went out with a buddy on his boat...the kind that doesn't do any maintenance, if it ain't broke sort of mentality. my wife doesn't like me going out with him, something ALWAYS happens whether it's his fault or not.
we meet at the ramp and decide that he'll back his beat up truck down the ramp and i'll motor the boat to the dock to pick him up after he parks.
we get to the bottom of the ramp, a quiet neighborhood ramp. he backs the trailer in and i fire the engine up. all's good so far (not that we've actually gone anywhere). i try to back the boat off the trailer but it won't budge. the lake level is really high so i'm thinking he must have not backed in enough. no sweat, tell him to back in a little more....i look back and notice we've gone back alot further than i'd put my truck in...i look forward and he's almost filling the back of his SUV with water! yikes #1
i get him to pull forward a bit so i can relax and next thing i know, the boat is floating to the side of the trailer a bit but still won't move backward. upon closer inspection, i see i've been booby-trapped with 1 rear tie down....it's not my boat but i should have done a walk around with this buddy.
the trailer is in too deep to release the lone strap so i tell him we have to pull forward. this is where it gets better....he tells me his bow strap broke a week before. so, he used 1 of the rear straps as a temporary bow strap.
so that's 1 broken bow strap, 1 rear strap has been enlisted as a temp bow strap, and 1 strap on the transom.
to pull out he grabs his trusty temp bow strap and ties it up. sure enough, there's a nice pop as that strap busts. here we are with 2 of 3 busted straps but at least we pulled forward enough to unlock the last good strap.
we go for a ride...i drive and all is well.
get back to the dock and proceed to bust the 3rd strap using it on the bow. somehow it held until the hull was out of the water and luck was on our side as he made it to the top of the ramp with 0 straps. luckily, i met him at the ramp and could go my way. he was set on continuing his way around the neighborhood without any straps. yikes #3,4,5....
we meet at the ramp and decide that he'll back his beat up truck down the ramp and i'll motor the boat to the dock to pick him up after he parks.
we get to the bottom of the ramp, a quiet neighborhood ramp. he backs the trailer in and i fire the engine up. all's good so far (not that we've actually gone anywhere). i try to back the boat off the trailer but it won't budge. the lake level is really high so i'm thinking he must have not backed in enough. no sweat, tell him to back in a little more....i look back and notice we've gone back alot further than i'd put my truck in...i look forward and he's almost filling the back of his SUV with water! yikes #1
i get him to pull forward a bit so i can relax and next thing i know, the boat is floating to the side of the trailer a bit but still won't move backward. upon closer inspection, i see i've been booby-trapped with 1 rear tie down....it's not my boat but i should have done a walk around with this buddy.
the trailer is in too deep to release the lone strap so i tell him we have to pull forward. this is where it gets better....he tells me his bow strap broke a week before. so, he used 1 of the rear straps as a temporary bow strap.
so that's 1 broken bow strap, 1 rear strap has been enlisted as a temp bow strap, and 1 strap on the transom.
to pull out he grabs his trusty temp bow strap and ties it up. sure enough, there's a nice pop as that strap busts. here we are with 2 of 3 busted straps but at least we pulled forward enough to unlock the last good strap.
we go for a ride...i drive and all is well.
get back to the dock and proceed to bust the 3rd strap using it on the bow. somehow it held until the hull was out of the water and luck was on our side as he made it to the top of the ramp with 0 straps. luckily, i met him at the ramp and could go my way. he was set on continuing his way around the neighborhood without any straps. yikes #3,4,5....
