Let's talk boating & launching/retrieving fails! Share your shame!

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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boat/boating peeve of mine? #rich17thursdays

anytime anyone gives people shit for a truck going into the drink when launching/retrieving a boat.

that shit is no joke... it can happen so quick and could really happen to anyone. ive been on some ramps before that some slip and slides had more traction then... ive pushed trucks & trailers out with boats before they slid in. shit happens. i hate reading the posts " NEVER HEARD OF AN EBRAKE?! " hey fuck face, e-brakes don't do shit when your rear tires are on algae that you couldn't ice skate on cuz it's so slippery. i've launched probably a few hundred times and retrieved similar numbers, ive had a few sketchy encounters but luckily never had water inside the door. i had plenty of coworkers though get pretty wet.
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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i did have the opposite happen once and it freaked me out pretty badly... i was probably around 19 at the time or so, and I was backing up a customer on a bunk trailer that wasn't "perfect" for the boat, backin' up backin up backin up... as we hit the decline of the ramp (we had already been backing up pretty far) the trailer brakes locked up and sent the boat lurching backwards towards the ramp. NEAT. instinct poorly gave me the notion to give it more gas to get the boat closer to landing in the water quicker... that only locked the brakes up more and stopped the trailer harder, sending the boat careening into the water. somehow by the grace of whatever, the boat cleared the ramp, landed in the water, and the customer waved back like i planned it.

Ramp where this happened:

https://goo.gl/maps/4iZzVZmiwSs
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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So how does a truck go for a swim? The ramp is super slippery and the rear tires loose traction? What should you do, drop it in 4 wheel drive?

that'd be best. but chances are if you don't have a locker and the rears are swimmin' and spinnin' already, you might not get power to the fronts to move... but hopefully you do.

algae is a sonofabitch.
 

PANDA

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I have exited the truck numerous times and slipped on algae and fell on my ass.

I think my biggest fail was at Diversey launching my waverunner and it fell off the trailer kinda similar to your fail. I unhooked the winch and was backing down the ramp and it pretty much just slid off the back before I got it in the water. It hit the concrete pretty hard then slid into the water. I was just like wtf just happened?!? I always keep the winch or safety hooked up before the boats get into the water now. I yanked the waverunner out again to check for damage then back into the water and took it to my slip. I stuck around for a bit to make sure it wasn't taking on any water.
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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trailer off the end of the ramp sucks cuz there's a solid chance you're fucked, or fucked up your trailer. ive done it 3 times i think.

one time was inland harbor off fox lake.

mJe9oHT.png


their workers & employees watched me back up, with about a 30' long scissor pontoon trailer... axles real far back. didn't say shit to me, didn't help. whatever.

all of a sudden the trailer just dropped behind me, fell into the dig out. then they laugh and go oh yeah! the ramps not that long... laugh some more.

i go uh so now what. they go i dunno. not our problem. before we have had to put an i-beam across the docks and then got in the water and craned the trailer out. it was like october.

i was like eff this. i put the truck in 4wheel low, drove as far forward as i could and then backed in as hard and far as i could go (into the abyss) and HAMMERED the gas in forward in 4WL... trailer popped up, i got the pontoon on, and went on my merry way. probably chunked more of the ramp off but my fucks bag was empty.
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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then this one is probably my favorite... benedict lake wisconsin. super private, super small, watersports lake that is CRYSTAL clear. old limestone quarry right by powers lake & twin lakes.

the launch is by some old dilapidated restaurant and some guy has the key.

the ramp is short, and shallow, and then literally drops off into the abyss... coming in on the boat, it's 33' deep JUST before the launch.

it's good that i had the trailer connected well here because the thing would have been so gone otherwise :rofl:

3zNvajK.png
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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Burnham harbor ramps are a SOB. They're really narrow. I'd say less than a foot to either side of the trailer. That and you can't pull straight ahead with any sort of decent length boat, the ramps go into a culdesac with an island in the center.

YEP no fun to be had there. especially when the water was low a few years back.
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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i once put two boats on the wrong trailers. i was running a clinic on the mud/weed lake that is lake como... with a bunch of leukimia survivors and kids with cancer. i was the only one there, with two boats iirc... pulled a 23' boat out on a 21' trailer and a 21' boat on a 23 foot trailer because the camp counselors helping me didn't see a difference and i trusted them to put the right trailers in the water. silly me.
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
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Remind me again why boating is "fun"?

:rofl:

boating is fun.

like anything, if you do it often enough, you're going to mess up at some point.

what's the saying? if it can happen, it eventually will...

like i said, i've launched and retrieved hundreds of boats... most boaters won't launch and retrieve 30 times in 25 years.
 

PANDA

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My neighbor was telling me a story yesterday. He was driving home from the northwoods at night. Got home and one of his sleds was missing from the trailer. :rofl: He was using a open trailer at the time. He saw it just before he got off the highway so he started re tracing his steps. Found the sled on the hill in Algonquin on 62. :rofl:
 

smith876

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Mar 29, 2004
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I suppose this falls into the retrieving fail category.

In college my roommate had a 18' outboard and towed it behind his 1970-something Buick. Finished-up tubing/skiing for the afternoon and he was backing the trailer while I waited in the boat with one other friend. Got the boat secured to the trailer and he puts the car in gear, unfortunately the car dies and he is out of gas. UGH...

So we find a 5 gallon gas can and splash some gas in at the marina, then walk back to the car ... still on the ramp. Lucky it was a slow day.

Picture this: bumper mounted hitch and a flip-down license plate to access the gas filltube for the car with a plastic gas can that barely fits. It was an awkward angle and for some reason friend and I were bent over filling the gas and holding the can. Friend lost his footing and we drop the gas can...it seems that gallons of gas splash off the the bumper, trailer or maybe the ramp and back into our eyes. Both of us are completely blind. I mean could not see a single thing and we're standing on a slippery ramp while pinned between the car and boat. Crap, now what?

Lucky the room mate had a steady head and walked us to the lake to help splash water and recover some vision after a few minutes.


Two lessons learned that day; ensure the tow vehicle has enough gas....and close your eyes tight when you drop a gas can.
 

MrMezger996

Formerly CobraSki
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boat/boating peeve of mine? #rich17thursdays

anytime anyone gives people shit for a truck going into the drink when launching/retrieving a boat.

that shit is no joke... it can happen so quick and could really happen to anyone. ive been on some ramps before that some slip and slides had more traction then... ive pushed trucks & trailers out with boats before they slid in. shit happens. i hate reading the posts " NEVER HEARD OF AN EBRAKE?! " hey fuck face, e-brakes don't do shit when your rear tires are on algae that you couldn't ice skate on cuz it's so slippery. i've launched probably a few hundred times and retrieved similar numbers, ive had a few sketchy encounters but luckily never had water inside the door. i had plenty of coworkers though get pretty wet.



It doesn't matter how many times I launch and retrieve my boat or friends boats, I'm still always nervous of skidding in. I have a big truck with good tires and still always careful. What I always do is put in 4wd lock, back in so when I'm in park with parking brake on my front tires have traction. I agree with you @yak yak that it's very easy to Monday morning QB that.
 

jason05gt

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id get it in 4wd if you have it, and if not stand on the brakes, not emergency brake cuz that won't help you... and hopefully you have a wingman to have the boat push you out.

I always put it in 4WD/AWD when getting close to the water. I've only launched boats from big trucks (F-150 Dualie or Suburban), but never had an issue. I'm knocking on wood...
 
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