The Ramp, 2012....

[LippCJ7]

Ok so FINALLY we got on the water this year, been tough so far with money being short and the strange weather, ANYWAY...


We go to our favorite Res. and the ramp is setup for high traffic, four lanes on approach, far right is for prep, two middle are for inspection and far left is opposite traffic, 6 lane ramp, but knowing my wife we always stop by the ladies room with a nice shaded area to get ready while the wife/Admiral takes care of the small bladder.

I pull into the shaded parking area and my crew gets after it like a well oiled machine, I'm a proud Father/Captain!! No orders issued just everyone doing there job in order to get the SS Wet Lipps on the water POST HASTE!! Wife comes out and all she has to do is get in the boat and organize and I pull into one of the inspection lanes to find absolutely noone waiting, I pass at least 6 boats getting prepped but no worry were ready! I get to the stop sign and an inspector comes out we do our thing and before I know it I am pulling an empty trailer out.

I go park the truck and as I am coming back down the ramp to the dock I notice my boat is tied up in a slip with the Crew standing watch so I'm like WTF? This is not the typical procedure and the Captain was not advised to any change in procedure so the Captain is concerned immediately, but the Captain notes that the Admiral is not with the Ship just the Crew, He also notes that the First Mate is pointing up the ramp so the Captain looks behind him to find the Admiral Walking "With Intent" towards the Captain so I wait for her to catch up, upon her arrival I was told that one of the rookie Admirals had made the comment, "Well it looks like someone is in to much of a hurry to wait in line!", Well this was simply too much for the Admiral to bear so she took it upon herself to go straighten the Woman out, fortunately the Captain of said Rookie Admirals boat caught my very very experienced Admiral on approach and wisely advised her that he had properly advised his Admiral that our boat was properly trained and prepared and that we were following proper procedures and thankfully the National Guard was not needed.


Guys, I think you failed me when nobody warned me about marrying a Spanish Woman.....

 

[rbh]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

UMMMM???
You got me on this one Lipp.
Not sure if I should be applauding or laughing

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Me neither bud, but man I thought only I could tick her off that fast! LOL

 

[aspeck]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Just be glad the object of her wrath was someone other than you ... This time! LOL! Hope after the "Rocky" start, you were able to have some fun on the water!

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

it was a very nice day Art, nice and warm, had a brief thunderstorm but overall it was a great day! and Yes the boss not being mad at me was nice too!!LOL

 

[12vMan]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Very nautically put Captain! Sounded like a great day. Glad to have you back on the water.

 

[roscoe]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Sounds like my kind of woman, as long as she can back it up without involving me.

Ok, now tell me about these inspection lanes.
What are they for?
Who is this inspector?
And what are they inspecting?
Who is paying for this?

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Sounds like my kind of woman, as long as she can back it up without involving me.

Ok, now tell me about these inspection lanes.
What are they for?
Who is this inspector?
And what are they inspecting?
Who is paying for this?

+1 on this. Got me wondering as well.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Sounds like my kind of woman, as long as she can back it up without involving me.

Ok, now tell me about these inspection lanes.
What are they for?
Who is this inspector?
And what are they inspecting?
Who is paying for this?

Pretty simple answer, they are looking for invasive Zebra and Quagga mussles http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/co.shtml

I believe we are paying for it through our boat registrations.

The State Parks has trained many inspectors for this

They have us lower our outdrives to make sure our outdrives are dry, make sure our hull is dry and check the last lake the boat was on, this typically takes a couple minutes at most to the prepared Captain like me, once checked your allowed to drop your boat, if you have livewells things are a little more in depth but I don't. Once your day is complete they check your anchor to see if its clean unless you have not used it, check that the plug is out and that the drive is drained, then they add a seal if you plan on returning to that lake, the seal is serial numbered and logged, this weekend I will be going to Chatfield so I will likely have to get sanitized which means they will clean my hull (internally) with a hotsy and then allow me on the water. I don't mind the hotsy treatment as it helps clean the hull and mines spotless anyway.

