OneFineFiftyNine
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2007
- Messages
- 40
This is my own stupid human trick, it happened during 4th of July weekend in 2000.
I was 21 years old at the time. I had just bought myself a nice Chevy Silverado, and I got a good deal on a 25 foot Century CC. The deal was, I got the boat super cheap, but the seller wanted to keep his trailer. The seller worked for a marine supply company that stored boats on their back lot. (The marine supply company wasn't on the water)
He said that he didn't want to use the lift they had on site to transfer trailers because the lift they had could damage a boat of this size. He recommended taking the boat to a local boat ramp, dropping the boat in the water, swapping trailers with the boat floating next to the dock. The boat ramp in question was on the other side of the river; to cross the river you drive across a large causeway that is arched to allow large barges and sailboats to pass underneath. Anyone who has been to the Cocoa/Merritt Island area knows which bridges I am talking about.
Simple in theory, right? Bear in mind I was inexperienced at towing boats, this and the bridge will come into play later in the story. We decided to do this transfer early on a Friday morning to avoid the rush.
Well, we tow the boat to the boat ramp using both my truck with an empty trailer and his truck with the loaded trailer. All goes smoothly (even me backing down the ramp, I was surprised at how well I did). We go to attach the boat to the new trailer to pull it out, and low and behold there is no eye loop for the winch to attach to.
Bear in mind that I don't know what I am doing and I am relying almost entirely on the experience of the seller. It took literally two hours to get the boat out of the water and on the trailer at the same time, after tying ropes in various places and experimenting.
Well, we finally get the rig out of the ramp. (Fortunately, nobody else needed to use the ramp that morning). Now the boat is sitting way back on the trailer, and the weight of the boat was tilting the trailer backwards and consequently tilting the rear of my truck upwards. My gut instinct was that this was unsafe; that we should drop it in the water and do it again, but the seller assured me that I would be okay since I was only going a few miles, and the storm clouds gathering in the sky also helped me turn against my better judgement.
With that, the seller took off with his now empty trailer. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't re-set the boat on the trailer now. So I decided to take it nice and slow on the way home, I slowly pulled out of the park and began climbing the large bridge back to my hometown.
About halfway up the bridge, I started to feel the front end of the truck shimmy ever so slightly. I had felt a similar sensation when I was driving a heavily loaded construction van, so I just thought to myself that the front end was a little light and I would have to be extra careful. A line of irritated drivers shot past me in the other lane of the bridge, undoubtedly annoyed with my slow going. (There is one 2 lane bridge for one direction, and another 2 lane bridge for the other direction)
But the shimmy got worse, until it was a shake. (insert "Airplane" comments here). Then the shaking quickly escalated until the tires began to squeal with each change in direction the front end of the truck made. I started to get really nervous, but I didn't have much time to panic, within what seemed a split second the truck began to spin at the apex of this bridge.
The details are hazy at the point, but I remember spinning 180 degrees and seeing the large side of the boat swing around and smash into the driver's side door, which crushed it inwards and exploded the window all over me and the interior of the truck. The rig quickly un-jacknifed itself and straightened itself out, facing the direction I had just come from, and the boat and trailer then collided with the curb. The boat then jumped off the trailer and proceeded to skid down the bridge for about 30 feet.
I was in shock, staring at the cars coming across the crest of the bridge, and seeing the sheer amazement on their faces at the carnage.
Well, the highway patrol took pity on me and since I didn't hit any other cars, I was not issued a ticket. I was curious as to how they were going to get the boat off the bridge, but a flatbed tow truck driver showed up and loaded the 25 foot beast up like it was something that he did on a daily basis.
Well, long story short, I never got the boat on the water, insurance fixed my truck, and the money I got for selling the boat (Yes, I actually managed to sell it after the crash) went to my friend since I bent his boat trailer into a U-shape in the crash.
My stupid human trick, paid the price for not using my better judgement.
I was 21 years old at the time. I had just bought myself a nice Chevy Silverado, and I got a good deal on a 25 foot Century CC. The deal was, I got the boat super cheap, but the seller wanted to keep his trailer. The seller worked for a marine supply company that stored boats on their back lot. (The marine supply company wasn't on the water)
He said that he didn't want to use the lift they had on site to transfer trailers because the lift they had could damage a boat of this size. He recommended taking the boat to a local boat ramp, dropping the boat in the water, swapping trailers with the boat floating next to the dock. The boat ramp in question was on the other side of the river; to cross the river you drive across a large causeway that is arched to allow large barges and sailboats to pass underneath. Anyone who has been to the Cocoa/Merritt Island area knows which bridges I am talking about.
Simple in theory, right? Bear in mind I was inexperienced at towing boats, this and the bridge will come into play later in the story. We decided to do this transfer early on a Friday morning to avoid the rush.
Well, we tow the boat to the boat ramp using both my truck with an empty trailer and his truck with the loaded trailer. All goes smoothly (even me backing down the ramp, I was surprised at how well I did). We go to attach the boat to the new trailer to pull it out, and low and behold there is no eye loop for the winch to attach to.
Bear in mind that I don't know what I am doing and I am relying almost entirely on the experience of the seller. It took literally two hours to get the boat out of the water and on the trailer at the same time, after tying ropes in various places and experimenting.
Well, we finally get the rig out of the ramp. (Fortunately, nobody else needed to use the ramp that morning). Now the boat is sitting way back on the trailer, and the weight of the boat was tilting the trailer backwards and consequently tilting the rear of my truck upwards. My gut instinct was that this was unsafe; that we should drop it in the water and do it again, but the seller assured me that I would be okay since I was only going a few miles, and the storm clouds gathering in the sky also helped me turn against my better judgement.
With that, the seller took off with his now empty trailer. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't re-set the boat on the trailer now. So I decided to take it nice and slow on the way home, I slowly pulled out of the park and began climbing the large bridge back to my hometown.
About halfway up the bridge, I started to feel the front end of the truck shimmy ever so slightly. I had felt a similar sensation when I was driving a heavily loaded construction van, so I just thought to myself that the front end was a little light and I would have to be extra careful. A line of irritated drivers shot past me in the other lane of the bridge, undoubtedly annoyed with my slow going. (There is one 2 lane bridge for one direction, and another 2 lane bridge for the other direction)
But the shimmy got worse, until it was a shake. (insert "Airplane" comments here). Then the shaking quickly escalated until the tires began to squeal with each change in direction the front end of the truck made. I started to get really nervous, but I didn't have much time to panic, within what seemed a split second the truck began to spin at the apex of this bridge.
The details are hazy at the point, but I remember spinning 180 degrees and seeing the large side of the boat swing around and smash into the driver's side door, which crushed it inwards and exploded the window all over me and the interior of the truck. The rig quickly un-jacknifed itself and straightened itself out, facing the direction I had just come from, and the boat and trailer then collided with the curb. The boat then jumped off the trailer and proceeded to skid down the bridge for about 30 feet.
I was in shock, staring at the cars coming across the crest of the bridge, and seeing the sheer amazement on their faces at the carnage.
Well, the highway patrol took pity on me and since I didn't hit any other cars, I was not issued a ticket. I was curious as to how they were going to get the boat off the bridge, but a flatbed tow truck driver showed up and loaded the 25 foot beast up like it was something that he did on a daily basis.
Well, long story short, I never got the boat on the water, insurance fixed my truck, and the money I got for selling the boat (Yes, I actually managed to sell it after the crash) went to my friend since I bent his boat trailer into a U-shape in the crash.
My stupid human trick, paid the price for not using my better judgement.
'(
