Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

The wife takes care of loading the food and whatever else she likes to take, book etc. Me and my daughter handle the splashing and retrieving ........

 

[keith2k455]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

This actually the reason for the thread ... The logistics have been getting in the way of having fun ... I'd a hard time figuring it out. Got some pointers on doing it myself and some ideas for the days when the wife needs to feel like a contributor to ease her in

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

Keith, I'm not trying to push you into a divorce, only you know if it will work or not, but for me I had to continually tell my wife that I had all the confidence in her, and to be honest it made me uncomfortable at times but I never gave her a choice, this is what I am going to do and this is what you are going to do, were a team here this is our boat and I need your help, I have no doubt you can do this if I did I wouldn't ask you to.

Of course I had seen her try to back my truck with a trailer and that was not pretty so having that knowledge it was a no brainer that she was going to drive the boat. For you it may be different, but now in the odd days that she doesn't go with me I am the one that is a basket case!

She has made mistakes, some small and one big one, she put a scratch on my baby three feet long when she hit forward instead of reverse and that scratch is still on boat, but I know she feels horrible about it, I mean she cried for 2 hours after she did it but I never once told her anything other then the boats fine and that I can fix the scratch it's not a big deal, Talk about eating my words holy crap! But once you get her involved EVERYTHING gets better, she will become a beast on the water!

Just do your best to get her involved in your routine, before long your routine will get instinctive and you will spend very little time on the prep line and more time on the water!

 

[rbh]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

3 words "dry land training"

 

[BTMCB]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

This actually the reason for the thread ... The logistics have been getting in the way of having fun ... I'd a hard time figuring it out. Got some pointers on doing it myself and some ideas for the days when the wife needs to feel like a contributor to ease her in

That my friend, IMHO, is the key! If you go back to my original post a lot of it was "tongue in cheek". But, while my admiral is uncomfortable with backing the boat / trailer, she does want to participate. So, she has her "duties" (transom straps, pulling us out after retrieval) and that does make her feel a part of it. Since we boat year round here, when the launch is NOT crowded, she practices backing the boat / trailer, etc. and probably could do it in an emergency (to HC's point) but is still not comfortable enough to do it when others are present. And, since she knows that I do not want to hold anyone up at the ramp, we will continue to have her practice only when no one else is there. Plus, she knows that I go solo quite often and am quite capable and quick to do it all myself. Whether or not she will eventually be comfortable handling the boat / trailer is undetermined yet but even just the practicing makes her feel involved and that's the key. And, as I said in my original post anytime she does anything, I always say.......thanks honey, good job. Works for us. She enjoys our "together time" on the water every weekend.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

3 words "dry land training"

Why do you have to bring Hockey into this? I mean this is a very serious situation! were talking someones marital happiness!


And since it looks like no hockey for awhile this is all we got too............

or do you mean the Parking lot...

 

[rbh]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

Why do you have to bring Hockey into this? I mean this is a very serious situation! were talking someones marital happiness!


And since it looks like no hockey for awhile this is all we got too............

or do you mean the Parking lot...

You know practice, before the boat even leaves the yard and the yelling starts!

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

I just let her do wants she want's most of the time. Support and help her out when she is trying to do new thing's and with all the glee little girls have. With one caveat if she's going to cause harm or is about to cause harm i smile and gently tell her i am going to do this..Sometimes i meet resistance at that point she has the go ahead and just before she causes big trouble...It's honey i love yu but...That's the high sign to cease and desist and is used sparingly

She never fails to amaze me on what she decide's she need's to take on just because she want's to..

 

[briangcc]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

Here's what works for us, your mileage may vary...

At the ramp, we pull into the prep lane. She helps take the cover off, remove the tie down straps, load the boat, get the bumpers on the correct side we'll be launching on, gets the dock lines attached.

While launching, she grabs the dock lines and I back the trailer in. Once I get the boat close to the water, I disconnect the winch strap (I have bunks so it's not sliding anywhere unsafely). Float the boat and she controls it from there. I then pull the truck into a parking spot.

My wife does know how to vent & start the boat so that can be done before I get back to the dock but she normally leaves this to me. She will drive the boat forward but her backing skills leave a lot to be desired as of yet - we're working on those.

Retrieving is pretty much the reverse.

**The reason she has no part in backing up the trailer is this...she only has a learners permit. She has epilepsy, controlled by meds and seizure free for a good number of years. Eventually she will learn once she gets her license and is more comfortable driving in general.

**All this is subject to change though as we have a 4 mo old son so I'm sure I'll be doing the bulk of this unless we have other helpers along for the ride. As he gets older, the more help we'll have launching/retrieving - heck he can get his feet wet getting the boat loaded instead of me

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: Marriage advice: Who does what at the boat ramp

We load the boat before we get to the lake. Once there we pull over, get out, she removes straps, I screw in drain plug.

I back down ramp into water, get out of truck, jump into boat. Admiral gets into drivers seat of Yukon, I pull boat off trailer, and head to dock. She parks Yukon and trailer. She comes down to the dock, jumps onto boat, puts Yukon keys in glove box, hands me my sunglasses that I left in the Yukon and my pager that I left in the Yukon, asks if I forgot anything else before we pull out, and off we go!

(very similar to H2O)

On return, she mans boat at dock while I get Yukon and trailer, back into water. We switch places and I load boat and she pulls boat out to staging area where she attaches straps while I remove plug, lock motor in place, etc. Leave lake sorry we have to leave, but glad we had a great time together!

Ditto! (I mean, exact ditto! even down to the details of "the Yukon", the keys, the sunglasses, and in my case, the crackberry.)