Oops!- Colmsie Boat Ramp

[charleville]

Was watching a Quarantine boat get launched at Colmsie Boat Ramp at low tide late this afternoon when there was a loud bang - the trailer wheels had fallen off the end of the boat ramp. #;D

There was a bit of a concerned investigation by the guy who was on the boat as to the health of the twin outboard legs but obviously there was no damage to speak of so they launched the boat and off they went.

[charleville]

Close-up...

[lippa]

ummm, BUGGER!!! ;)

[charleville]

I have heard that there is a mark on the adjacent pontoon jetty to show where the end of the ramp is. The only thing that I could see that might be such a mark was that one of the verticals on the rail on the pontoon was painted orange.

Is this the end-of-ramp mark, please?

[charleville]

ummm, BUGGER!!! #;)


yeah - it is worse when there is someone watching with a digital camera in his pocket, of course. ;D ;D ;D

[charleville]

Without a marker, it would be tricky to know where the end of the ramp is. I could not see it through the muddy water...

[seatime]

Charlie, yes that faded orange vertical part is the end of the ramp.

They shouldn't be concerned about the motor legs, last time I checked there was about a 2m drop-off at the ramp edge.

rgds

[brettski3]

nice superV

[emuparkpete]

Ha ! Oh....bring it on, I love seeing stuff like that . Makes my "pre launch check list " not look so stupid after all, ramp knowledge is on it .

[Lone_Wolf]

Yep, that's an oops. "Err.... boss, it's about the boat......"

[charleville]

Charlie, yes that faded orange vertical part is the end of the ramp.

They shouldn't be concerned about the motor legs, last time I checked there was about a 2m drop-off at the ramp edge.


Thanks gelsec. That is all good info to know.

[Alex9797]

Hey all,

nearly as embarassing as walking off the edge of of the f#$@ING thing one morning in front of a squiilion boaties going out to look at the visiting aircraft carrier.

"yep I know boats" :-[ :-[ :-[

cheers

Alex

[riverrat]

YO THE BOAT RAMP. We had our new frontrunner down there yesterday and would have fallen for the same trick if it had not been for the chap anchored off the ramp in that yacht. (thanks to him by the way for the warning.
Say the event from a distance,,,they seemed to get it off pretty quickly

[gunna]

Its why you gotta walk down and see where the end is if your not sure. Only a matter of getting your feet wet.

[charleville]

,,,they seemed to get it off pretty quickly


Yeah - the boat rolled off easily but given what gelsec said about the depth, I suppose it should. Without any weight on the trailer, the guy driving the 4WD just drove forward and up came the trailer wheels.

I would hate to do that with my own boat though. #:)

[griz066]

That coulda been worse ::)

[reef_king]

ive driven the cat trailer off the end at dead low off mooloolaba,tin can bay and hook point boat ramp.


ty

[jim_farrell]

I can understand having issues at extreme lows, but why don't they just make them an extra 1.5 meters longer. I can't believe a council would go to the trouble of building a ramp that isn't long enough. It's not like we have ridiculous tides in the S.E.
Jim

[charleville]

I can understand having issues at extreme lows, but why don't they just make them an extra 1.5 meters longer. I can't believe a council would go to the trouble of building a ramp that isn't long enough. It's not like we have ridiculous tides in the S.E.


That is a pretty fair question, I think, Jim.

Even if they ramped it down at sharper angle past a certain point, it would be better than a dead end.

The ramp that I normally launch from at Manly drops away more quickly under the low water mark and whilst that is slippery to walk on, it is nonetheless better than just disappearing altogether. #See picture below. the ramp goes a fair way under low water...

[jeffrey_h]

Join the club, our boat went off the end there to. I did a topic on this 17/08/06, short boat ramps.
I did ring the council but they have never responded, of course. Even a govt boat goes off the end, I wonder if they complained? I think more people should.



Jeffrey

[Fast_Freddie]

Geez,
Low tide - expensive boat - experienced crew.
Strikes me as either laziness or stupidity - bloody funny though!

Fred

[Dirtysanchez]

So what would the trailer have been sitting on then, the mudguards ? or could there have been some stuff under the wheel like rocks etc ?
If so, mudguards would be stuffed !!

[jeffrey_h]

fastfreddie, When it happened to 'our' boat it was when the saleman from the boat yard was putting it in for the test drive. Low tide - expensive boat - in-experienced driver.

Dirty, I thought that it fell onto the forward spring bolts then the trailer frame. I just looked now to find that it actually landed on the struts of the forward side rollers and pushed them up 25mm. That was why the centre rollers were loose.

Like I said if we all complain then we might get something done.

Jeffrey

[Dirtysanchez]

Jeff, bugger mate, thats a nuisance !!

I was thinkinig more of the Customs boat, would it have been sitting on the mudguards ?

That ramp looks like it needs to have a few Mtrs added to like the guys said.. it seems a bit sub standard

Russ

[charleville]

I was thinkinig more of the Customs boat, would it have been sitting on the mudguards ?

I actually don't know. I was about 150m away when I took the picture although I had been walking up the pontoon away from the ramp when I heard the bang of it falling off the end.

I did not think to have a look at the trailer after the event - mainly because they spent an inordinate amount of time reviewing their situation before they launched the boat and drove up the ramp with an empty trailer. What a boofhead, I am! :-?

The driver did not do anything clever in getting the wheels back on the ramp though. he just seemed to put the 4WD in forward gear and take off.

[honda900]

They are public servants, the boats not theirs, care factor 1. If it was their boat there would have been a lot more investigation.


Regards
Honda

[essky]

It happened to me a while back. My friend backed the trailer down and wheels went over the edge. We could not get the trailer back onto the ramp as the springs or some other part of the trailer was hitting the edge of the ramp before the wheels could get near it.

With an incoming tide we were starting to worry, and as the trailer is close to 8 metres long, we could not lift it.

Ended up carrying all the big rocks we could find and built up a ramp of rocks so the wheels could get to the ramp. Got a few good cuts from oysters doing this.

Cannot blame people for not checking the ramp. I had used the ramp heaps of times, but problem only happens at dead low tide. The ramp looks good with a nice poontoon there which lulls you into a false sense of security. There does need to be warning signs. I know of others who this has happened to as well.