Now pretty well completed a with length of some fifty metres and able to hold from about 14 boats at high tide down to four or six at dead low tide. Abilities of Boaties to moor properly can see these figues go either way! So far a resounding success with 99.999% of users thrilled with having somewhere to park their boats instead of standing up to their necks in a four knot current, muddy, rocky bottem, 25 knot Nor Easter and hanging onto the painter rope waiting for the trailer. But, surprise, surprise, a "certain section" of users have heaped shit and verbal abuse on our members because they have to wait their turn. But you havta guess who.......! We handled some 800 boats over Easter and cleared eighty in about two and a half hours on Easter Monday. Naturally some waited longer but others got straight out. With now only two lanes operating, the efficiency and speed of launch and recovery is more than satisfactory and no grumbles or moans from the Boaties so far. Further developments will be fish cleaning tables in a couple of months, power and two fresh water taps and a hose (from us) will also be installed so you can wash your boat down after recovery. We have also installed a 2 metre mooring rope on every cleat on both sides as about 90% of Boaties have neither a rope nor boathook on board.....! The biggest problem is vessels that canot start (lots) and block up the traffic flow but we manhandle them out of the way as best we can! Also, the popularity of the jetty has meant a huge increase of users and all the bays are filled very quickly. Local Council will be temporarily releasing a nearby grassed area to handle the overflow - good community reaction to the overcrowding. We have all copped a lot of shit from the .001% and need you guys to help out the local Councillor Peter Dowling who made a tremendous effort to get this project completed. If anyone would like to send him a suitably worded email on: peterd@redland.qld.gov.au it would be really appreciatred by us guys at the rescue base and a bit of thanks to the authorities who genuinely help out the Boaties is great stuff anyway. Peter would be tickled pink for these expressions of thanks. See you at Vicky Point
Ian Fischer
so does this mean the trailor and or other thieves will hit the area heavily now there are more cars / trailors, what is the local council doing to combat this? I for one would love to see a fenced area, with security patrols, and gladly pay to have peace of mind.
cheers
Joe.
Not wanting to be critical about this... Every ramp needs something similar...
But it seems like the council have lost a space for an extra boat ..
Does that mean the ramp can only be used by 2 trailers at a time now and not 3 ??
Is there a reason Why didnt they put the jetty to one side?
Hard to understand the negative responses! I reckon it's great to see that some of our registraion money is finally being returned in the form of improved services at boat ramps. Hopefully if we all get on board and support this development, other councils may see the value in improving boat ramps and do simillar things elsewhere.
As for wanting fenced areas patroled by security guards even if you have to pay. It would be great if more ramps had these facilities, however these services do exist at a number of locations already i.e. Manly Trailer Boat Club.
Cheers,
Smerl
Thats a good point re why the jetty was not located on one side. If that had happened then the "seawards" side of the jetty would have been pretty well useless as everybody would then have had to somehow drag their boats around to the "other" side to recover their boats. Sure, you could tie up on what would have been the "dead side" but all you would have had in front of you would be mud i.e. no ramp at all. Another unfortunate fact was that far too many Boaties had "difficulty" in sticking to one lane anyway and quite often parked across two ramps that effectively reduced the entire ramp to two lanes only. The favourable response from the ramp users, even in busiest of periods, has been extremely favourable. On most normal weekends, there is rarely any excessive waiting but admittadly the reversing and launch/recovery skills of the Boaties plays a big part in how efficiently the whole concept is! So far so good!
That and people who can not back a trailer, the two biggest problems.. [smiley=stunned.gif] ..# Scarey isn't it...Originally Posted by VMR Vicky Point
Trailer backing skills should be part of boat lisence testing, and if you have to straighten up more than once, you dip out.
But then again you are supposed to do a reverse parallel park to get your car lisence, and it seems a lot of people soon loose that ability.
As for the boat won't start!!! If you have trouble at the ramp , how comfortable are you that it will start out in the middle of the bay?
I usually put the muffs on and start mine at home first, just to make sure the battery and everything else is OK...
Saves a bit of embarassment at the ramp also. [smiley=dunce.gif]
Amen to trailer reversing skills being nothing short of shocking!!
I have seen some guys take 5 or 6 goes to get it back down the ramp.
I must admit i scared the shit out of one guy at the colmslie ramp one time.. pulled the car round, reversed around him, then flew back at around 50 or so odd km/h. The trailer hit the water with a splash and scared a few people.
But i agree... people should be tested in reversing a trailer as a boat license test... simple as that. I mean my dad who's 44 this year CANNOT reverse a trailer to save his life. Even when i was on my L plates he'd stop the car and let me do it.
Anyway enough ranting and raving about that.... ramp looks awesome. I'll be out there tomorrow with the whole family to have a nice day over on coochiemudlo.
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