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Boat ramp stories?

TripleB

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Who got some good ones?

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TripleB

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Best one I saw was my brother, who for some reason always had to back the boat in with his door open. You guessed it one day he launches at the ramp and as he backs the boat in with an S-10 blazer, the door catches the first wood piling and bends the door backwards. Not something you want to do in front of friends.
 

RichL

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Hard for me to admit but I was in a hurry one day and despite taking care of everything else on my mental launch list I missed the trailer straps too. The moment the trailer hit the water I realized what I'd done.
 

getoffmylawn

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Best one in my time so far........
When the kids were little, we would take the trailer and stay at the Beachcomber in Havasu. Our entertainment in the evening was getting on the golf cart and driving next door to Site 6 to watch people pull their boats out. Well, some guy backs his truck and trailer down the launch and is yelling at his gal about how to pull it up on the trailer. It’s a beautiful 28-30’ boat. And it’s clear that this guy has a nice bank account. You can tell he is pretty well sauced up after a day on the lake too. Well, yelling gets louder, and before long this gal has had it with him berating her. She GOOSES the boat and runs it up the launch alongside the trailer, gets out of the boat, throws the keys at him, and tells him to do it himself. The look on that jackasses face was priceless.
 

DWC

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Left the plugs out once. Somehow it’s ingrained in the routine now. Tugged on the lanyard once and the boat wouldn’t start on the ramp. Called the person who did the maintenance to yell at them for screwing it up.. oops. Worst was putting the trailer in too deep on the Magic. One of the first trips and i didn’t know that the bow comes up that much. Snapped the winch strap and boat slipped back on the trailer. Thank god for the safety chain.
 

brownsuger

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I love good boat ramp stories.... We all have them....

Best one I have is when I was launching my boat by myself.... All was well after I backed in, I literally backed in maybe 6" farther than I normally do and after I unhooked the safety chain, I was putting the straps in the back of my truck and when I turned around the boat had floated off the trailer far enough that I had to swim after it.... (not far) but thankfully no one else was around to witness that stupidity.....
 

TripleB

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The best story I’ve ever heard was when a guy was retrieving the boat he walks down the ramp into the water, slips and falls. Being that it was too slippery to stand he starts crawling on his hands and knees. About that time his very large dog mounted him from behind and started humping him.
 

Tractorsdontfloat

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Friend of mine has a brother that bought a new motor for his tippy tinny a few years back. Merc 8 hp if I recall properly. Anywho, on our local pothole lake, he launched it for the maiden voyage with the new motor, him, my friend (his brother), and a neighbor in the boat. Gonna do a little fishing. Launches the boat, but somehow failed to securely clamp the motor to the transom. Gets out into about 8 feet of water, cranks the throttle and yup, motor jumps clean off the back of the boat and sinks into the mud below. Nearly had to rescue the whole crew. One from humiliation and the other two from laughing till they damn near fell out.

Some say on a quiet night you can still hear it running. :cool:
 

hav19

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Back in the mid 1990's my buddy and I bought a pontoon boat together, he lived in Ca and I live in Havasu, he would fly in and in his eyes I was supposed to launch him and other friends on Friday night and then retrieve them at the marina ramp on Sunday afternoon when they called, Well I was sitting at home enjoying Napcar one Sunday afternoon, they were just leaving the Nautical and wanted to put the toon on the trailer, I ran down and backed the trailer into the water, my buddy aimed the boat on the trailer it came on half way but would come no further, I got out to see if maybe a front line was caught on the bunks or something, my buddy backed up and tried again, still half way and that was it, he finally backed up, drove in a circle and the toon went right on the trailer, we pinned it and as I'm pulling up the ramp everyone is yelling at me to stop, turns out my buddy forgot to pull the rear anchor they had set at the Nautical and we were dragging the bent to shit anchor up the ramp behind the pontoon. After that I bought a $500 Beater Truck to leave at the airport for him to fly in and use to launch and retrieve his own sorry ass!!
 

EBT531

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When I was a kid dad used to get pretty sauced when boating. One day he’s putting the boat on the trailer and decided to pull it the last 1’ or so to get it lined up with the winch line. His wet foot slips on the trailer and he takes the trailer right to the nuts hard enough he ended up in the ER with a HUGE sack.
 

brownsuger

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When I was a kid dad used to get pretty sauced when boating. One day he’s putting the boat on the trailer and decided to pull it the last 1’ or so to get it lined up with the winch line. His wet foot slips on the trailer and he takes the trailer right to the nuts hard enough he ended up in the ER with a HUGE sack.

