deputydawg
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,607
You can read in a past post of mine about the boat trip from h#// with these people. After that I avoid any mention of the word boat around these people. I will start this tale with a little more history. Early in the summer they had their shiny boat (not new at this time like in the last post, but still in mint condition considering the "use" it has seen). Anyway early in the summer they had it on a lake in Kansas for a weekend drunk er fishing trip. That night they just tied it near their camp by nosing it between two very large rocks. During the evening a storm came up, 50mph winds, rain, hail everything. By morning the boat was perched on top of the two large rocks, full of water and suffering a large laceration somewhere on the bottom. They somehow got it hauled back to the dealer where they purchased it and had it fixed. I don't know what that involved, but I do know it was very expensive. <br />On the weekend they got the boat back all fixed up they hauled it to a lake near my home. I was very busy and could not join them, but heard the story. When they camp they do not go to the developed camping areas like a normal person would. Along the north shore of this lake is an open field used mainly for teenage parties and overflow camping during busy weekends. To get to this area you have to travel down a dirt road about 1/2 mile. This field is about 1 mile long and 1/2 mile wide, with one road circling the outside of the field. The road is narrow allowing for 1 vehicle to travel. It follows the north side of the field then circles around to the south along the lake. I will admit there is a very nice area one can camp and beach a boat along the shore on the south side. The problem is (besides the lack of showers and bathrooms) is the 1 lane road is soft dirt that gets very greasy with a hint of rain. The road has been used so much over the years it is about 2 feet lower than the surrounding field in places, with a steep bank on both sides. Hopefully this gives everyone a mental picture. <br />Well In-laws friends came into the campground with their coleman popup camper hooked behind their shiny chevy, their newly repaired boat behind the camper, and their usual case of beer doing it's job to take away all pain. As they pulled in they must have forgot it was raining hard. As they passed through one of the areas where the road had worked down the pickup slid sideways against the bank. Being the drunk rednecks they are they decided they should give it a little gas and drive away from the bank resulting in a deep crease along the entire side of the pickup, and the truck sinking deeper into the mud. After much discussion on who was at fault and how to fix the problem they decided it was best to back out of the problem area. They must have forgot it is almost impossible to back very far pulling 2 trailers. They ended up sliding sideways ramming the truck corner into the camper corner, and ramming the boat into the bank. Not wanting to get their feet dirty they tried forward again right into their same path and into the same bank. This area is littered with small chunks of limestone, many of which are sticking out of this bank by the road. This only added to the scratch and crease down the side of the pickup. They did however make it anouth 30 yards or so which allowed them to put a matching scratch on the camper jamming the door shut. At this time the boat was still in good shape. They decided it was time to unhook the trailers and get the truck back onto the road. They unhooked the boat from the camper and the camper from the truck and drove away. When they backed up to the camper at a different angle, they didn't see through the budweiser fog that the jack had sunk into the mud. They ran the truck over the top of the hitch bending the jack handle and the bumper of the truck and wedging the camper under the truck bumper. Again using budweiser logic they decided the only way to free the truck was to drive away (instead of lowering the trailer jack a little), almost ripping the bumper off. Finally they got the camper hooked back up and pulled to the camp site. Then came the boat. They thought long and hard about this and decided to raise the hitch just in case it had sunk, which it did. They got this hooked up with little trouble. As they were pulling this in they followed their same tracks back into the bank. This time with only one trailer they decided to back out successfully jacknifing the trailer back into the bank. Somehow, possibly due to the blindness explained in earlier post, neither one saw this or thought to check. They ended up with the trailer completely jacknifed to the point that as they continued backing they pushed the trailer sideways several feet. Nobody said but I think they bent the tongue of the boat trailer in the process. Of course they rammed the back of the boat into the bank again and again during this process. Now the mud bank was fairly soft, but we all know what is on the back of most boats.....the outdrive. They saw this about the time the skeg hit a rock and broke. Back into first gear they went pulling out of the mud. Not too far along they observed that the boat didn't follow in the mud the way the coleman did. The back of the boat trailer had slid sideways into the bank. Along the side of this road the water had washed a deep rut right along the bank. The right trailer wheel had fallen into this rut, and the back of the trailer boat and all had been rubbing and grinding into the bank for about 200 yards. Finally they came up onto level and got the boat onto the road. <br />Nobody ever said how much damage was done to the boat or trailer. I do know that they did not put the boat in the water that night. The road is very sandy so by 9A.M. the road had dried and they were able to drive out without slipping a tire. From what little I heard they tore the lights off of the one side of the trailer, tore the fender almost off of the trailer, damaged the outdrive (details unknown) and there was some talk that when they jacknifed they struck the corner of the pickup with the front of the boat. I asked and got a dirty look followed by several words that I have not found a meaning to yet. The camper was not hurt too bad, paint damage to side, slight sheetmetal damage on side, one jack tore off, hitch bent and damaged and a dent in the front corner. truck suffered a deep crease and scratch all the way down the passenger side. <br />The only regret is I missed it. 
