saw my first boat drop at the docks

[daniel2229]

Went out last weekend at Caesar's Creek Lake in SW Ohio, and while I was waiting in line to launch saw a guy retrieving his boat. As he pulled up out of the water, the winch began to reel out, and the stern of the boat fell onto the pavement and ground (ouch) a few feet before he heard what was happening.

Since the the bow was still on the bunks, he was able to back up the rig and his buddy cranked at the same time. It was a smaller tri-hull fishing boat, and it went right back on the bunks!

Bottom line - he had no safety strap on his trailer. I bet he went right out and bought one.

After seeing that happen, I looked at the guy next to me in line ready to pull out, and he didn't have a safety strap either! Oh, well!

 

[Brokenjaw]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

You aint seen nothin' till you see them fall like dominos in the yard cause you hit one with the fork lift.

OOPS.

Boss was not happy, nope not happy at all.

 

[rabiddawg]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Is that why we call you Brokenjaw?

When I was a teen, our boat slid off the trailer. Fortunately we were on a dirt landing and my Dad pushed the boat back in the water with the bumper of his 4x4. He was the origional "git r done" man.

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

You aint seen nothin' till you see them fall like dominos in the yard cause you hit one with the fork lift.

OOPS.

Boss was not happy, nope not happy at all.

YIKES>....

 

[Willyclay]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Going to work one morning, found a 25ft cruiser blocking both lanes of the interstate highway. No tow vehicle and/or trailer to be seen anywhere!

 

[Brokenjaw]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Is that why we call you Brokenjaw?

LOL no, but I am sure he wanted to kick my butt that day. You would be surprised at the amount of accidents that happen at marinas.
One day last fall it was pull all of the jet skis out of the water day, 10 total, we dropped 3 of them.
Trim tabs are another biggie, they get broken all of the time, boat slips in the forks and there they go.
A few years back the boss was bringing the fork truck over to the pit, breaks went and there went the fork truck into the pit, right through the hull of a 38' Rinker, while the customer watched.

 

[seven up]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

LOL
Repair and despair all on one invoice. Like the busted knuckle garage.

 

[BDbill]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

When I was 16, I forgot the safety chain on a 16ft. Sylvan, dad pulled the boat out of the lake and the boat came sliding off on the black-top. 2 older gents got a good laugh while I got chewed out. Lesson learned, now it's good for a laugh.

Few years back on the Manitowish Chain in Northern WI, two guys from Illinois
mistook a dock for a boat ramp. They backed the large Lund down and it just dropped at a 45 degree angle before the 2 guys realized what happened. Luckily the boat floated off, but it was a bear getting the trailer out. This marina was holding a musky tournament, so about 50 people got to see it. At least they were from Illinois.

 

[Thad]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

At least they were from Illinois.

To be fair to us down here in Illinois, you should point out they were most likely from Chicago...that makes all the difference.

I have a similar story.

When we launch, My daughters, the dog, and I get in the boat. My wife backs us down and off we go. I nose up to the dock and she gets in.

Some people in line watched us and commented on how slick that was. Well, you guessed it, they tried. Only problem is, that does not work with a roller trailer. Right on the ramp she went. I still don't know if it was funny or sad.

OK, I think it's funny!

 

[WTR4FUN]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Reading these stories is like seeing someone get hit in the nuts. It's always funny no matter how many times you see it or read about it.

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Local ramp a few years ago I saw an older guy with I'm assuming his new son in law(just from the comments he made) New son in law backs truck with camper down ramp, gets out and starts rolling up his pants? Father in law sees trailer truck and camper backing itsself into lake. Yells at SIL who is oblivious to situation(still rolling up pants?) FIL takes matter into own hands and sends the boat (older 20ish foot daycruiser jet) up onto trailer and drops the hammer in the boat. Thus pushing truck, trailer, camper, back up ramp until bow jumps over bow stop and blows through camper door. Thus high centering boat enough to expose intake grate and killing jet. SIL panics jumps in truck and hammers up the ramp just hard enough to dislodge boat and dump on ramp as he flies up ramp. Hated to laugh but watching FIL climb out of the boat on the middle of ramp was too much. The look of terror when SIL came jogging down ramp was priceless. With enough people (myself included) we were abel to get him back in business and suprisingly not that much damage was done to the boat the camper was pretty banged up though. Can you imagine THAT ride home from the lake

 

[SeanMcl]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Local ramp a few years ago I saw an older guy with I'm assuming his new son in law(just from the comments he made)

What ramp was that on?