I can see that happening.... :oops:
 

welldigger00

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One time I had just put the boat on the trailer, and I was stepping out over the side to get out of the boat, my foot slipped off the fender, and I landed straight on my back. The bad news was I had my cell phone and wallet in my hand, and when I was in mid air falling over board, I flung both items high into the air over head, and all the contents of my wallet dispersed out on to the water about twenty feet away from the boat. Needless to say my wife was not impressed. One of my buddies laughed so hard he threw up on himself. Good times!


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TPC

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My boat ramp philosophy from years of launching.
If someone cuts in front of you to launch, no sweat, hold your position for someone else, sooner more than later will walk up to the guy and punch his lights out.
 

TripleB

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When retrieving the boat I’d drop my wife at the dock and she would get the truck trailer and back it down the ramp. This saves everyone at the ramp time, rather than have me dock the boat and go get the truck then load it. Well about once a year after our truck/trailer is in the water some one pulls their boat in behind our trailer and won’t move. So much fun, our truck sits there till they move:)
 

JFMFG

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I’ve done the typical drain plug rookie mistake. Sold the house at beachcomber so drug the boat home and at the California checkpoint the guy jumped up and down about me having the plug in so took it out about 5 years ago. Anyways fast forward to 2 weeks later my wife’s friend flew in from co first time going to havasu drop the boat in the water wait for my wife to come back from parking the trailer pull up to the turtle and her friend goes is there water supposed to be coming from here. That was a oh fuck moment. Threaded it in on the beach and causally idled out and let the bilge run for about an hour then headed up to pirates.
 

Deja_Vu

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We launched at Lake Elsinore for the day and as usual about 1:30 the wind starts picking up. So we decide to call it a day. Wife drops me off at the dock and I back the trailer at the ramp and I’m standing there and an old dude at the dock sees my wife coming in...so he probably thinks he’s going to see a shit show.

I’m giving her hand signals to help her crab it in on the approach to the trailer accounting for the 20 mph or so wind ... she sticks the boat on the trailer first time and the old man jaw drops and starts telling her good job!
 

HydroSkreamin

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Had a coworker ask me to look at his boat after he used it for the weekend.

We seatrialed it and when back at the dock, he grabbed the truck and trailer and I loaded the boat. He strapped the boat and went to pull me out. The interesting tidbit is he forgot to latch the trailer to the truck. He started pulling ahead and it came unhitched about halfway up the ramp. The other interesting tidbit is he also neglected to hook up the tow chains, so I rolled backwards into the water, started the engine, used the steering, trim, and throttle got the tongue lined up with the hitch (after he realized the situation and backed down the ramp) and with guidance from him, set it exactly on the hitch with no assistance other than visual.

Not panicking in that situation is key.

Had he been retrieving by himself, well, that would have been an interesting story.
 

brownsuger

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Had a coworker ask me to look at his boat after he used it for the weekend.

We seatrialed it and when back at the dock, he grabbed the truck and trailer and I loaded the boat. He strapped the boat and went to pull me out. The interesting tidbit is he forgot to latch the trailer to the truck. He started pulling ahead and it came unhitched about halfway up the ramp. The other interesting tidbit is he also neglected to hook up the tow chains, so I rolled backwards into the water, started the engine, used the steering, trim, and throttle got the tongue lined up with the hitch (after he realized the situation and backed down the ramp) and with guidance from him, set it exactly on the hitch with no assistance other than visual.

Not panicking in that situation is key.

Had he been retrieving by himself, well, that would have been an interesting story.


Well done.... and you're exactly right. A cool head always prevails....
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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I watched a 40-50' speedboat de launching with drunk idiots once. There's a restaurant directly at the ramp so fun to observe activities. Apparently the owner was passed out below and his friends were de launching without his knowledge. The tow rig actually wasn't powerful enough and the boat pulled the rig down the ramp and the rig fell off where the concrete ramp stops and sunk in 10' of cold salt water. I saw that trailer and heavy boat pull that rig right down the ramp and sink. The owner pops up and freaks out. Total shit show.... they had to pay $1500 to hire a huge crane to yank that rig out. Gotta slow your partying down if you're gonna de launch at end of a big day. Later I learned two facts.... the ramp isn't long enough [depending on tides] , and the ridges in the concrete aren't angled and pored correctly.
 

