Re: Trucks Submerged in Water...
I've watched a few youtube videos on boat launching and what not. I couldn't help but watch a few where trucks were completely submerged in the water. How does this happen???
99.9% of the time it happens because of lack of common sense or preperation.
People forget to use the parking brake and put alot of stress on the transmission, standards may pop out of gear and automatics may jump the park lock pin......or it may even shear off.
Alot of people will claim that you should use 4 wheel drive, but in 30 years we have never used a 4x4 to launch any of our boats and never had a problem but then we always did the following.......
Visually inspect the ramp BEFORE you even line up to back into the water, you need to know where it ends and where the sides drop off at. You also need to know if it is covered in algae, if it is then beware that it is going to be slick.
Make sure the tow vehicle runs properly and you are very proficient at driving it, I have seen far to many people that can't properly use a manual tranny constantly stalling it on the ramp, next they become frustrated and do something stupid ..........alas they have successfully launched their tow vehicle as well as the boat.
Don't be afraid to carry wheel chocks with you just in case, this will in no way effect your man status among avid boaters, many boating purists will actually applaud your preparedness and appreciate it. They will tolerate an extra 30 seconds of ramp time in exchange for knowing that the ramp won't be closed for the afternoon while waiting for a recovery vehicle to fish out a tow vehicle.
