How Not to Launch a boat

[Sherman]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

My son in law lost a new chevy this way so he bought a four wheel drive.
I would just add a hydraulic lock to the front brakes. Stomp on the brakes and flip the switch now the front wheels are locked. We used this system on log skidders for all four wheels and it worked fine.
Sherm

 

[rotor_av8]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

Off topic but what is a Toyota Hilux?

Like a normal toyota tacoma but a foreign version. Has a diesel engine. Most foreign vehicles do...they get better mileage.

 

[phonedrn8]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

that sinks alot.....
I meean that suck alot

going to buy wheel chocks, a least 4

 

[wormz]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

he he, thats the funny thing that happens that you say i hope i never do that!
does it suck any worse?
that be crazy to see that in real life!

 

[daniel2229]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

Does anyone have a photo of the chocks they use? I have heard of chocks with a rope through the center. You get in the cab and start to pull away, then pull the chock along beside the vehicle until clear the water.

Is solid contsruction better than a laminate?

Mmmm, sounds like it could jump up and bang the side of the vehicle.

 

[ColdFire]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

I use a chaulk and I do have a rope through it. When I pull forward I simply take the pressure off of it and pull it through the window and off I go.

 

[roccos]

Toyota Hilux

Toyota Hilux

A Toyota Hilux was the name of the first Toyota pickup inported into the US. I think the year was about 1965.

 

[Advent]

Re: Toyota Hilux

Re: Toyota Hilux

The first pickups Toyota imported were called the Stout.

 

[cbavier]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

How did this thread go from How not to launch a Boat to talking about foreign Trucks?

Somebody's have gotten completely off the original topic.

 

[daniel2229]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

Yeah, I would like to see a bunch of photos of chocks. I have never seen anyone use them in my neck of the woods. We must seem pretty sure of ourselves.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

you can make one by cutting a 4x4 on a 45 degree angle.

 

[commonarcwelder]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

Noone around here uses chocks but I have seen quite a few guys wish they had set the parking brake!! Just putting one in park isn't good enough. My father bought a brand new Dodge Ramcharger in 1997. He pulled up to an auto parts store in Rusk, TX. (very hilly) and left it running. When he walked out he found his new truck on the opposite side of the road trying to climb the hill to a grocery store in reverse! The gear shift on the column was locked into park; transmission was in reverse.....I don't remember exactly how but something to do with the linkage.....

 

[island boy]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

Not to far from my house i have a boat launching station and every year there is some unexpierenced torist that comes with their 70,000 escalade and backs it right in over the rear axels and you know that vehicle is going to be completly rusted in a few months. Salt water is a little hard on stuff lol.
Great post!!

 

[njlarry]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

When was the last time your parking brake was adjusted? If you have rear disks brakes likely they never have been, the disks rotors have to be completely removed to even inspect them. They are not designed to hold large loads on steep inclines, even when in the best condition. Use a chock or accept the risk.

 

[arboldt]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

You don't have to get fancy wheel chocks. Remember, the whole purpose is to make it very difficult for the wheel to roll back over it. Lots of times I'll just put a brick behind the driver's side front wheel. When I start to pull up the ramp, I have the door open and can lean down and grab it. Actually, since we got a CRV to tow with, my wife will pick it up when the vehicle starts to move.

I didn't like the idea of a chock on a rope. I figured that the way things go for me, I'd end up with at least scratches if not dents in the car door.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

SNOWCHAINS??????????
Way easier to carry two strips of SS expanded 10ga metal (the regular unflattened type).
About 15" x 48" placed under rear wheels adds traction to any slippery ramp and also works to prevent your tires from sinking into soft ramps.
I use a short length of rope on each and clip it to the hitch.
That way as I pull up the ramp and off of the strips, they are dragged up into the parking area. Where I unclip them and throw them in the truck.
You can do the same chocks-on-a-rope thing and clip them to the hitch.

 

[vstech]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

I would just add a hydraulic lock to the front brakes. Stomp on the brakes and flip the switch now the front wheels are locked. We used this system on log skidders for all four wheels and it worked fine.
Sherm

Hmm, racers call that a line lock. any speed shop should have the parts to do it.
my 68 drag car has one, to hold the car still during the burnout. also holds the car on the line for powerbraking and keeping the car from moving before the light goes green!
Very good idea for the ramp! not sure how that would work in conjunction with antilock brakes though...

 

[Blue Water Runner]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

I use these chocks. I have a chain attached between two of them because I often chock the front and rear of a wheel when parking my camper. The parking brakes on a Superduty are a joke.

They are about $15 ea at Northern Tool.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

Jeeperman:

I like the expanded metal trick, but the thing is my chains are on board all of the time. Not so much for snow and ice as we do not get that much down here in the Nations, but mud is abundant on our pink highways and in our pastures. I reckon I use chains for mud twenty times for every snow/ice use.

It takes me less than five minutes to put them on. Fortunately I rarely have to consider them on a ramp. There is one though......

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: How Not to Launch a boat

I watched my brother launch what's now my Baja and his Jeep CJ8 into Lake Ashby one day and I have to say probably the funniest thing I've ever seen

The boat was still hooked to the trailer, it float a hundred feet or so out into the lake.

The only thing you could see was the boat floating kind of nose down and maybe 6 inches of the Scrambler top.

After walking to his house to call someone to pull it out I discovered that his cordless phone was not at the house but of course could only be in one place- the back seat of the boat!

Good thing it was an old jeep so it only need drying out and all the fluids replaced. Not the first time it sunk, but the first time not 4 wheeling.