My boat fell off the trailer on the interstate!

[fat fanny]

Re: My boat fell off the trailer on the interstate!

I was on my way to the outlet stores just inside the PA line in 2000 when I came up on a a guy towing his must have been a 15' very wide wooden conue (not spelled right) when I noticed the only thing holding it down was bungies even my wife noticed @ the time the turnpike was undergoing resurfacing and it was on and off single lane and new and old pavement transitions (very bumpy) I was back about a 1/4 mile and boom!! he hit a pavement transition and thats all she wrote up in the air off the trailer above his pickup and onto the pike and all that was left was kindling I stopped to help him gather up what was left here to find out he had just built it and was taking it to it's first sea trial but as I reminded him that bungies aren't made for holding boats down he replied "oh well I'll just rebuild it" and I replied I bet this time you'll bay ratchet staps and secure it the right way. Still to this day I think he still didn't get it. It just goes to show you alott of people just don;t get it better way safe than way sorry.

 

[Stachi]

Re: My boat fell off the trailer on the interstate!

This is why I immediately switch lanes when ever someone gets in front of me carrying something like a Kayak, Bicycle, ladder, luggage rack etc or trailering a boat.

You are putting your life and your passengers life at risk from those objects breaking free and coming through your windshield.

I'm not going to risk my life because some guy who uses his rusted out boat and trailer a few times a season and I should trust that he's renewed his straps at some point over the last few years. Many times when they drive by you they don't even have a clip, lock or bolt locking the tongue to the ball (which is illegal in NY without one). Or even remembered to plug their trailer lights in. Worse is on the way home, after they've been drinking all day. Think they can remember to make sure their rig is secure.

Worse is the bike or Kayak racks that some girl or kid straps on their roof using cheap chinese walmart hold down straps.

It's scary out here on the highway

For those of us who trailer (and even those who are just driving in their cars to their boat in a marina) to the lake, be sure to drive totally defensively out there when someone pulls in front of you with stuff on their vehicles or in tow . . . don't depend on them to know the proper way to secure the stuff and maybe live to see another day of boating

Yep, switch lanes as soon as you can!

Am I theonly one who counts the rubber bungee straps they see all along a highway ??? I NEVER trust those things...I ALWAYS use ratchet straps to secure ANY load on top of my truck...if I see a load secured (?) by the black bungee straps , I'm out from behind that idiot ! besides, tailgating ANYone is just plain stoopid !

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: My boat fell off the trailer on the interstate!

Improperly secured boats falling off isn't the only risk; they will fly forward on a sudden stop or crash. Happened to a guy I know--head on crash; properly secured (I assume) Sea Ox came off the trailer and landed on their pick-up, killing him.

I also assume that anyone trailering a boat in the late afternoon is drunk or too tired or both, and I give them wide berth, watch their switching lanes, using entrance/exit ramps, etc. Not that I think most boaters are, but it's just like assuming a guy driving a rental truck has never driver a truck before--it's a safe way to treat them to cover the 10% who are. The risk is too great not to, when your riding in the lane next to a 25' twin engine fishing boat.