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What's your best boat ramp argument or funny story?


LostAnotherOne

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On 2018-04-30 at 3:09 PM, Lape0019 said:

Dad managed to launch his boat with the transom saver still attached to the motor!

 

On 2018-04-30 at 4:55 PM, Old Ironmaker said:

So did I.

After years, a father and son were reunited after they both happened to post to the same fishing forum...

 

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LMAOOO stolen from another forum posted today ahahha

 

Its been over a week so I have recovered and can talk about it without feeling the pain. So I am taking out on a small 1 lane ramp in South Florida last week. I arrive at the ramp and two guys have sunk their 15 to 17 fiberglass boat with roughly a 25 hp motor on it. Motor looks relatively new and is totally under water. So I don't have much choice but to help them. Looks like a 85 year old guy and son if I was guessing. Said they forgot to put drain plug in.

So we are waist deep in gator water trying to get the nose of the boat on the end of the trailer. I ask the older guy to back the trailer in a bit deeper. He starts to pull outdoh.gif I'm screaming stop when the entire trailer comes loose from the hitch. They did not latch the hitch closed. After 45min of straining, we get enough water out of the boat where the bilge gives us some help and we got drain plug in. By this time the 85 year old has told me he is 92 can't hear, can't feel his feet and does not drive well. I relieved him from duty and pulled out. As I got out of car, I see water pouring from the side of the boat. 4 inch hole in the boat. Apparently glue did not repair the holedoh.gif Now I see how the boat sunk so quickly.

In the process of getting the boat Out, I got their life jackets out and used them to help float the backend of the boat. They were hard for me to get out. Both of these guys may have drowned had they gotten out on the lake before the boat sunk. 

They thanked me and said it was the maiden voyage. I hurt for 4 days from all the lifting. I won't soon forget them drivng off with water still pouring out port side. I kid you not, anything can happen in Florida; and does.

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Man, what a great thread.

I once "launched" a 16ft aluminum on a steep, muddy "ramp". It was so steep and I got greedy by untying EVERYTHING before touching water. The boat came off the bunks, slid off the trailer and 15ft down to shore. So we just pushed the thing into the water. It was a beater and the motor wasn't damaged so we had a good laugh.

Those of you familiar with the Trout Lake launch in North Bay may know it was roped off for a while (if not STILL roped off). I'm the guy who "discovered" the cement slabs falling off into the deep. Almost sent my entire rig into the lake that day. Luckily there was a group of 20 drunken college kids nearby. They helped me literally lift the entire thing out of the water. Gave them whatever beer I had on hand. I wouldn't be needing it that day....

Third story, launching my 17.5ft crestliner with brother-in-law's $80,000 pickup. We're 10ft from the shoreline getting the boat ready and the whole thing starts moving backward. He had left it in DRIVE. He managed to get into the truck and hit the brakes just on time. He had some serious momentum going too. Good thing it was a dry launch.

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So, it's December and we have a deep down desire to hit Quinte again. Arrive to find that the Picton launch and bay are frozen over. The ferry launch is not available as the snow plow has filled it in. We hit the marina on the south shore near the ferry. The pic is what we found there upon arrival.

Two of us spent two hours clearing the ice off the ramp with shovels. That's dedication! To make matters worse, I think we only got one fish for the rest of the day!

HH

DSCN2489.JPG

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55 minutes ago, Headhunter said:

So, it's December and we have a deep down desire to hit Quinte again. Arrive to find that the Picton launch and bay are frozen over. The ferry launch is not available as the snow plow has filled it in. We hit the marina on the south shore near the ferry. The pic is what we found there upon arrival.

Two of us spent two hours clearing the ice off the ramp with shovels. That's dedication! To make matters worse, I think we only got one fish for the rest of the day!

HH

DSCN2489.JPG

Did you pay the $5?

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I like the look on others faces when they are on each side of the launch at the Barrie marina. Terry will drop me off,Ill go get the truck and trailer. I back the trailer in between, straight down the middle. Terry pops the boat on, we outader.:lol:

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25 minutes ago, misfish said:

I like the look on others faces when they are on each side of the launch at the Barrie marina. Terry will drop me off,Ill go get the truck and trailer. I back the trailer in between, straight down the middle. Terry pops the boat on, we outader.:lol:

It's that simple.. some people make it really hard on themselves.