DrunkenSailor

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Had a coworker ask me to look at his boat after he used it for the weekend.

We seatrialed it and when back at the dock, he grabbed the truck and trailer and I loaded the boat. He strapped the boat and went to pull me out. The interesting tidbit is he forgot to latch the trailer to the truck. He started pulling ahead and it came unhitched about halfway up the ramp. The other interesting tidbit is he also neglected to hook up the tow chains, so I rolled backwards into the water, started the engine, used the steering, trim, and throttle got the tongue lined up with the hitch (after he realized the situation and backed down the ramp) and with guidance from him, set it exactly on the hitch with no assistance other than visual.

Not panicking in that situation is key.

Had he been retrieving by himself, well, that would have been an interesting story.

Thats skill right there.
 

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Hasn't happened to me but few times I've seen people pull onto the wrong trailer at the ramp. Some were drinking and some it was just an accident.
 

farmo83

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Last year I was got roped into driving the truck to launch a long time family friends boat. He was in the boat and by far the most drunk person I've ever seen driving a boat(which is saying something). We got down to the ramp and I put the plug in as he forgot. He fired the boat and I pushed him off. He raised the hatch to check things, sat back down and floored the throttle and off the boat went. Unfortunatly he left the hatch up so it ripped off the back of the boat in the lake.
 

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Not a boat ramp story.... But.... This morning I sent one of my guys to St. Louis to pick up some parts... on his way back he saw a brand new boat with 4 OB motors on a trailer blocking a couple lanes of I-70.... Just boat and trailer... as he got past it, the tongue had broken off the trailer.... The tow vehicle was from Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach.... I'll post a link to the story as soon a I find it on a local tv station website..... Bad bad Monday for them.....
 

TripleB

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My guess, coming back from the Miami boat show
 

brownsuger

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Not a boat ramp story.... But.... This morning I sent one of my guys to St. Louis to pick up some parts... on his way back he saw a brand new boat with 4 OB motors on a trailer blocking a couple lanes of I-70.... Just boat and trailer... as he got past it, the tongue had broken off the trailer.... The tow vehicle was from Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach.... I'll post a link to the story as soon a I find it on a local tv station website..... Bad bad Monday for them.....

http://instagr.am/p/B9Hy4evFMBI/
Pics from above story
 

Wedgy

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I've got a few. 1st ever launch put in at Lake Wolford, backed up, and too far over. I shifted to forward. Engaged. Thottle did not help. Lol. Not happening. At a loss, I shut down,, and looked over at the Ranger. " "Yeah, you're hung up on a cable." That secured the dock. Raised the drive, and paddled over to safety, thankful the prop didn't tangle in it.
Whew!
 

havasuhusker

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My dumbass, what were you thinking, moment happened several years ago. The wife and I took some friends out boating and we get to the ramp and I back it down. Not paying much attention, I put the parking brake on, jump out of the truck to go get in the boat, while the wife goes to get in the truck to park it. Well, she gets in and then yells at me, "what the hell! You left the truck in reverse! What are you thinking!?" There could've been some more choice words said! Anyway, I was dumbfounded and embarrassed. I got super lucky my truck didn't roll down into the lake. I also didn't hear the end of it all weekend. Nonetheless, I always make sure to slow my thinking down and make sure the truck is in park and parking brake is on, etc.. Just when you think this crap never happens to me.....karma bites you in the arse!
 

DarkHorseRacing

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We have friends who are so accident prone, they named their boat "Oops!".

So the one that's probably most recent was about two years ago. We do the Catalina Ski Race every year, originally starting out with a 21' boat and we have been slowly working our way up in boat size over the years by finding friends willing to let us use their boat. So being that we are using someone else's boat we are a little more sensitive to not damaging it. This time we had a 30' Eliminator Eagle. Now being a lake guy, we really dont deal with ocean tidal surges at the launch ramp on a regular basis so we deal with it the best we can by pre-setting long ropes and fenders on the boat and putting the trailer in shallow so we can start by walking the boat off the trailer and tie it down to the jetty so we can start it up and check it out. Of course we don't unhook the boat until its in the water and starting to float (it didn't help that we also forgot the rear tie-down straps on this launch that we had to pull back out and undo and start over).

