Fun at the boat ramp

[old jim]

Went to the lake where we have our toon yesterday. Putted around for a while but was cold & windy.
Put boat back in slip and drove aroung to the boat ramp. Son inlaw & grandson were going to launch
their Hoby Cat and while they were rigging the boat I walked down to the ramp. 3 gents were about to
launch a toon, a little longer than my 18 footer. Gent backed his shiny new F150 in till it was blowing
some pretty good bubbles, his 2 buddies musceled the toon off the trailer. Gent drove off to park trailer.
I was flabbergasted, I am certainly new to ponton boating, but i thought one would drive the boat off
The trailer. Regards, old jim

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Fun at the boat ramp

That sort of depends. Thats called power loading and launching. In some places it is illegally and others its not. I believe it depends on what type of ramp and how the ramp is constructed. Concrete vs gravel, power loading on a gravel ramp will wash away a lot of material and make deep holes, and humps where it gets deposited. On a concrete its fine and doesn't have those problems, unless its a short ramp.

It his case he may be just used to doing it that way.

 

[Treker57]

Re: Fun at the boat ramp

I'm surprised that if his tailpipe on the 150 was blowing bubbles that the toon was floating already, must be some shallow water

 

[WaterDR]

Re: Fun at the boat ramp

Yup...power loadng and launching is illegal nearly everywhere around here regardless of what teh launch is made of. BUT, you can idle ona nd off your trailer if you want.

As to the tail pipe, it really depends on the height of the vehicle and the angle of the ramp especially if the water is high or low. heck, I have seen truck beds under water just to get the boats to float. I usually back up until I hear bubles with my PWC. That generally means I am back far enough. With my toon and my scissor trailer though, I usually don't even have to get my tires wet.

 

[Nightfisher-]

Re: Fun at the boat ramp

I launch mine when by myself by backing most of the way in, tying off the bow line to a post beside the ramp leaving a lot of slack in it, Unhook the winch strap, then back in a little further and stomp the brakes. Toon slides right off the trailer gently and by the time I hop out and walk around the dock to it the rope has caught it and all I have to do is take in the slack, grab my stern line and hook it over a dock cleat. Then I park my trailer and go. Takes me about 3 or 4 minutes tops to do it by myself and be away from the ramp. I do power load though. The ramp I use mostly is concrete and deep so it does no harm.

 

[old jim]

Re: Fun at the boat ramp

The 3 big lakes in this part of Ca. are all run bu the gubiment. The one in my post
is NPS.the outher 2 are USFS. All have cement ramps. Just thought it was a little
bit funny. Regads old jim