ran out of ramp

[gregtobin]

Everyone loves boat ramp stories. I was exiting from the river a while back and there was a pretty large boat (26' cabin cruiser) trying to pull out on the other side of the double ramp. Seems that he had backed the trailer down so far that he ran off the ramp. WHo knows how long the ramp had been in the river so there was almost a foot undercut at the end of the ramp.

So, this guy is all loaded up and spends some extra time to attach the straps (note that this is a BUSY ramp) and tries to drive up the ramp with the boat attached to his F350. He's really gassing it and the truck is jumping all around. While I'm waiting my turn, someone chains another truck to his front bumper and now we have two very dangerous trucks skittering around the wet concrete ramp. During a break in the action when it seemed a bit safer, my son and I suggest that he float the boat back off the trailer and try to pull the empty trailer onto the ramp. This also doesn't work. Now we've got >20 onlookers and I suggest that get ten on each side and lift his three-axle trailer. Nobody else wants to get involved and they end up calling for a tow truck while we're going home.

Moral of the story - don't back down a ramp too far!!

 

[S.McGee]

Re: ran out of ramp

there is a make shift boat launch not to far from my house in a lock system. So there is always big very big very expensive boats and very rich people who would not lift a finger for anything docked in the locks. I'm backing up 14 foot fishing boat and go a little to far into the water. The back weels went into the water, but since it is not a real boat launch it is all gravel in the water. Well I dont have 4x4 on my truck just 2 wheel drive and the back wheel dug in. I had to call my buddie who drive a cavalaier to hook up to my truck to pull me out with all these people watching

 

[imported_74baja]

Re: ran out of ramp

I think the moral of the story should be to not power on to your trailer whenever it is possible to avoid doing so. THat is how those dropoffs form at the end of the ramp. When one mashes the throttle to get onto the trailer, the propwash erodes away the lake/river/sea bed at the end of the ramp, leaving a long drop at the end of the concrete ramp. Then at low tide, on backs their trailer far down the ramp and the wheels fall off the edge.
Oh well, funny story anyway. I've been there, but my boat is only 16' so my single axle trailer can be lifted easily with a few people.
Jack

 

[sturdavj]

Re: ran out of ramp

Up here in Ory-gun there is a wide spot on the banks of the Colombia River where during the early 1900?s there was a fish wheel constructed and installed to bucket Salmon on to the dock for harvest.

When in the late 1950?s they built a four lane highway along the banks of the river a boat ramp was constructed at this same location. It is known as the Corbett boat luanch.

This boat ramp is at the bend of the river with much current. During high water this ramp scours out something fierce and so there is less than six feet of rock before it drops off.

It was a dark, wet, and foggy December morning when after having used this ramp for many years my duck hunting partner and I when after having launched the boat my partner slip?s the clutch on his truck and rolls it off the asphalt and into the rocks.

I am holding the boat against the ramp and my partner is trying to hop his truck up a 12 inch rise in the asphalt. I take the flashlight over to where the rear wheels are spinning and decide to check on the boat trailer. It?s missing, I look at the tongue and it?s still attached to the hitch but the trailer is missing. I shine the flashlight further into the depths of the river and I spot the winch, the trailer is pointed straight toward the bottom of the river, I mean its 90 degrees off the bumper. How it stayed on the ball is a mystery to me to this day. We managed to get the truck and trailer out of there and we continued with our duck hunting trip.

It was some time later (a couple years) that we had a boat with a depth finder and we were at the same boat ramp. Ten feet out from the end of the ramp the rivers depth is over sixty feet, with a very fast moving current.

After many mishaps the ramp has been closed for over twenty years now, one of which was a ten old boy who watched his grandfather who had forgotten to set the parking brake jump into the cab of his rolling pick-up only to ride it to the bottom of the river.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: ran out of ramp

it is fine to idle on, power loading, gunning it is a no no. the also make small wheels take can be mounted ahead of the main axle, for big boats and bad ramps. there keep the trailer from bottoming out on the ramp. you can also put a angled brace in front of the axle, that allows the trialer to slide up the drop off.

 

[BMOLCHANY]

Re: ran out of ramp

there is a make shift boat launch not to far from my house in a lock system. So there is always big very big very expensive boats and very rich people who would not lift a finger for anything docked in the locks. I'm backing up 14 foot fishing boat and go a little to far into the water. The back weels went into the water, but since it is not a real boat launch it is all gravel in the water. Well I dont have 4x4 on my truck just 2 wheel drive and the back wheel dug in. I had to call my buddie who drive a cavalaier to hook up to my truck to pull me out with all these people watching

I'm not too sure that I would tell this story. Then again what do you drive?

 

[avenger79]

Re: ran out of ramp

I'm not too sure that I would tell this story. Then again what do you drive?

I bet the people who watched have told it many times.

 

[heycods]

Re: ran out of ramp

Yepper

 

[jonesg]

Re: ran out of ramp

it is fine to idle on, power loading, gunning it is a no no. the also make small wheels take can be mounted ahead of the main axle, for big boats and bad ramps. there keep the trailer from bottoming out on the ramp. you can also put a angled brace in front of the axle, that allows the trialer to slide up the drop off.

the angle brace is a good idea.

 

[S.McGee]

Re: ran out of ramp

My truck is plenty to pull the boat, it doesn't have 4x4. I just wasnt quick enough on the brakes to stay out of the water. I have a 1500 Sierra