed my truck to go get his new boat and when he got back we had to go for a ride. So now we have a brand new 1993 truck and a brand new 1993 Mastercraft that look like they were made for each other! We go to the ramp and take it for a ride. When we got back, I got out and went for the truck while he waited in the boat. This is where the problem begins. Since the boat was new, there were not yet any registration numbers or decals on it, and while I was backing down the ramp a Maryland DNR cop shows up. My friend sees the cop and tells me to hurry! I set the parking brake, and climb onto the bumper to set the buddy pin. Just then I look up and he's coming in hot! Before I had time to react the boat hits the bow stop ( he did an excellent job lining up) and I go flying over the tailgate and into the bed of the truck, coming to rest up against the cab. We were the only one's at the ramp and I didn't want to draw too much attention from the officer so I got up real cool- like and got in my truck ( in pain) and pulled the boat out, parking it as far away from the officer as we could get! My buddy was upset when he realized that the impact shoved the trailer coupler nearly through the license plate as it twisted my bumper! I laughed so hard I cried!

There are more, but I think that's enough for now. BTW - I love all the stories so far!

[csuggs]

Just sharing the fruits of my labor for the past hour since I started reading this thread last night!

Ontario's finest!
http://i887.photobucket.com/albums/ac71/csuggs/poliboat.jpg

THAT'S GONNA BE HARD TO EXPLAIN TO THE CHIEF!

[Jetlink]

Clint, that is hilarious right there!!! It's not a launch related story but I laughed when the DNR in MN lost an outboard off the back of a boat as it ran over a rather solid sand bar at speed one time. Would have loved to hear them as they did their "rug dance" for the chief as well.