So the vehicle driver on the second attempt puts the trailer in too deep and the boat is fully floated. I unhook the boat and immediately the tidal surge at the ramp sucks the boat off the trailer. I haven't had the opportunity to get the ropes to the dock yet and the boat is floating away. So I grab it forgetting this is a 30' boat and it takes me with it. In a moment of clarity that I am going in the drink, I take my cell phone out of my pocket and throw it in the boat. Now I'm hanging on to the front cleat/bow eye and I'm pretty much up to my chest in the water and the tidal surge is switching to pushing the boat back on the trailer and I'm potentially getting squished. So I get out of the way the best I can and try to keep the boat from smashing into the trailer. About this time the vehicle driver comes back to see what's going on. I toss him the bow line and then we try to pull the boat to the jetty starting with the bow (no way I'm getting between the boat and the jetty). We manage to get the boat tied up to the jetty, but I'm soaking wet and madder than a wet hen. Everything else went smoothly that weekend but we've since changed how we launch at ocean ramps to driving the boat off the trailer once its unhooked.
 

DarkHorseRacing

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Here's my other story which isn't really a launch ramp one but definitely something that has probably happened to others.

Catalina Ski Race again, but this is early in our history with it and we have our 21 jet boat. The boat was up at Teague Custom Marine getting the motor rebuilt for it and we are picking it up on Friday morning because we have to get down to Long Beach for Boat Inspection later in the afternoon. We show up at Teague's Friday morning and the boat is ready. Teague's crew forklifts the trailer where we can hook up to it and the vehicle driver backs up for the hook up. Once in position, I have my mental checklist on the trailer hookup and I start going through it. However, the vehicle driver decides to start asking me a bunch of questions about the work that was done and for one question I have to ask Bob. So I stop my hookup procedure to go find Bob and get the answer. Trailer is on the ball, trailer jack is up, and the lights cable is hooked up.

Well I come back to the trailer and give the vehicle driver the answer. At this point however, we are in such a rush to leave to get to Long Beach that I forget to continue the checklist on the trailer. So I get in the vehicle and we head out of Teague's back lot by the shop. We come out of the lot, and go over the dip in the driveway as it changes to the street and make a left turn to go to the freeway.

At this point, we discover the trailer is no longer behind the vehicle and it's going straight across the street. Thankfully, it didn't hit any cars, and also thankfully, the other side of the street is business park and it has a large grass slope in front of the businesses on the other side. The trailer impacts the grass slope (at least 10 miles an hour) with the tongue of the trailer and the tongue digs a nice little ditch in the grass and dirt as it comes to a stop almost halfway up the grass slope. There's no way we are pulling the trailer off the slope so now we have to go back to Teague and get the forklift guy to come out and get the trailer off the slope and put it on the street. Definitely embarrassing.

I dont think there was any real damage to the trailer coupler area, so we re-hooked the trailer back up to the vehicle (this time with no one interrupting me) and made it down to Long Beach (just) to get inspected for the race.

Every time I think about this one, its a real miracle that the trailer didn't take out a car or hurt anyone. The takeaway for me was never let anyone interrupt a trailer hookup again, and double-check no matter the hurry you might be in.


Incidentally, I know Bob (Teague) had a trailer come loose on him once, I think he told me the story after hearing about our little incident. In his case it happened on the freeway. Not sure how the trailer got loose but I know Bob got the vehicle back in front of the trailer and slammed on the brakes which put the trailer through the back of the truck. He wisely deemed ruining a truck was better than the trailer careening down the freeway without him and causing real carnage.
 

crzy2bealive

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Hard for me to admit but I was in a hurry one day and despite taking care of everything else on my mental launch list I missed the trailer straps too. The moment the trailer hit the water I realized what I'd done.
I have done the same thing

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farmo83

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Here's my other story which isn't really a launch ramp one but definitely something that has probably happened to others.

Catalina Ski Race again, but this is early in our history with it and we have our 21 jet boat. The boat was up at Teague Custom Marine getting the motor rebuilt for it and we are picking it up on Friday morning because we have to get down to Long Beach for Boat Inspection later in the afternoon. We show up at Teague's Friday morning and the boat is ready. Teague's crew forklifts the trailer where we can hook up to it and the vehicle driver backs up for the hook up. Once in position, I have my mental checklist on the trailer hookup and I start going through it. However, the vehicle driver decides to start asking me a bunch of questions about the work that was done and for one question I have to ask Bob. So I stop my hookup procedure to go find Bob and get the answer. Trailer is on the ball, trailer jack is up, and the lights cable is hooked up.

