JimKW
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2009
- Messages
- 397
I went to Deep Creek, MD this past weekend, and the lake is down about 3 or 4 feet. I stayed at Will O the Wisp resort which has it?s own ramp and docks. Well the ramp is very steep and fairly long and you have to back between two trees. Then the bottom of the ramp is now about 3 or 4 feet from the waters edge. So I back down to put the boat in just fine. I have to keep going back a little at a time to get the boat off the trailer. I get it off, but the water looks very shallow so I put the boat hook pole in the water and touch bottom fairly easy. I decide to push the boat out into deeper water with the pole rather than starting it in this shallow water. I push it out a good 20? with the pole until it?s about 4? deep then start it and take it over to the dock.
The whole weekend I?m thinking do I use this same shallow steep ramp or find a better one. Yesterday morning it?s time to leave so I back the trailer down into the water and put it in much deeper than I normally do, where I usually have the fenders right at the water line I put them about 8-10 inches below the water. I also pull out about 10? of winch strap where I usually pull out about four feet. I go get the boat from the dock and take a quick spin and then come straight into the trailer. I get to where the front of the boat is lined up in the back of the trailer and stop, and it drifts up to where the bow is just past the axle on the trailer.
This is where the fun begins. The depth finder is reading 2? 7?, so I stick the pole down next to the outdrive and it touches bottom fairly easily. I think I?m this close and done no damage, but I am a long ways from the bow stop. I already had the outdrive up fairly far and I think if I give it any throttle it will go up on the trailer raising the bow therefore lowering the stern. I shut the engine down, try to reach the winch strap with the hook on the pole, but no luck. The boat is moving quite a bit from side to side on the trailer. I pull it in as far as I can with the boat hook, but it is still moving side to side and I can not get the winch strap. There is no dock or anything so getting out of the boat means climbing down onto the trailer, but remember the boat is moving from side to side. I start climbing over the bow onto a spot where the bunk intersects with one of the cross member on the trailer figuring I can get better footing on the bunk than on the painted part of the trailer.
Well I get my foot on the bunk and the boat starts moving sideways and back. I have my left foot on the trailer and my right leg is still in the boat which is now moving and pulling me with it. When it pulls my left foot off the bunk guess where I ended up? In the water. I mean all the way under too where my hat is floating and my head went all the way under. I can not believe I did not hit any part of my body on the trailer and just went down into the water. I get up and grab the boat and pull it back onto the trailer and get my hat which is floating in front of me. I am soaking wet of course and I get a hold of the winch strap and pull it out about another three feet to hook it onto the boat. Then I get to the winch and start cranking it, but it stops. I remember that I did not raise the outdrive to trailer position, so I have to climb back in the boat and raise the outdrive and then climb back out and finish winching it in. Got it on perfect with no damage.
What a boring story! Sorry. But a 61 year old guy falling out of the boat like I did had to be a hilarious sight. I don?t think anybody eve saw me though and you are the only people who know about it except for my wife.
The whole weekend I?m thinking do I use this same shallow steep ramp or find a better one. Yesterday morning it?s time to leave so I back the trailer down into the water and put it in much deeper than I normally do, where I usually have the fenders right at the water line I put them about 8-10 inches below the water. I also pull out about 10? of winch strap where I usually pull out about four feet. I go get the boat from the dock and take a quick spin and then come straight into the trailer. I get to where the front of the boat is lined up in the back of the trailer and stop, and it drifts up to where the bow is just past the axle on the trailer.
This is where the fun begins. The depth finder is reading 2? 7?, so I stick the pole down next to the outdrive and it touches bottom fairly easily. I think I?m this close and done no damage, but I am a long ways from the bow stop. I already had the outdrive up fairly far and I think if I give it any throttle it will go up on the trailer raising the bow therefore lowering the stern. I shut the engine down, try to reach the winch strap with the hook on the pole, but no luck. The boat is moving quite a bit from side to side on the trailer. I pull it in as far as I can with the boat hook, but it is still moving side to side and I can not get the winch strap. There is no dock or anything so getting out of the boat means climbing down onto the trailer, but remember the boat is moving from side to side. I start climbing over the bow onto a spot where the bunk intersects with one of the cross member on the trailer figuring I can get better footing on the bunk than on the painted part of the trailer.
Well I get my foot on the bunk and the boat starts moving sideways and back. I have my left foot on the trailer and my right leg is still in the boat which is now moving and pulling me with it. When it pulls my left foot off the bunk guess where I ended up? In the water. I mean all the way under too where my hat is floating and my head went all the way under. I can not believe I did not hit any part of my body on the trailer and just went down into the water. I get up and grab the boat and pull it back onto the trailer and get my hat which is floating in front of me. I am soaking wet of course and I get a hold of the winch strap and pull it out about another three feet to hook it onto the boat. Then I get to the winch and start cranking it, but it stops. I remember that I did not raise the outdrive to trailer position, so I have to climb back in the boat and raise the outdrive and then climb back out and finish winching it in. Got it on perfect with no damage.
What a boring story! Sorry. But a 61 year old guy falling out of the boat like I did had to be a hilarious sight. I don?t think anybody eve saw me though and you are the only people who know about it except for my wife.
