Launch Ramp Idiots

[Litchfield Fisher]

Gotta luv the pups!!!   
I have a new pup as well.................. Note to self........don't leave keys in truck with dog!!!  :blink:

yup we had the same thing happen to us just not fishing

[filetandrelease]

my dog did it to us once but at home what I can't take is not using the staging and  destaging areas put boat in water then rig boat sorry 51 and not many patience other people might like to get out in a timely manner

[rgfixit]

Well, there I was, driving back to the launch to pull my boat out. 1st day on the open water today.

As I neared the launch, I saw an unoccupied boat floating in front, 3 sheriff's cars, 1 state trooper, an Encon and a tow truck. The Sheriffs were donning their wet suits and a crowd had gathered. I figured they were doing some sort of rescue exercise, so I pulled around and dropped the anchor. The divers went down, the tow truck driver started pulling out cable and I knew something was up.

Half hour later, the roof of a Chevy S-10 appeared , then the rest of the truck and the trailer. The boat was still attached to the trailer by the winch strap. The truck was totally submerged.

Bet it was his first day too

RG

 

[aj454]

A few years back i saw a guy back the trailor into the warter with the truck tires about 3 feet in. The other guy was out in the boat which stalled. Well when he got the motor fired up it somehow was in gear at full throttle, made a 20 yrd run smack into the quarter panel of the truck wrecking the prop and putting a nice dent in the truck. Best one iv'e seen yet.

[Jimmy]

While living down in the Everglades a few years ago I used to hang out at a nice little dive bar that had a boat ramp next to it, and a pretty good tidal current in the river on which it was located.

It was a great place to have beer and watch the mayhem when the 'weekend trailer sailors' came over from Miami to put their boats in...

Lots of great screaming matches between husbands and wives (us locals would usually yell some encouragement to the underdog) and all sorts of burned rubber, wet tailpipes and odd launching/loading techniques...

The best I've seen was a guy (visually nervous about the crowd of onlookers at the bar, and surely not the owner of the boat he was operating) who tied off the dock and got his truck and trailer...

After getting the trailer in the water- he hops in the boat and proceeds to try to BACK the boat ONTO the trailer!

Those of us at the bar would have tried to help, but it all happened too fast...  The sound was AWESOME when a 225 Yamaha V-Max outboard prop makes contact with an aluminum trailer frame...

I am suprised he didn't try to get even fancier and parallel park the thing!

[dmntd169]

yup I try to stay away form the big pleasure lakes during the summer now becasue there are a lot of idiots out there that just don't care and will blow by you 

I don't even consider launching until an hour or so before sunset on any lake that allows bigger than 10HP over the summer unless its supposed to rain all day...but just sitting at some of the heavily used launches with a case of beer is the best entertainment on a nice summer day

[bbkyle35]

I am equally amused at people backing down the ramp. The low water in the reservoir makes it a long way to the water. Some people take a half hour to get down.

Please practice before you head to the lake!

[MrMarty51]

Put a ball hitch on the front bumper and drive em in.Very fast and takes all the guess work out of where did that darn trailer go now!

[treed942000]

I was home last year on a fishing trip with the old man.  We had gotten out of the water and were securing the boat when this old cogger in a little honda SUV attempted to back his jet ski trailer down to pick up his kids.  Well, all you here is a crunch.....trailer jack kifed right into the side of the SUV.  What made this even worse after he assessed damage was he did it again only on the other side.  I have to say I was standing there dumbfounded.  Anyway, to young kids came along and backed the trailer in for him as he had the ramp alll tied up.  Wish I'd had a video camera for that one.

[fuldraw]

i got a couple stories here.  the first one isnt really about the people launching the boat its the people around the launch.  the pond my camp is on is a very well known brown trout and small mouth bass lake so there is usually quite a few boats in and out of the water on the weekends.  we dont leave our fishing boat at the lake cause we fish other lakes as well so when we go up for the weekend or what ever we usually have to launch the boat when we get there on friday night, no big deal.  but on sunday afternoons when its hot out all the townys come to the beach that is near the launch.  it never fails that there is a family or two set up on the ramp. this isnt a big launch its a single boat launch just big enough for a decent sized fishing boat and there is no dock and its right on the road which is usually down to one lane from all the cars parked for the beach.  these people on the launch never thinks its a big deal.  no matter what we say have the time they barely if they move at all!  this ramp is hard enough to use with out people around let alone kids running around the back of the trailer while the parents sit in the chairs with there feet still on the launch after moving for us! its ridiculous.  its gotten to a point now were we ask the people to move when we first get there and if they dont we just back in anyway.  we have flattened a couple chairs and float or two now and the people still dont move. 