Well I come back to the trailer and give the vehicle driver the answer. At this point however, we are in such a rush to leave to get to Long Beach that I forget to continue the checklist on the trailer. So I get in the vehicle and we head out of Teague's back lot by the shop. We come out of the lot, and go over the dip in the driveway as it changes to the street and make a left turn to go to the freeway.

At this point, we discover the trailer is no longer behind the vehicle and it's going straight across the street. Thankfully, it didn't hit any cars, and also thankfully, the other side of the street is business park and it has a large grass slope in front of the businesses on the other side. The trailer impacts the grass slope (at least 10 miles an hour) with the tongue of the trailer and the tongue digs a nice little ditch in the grass and dirt as it comes to a stop almost halfway up the grass slope. There's no way we are pulling the trailer off the slope so now we have to go back to Teague and get the forklift guy to come out and get the trailer off the slope and put it on the street. Definitely embarrassing.

I dont think there was any real damage to the trailer coupler area, so we re-hooked the trailer back up to the vehicle (this time with no one interrupting me) and made it down to Long Beach (just) to get inspected for the race.

Every time I think about this one, its a real miracle that the trailer didn't take out a car or hurt anyone. The takeaway for me was never let anyone interrupt a trailer hookup again, and double-check no matter the hurry you might be in.


Incidentally, I know Bob (Teague) had a trailer come loose on him once, I think he told me the story after hearing about our little incident. In his case it happened on the freeway. Not sure how the trailer got loose but I know Bob got the vehicle back in front of the trailer and slammed on the brakes which put the trailer through the back of the truck. He wisely deemed ruining a truck was better than the trailer careening down the freeway without him and causing real carnage.

My uncle had a Mariah for about 10 years and I think twice it came off the ball pulling it down the high way. Both times the safety chains diverted a really bad situation. Both times he got off the to side of the road and rehooked everything and off he went. To make a long story short after he sold that boat we found out it had a 2 5/16 ball and he pulled it around on a 2 inch for all those years.
 

farmo83

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We put a new steering cable in my Schiada one year. Off we went to the ramp to sea trail it. I backed off( and had my mom and sister with me) and turned left and off the right the boat went. I almost ran into the guy next to me who lost his shit(rightfully so I would have done the same in his situation). We had put the helm in upside down so the steering was backwards. Dad never really pulled out so he backed down for us to go fix the problem. I couldn't load it though after all the thinking I need to go left so I need to turn right etc. In the end I killed it and swam it on the trailer.
 

Wedgy

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On San Vicente, second trip, great day on the lake. But worn out, sunburnt, and tired. I forgot to raise the drive. Didn't get too very far 😕!!
I felt it pretty quick and stopped. With all the yelling, and pointing confirming my error in procedure!

I made a list of proper steps of launch and retrieval, keep it in the boat. Mistakes are avoidable.

The absolute worst was the Manhater Lady Ranger, with her snarky comments 😳 . But you can't chew on fhe Manhater Ranger, if you plan on a return trip. So I bit my lip, noting her preferences. I believe she may be related to my ex wife, who hated the boat, and boating.

But that's whole nuther story...:D
 

Wedgy

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So. Neighbor Ed talked a work buddy into buying a nice little Jetboat. We were all launching at San Vicente, 2 down no drama, 1 to go. Mark in his new boat, his Wife in the truck. Wifey was very hard of hearing. She backs him down into the water admirably! Markey fires the smallblock to life, idling, he unhooks the bowstrap, takes the helm, starts reversing off the trailer. Wifey starts back up the ramp, drags the boat out of the water backwards, oblivious, making swift progress up the ramp! Bedlam ensues!

Not too far, but far enough. We unhooked the one remaining stern tie-down, and pushed it down into the water. And a good time was had by all.

After we put up his boat after we determined, Yes, it is taking on water...
 
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Wedgy

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Farmo83's Mariah story jogged a memory. A close to the ramp at the T dock, Katherine's Landing tale of woah, Which gets a wee bit crowded. And windy! Chuckle.

Wifey doesn't back trailers. Or drive a boat. So it's end tie time at the T-dock, by then had learned to use the wind on approach, Which 🤔 I'm sure not a factor as I made the reverse, place port side of boat firmy up into the spot on the end noo problem move. Riight...

