Re: How to handle boat ramps solo
Ok, Finally something I consider myself an expert in,lol I have been self launching my boats since I was a teenager. I am 41 now. This is how I do it.
1. Prepare boat before you get to the ramp with all the gear that you will need for your trip. Ice,coolers, fishing gear, cell phone, fenders, lines, etc. etc. etc. This will differ from person to person.
2. Install the drain plug and leave the keys in the ignition while still at home. Have a chock and line ready in your truck.
3. Have fenders staged at cleat locations if they will be needed. My ramp has a edge bumper so no need for fenders.
4. Approach staging area for ramp. Remove tie down straps from stern of boat. Tilt motor half way down.
5. Remove line from truck and tie it to your front cleat, coil the rest of line and place on bow where you can easily grab it once boat is backed down the ramp.
6. Once your turn comes around, back the trailer/boat into the water just so the stern is floating slightly.
7. Put truck emergency brake on, then put it in park. Exit vehicle with trusty wheel chock in hand. I use a rubber one.
8. Put wheel chock behind rear wheel on driver side.
9. Take rope that you tied to bow cleat and wrap one full turn around trailer winch post. rope should be tight from cleat to bow winch post. This will act as your launching come along.
10. Take safety chain off. While holding rope in left hand tightly, loosen winch cable until rope in left hand becomes tight with the weight of the boat. Now remove winch line from boat completely.
11. Once the winch cable is removed, use rope wrapped around winch post to slowly let boat slide off trailer into water until completely floating. This is done by keeping the rope wrapped around winch post but slowly letting the line out until the boat floats completely
12. Once the boat is floating completly off the trailer, use the rope to pull your boat around to the tie off spot.
13. Once boat is tied off, retrieve wheel chock and pull truck/trailer to parking spot.
Now, loading alone is quite easy also. This is what I do.
1. Stage boat at loading ramp and wait your turn.
2. Get truck/trailer while waiting.
3. When your turn is up, back trailer in so axles are about half way in the water.
4. Set emergency brake first and then take out of gear into park. In this order it will help you get the truck in gear when pulling out.
5. Once in park, exit vehicle with trusty wheel chock in hand. Put wheel choke under drivers side rear truck wheel.
6. Retrieve boat, drive boat slowly on trailer until bow is centered and basically stopped at the rear of trailer.
7. Tilt motor half way and power up until boat loads onto trailer all the way up to the bow roller.
8. Keep motor in gear, powered up enough to keep boat solid to the bow roller76 and to prevent it from slipping backwards off the trailer..
9. With motor in still in gear, walk to the front of boat, bend over bow and hook safety chain up. Then hook winch cable to bow ring. Crank winch cable until tight.
10. Once boat is firmly winched, walk back to helm. Do not shut off motor yet but idel down. Still work to be done here.
11. Look over both starboard and port and make sure stern of boat is centered on the trailer. If it isn't centered, use your motor to center the stern of the boat by turning the wheel right or left and throttling the motor enough tell the stern moves where you want it.
12.Once completely satisfied your boat is centered, shut motor off and tilt motor all the way up.
13.I usually at this point, walk to bow and step off on back of tailgate on truck to exit the boat.
14.Next, do not remove chock, chances are you wouldn't be able to anyway because of the weight that has been put on it..
15.Get in truck and after putting foot on brake heavily, put truck into low gear. Now remove emergency brake.
16.Slowly pull trailer up to top of ramp and stop. Put emergency brake on and into park. Retrieve your chock so no one runs over it.
17. Walk back to truck and pull boat to area away from ramp where you can install your safety stern straps and make sure the boat is ready for road travel. Antennaes etc.
Bye the way, this will work with almost any size trailerable boat. So you know, the boat I have now weighs in fully loaded at around 8000 pounds and I load and off load myself all the time. Only difference with different boats is the access to the bow. Fortunately, mine is a walkaround and all the other boats I had were center console.
Not to toot my own horn, but most people just look at me in awe when they see me loading or unloading, takes all of about 2 minutes. Ok, maybe 3 minutes. Take your time and don't let anyone rush you. Practice makes perfect, try it when the ramp is least busy, usually during the week. Hope this helps someone.
By the way, this will work with a bunk or roller trailer. I personally like and have a roller trailer, but to each his own. You have to find the sweet spot for whatever trailer your using. Every trailer/boat setup is different, but you should be able to find out how deep your trailer needs to be pretty quickly. I have a dual axle trailer, the back tires are almost completly covered when backed in and the front tires are about half way covered with water when in the right possition. I really prefer that no one helps me at the ramp, it is much easier to do myself.
This is the boat I trailer now, load and offload myself.