We have lakes like Pueblo Res where we normally boat that are known to have these mussels and those that do not like Chatfield and thats why I get sanitized if I have been to Pueblo and then go to Chatfield, sanitizing takes about 30 minutes more but I can make it up by leaving earlier, no biggie.

And yes she can back it up, but that's another story, she has melowed somewhat lately and I like to think that she does not want her husband to book her into the Jail where her husband works....LOL

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

http://maps.google.com/?ll=38.27119,-104.76896&z=15&t=h

Here is the Ramp I am talking about just zoom in a little bit and you can clearly see the setup, this is during the off season but now the inspectors have a nice air conditioned trailer set up to the north of the prep and inspection lanes in the median, then when you take out the same inspectors check your boat to their north, on the south side of the parking area, I hope this makes sense. Once we get sealed we simply move up and next to the median to wash and cover my baby for the trip home.

 

[jt57]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Here in Wyo we have mussels inspections also.We have three neighboring states (Colo,Utah and Neb) that have infected waters. The Wyo game and fish started this inspection program three years ago. Residents pay 10 dollars per year, out of staters pay 30 for a AIS sticker. This is what funds the cost to do boat inspection. It also pays for the hot clean when it's needed. About the only difference is we don't get inspected when we come off the water. One of the biggest problems with this program ,is the lake that i boat on,is shared with both Wyo and Utah. Utah does not require a boat inspection or a sticker for AIS as long as the boat stays in Utah waters All they require is that boaters take a on line test(that any 14 yr old could pass) Show the test results are they are good to go. It's just a matter of time before some of Wyo's waters will become infected.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

well to add to that jt57, we go to Powell as much as possible (albeit we will not be going this year because of money) and I have to say that Powell Rangers have their game together, I mean seriously it took them 5 minutes to sanitize my boat, and that included waiting for another boat, I pulled my truck and trailer on an elevated platform opened my engine hatch and they took care of the rest, I had them do it everytime I put in it was so nice, after that trip you could eat off my bilge!!

I don't disagree with you that they are on their way to WY in fact I bet they are already there just have yet to be found, I just wish there was a way to quickly eliminate them but I doubt that is possible.

 

[roscoe]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

Ok, thanks for the info.

So how would they "sanitize" my boats? Aluminum center console and an aluminum runabout.
Both have a bilge that runs the entire length of the hull, water can enter the bilge area from multiple points, and the bilge is filled with dozens of pieces of floatation foam.
Do they run sanitizer through your bilge pump hoses too?


So if it rains the night before, or the day of your outing, do you automatically need to get sanitized?

Sounds like a pain if you boat multiple lakes per day, or week, or if you live where it rains frequently.

 

[BonairII]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

We don't have inspectors at my local lake. but there was a team of Cornell students at the launch on Memorial Day educating people on invasive species.....asking if boaters empty their bilge before leaving the lake, etc etc

 

[jt57]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

well to add to that jt57, we go to Powell as much as possible (albeit we will not be going this year because of money) and I have to say that Powell Rangers have their game together, I mean seriously it took them 5 minutes to sanitize my boat, and that included waiting for another boat, I pulled my truck and trailer on an elevated platform opened my engine hatch and they took care of the rest, I had them do it every time I put in it was so nice, after that trip you could eat off my bilge!!

I don't disagree with you that they are on their way to WY in fact I bet they are already there just have yet to be found, I just wish there was a way to quickly eliminate them but I doubt that is possible.

You are right about lake Powell,from others that I have heard from they do have their act together when it comes to doing boat inspections. The problem with Utah not requiring a boat inspection on flaming gorge. Is that a boater can boat on red fleet resivior (that does have mussels) then boat on the gorge the next day. And all that is needed is some piece of paper. no inspection needed.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: The Ramp, 2012....

I don't know about boating multiple lakes per day, and during the day your already on the lake so that doesn't matter, but one thing I have found is when we get rain the night before it can cause an issue I just have not run into it yet. I suppose it can be a pain but it hasn't been for the boating I do, of course I don't fish so.

I don't know how they sanitize your type of boat, I have never seen it done.