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We where camping at that trailer just up from Attherly  right beside the road .

Head down to the launch ramp and here's buddy trying to back trailer in.

10 th try he has got it in the water so winch is covered.  

The whole time his wife is just ranging on him.

Now 10 try's getting the boat on trailer with 2 ropes pants rolled up wife yapping.

I steel my self and offer help, buddy in proper English said no thanks the wife said yes.

I jumped in vehicle pulled it out to proper depth  got buddy to drive it on wife just ranging on him.

Attached strap pulled him out. The wife made him thank me.

Off fishing all day back Barbie Q and here comes the wife dragging buddy where she made

him thank me again.   

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  • 1 year later...

I am used to the proper IN/OUT rules at a boat launch - so the Tiffin Launch in Barrie always drives me crazy.  I hate it when people dock at the launch, and then go get their vehicle - which is now behind the line up of those wanting to launch - but of course their boat is blocking access.

Now in fairness - the design of that launch is horrible - and docking off to the side is not always available.  

Having said that, my story was a late evening.  There were about 4 boats ahead of me waiting to be pulled out.  So I docked at the side, and waited.  About 30 minutes later, I see two boats roaring down the bay, and said to my wife, just you watch - they are going to dock at the launch.  It was my turn coming up so got the truck in the lane - and when ready backed it in.  As I got out, the wife in one of the boats (who are now parked/blocking the launch ramp) said "Excuse me - but we need to pull our boats out".  I said I had been here for 30 minutes already - pointed to my boat and proceeded to walk away.

Pulled the boat over to load (it drives on real nice) and they were still sitting in my way.  I just sat there waiting - until they finally clued in and moved.  I was in/out in under a minute.

Launched at Innisfil the other day (what a much better system - and they even had Police there, I guess because they knew it would be busy) and have always seen a large line up of people standing at the railing.  I figured they were watching people, but was not 100% sure.  Anyway after launching a Lady remarks to me - well that was no fun - where was the Drama ?.   So confirmed what I thought - they go there to watch the often highly rated Gong Show.

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Waiting my turn.  Two guys on jet ski ahead.  Overhear.  “ if you can’t see the trailer just keep backing up”. Backing down Little trailer swings all the way to the right and Is hitting the fender.  He keeps backing as a he trailer wheels hope on the ground and the trailer smashee the side of the truck 

why didn’t you stop. Hi couldn’t see the trailer h says. 

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A couple of years ago at Port Bruce we came in due to it getting far too rough.

As we loaded up the boat we seen a guy with a 1960's fiberglass boat (aprox 16')with an inboard/outboard getting ready to launch.

We warned him not to go. 

His response was "I was out earlier & I know what I'm doing".

Even the ramp owner told him "If these guys are telling you not to go don't as they go out when most won't".

They launched.

After getting packed up we were having a beer with the ramp owner when they came back with the husband cursing at the wife. When they got to the mouth they found out they couldn't handle the 5 footers and tried to turn back getting washed into the pier and damaging the outdrive.

But it was her fault??????

 

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On 5/1/2018 at 7:11 PM, KawarthaGuy said:

So I back in, launch the boat, it glides off smoothly into the lake.  I walk around the trailer and pull on the bow line to bring the boat back to the dock when the line snaps and there is a good off-shore breeze.  So I start flipping off my shoes, socks, pull out my wallet, keys, off goes the shirt and now the boat is about 20 yards offshore.  Dive in, head-up front crawl aka Johnny Weissmuller to the boat and grab the remaining rope and swim it back to shore.  

A little excitement to start the day but felt good to hear the applause!