Placement was good,, didn't miss it, But. Mssed it short by that much. Which also involved holing the port side, from the corner of the Mariah's hull's well built transom swimstep. Crunch!! Could have been soo much worse.

Bouncing off, I jumped out,, snugging ropes. I felt sooo bad, and mumbled a very red faced apology. They were startled but had no damage, felt bad for our boat. Small hole high hit and small. No harm no fowl. The nicest people. Whew.

So all weekend, everywhere we went every day, we run into these people. Wifey is mortified,, my kid is cracking up. Hanging out in the Hotel deli, here they come, staying at the Riverside in Laughlin. Go out to Breakfast, Hi Guys! Around town, at the mall,, movies, gassing up both boats, at Terribles! That was pretty cool. Brandon's into it,, crackin up.

It was pretty funny after a while, they were super cool people Their Mariah was pretty nice too!
 

Wedgy

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So. Like a lot of SoCalifornians. I Learned to Water Ski on Lake Havasu. Behind A Generic 455 Olds/ Jacuzzi Jet, Driven mostly by My Ex GF's new BF. Who hated my guts! His partner in the boat was cool. Thank God,, Also enduring a bad divorce.
So half of the time, I was safe! LOL!
Skied my ass off! 0
Black Meadow Landing in the '80s, was a backwater affair back then. Kinda like The Simple Bear Nessesities!!

Poker! Whiskey fueled Poker Games were the Game of choice, Those were some Grand old times.
Somehow I learned how to ski!
Then I even made it back!

Those were the Days. Eh!
 

Carlson-jet

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Watched 4 guys assemble their duck blind holding up 2 of four ramps one time.
Had a lady scream at me because I made my daughter wear her life vest to be ready to be under way as she stood on the dock watching the boat when it was 80 degrees out while I drove the truck 75 ft away.
 

Wedgy

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Probably related to my ex wife...
 

Wedgy

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Okay 'Mates, hit Buffalo Springs Lake, the closest ramp, and it's a great ramp. Nice Marina, with a decent dining snack bar, bar.

Launched noon, ran cool, yay, no leaks. Flat spot off idle and intermittent low idle / stall on shift. This tune has lasted since I replaced the heads in 2005, just put plugs in it, but its time. Plus a carb rebuild. Don't ever crank the idle up on a Cobra outdrive.

WOT, Me, 28 gallons full yeilded 41 MPH. 4200rpm, 19in pitch 14.5 dia aluminum prop. Should be more there, I've run a 17 in on the river, RPMs are there, hard to say mph downriver,, fun though.. Happy Days!

Got off the water at 3, Friday Labor day crowd, just beginning to file in.

Check out that nice ramp, guy next to me witnessed me stick it on sideways. Twice! Of course I'm sure nobody up in the Marina Restaurant even noticed. Third time was the charm. The 9mph wind kicked up right after the pictures, died right back down right after I drove up the ramp.
I knew this morning as I read the weather, ,,Funky angle from behind, alright.
Chuckled, as I thought of Site Six!
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Tunnelfun

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Dude backs very rough 21 Baha i/o off trailer, makes hard reverse port turn under fast idle with prop trimmed up, into side of nice big late model Fountain tied to dock. Prop chews on Fountain for a few seconds.
Fountain dude calmly sits and watches from captains chair. When the chewing stops Fountain dude slowly nods with a very faint smile. And says, I have insurance.

Toyota 4x4 pulls axle off trailer dropped off end of concrete ramp AND damages trailer hitch while repeatedly yanking on the trailer.

Girl power loads turbo lag big block jet boat into back of SUV. That was a good one.

Dude powers BIG cabin boat onto roller trailer. Forgets to winch down. Drops boat half way up ramp.

I've messed up a bunch of launchings but don't remember them.
 

Javajoe

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Brother launches his brand new Panga boat at Lake Perris he had built to just check it out The bugs and as he launches off the trailer his partner punches it in reverse ( but bad rigging had forward and reverse switched) and ran up the trailer and pitched the boat completely sideways on the trailer and almost wiped out a suburban

That same partner of his slid another Brand new boat right onto the rough ramp down deep in Mexico for its Maiden voyage. Outboard scraped up real nice as him and about 15 Mexicans pushed it down the ramp and into the ocean.
 
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