new boater at ramp?

[freeisforme]

I wsa at the boat ramp today, we were testing out a boat we just repowered. Along comes a guy with an old mail truck, with a 20' CC in tow.
He took about 20 tries to hit the water, luckily there was no one there or in line.
I ran over to his window, asked him if he forgot to put the plug in, (he did), so he pulled up, parked the rig, hunted around on the boat and finally got out and put in the plug, 22 tries later, he's back at the water. This time, he backs in till the trucks nearly in the water, he gets out, can't get to his boat since the water is up to his back bumper, the boat is still tied and secured to the trailer. I walked back over, simply said it that it works better if you untie the boat partway before dunking the trailer. It was a roller trailer, so he didn't need to be in that far anyhow. I had him pull up, I unhooked his safety chain, told him to back up till I hollered stop, Aparrently he was deaf, because no matter how loud I hollered stop, he kept backing in the water, all the way up till he realized that there was water in front of his truck. He was totally out of it. He couldn't here me, or chose to ignore me. I finally told him to back up till his front wheels hit a certain seam in the ramp. He did so, and the boat slid right in. I thought I was done, but he then got out, locked up his truck and started walking for his boat. I asked the guy if he planned to leave the truck there, and I got a blank stare. I asked him how would the next guy get his boat in or out if he left his rig right there. He finally moved it to the parking area. I at that point tied his boat up and walked back to mine. He returned, then sat there cranking his boat continuously with no result.
I walked back over and asked if it ever ran before, he said yes, he heard it run when he bought it. I didn't ask when. I hopped in, choked the boat and it fired right up, I told the guy to warm it up a bit and it should be fine.
I figured that was the end of my responsibility. 3 minutes later, he's got the boat full throttle trying to pull away from the floating docks, still tied up where I had attached it. I walked backover waving my arms, pointing to the ropes. I unwrapped both dock lines, tossed them in and he pulled away deflecting off of two pilings in the process. I didn't wait around for any other incidents, I loaded up and got out of there.

 

[JB]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Now that is downright scary.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Why do I think alcohol was involved in that incident?

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: new boater at ramp?

What lake was that? I want to make sure I stay a couple hundred miles away from it.

 

[Shizzy]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Why do I think alcohol was involved in that incident?

x2.....

thats a little much.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Yea thats a good one, for laughs I wonder which geographic region this took place in ?

 

[donnyskz1]

Re: new boater at ramp?

I understand making a couple of mistakes but that guy needs to have someone with him for the next couple of times before he does some real damage to something or someone.

 

[special_kaye]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Went to a boat show a couple weeks ago where they'd give you rides on the boats they were selling. I watched one of these test ride idiots overtake a slower boat and pass within about 10 feet of the starboard quarter of the stand on. He was so close and fast that his wake actually rolled over the gunwale of the stand on. I thought for sure they'd swamp but they kept floating. I think the two guys are related. Or maybe it's the same guy looking for a new boat after 2nd launch sans drain plug?

 

[81 beachcomber]

Re: new boater at ramp?

these kind of people shouldnt even be allowed on a boat let alone operate one.

 

[special_kaye]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Agreed. Hmm, got to check Florida firearms laws as related to boats. That Castle Law might just save me. I've got a cuddy cabin. Any place with a roof is considered my castle....

 

[freeisforme]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Why do I think alcohol was involved in that incident?

I don' think it was alcohol, I was thinking either senility or just plain stupidity.
I have no doubt, that if I hadn't tied the boat up when he went to park the rig, he'd have left it sit there and drift downstream, and if I didn't walk over and unwrap the lines from the dock cleats, he'd have stayed there till he ran out of gas trying to pull the docks away with him.

He was either so flustered about taking out a boat for the first time, or he was just totally lost. The truck he was driving was a conversion van, with all the shades closed, so he had no visablility out the windows, and had no idea how to back up using the mirrors. I think he'd have backed right down the ramp till the truck sank if no one intervened. He didn't know what the choke was, it was an oil injected motor so he'd go a while before he forgot that.
I'd not want to be at the dock when he got back, if he was that bad pulling away, the return had to be a real show. I have no idea how he ever got it back on the trailer, if he made it back at all.

The guy was old, and had trouble walking, and it took him a while to get in the boat. My guess was he was just too old or in too bad of shape to be out there. I was surprised he didn't gouge his hull bouncing off the pilings pulling away from the dock. He didn't ease away, he nailed it full thottle like he was on a mission.

It was on a river in NJ, one with many confusing bends and back creeks, and he was heading out fairly late in the day. I didn't see any spot lights on his boat. I figured he'd most likely miss a turn and end up beached in the lilly pads or something, or run aground on a bend in the river. The marine police would have a field day with a guy like that, I doubt he had any idea what a no wake zone was, and that river is full of them.

I watched a guy up in PA here once crash into a full set of finger docks on a lake with a 25'+ cabin boat, at full speed, he left two huge prop tracks across the docks, folded over two steel 6" pilings, and left enough fiberglass to fill a wheelbarrow, but kept on going, tossing out beer bottles as he sped away. They never found him or the boat, he either hid it or stashed it on one of the lakes many boat houses. There was a trail of fiberglass spinters for 500' past the impact area. It happened after midnight, so once he got out of the dock area lights, he was invisible to any witnesses. He destroyed two docks, caused thousands in damage, and if it had happened a few hours earlier, those docks would have been full of people.

I was most amazed that the boat was able to drive away and still float after losing that much glass. There was several pieces of outer hull that were over 3' in diameter, it looked like where the lower bow hit the pilings. There was one good chunk of prop blade, stainless steel at that, and what looked like feathers floating all over the entire area.