same spot different day my dad is getting ready to back the trailer in while i wait in the boat.  this guy pulls up on the other side of the road directly across from the ramp and parks right bellow the now parking sign. (another towny)  my dad says to the guy that he can park there and the guys says yes i can and throws a towel over the sign!  my dad tried to explain that we couldnt back into the launch now because he was to close to the launch and he just ignored us.  at this point there is a truck with three guys in it waiting to launch once we are done.  once the guy walks off my dad and i and the three guys in the other boat went over to the guys truck and picked up the back end and slide it down into the ditch which is pretty steep and real soft and the truck was a 2 wheel drive!  we ran into the other 3 guys a couple weeks later at the launch again and they said that they called the cops on the guy for parking in a no parking zone and the cops came and told the guy to move his truck but he ended up getting stuck so he had to pay a ticket and pay for a wrecker to come pull him out!! thats the last time he parked there.

one more lol

this one is actually of me and my buddy.  we will start off with that it was a real hot, sunny and long day on the ocean.  alot of times after we fish the salt water we stop at a lake on the way home and back the boat in and run the motors to get all the salt off instead of doing it in the driveway.  the launch we usually go to was packed that day so we went to one down the raod that we hadnt used before.  we just pulled up and started baking in cause we dont usually unstrap the boat for this.  well needless to say this launch was alot steeper then we thought and didnt realize it.  we get out of the truck and saw that the tires were off the ground and the trailer was floating with the boat!! the wind blew the baot up against the dock and the tires ended up getting stuck under the dock just let me tell you that was a pita to get and im glad that no one was there to watch us 

[OTIS]

Put a ball hitch on the front bumper and drive em in.Very fast and takes all the guess work out of where did that darn trailer go now!

Can you imagine all the people driving in reverse to get to the boat launch?   

[jibbs]

Nothing yet this year but, a few years ago, a little old lady was trying to back a fairly small boat into the water. Everytime she started backing up, the boat trailer would immediately go into a jackknife. I just figured it was just another inexperienced boater. After several failed attempts, we got out of our vehicle to see if we could help. The lady explained to us that she and her husband have been fishing together for many years and he always launched the boat. Well, the husband recently passed away and she really wanted to go out on the water. I offered to back her boat in for her and then asked when she was leaving the lake so we could meet her back at the launch to take her boat out for her. She was very grateful and thanked us numerous times. After we got her boat loaded back on the trailer after a few hours on the water, she said it was really nice to be on the water again but was not nearly the same without her husband. I felt really sad for her, but was glad we were there that day to get her out on the water one more time. We never saw her again. I was kinda hoping she would meet another gentleman someday that liked to fish.

that's a great story and i am sure she really appreciated it.....thanks......i had nothing to do with, don't even know the lady, but that goes to show you that there are really some great people out there

[jibbs]

last fall (november) i backed in my boat and forgot to clip the safety strap from last trip.......i unhooked from the winch and backed the boat in.........well, expecting the boat to stop when the safety strap engaged i was suddenly surprised.......the boat just took off floating into the water.......the only thing to do was to strip down naked.........jump into the 40 degree water and swim out to to the boat......pulled her on shore......looked around to see if anyone was watching.......toweled off with a old t shirt and jumped into to the boat for a day of fishing.....man was that water cold......idiot

[jibbs]

oh yeh! last summer i was at a lake and a pontoon broke down in the middle of the lake......they decided to pull it in with another boat.......well they hooked it up to the rail that a kid was standing on.......the rescue boat took off like a bat out of heck and pulled the railing right off the pontoon.......the kid went flying into the water and all heck broke loose.........not that idiots at there best

[Ice Dawg]

Several years ago someone backer their boat and trailer into the water at a boat launch, backed the boat off of the trailer and went fishing for the day leaving the truck parked next to the dock with the trailer still in the water. A couple of the local cowboys got a bit teed off and cut the tongue of the trailer off with a cutting torch and let it roll down into the bay. I bet that when they came back to the launch they learned a hard lesson in boat launch etiquette.