YOU CANT fix STUPID

as what we call "delta rats" here in my area,
i was raised around the Sacremento Delta of centeral cal/bay area.

i have seen this time and time again.
anything from new hummers, to lifted dodges.

from 91-94 i worked at a large upscale marina with dry docks for up to 500 under 20 foot vessels.
everyday i would drive a CJ with a trailer transporting the boats from the drydock forklift to the ramp.

this happens more often than you would think.

almost happened to me once also.
left the truck running, applied the e-brake and had to get out to remove a hook.
e-brake lock disengaged and started heading south.
luckily i was able to hop in it and save the situation.

it can happen to anyone....

a question i would like to ask you is,
when was the last time you launched a boat?

Yep, Mom and Dad owned a boat for almost 30 years....... we almost lost the truck once.

We were doing everything correctly....... but it was one of those days...... we actually lost a prop the same day...... but that's another story.....

Normally, I would drive the boat, Dad would drive the tow vehicle, In this case it was our 83 F-150 4x4......

Since we had a prop "explode" the boat would not really move on its own..... so I was standing on the side of the ramp holding the rope tied to the boat, so we could pull it over to the trailer. Normally, I would just drive up on the trailer, hook the winch, and Dad would pull Mom and I, in the boat, up to the parking lot..... so Dad never left the drivers seat of the truck. Well this time, he and I needed to "manhandle" the boat to the trailer, then winch it on. The lake we were on was on that has the same level year around (for the most part) unlike some of the other surrounding lakes that are flood control first, that get "drained" in the fall. So this ramp had a nice coating of moss and algae growing on the ramp. So it would be a bit easier to load, Dad backed the truck and trailer a bit farther in than normal. When he did this, the rear wheel on the truck were in the water, instead of right at the edge of the water. He set the truck to stay on the ramp, and got out. The last thing he did on the way out was take his foot off the service brake pedal. Just as both feet hit the ground, the truck started to head toward the bottom of the ramp. Fortunately, Dad was still standing in the open drivers door, so he jumped back in and hit the brakes, which stopped the truck again, since the front wheels were high and dry..... I ran across to the truck, locked the lockouts in, he dropped it in 4hi, eased out on the brake, and it caught on the front wheels. We loaded the boat, and drove right out since it was still in 4x4. That was the closest we ever came to loosing a tow vehicle. The big safety factor we had was there was ALWAYS an operator in the drivers seat when we were on the ramp.......

the moss and alge is a ****!
most of the time im by myself, or with passengers that dont have a clue or lazy (my brother)
gotten pretty proficient at it, but theres always that 1 time, and it will bite you.

and bystandars like the camera guy always wanna offer up their opinion, even tho he has no clue what he's talking about lol

IDIoit, have you ever heard the story about the guy that bought a brand new boat but couldn't figure out why it would not come up on plane?
Come to find out he never disconnected the trailer from it.
Oh... I launched my boat 3 weeks ago.

Brian,

A "redneck" good time. All day at the top of a boat ramp with a lawn chair and cooler of beer.........

Frustrating as hell for those of us that know what we are doing and want to use the ramp. But if you know what you are doing and just sit back an watch...... it can be a quite entertaining time.........

Touchless car wash?

Find it strange that they would tow it by the rims and not the big shiny tow rings on the front bumper???

If that is salt water they should tow it to fresh water and give'r another dunking or two.

turbo elk said:

IDIoit, have you ever heard the story about the guy that bought a brand new boat but couldn't figure out why it would not come up on plane?
Come to find out he never disconnected the trailer from it.
Oh... I launched my boat 3 weeks ago.

Click to expand...

now thats a stupid that cannot be fixed, except with a .454 but you may need 6

snicklas said:

Brian,

A "redneck" good time. All day at the top of a boat ramp with a lawn chair and cooler of beer.........

Frustrating as hell for those of us that know what we are doing and want to use the ramp. But if you know what you are doing and just sit back an watch...... it can be a quite entertaining time.........

Click to expand...

i do this quite often!
one day i was at my local ramp, this is where we go to drink a few beers and smoke some reffer after a long day, or bright n early in the AM.
there was a mexican fella and his son getting ready to go fishing, in the designated spot for launch prep.
as soon as they started to back down, this colored fella came right in, took up both spots on the launch ramp, and proceeded to get his boat ready, cutting off the mexican fella.

i started to harass the colored fella, because there is a protocol to the method, and he cut the other guy off, and wasnt even ready.
so, as he puffed his chest out, me and the 5 other people that were with me, i pointed out that he just cut the other guy off and he needed to move his ****.

after a long arguement, everyone behind me started in on him as well.

the guy finally moved his truck and let the mexican guy go.

when the black dude got back down to the ramp to launch his boat.
he got about 3 feet from the water, when i yelled at him again.

he stopped and jumped out of the truck really really mad,
then i yelled to him,
"ARE YOU GOING TO PUT YOUR BUILGE PLUG IN!!??!!"
he went from the self proclaimed baddest dude ever to the most humble "imamoron" mood in about .02 of a second.

we laughed at him for about 10 minutes as he found his builge plug and then couldnt figgure out how to work it...
one of those compression rubber plugs, as it was stuck.
he asked me for help, and i told him to put some jerry curl juice on it

moral of the story, i shoulda let him sink his boat.

now yall got me started. imma play hookie today and get out there!

I live by the coastal area ,NC (S Outter Banks) , We see it all here not only people launching their trucks in the water but we seem them launch their boat of the rollers trailer before they make it to the ramp .

