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Stupid Boat Ramp Stories

Only 3 stories, 2 my own fault.

Backing down boat (23' Baja) down ramp at night to move to slip. Plug in, bow strap off. Boat not coming off trailer, realized i didnt take transom straps off. Shut down engine & climb out. Instead of pulling truck out, i decide just to wade in & unhook. Shoes already off & wearing shorts & a t. i wade down, & start feeling my way around to find the hooks. Take one more step to get better leverage, foot hits some moss & i go completely under. Making best use of the situation, i work the strap off & come up. I didnt say a word & moved around to the other side.

Never left plug out, but did leave in once. Found the boat w/ about 6" water in the berth & about 12" in the bilge. Lot of rain & apparantly my cover wasnt water proof.

Last one, we were heading out of loto party cove memorial weekend. Anyone thats been there knows there is a no wake zone to get back to main channel. takes 20-30 mins it seems. we are idling our way out, its been a good day (boat actually ran all day). next thing i know starboard engine goes dead. i dont panic, put it in neutral, & restart. nothing. i get a little nervous. move shifter to make sure its in neutral, restart. nothing. i panic. wife asking whats wrong. i realize the tach is completely down so i know its a batt issue. port engine dies. im crappin my shorts. we begin to come to a stop, in front of tons of boats. wife keeps asking whats wrong. i tell her its like we lost all power, batts arent showing a charge. then it hits me. i open the berth door & see all switches down. i flick them up & see the dash come to life again. fire each engine up & go along our way. found out that the 4yr old had got up twice to keep shutting the door. each time she got up, she somehow hit the switches killing the power. plan on getting those replaced so that cant happen again.
 
Was water skiing behind my father's house on Treasure Island. There's a little boat ramp on Guld Blvd. Barely wide enough for an average ski boat. Don't dream of bringing a big rig or long trailer because there's nowhere to turn around.

So we're skiing and i notice a truck lower on the ramp then normal. Well, it had just rolled down and was still floating. The guy was swimming back to the ramp.

It took no time for the crowd to gather. Eventually, the tow truck starts winching the truct and trailer out of the water. Kid couldn't have been out of high school. Wouldn't you know it, to add insult to injury, his father shows up and make this biggest yelling scene. embarrasses a kid who could not be embarrassed any more. What a d!ck.
 
Worked at a marina/dealer one summer. We had a small diesel yard tractor with a "stem" on the draw bar, which you could put one of the three sizes of hitch balls on (1 7/8, 2, or 2 5/16). After the ball was on the stem, a pin went through to hold it all together, and the trailer hitch covered it all keeping the pin in place. Worked well at first, but soon became a pain to free the pin up to change the ball. The draw bar was actually across the 3 point hitch so we could hydraulically pick up trailers without messing with the jack. The draw bar was braced to the 3 point hitch arm to keep the ball always pointing up like normal.

I needed to get a demo boat out of the water, so I got the tractor (set up with the 1 7/8 ball) and hooked on to the 2" ball trailer (too much of a pain to change the ball, and what could happen?) and backed it all down the ramp, set the brake and shut it off. Walked down the dock to the boat and drove it to the trailer, all this by myself.

The trailer was not in far enough, the boat contacted the trailer behind the axle, teetertottering the front of the trailer up and forward, jarring the brace off the draw-bar so it (and the attached 1 7/8 ball) rolled forward right out of the trailer hitch, completely disconnecting the trailer from the tractor. The boat I'm driving has the trailer pinned to the ramp, and I'm working the throttle just enough to keep it from rolling down into the lake, but not too much to ram the tractor with the tongue. And I was stuck doing this for several minutes before a customer walked by, noticed the problem, and hooked the trailer back to the tractor.

Guess there is a good reason you don't put a 2" trailer on a 1 7/8" ball.
 
Launch of Sheik Maktoum's 47 ft cat pleasure personal boat built by victory team in Dubai out of an older raceboat. Crained in tested and went to crane out. The crane operator had 2 hrs experience. boomed out too far. picked the boat up shut the warning buzzers off and lifted the boat. see results.

They came in with a 20 wheel crane lifted the first crane out and then the boat like toys. The sheik was only concerned about the operator and he was ok but I heard he was sent back home quickly.

pic of the boat as a raceboat then pleasure.

pat W
 

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We have a Park Model camper set up permanent in a camp ground. In this campground there is a privet boat ramp!! On Sunday mornings several of the ladies in the camp ground take there Sea-Doo’s out together. A couple of years ago one guy started using his golf cart to put the Sea-Doo in and out at the ramp. This caught on and now we all do this. My golf cart is pretty customized and is lifted with big tires and wheels, so the breaking system is tapped to begin with. When I back mine down the ramp I keep it in forward to assist in breaking need be. And once you get the ski on the trailer you just have to hit the gas and go!

One day last summer my daughters boy friend was helping my wife put the ski on the trailer and he backed it down the ramp for her. I was standing on the dock doing what I do best……..drinking beer! He did not fallow the leave it in forward rule, and set the parking break with the cart in reverse. My wife loaded the ski on the trailer, jumped on the cart and pushed the gas to take off. Of course the cart was in reverse so it went backwards. She slammed on the breaks about time the back tires hit the water. I guess she was confused, so she hit the gas again. This time backing it down to the point where the 23” tires are all but submerged!!! So the motor had to be under water on an electric golf cart! She then realized she was in reverse, and switched gears and pulled the ski out. No harm no foul. Only problem is along with me there were at least 10 other people standing around watching this happen and applauding the effort. She cussed the boy friend pretty bad! It was pretty funny, and I always new some one would deep 6 a golf cart at that ramp…..I just never thought it would be mine!
 
shifter said:
Launch of Sheik Maktoum's 47 ft cat pleasure personal boat built by victory team in Dubai out of an older raceboat. Crained in tested and went to crane out. The crane operator had 2 hrs experience. boomed out too far. picked the boat up shut the warning buzzers off and lifted the boat. see results.

They came in with a 20 wheel crane lifted the first crane out and then the boat like toys. The sheik was only concerned about the operator and he was ok but I heard he was sent back home quickly.

pic of the boat as a raceboat then pleasure.

pat W
Click to expand...

forget teh crane, that conversaion is a damn shame. look at the anchor on the front. it hurts to look at.
 
Magicfloat said:
In 1987 I had a Jeep Grand Waggoneer,worst car I ever owned. Had constant electrical problems,many times at nite the headlites would go out,but the worst was the wipers would hardly ever work when it rained. One day I backed an 18'Donzi down the ramp,put Jeep in park,got out to unhook the boat. As I stepped out it somehow came out of park and slowly rolled into the water.Fortunately the boat floated free. I watched as the Jeep began the sink,and just before it went under,the wipers came on :)
Click to expand...

Robert ,
That was the first story that came to mind when I saw this thread ! Then there's the one of my Dad and the 26' SeaRay & the ElCamino .Also the new Glastron at the Duncan Bridge ramp half sunk because a certain sales pro / drinking pro used the sales pitch "she's water ready " .The new owner assumed that means drain plug and all ! My little brain is now overloaded with dumb sh!t from the last 40 yrs or so. I think I've seen everything mentioned so far happen at least once !
 
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