fun with boats

[SteveH]

lost2a6, I launch the boat in the same manner now. Been launching boats for thirty years, mostly with my grouchy dad (expletives deleted of courses), and your system is the system that works the best. at the ramp we frequent, there is a strong current that often presents issues. With a person (driver) in the boat, the driver can drive the boat off the trailer and come back to pick up the others at one of the docks after truck is parked. no ropes needed.. I just started doing it this way about a year ago and it is by far the quickest way to launch..... boat ramps can be one of the scariest places on the planet imho...some people laugh at the nonsense and idiots...it just stresses me out!!!!!

[SteveH]

Beradtke, don't beat yourself up too bad. Whether we want to admit it or not, We have all done things that were "less than brilliant" at the boat ramp. I have forgotten to put in plugs, forgotten boat keys at home, etc. About twenty yrs ago I actually locked my keys in the truck on the ramp itself and had to call a locksmith... Fairly recently I forgot to take fishing rods down from the t-top after pulling boat out and a couple of them did battle with an oak tree as I was moving the truck and boat from the ramp. the oak tree won. All you can do is learn from the mishaps. It all makes you a better boater

[Tiny]

I consider myself very lucky to have a wife that can do the same.

My wife backs me in while I'm in the boat, I don't have to tie up the boat. When we come in, I let her off on the dock and she goes and gets the trailer and backs it in. She then hooks up the winch and chinches it down, then pulls the boat out. It doesn't take us long at all to launch or retrieve.

[beradtke]

i know what your saying just was a great way to start the day off. i am luck no body was hurt and the boat has no major structural damage to the boat. my dad when he had his seacraft always forgot to put down the vhf/loran antennas and always smacked the stop lights at this one intersection on the way home.

[rhody98]

NOTES TO SELF:


* Never, never unhook safety chains 'til ready for the boat to actually slide back off trailer.
* Place signficant others at safe distance from any incipient disasters

Hauling the Seafari out at a Cape Cod ramp this past Friday the winch cable snapped about 2" from the hook when the bow was just about ready to kiss the bow stop. She slid right back down into the water. With the cable gone I put the hook on the safety chain and drove the boat up to the stop, just to get off the ramp.

I can assure you I will always take the safety chain on and off at the bottom of the ramp, not the top. Some rust on the 1/4" cable yes, but really did not look that bad. And I just went through and replaced virtually all the hardware on the trailer over the winter with ss, also the rollers but left the cable alone thinking it was fine. Good advice above.

[skipjake04]

i think my favorite one it this one.
Years ago I had a 17ft Aquasport, that the fuel line had rotted or rubbed a hole in itself. Instead of replacing original I added a different fill on the console,since my tank was underneath it.
My uncle asked to borrow it since he was normally landlocked and didn't get down much. Reluctantly, I agreed. When I came home from work, the boat was siting pretty in the driveway, so with relief I asked how the day went. Said they had a good day, but we needed to check the gas because he could smell a little during the day, must be the engine flooding. Also my gauge ws broken because he had put 45 GALLONS in it and it didn't register. I asked him how many cigarettes had they smoked and he said a few.
"did you pull the plug at the ramp"
"yes"
"Smell like gas"
" a little"
"let me show you something i forgot to tell you about"

I think my sides quit hurting sometime that evening.
That might have been the last time I allowed anyone to use a boat of mine that hadn't already been on it numerous times and I fully trusted.

[rhody98]

boy good thing that didn't go off, that could have been their last smoke

[Blue_Heron]

People watchin at the ramp should be an olympic sport. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Cedar Key, Florida, July 2006


The captain is trying to pull start the motor while the crew enjoys the shade provided by their stylish umbrella hats.

[BigLew]

"let me show you something i forgot to tell you about"

It never ceases to amaze me how WE survive some of the things we do. Call it luck, a Guardian Angel, what have you, but there is usually "someone up there who likes you" around when we need 'em!

[Fr. Frank]

As I sit here reading, I remembered an incident I had tried very hard to forget. It's a classic boo-boo.

When I was about 10 years old, my grandfather, who was a retired Navy officer, and I were going fishing on his early 1950's 45' Rybovich Sportfisherman, leaving from Lake Worth Yacht Club. (Now long gone) As we were preparing to leave, we pulled up to the fuel dock to take on fuel. My grandfather asked if I could handle fueling the boat, to which I proudly replied, "Yes". He went up to the harbor master's office to get ice and bait, and I got the gas hose, and began to put gas in the boat. (The boat had twin Chrysler Imperial motors)

After a couple of minutes, my grandfather came out, and turned off the gas right at the pump. He casually walked over to me, lifted the gas nozzle out of the rod holder, moved it over 4 inches to the open gas fill, and in a very calm voice said, "I think this'll work better". But I had already put about 8-10 gallons of gas into the bilge. He calmly turned on the bilge pumps, and then went in and bought a gallon of boat soap, and poured it into the bilge, and then added lots of water. I finished filling the twin 300 gallon fuel tanks, through the fuel fill this time, and we then went fishing.

I never did that again.