Best one I ever saw here in Utah was at Willard Bay probably in the mid to late 1980's. A guy was in the boat while his wife/GF/whatever is backing the boat down the ramp. She's not to proficient at it, and the guy is yelling and honking the boat horn every time she starts getting crooked. He was really being a jerk to her.

After 10 or so minutes of public abuse, she puts the truck in park, turns off the engine, gets out and throws the keys in about 8 feet of water. She yells "OK, You do it then!" and walks up the ramp.

We all clapped and cheered. We weren't too happy that 1/2 of the ramp was blocked, but it seemed worth it. He was still diving for the keys when we headed out. Don't know how long it took to find them, but the truck was gone a couple hours later when we went to look.

 

[Aqualift]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Here is a picture of a boat that got hit by mother nature twice in the same day. A tornado knocked it off the semi-trailer and then it snowed later that evening, after it was abandoned on the shoulder. This occured on Interstate 80 near Laramie, Wyoming.

 

[Les Robb]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

I watched while a boat I maintained was being hauled. About 4 ft out of the water one stern sling popped loose and boat dropped like a rock. Trust me, don't ever get under a boat in the slings cause it isn't like the movies, you'd be pancaked while your brain was first saying move. No harm done, bow slid out and all was well.

Safe boating ya'll

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Ok .... not a boat off the trailer story but....

About 10 years ago we were out at Don Pedro and when we went to pull the boat out some guys BEAUTIFUL v-drive burst into flames.... guess he didn't run the blower. Thing burned until it sank.

After reading all these stories I will definelty start hooking my stern straps up as soon as the boat gets out of the water from now on. My winch has a worm gear so theres no change of it unspooling but you never know when something could break.

 

[Dustin07]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

Wow good stories and lessons learned!! My dad's boat is pretty nice, it's a new Lund Fisherman 2000 and is basically loaded. I take it out a lot more than he so I'm much more comfortable with it then he is, but it hasn't always been that way!

One time we got the boat on the trailer, and started to pull the trailer out of the water with the prop down..... OOPS only did that once! only a TINY bit of damage to the prop, but loud noise = embarrasing!

Another time My brother and I were heading out for a midnight bass trip and after I pull away with the truck my brother goes "did you put the plug in?" Oops! No biggie though, it was only in the water 2 minutes before we figured that out! we've been lucky!



I think a lot of it is that it's nerve racking for most people at the docks. Most guys don't take their boats out more than a couple times a year, most guys have a good few weeks to months inbetween trips, and most guys are launching or loading up with 50 or so spectators! makes everything worse............ I've been taking our boat out almost weekly now and that's what it took to get comfortable and proficient.

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

It's definelty nerve racking for a new boat owner but when you haven't put it in the water for a while it's easy to forget some very important stuff.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

When I was a teen, our boat slid off the trailer. Fortunately we were on a dirt landing and my Dad pushed the boat back in the water with the bumper of his 4x4. He was the origional "git r done" man.

That's exactly why you use an older, beat up rig to tow your boat to the water. I miss my old F150 but would probably use my plastic bumper the same way!

 

[fabrimacator21]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

That's exactly why you use an older, beat up rig to tow your boat to the water. I miss my old F150 but would probably use my plastic bumper the same way!

Or you could just NOT let your boat fall off the trailer

 

[azlakes]

Re: saw my first boat drop at the docks

You aint seen nothin' till you see them fall like dominos in the yard cause you hit one with the fork lift.

OOPS.

Boss was not happy, nope not happy at all.

... hehe, was one of those a yellow Tahoe ?