Kawartha Guy

You're the guy the Minn Kota made the Ulterra for :) :)

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I was at Midland launch one day and watched a guy with his new 17’ fibreglass boat preparing for the first launch. Unfortunately he didn’t do much homework prior to heading to the lake. He’s parked at the top of the ramp with the transom about 20’ from the waters edge and he’s figuring out the winch. You boys know what’s next...he flips the directional switch and away she goes!!!! The damn handle was spinning so fast it sounded like a helicopter. The boats transom hits the concrete and just keeps on going. When the handle finally stopped spinning there was a 20’ white racing strip down the middle of the ramp. Those ramps that get raked while the concrete is wet sure make launching easier but they also grind a boats keel down to the glass fibre in no time. 

I felt bad for the poor guy. Know your trailer!!

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jeeez grimsby, how did he get the boat back on the trailer? did you stick around to watch lol?

ive forgotten the plug out too many times to count, but thats probably because i rarely launch at busy public launches. When i do I go full OCD and check the boat over 5 times to make sure everything is set before I put the boat in. Luckily, I can reach my plug by reaching over the back of the boat. Im not too proud to say that I havent done that a couple of times as well :P 

Not so "funny per-se" but just an example at the ridiculousness of public launches, the Chemong causeway launch has one dock that has enough room for a boat on each side. 3 weeks ago I was coming in after spending the day out on the lake and another young guy was parked on the outside of the dock so I sit out in the water waiting for the spot to open up so that i can tie off and go get the truck to pull out. 

Another family is launching their bowrider as this is happening, a group of about 6+ kids and dog etc. Young guy hops back in his boat after parking his truck and takes off and I pull in and park my boat at the outside of the dock. There is a line up of cars waiting to launch. The lady looks at me as im pulling up and parking my boat on the outside of the dock "but we were going to use that side of the dock" she says accusingly as if I stole it. I simply ignore her and go to get my truck, as I watch her friends and family begin to load the boat with their supplies for the day parked blocking the launch so that no one else can launch. They then sat there for 5 minutes waiting for their friends to be ready so that they could leave.

I guess I was supposed to just sit out in the bay until all of the boats had stopped launching that day ?

Its funny, people seem to notice when you actually prepare your boat ahead of time for launching. Mutitple times people have commented "youve done this a few times eh?" just because I get the boat ready before I hit the ramp. I guess common sense isnt common

Edited by AKRISONER
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14 hours ago, BillM said:

Biggest pet peeve are people loading/unloading the boat while it's on the ramp.   Can't handle it.  

the problem is that the people are so ignorant that she thought it was my fault that they were in the way because their plan was to use the side of the dock for the people coming in off of the water. I had already waited 5 minutes floating out in the lake for the other side of the dock to open up, I guess whats another 20 minutes?

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If you've ever launched at Village Marine in HH, you'll know it's a bit tight.   I was just pulling the boat out when a lady parks her Toyota right in the middle of the lane to unload her boat that's at the dock.  I was assuming she'd see me and back up, or actually use a parking spot to load/offload all her crap.   So I gave her one trip to the boat to come back with handfuls of stuff before I asked her to move.  She had no idea..  I was there, idling with the boat half out of the water just staring at her.    I couldn't do anything but shake my head.

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On 8/8/2019 at 11:18 AM, hutch4113 said:

I am used to the proper IN/OUT rules at a boat launch - so the Tiffin Launch in Barrie always drives me crazy.  I hate it when people dock at the launch, and then go get their vehicle - which is now behind the line up of those wanting to launch - but of course their boat is blocking access.

LMAO

That launch is a joke.

 

I have seen it all here. The Barrie marina is your best bet these days. They have it under control.  Help you launch,pull yer boat to the side out of the way while you park. Yer a res,so give it a go. You will be impressed I am sure.

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The ramp at Crystal Beach is a double as well...one in/one out. One day I was waiting at the top while two boats, one at each side, shuffled life jackets, coolers and played with outboards because we all know, the best time to start your motor for the first time of the year is on a crowded boat ramp!!!! Idiots!! 

I got sick of it and because I can completely unhook my boat from the trailer before backing down, told my friend to hang on we’re going down the middle!! Lol

I had about 5 feet on both sides and shot the boat into the water in seconds. Best part? I got dirty looks from both sides!! Lmao 

My biggest beef is the ramp mechanics that say “it ran great last year”!! Grrrrrr

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