Reply With Quoteeed to find how it goes with me doing the skipper bit. (oops pressed send early again.... Embarrassing when you go off early eh!)
Yeah this is exactly what I want to avoid.... I must try never to loose it at the deckie.Originally Posted by gpz1991
Years ago we had a 23ft yacht that was moored on the piles. The outboard was a cranky old thing that would die if you throttled back. Anchoring and returning to the piles was always a fraught experience. I would loose it at the wife and then have to apologise later.
I am older and wiser now so am hoping to avoid the ranting looney that I once was when things went wrong.
I have deckied many a launch and retrieve so know the general idea.... Just n
eed to find how it goes with me doing the skipper bit. (oops pressed send early again.... Embarrassing when you go off early eh!)
Walrus,
Just take your time and relax. The more stressed you are, the worse it will be.
The very first time I took my boat (a 4.2m tinny) to the ramp, I tossed my rods on the floor of the boat along with the fuel tank for the drive to the ramp. Got there, one rod was snapped in two and another had it's guides bent every which way. Learnt that lesson quickly! Annoyed by having broken my favourite rod, and not wanting to hold up the one other boat there (despite being a two lane ramp), I launched by boat off the trailer without lifting the outboard leg. Lesson number two.
Since then, I've lost count of the number of times I've been held up at both single and dual lane ramps by people doing absolutely stupid things with no respect for those waiting.
Long story short, I now have no problem taking an extra minute or two to launch or retrieve properly and SAFELY. I still do everything in my power to get on and off the ramp as quickly as possible, but I have no issue getting in the boat to make sure the engine starts before I launch it etc.
Not sure where you plan on launching from, but I like the two lane ramp next to the yacht club at the Manly marina. I'd recommend hitting that spot mid week just to practice your launch and retrieve.
And best of luck!
At the end of the day it's all a learning experience, when you get a boat and trailer rig for the first time, pick a quiet day and time and just take it easy, keep the vehicle on the dry part of the ramp and observe, take note of what works and what doesn't, a bit of common sense would dictate that if you get on the slippery stuff at the end of the ramp then you will be bound to have dramas trying to stay on it or get out of it, think of the slippery wet stuff at the bottom of the ramp as trying to drive up a muddy slippery hill towing the boat. It won't work on the hill nor will it work on the ramp. If the slippery stuff is too high up the ramp then you can't launch there and you may have to go to a different ramp or wait for a higher tide, which means you also have to wait for a higher tide to come out as well.
If you don't think that the boat will float off without going too far down the ramp and on to the slippery part then don't try, better to drive off the ramp then have to have someone tow you out when your in the water. At least you get to keep your dignity and not end up on a YouTube video forever.
Also watch out for sudden deep drop offs at the end of some ramps, not all of them continue out gradually and some end abruptly, so if your trailer wheels go over the edge at the end you will be in trouble.
I am about 2 weeks away from launching my boat which I refitted and built the trailer for, so I will be doing the exact same thing I have mentioned in the previous posts, as it will be my first time for this rig. Although I don't think there will be any problems launching it, I will be prepared for s..t to happen, as experience has shown me many times that things don't always go to plan. Once I have done a launch and retrieve a few times, I will be able to relax a bit as I will then know what works and what doesn't and if something needs to be adjusted on the trailer to work properly.
A bit of precaution goes a long way, for example my 4WD drive has low and high range, and the jeep should pull the boat out without having to go into low range, but I will put it into low just to make sure it does until I know how it handles. The difference between what I think I know and what I will know will come from practice.
I don't want to end up in some Youtube video titled; "watch a wan..r sink his Jeep and trailer"
Cheers
Ed.
my favourite boat ramp story was a bloke came back to the ramp after a days fishing with the missus she gets out to bring the ute down..young couple with one of those lowered 2wd toyota ute things..very flash and useless...has a hard time backing down the steep ramp (I ( the old boy struggles backing on this ramp it and has been doing it for years)..we are waiting at the side for our turn next...old mate is swearing and giving all kinds of expletives on how useless the fairer sex is at backing and is yelling at her while holding the boat...he gets out all kinds of mad and gives her plenty jumps in the lowlux and due to being so mad basically flaws the thing down and buries half the rear end of the ute into the water including the huge brand new looking muffler rocket looking thing..of course blames her for that before putting the boat on and then doing a burnout the whole way up the ramp...suffice to say the flash looking ute didnt sound to great after that...geez i hope the silly bugger wrecked it...couldnt have been good for it anyway..
made plenty of mistakes at boat ramps...will make more again but staying calm and being prepared sure does help make 9/10 launches trouble free
My own personal ramp fo-par at the ramp was a launch around Xmas time from maroochy into the creek. I had the kids with me and they were quit young. Got the boat of the trailer with out a hitch even parked the trailer without prob. The drama started when I pushed the boat off the sand and scrambled over the front trimmed the motor down as the wind and current swept towards the bridge pylons still not a issue as i have done This many times before but the heart sank when I reached for the key only to find that it was not there but I'm the car because the boat had been at the caravan park and I took the key out for safety. I had to quickly go over the front with the launch rope that was still attached and swim to shore and drag the boat to the ramp
Eighteen years old, fit as a Mallee bull, an all round sportsman... That's me. On the inside.
The outside is a fat old fart.
So I probably shouldn't be doing acrobatics on the wet slippery trailer chassis when it's half in the water at the bottom of the ramp. But I forgot to unclip the winch cable from the rear of the trailer before I reversed it in to recover the boat.
A smart operator woul have spent 30 seconds driving up a bit... Grab the hook off the trailer end then reverse back again. But I am not that smart.
So I spent a couple of minutes walking down the slippery tightrope that is the trailer chassis inches from an embarrassing splash. The trailer is four miles long.
I didn't fall in but next time I will unless I get a bit smarter.
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