IDIoit .. Living around here demand a Boat all year around , In fact Here some people don't even own a car but guaranty they own a boat . We must have our Big sea legs to go off shore fishing so i launched few boats here and there to keep my skills up to speed

The ole "self centering recovery "bit ! ( straps thru the wheels)
Last launch was the 12'er this spring, sunday I launch 2at a time to swap the trailers.
Thats 2- trucks, 2- trailers, 2- boats!
The muni ramp( yup I'ma gunna be a ramp hog) this ramp is seldom used.
And a couple of my kids for moral support!
Love the play by play ( moron)

snicklas said:

So this ramp had a nice coating of moss and algae growing on the ramp. So it would be a bit easier to load, Dad backed the truck and trailer a bit farther in than normal. When he did this, the rear wheel on the truck were in the water, instead of right at the edge of the water. He set the truck to stay on the ramp, and got out. The last thing he did on the way out was take his foot off the service brake pedal. Just as both feet hit the ground, the truck started to head toward the bottom of the ramp. Fortunately, Dad was still standing in the open drivers door, so he jumped back in and hit the brakes, which stopped the truck again, since the front wheels were high and dry..... I ran across to the truck, locked the lockouts in, he dropped it in 4hi, eased out on the brake, and it caught on the front wheels. We loaded the boat, and drove right out since it was still in 4x4. That was the closest we ever came to loosing a tow vehicle. The big safety factor we had was there was ALWAYS an operator in the drivers seat when we were on the ramp.......

Click to expand...

Some people laugh at me, but this is exactly the reason why I flat-out refuse to launch a boat with a rear-wheel-drive vehicle. I've been on a few moss/algae-coated boat ramps where the rear wheels lost traction, and having the front hubs locked has saved me more than once. IMHO even a front-wheel-drive minivan would be better than a RWD pickup, since the front wheels had better be staying on dry ground (if they're not, we have bigger problems)...but, a 4x4 is absolutely the best way to go. I usually launch and pull out in 4L these days.

That reminds me; I need to look into installing a brake lock so I can lock the front brakes. I've had a few situations where either I was launching a boat alone or only had one other person and the person needed help (meaning I had to get out of the driver's seat)...so far, the parking brake has held, but with the history of rear brakes going out of adjustment and not holding well on a reverse incline, the hydraulic brake lock seems like a good idea.

My one big boat-ramp blunder...I had launched boats two or three times previously, but at age 19, I had never launched a boat without "supervision" before. I got the boat in, and it wouldn't move off the trailer for some reason...then I realized that I hadn't taken off the transom straps. No problem, right? No sense pulling the boat back out to undo them...I can just undo them with the boat floating. The really funny thing is, if I had undone the port side first, this might have worked. However, I did it the other way...the boat was floating just fine and I pulled the boat back to the dock to tie it up. Then I went to the truck to pull the trailer off the ramp. I got maybe 2 feet forward, and with a loud bump came to a sudden stop. I then looked at the ramp and saw a nice I-beam that was lining the edge of the ramp to keep trailers from falling off...and THAT'S when I realized what had happened. When I released the starboard strap first, the trailer drifted to the left, making the port side wheel fall on the other side of the I-beam when I released that strap. I couldn't see it, but I figured there had to be a crossbeam that the axle was hitting. After maybe 30 minutes of trying to figure out what to do, along with someone who didn't see the I-beam thinking that I needed to pull the trailer sideways, I realized that I needed to go for a swim, tie a line around the fender, and pull up on the line while someone drove the truck forward.

Fortunately, someone came up to use the ramp, saw that I was having trouble, and helped me out...he had enough people that someone could pull the line after I handed it up to them, and another person got in the truck and pulled it forward until the port wheel was on the right side of the I-beam. No damage to the trailer or the boat...the only thing damaged was my pride. I did learn an important lesson about transom straps, though

BTW, Brian (or anyone else in the Bay Area), this was on the launch ramp at Tower Park Marina. Have you ever launched there?

never, only stopped there for fuel, along time ago.. i hear they lost their pumps tho.

Tim, check this out.....

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Garage-Sale-E-Stopp-ESK001-Electric-Emergency-Brake-Kit,139383.html

IDIoit said:

Tim, check this out.....

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Garage-Sale-E-Stopp-ESK001-Electric-Emergency-Brake-Kit,139383.html

Click to expand...

Interesting idea...reminds me of the electric parking brake assemblies that many newer cars have. I also had the sick idea of adding a driveshaft parking brake and setting it up to be air-actuated

I'm thinking the hydraulic brake lock (something like this: https://www.mico.com/products/brake-actuation/brake-locks/electric-activated-lock ) would be a better idea for launching boats, because you can plumb it to lock your front brakes (or get a dual-valve design and lock all four)...given that we don't have adjustment issues on the front brakes, coupled with the fact that the front wheels should still be on dry land, and the fact that you should only need to be on the ramp for a few minutes or so.

I could be wrong, though...do you see anything I'm missing?

BTW, there are mechanical ones as well; I'm thinking about the electrical one because, that way, you don't have to run a brake line into the cab...

Not stupid....he buys new truck, lifts it and all that jazz and opps...he's in debt well...let's take the boat to the water and opps he "mistakenly" forgets where the end off the ramp is. So smiling he calls the insurance company and they total it. A guy I use to work with done that to a 4 door jeep he couldn't afford...