 

[David Greer]

Re: new boater at ramp?

stolen boat

 

[special_kaye]

Re: new boater at ramp?

stolen boat

Probably, but the beer bottles make me wonder. Unless, he's stupid enough to steal a boat and get drunk doing it. Seen worse. Just watch cops once.

 

[capt sam]

Re: new boater at ramp?

I doubt it was stolen or even drunk. I think the OP is right, senality or possibly having a CVA, I've seen guys behave this very same way right before they stroke out. There's a point where you should/must intervene and this was obvious, he's endangering his life and others, he should have been stopped at the ramp. Notify your local PD and have them handle it or at least tell tell him you think it's a bad idea for him to go out but once you start seeing red flags, don't help him anymore, now you've become part of the liability of his actions.

 

[alangf]

Re: new boater at ramp?

It's only funny because nobody got hurt. I'm thankful he was messing with a boat and not an airplane.

 

[idrownworms]

Re: new boater at ramp?

Sounds like the first few times I took my boat out after my stroke. Well I backed up ok and launched the boat right and remembered to untie but loading would have been shall I say humorous to watch, fell off of the trailer into the lake, and had problems getting it lined up so I can kind of relate to the guy but he did sound a little dense.
lets just hope he has the ability and desire to learn or he sinks his boat.

 

[freeisforme]

Re: new boater at ramp?

I don't think he said more than three words the whole time, my thinking was that the faster he got away from me and my boat the better off I was.

I was pretty much thinking that he'd most likely have just ended his day there on the ramp if I didn't step in, the truck would have been in the drink.
I wonder what his next move would have been after that, probably to just nail the gas till it died in the water. He looked more enraged or determined without a clue to me. I figured if he didn't get the boat in the water, he'd most likely just go postal and ram something. I couldn't tell if he was just clueless or if he was pissed off at something. He pretty much was in his own world. He didn't look disabled, just a bit lost. He obviously was with it enough to drive to the ramp, with his boat, and knew he had to back in in the water. He knew what to do, just not how to do it. The more frustrated he got, the worse his actions got. If he simply would have turned his head to look back, he'd have had a chance of backing straight down the ramp. I got the impression he was just backing up blind, I didn't see him looking in the mirrors, and then when he backed in so far the front wheels were wet, he did finally stop. He was coherent enough to know that seeing water in front of your truck at the ramp is a bad sign.
My buddy keeps saying, "Remember Rain Man, with the boat two weeks ago"? Maybe he's not that far off.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: new boater at ramp?

I watched a guy last fall back in at a ramp around here like that, he backed right up, pretty fast, and got one wheel up on the floating docks while backing in, the docks finally flipped part way dumping the trailer all the way in the water. The driver never looked, never flinched, he probably never even knew he ran up on the dock. The resulting show was a real spectacle. He fought with the winch, fought with the safety chain, fought with the ropes, and fought with his buddy the whole time. Both guys were pretty old, the boat was about a 18' skiff, with an outboard, and the trailer was well battered to say the least. The boat didn't look too bad, but not real clean.
The whole time they were bumbling around at the dock, I could here rods being stepped on, tackle boxes and stuff being kicked around on the deck and what not.
The tow vehicle was an old rusty Blazer with a plywood back window. They took about 20 minutes on the ramp, then finally parked the truck, parking with the rig in an arc across several spaces. Then the boat wouldn't start, so they tilted it up, pulled the hood and started it on ether with the motor fully tilted, out of the water. They pulled away and got only a few feet when the prop caught one of their ropes that was trailing the many fenders tied to the sides. They fought and cut it away while they drifted into a patch of lily pads, finally getting on their way cursing back and forth the whole time.

When we were leaving, I could see their trailer better, it was an roller trailer, with plywood laid out over the whole frame, several rollers had huge balls of duct tape all over them, 4 sets of lights, but none with any wires or lenses, two mismatched car tires, no safety chains, and a come along winch chained to the tongue for a winch. It also had only one fender, and that one was barely hanging on. The truck wasn't much better. The trailer also had a tag that was so corroded it couldn't be read anymore.

There are lots of people out there like this, the best thing to do is stay clear.
It's bad enough there's enough idiots out there that will provoke an incident on their own without giving some fool an opportunity to do so by trying to help. Most old timers are also pretty set in their ways, there's not much you could do to change their ways at the ramp. I can only suspect that getting older, slower, a bit hard of hearing and maybe lacking some eyesight has got to make someone a bit irritable to say the least when they are realizing they can't do the things they used to do, or at least not as well.

I have one buddy that insists on launching his boat himself every time we go fishing, yet it takes him 20 minutes to get to the ramp, and he insists on sinking the truck and getting wet every time. He's got the same rig and boat I do, and I've got none of the problems he has launching or loading.
Nothing will ever change his ways, and when in my boat, he still complains about how I don't back in deep enough and that I'm going to ruin my boat or motor the way I'm doing it. I am in and off the ramp in less than a few minutes. (He also refused to use reverse in a boat, but that's another issue).
I am sure a lot of his ways go back many years, maybe he had a boat at one time that had to be launched that way, and just never changed.

 

[special_kaye]

Re: new boater at ramp?

I watched a guy last fall back in at a ramp around here like that.....maybe he had a boat at one time that had to be launched that way, and just never changed.

That's a riot. Makes me think of that movie, Grumpy Old Men. But, sadly, I've seen a charter boat captain treat his son like this for a whole day on the water. About every second or third word was about parentage, or mental state, or some other derogatory comment. I've got two boys, one in the Navy, one in the Marines. Couldn't fathom talking down to them like that.

 

[INJUN]

Re: new boater at ramp?

I had to check and make sure that this thread didn't start on April 1.