Re: Teaching The Wife
Not real sure how I ended up here......I sat down to look about a boat-skin for the fisherman's boat. Didn't find anything I needed about a boat skin, how much they are, the closest place to have it done...BUT, I did find Erik's very nice post here.
I love my little fisherman and I like him a whole lot, too. I like to go out fishing with him. Sometimes I sit back and relax while he fishes, sometimes I try to fish and when I do try and spend more time trying to get un-hung from a tree or a dock, retying stuff, messing with my tangled up line....I just sit back on the back seat and do my own thing while he does his and we have a great time.
Now, about this boat backing business....Erik, my best advice for you...coming from a middle aged woman who has just learned....is make sure there is no one else watching or waiting to get in or out, and then just sit back, relax, keep your hands in your lap and your lips together. The more he kept telling me what to do and pointing which way to go to more confused I got. My first time it took me about 25 times to get it down the ramp and in the water...maybe I am exceptionally stupid, but, looking at him pointing in my mirrors and listening to him just had me in a mess! When I would get to the place on the ramp where you can't see the trailer anymore (on those big long state park ramps) I would mess up. He finally decided to just let me keep working at it while he fished around the dock, and I finally stopped messing with the mirrors and hung my head out the window to look back and got that boat in the water. I think he had to adjust his angle a bit driving the boat on cause I was a little bit crooked, but, it worked. Forget the drivers side mirror. Using the mirrors is not a requirement for a boat trailer....as long as you stay straight and parallel on your drivers side, your passenger side will be fine....if not, you'll just bump the curb, pull forward and try again.
Some neighbors of ours have a little ramp at their house and I spent a lot of time there backing in and out and felt way more at ease than at the state park ramps. No one was noticing what I was doing there!
When he stopped trying to help me and I started figuring it out for myself is when it began to click. Now he spends that time straightening up his poles, putting things away and doing whatever he can to keep himself from paying attention to me. Some of my biggest nerves came from the fact that this was HIS boat, HIS trailer, and HIS truck! I'm sure other women reading this will know exactly what that means. His that he bought, he owns, he maintains, he waxes and polishes....goodness sakes the last thing I wanted to do was mess something up or have him worried that I might mess something up. Be nice and be very patient and she'll figure it out....use that time to play with your new fish-finder or something....!
Driving the boat; the same way...seems as though the more I tried steering away from the buoy and the more nervous he was getting (not about the buoy, but the dock on the other side of the buoy) the closer I was getting to it. We got in a cove plenty clear of the docks....he tossed out some of those floating fishing markers and I putted around them them I get it figured out...meanwhile...he was trolling for fish....
Going down the highway; We're women, not idiots. Again...Shhhhhh with the lips and hands. Just explain that you have to swing out wider (closer to the ditch on the other side) than you would in a car. I learned that just about the time that I thought "oh man, I'm gonna get in the ditch" is when I needed to cut my wheels to get in the driveway.
That lawnmower cart backing is WAY harder. I usually end up getting off and lifting/pushing it around to where it to go because I can't back it.
Good luck and enjoy fishing with your wife!
