Dante04SRT
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2007
- Messages
- 311
Today, while coming back to the ramp, we noticed a pontoon boat having some problems. The guy's wife was trying to get the boat back on the trailer, but couldn't figure out why the boat wasn't moving - THE OUTBOARD WAS OUT OF THE WATER! Then, later, she was trying to give the boat some gas to slide onto the trailer bunks... Doesn't work too well when you've got the motor turned to the left! I thought the kids up front were gonna fly overboard when it finally stopped.
Moving ahead 20 minutes. I am in my truck waiting for this guy and his buddies to finish launching their 17ft bowrider... or at least I thought. They were trying to fix the darn thing right there at the launch! Finally, I started to get irritated and I backed my trailer on the ramp next to theirs... The ramp is wide enough for 2, but most people prefer to give one person at a time the space. Finally, I am ready for my wife to pull our boat onto the trailer. A minute later, as I hook the bow eye onto the trailer and make sure things look to be sitting right, I turn around to see this other guy, who pulled his truck and trailer along side mine, sitting there fiddling with this and that and taking his SWEET TIME, all the while, I am blocked from moving because he doesn't have his rig backed up far enough.
MAN! I try to be very considerate at the ramp and can understand new boaters trying to learn, but COME ON! After what seemed like forever, we finally had everything out of the water and I began to hook the transom down. I look over and there's the original guy on the pontoon boat... The boat is 24ft long and only about the first 50% is sitting on the bunks. He didn't even notice that the back 50% of the pontoons were sitting off to the left of the bunks. I just don't get it.
Anyway, had to rant. I kept my cool, but just couldn't believe it this afternoon.
Moving ahead 20 minutes. I am in my truck waiting for this guy and his buddies to finish launching their 17ft bowrider... or at least I thought. They were trying to fix the darn thing right there at the launch! Finally, I started to get irritated and I backed my trailer on the ramp next to theirs... The ramp is wide enough for 2, but most people prefer to give one person at a time the space. Finally, I am ready for my wife to pull our boat onto the trailer. A minute later, as I hook the bow eye onto the trailer and make sure things look to be sitting right, I turn around to see this other guy, who pulled his truck and trailer along side mine, sitting there fiddling with this and that and taking his SWEET TIME, all the while, I am blocked from moving because he doesn't have his rig backed up far enough.
MAN! I try to be very considerate at the ramp and can understand new boaters trying to learn, but COME ON! After what seemed like forever, we finally had everything out of the water and I began to hook the transom down. I look over and there's the original guy on the pontoon boat... The boat is 24ft long and only about the first 50% is sitting on the bunks. He didn't even notice that the back 50% of the pontoons were sitting off to the left of the bunks. I just don't get it.
Anyway, had to rant. I kept my cool, but just couldn't believe it this afternoon.
Coming in from the first trip out, the ramps were full and boats were staying back, lining up to wait for a ramp to become available. I was about 5 boats back and decided to give the people coming out and going in ample space to maneuver in or out....I'll be darned if 7 boats didn't zip in front of me AND the 5 other boats ahead of me!! What are people thinking?? It was more than obvious that the 6 of us were waiting to dock but they all ponied their way ahead of us!
