Launch ramp follies.... RV style

[Bluepill]

About 5 years ago:

Weekday at the ramp, I get back from a romp on my Waverunner. 4 guys with an older and beat-up Go-Fast boat are off-loading in the middle of the ramp. I squeeze by on one side, back my rig into the water an load up. I pull out, clear the ramp, and go on to secure everything. Just as I am ready to leave, I see these clowns drive their 2WD pickup nose first into the water. OK, really gotta stay for this show.

Turns out that the battery in the boat is dead, and they are going to jump it. They get the boat running, then the driver of the truck finds out that backing UP a ramp with a trailer attached to a 2WD pickup exceeds the traction available from the rear wheels. If I had a decent tow strap with me I probably would have offered to give them an assist with my AWD CRV, but I had visions of the driver spinning the wheels, catching traction, and crashing into me.

Hopefully they learned a lesson about boat maintenance and traction on a wet ramp.

[Wandering]

So this newby backs a HobieCat sailboat down the ramp and floats the boat just fine. Wife takes the VW camper and trailer up to parking while the guy gets his two little girls ready for a day of sailing. It’s a little windy but up goes the sail. Guy fights with the sail a bit and the boat starts to float away with the two kids on it. He barely holds on and slips into the water in the process. Wife returns and finds it funny that the guy is all wet. Over their fear of loosing Dad the little girls start laughing at Dad too!

Needless to say that Dad heard about that sailing day for the next 30 yrs. I miss that VW camper and the sailboat.

[The Newsoms]

Originally Posted by Hoglou

So it is about 10ish and we pull into the next cracker barrel up the road and run the 10-100 drill. Well as I walk in to the room on the right side I slowly noticed (I mean nearly a minute, I was tired) that there were no urinals as I walked in, I walked the entire room and saw none. So I headed towards a stall, then it struck me that the room on the right was wrong...

I also have learned to pay attention at the Cracker Barrels!

[JohnD10]

When I first got that old speed boat I mentioned earlier in this thread and before I bought the house on the lake, I, too, was one of the 'city idiots I talked about in that earlier post.

However, I like to think that I wasn't as bad as most city slickers with boats were.



Anyway, my friend, his daughter and I dropped into a lake so they could go fishing (I drive, they fish, we all eat fish)...

There are two launch ramps on this lake so I used and parked at the less used one.

Now, this summer happened to be during a drought and the lake level was low, so I had to back my Dodge van about 200 feet from shore just to get the bottom of the boat near water, which is why everyone was using the other launch that day.

Anyway, beautiful hot sunny southern Michigan day on the lake...not a cloud in the sky...drinking a few beers...



When suddenly my friend starts laughing his butt off and pointing at me and his daughter!



I asked, "What are you laughing about?"

And he said, "Your hair is standing straight up in the air!"

I started thinking for a minute, when I suddenly had a thought...imagine that!

Since I was a newbie to boating I, of course, started getting a couple of boating magazines and read every single page of them...for the first month or two, until I knew everything, of course!



Then I said...

"You know, I read an article in one of my boating magazines about this and...

"WE'VE GOT TO GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE!"!




I had suddenly remembered the article said that we were about to get hit by an monster thunder boomer!

And floating around in the middle of a giant water bowl is not the place to be...

I hit the key and hauled butt to my van and dropped my friend and his daughter off, gave him my keys and told him to meet me at the other side of the lake at the other boat launch (remember, low water...200 feet from shore...bottom of boat still not touching water).

And then I turned around and full-throttled that 85 horse Merc across the lake, when suddenly the sky turned black...the wind kicked up and the lightning and downpour started as I was about halfway across this three mile long lake!

So by the time I reach to boat launch, just about every boat that was on the lake was over there fighting to get out at the same time.

I saw my van pull up as I was being pelted by huge rain drops in severe waves and winds and I spotted a tree over by the beach...pointed at my friend and then the tree...aimed the boat at it, hit the throttle and slid right up on the sandy beach near that tree, then tied off my boat to the tree and jumped in the van with the others and watched the show!

And what a show that was...

Almost saw two car accidents...a couple of fights...and much more!

Dang it!

Left the cooler in the boat...oh well!

That storm lasted over an hour and produced two tornados less than a mile from there...

But cleared right up with a cloudless blue sky...99 degrees and 100% humidity!

And we still had some blue gill on the grill for dinner that night!

Oh yeah...almost forgot...found out a couple of weeks later that when I backed the van out that far into the lake I somehow got water down the vent tube to the rear differential and burned it up, ironically, as I was driving near that same lake on my way to a job I was doing in that area.

DOH!

[MCTroy]

We love the dock follies at our marina and campground. It always seems the person in the boat knows more about how to back the boat trailer than the person who is actually in the truck. Hence all the shouting. We gave been boating for 30 years and have had a few follies ourselves. But we promised a long time ago, no shouting and not get in a rush. The best follies are when it rains. We have a reserved dock space so can tie up quickly. Then pop a cold one and watch those undersized tow vehicles with bald tires try to pull a boat load of drunks on a wet ramp. Good times.

[timfromma]

When it comes time to park the RV, my wife just gets out of the way and let's me do it. I usually have to get out an look several times but it saves us a screaming match.

[Iwritecode]

Back at the beginning of the season (April or May I think) my wife and I had just arrived at our seasonal site and we were unloading the car when a lady came over and asked if we had a level she could borrow. I said sure, gave her my 3' level and she went back to her seasonal site down the road from us.

Then a few minutes later she came back and asked us if we could help guide her husband into their site because they were having trouble. They had taken their trailer out for repairs and were trying to get back into their site which was between their deck and a tree as well as the post for the water line.

When I got there I noticed that they were moving a 30'+ trailer with a Trailblazer. The hitch was sagging so bad that the tongue jack was dragging a 6" deep gash into the grass every time he moved.

Another neighbor eventually came over and between all of us, they finally got their trailer positioned where they wanted it.

Then I had to go get the tire jack out of my car because the tongue jack was so mangled that it wasn't going to work again. We finally ended up having to chock the trailer wheels, pull the pin out of the hitch receiver and pull the car forward to get it un-hooked from the trailer. Then we simply set the tongue down on some blocks.

The best part was that after that was all done, they ran their slide out and it wouldn't go out all the way because the post for the water spout was in the way. It was literally inches. Luckily the dirt was fairly soft and we were able to shove the 4x4 post the water spout was attached to over a little bit so the slide could go all the way out.

We've since become camping buddies and have hung out with them a few times. Found out they are also friends with another couple in the CG that we know as well. We've spent quite a few nights sitting around a campfire eating, drinking and talking.

[CraigBean7672]

Two ladies in their 60s launched the boat off the trailer with no one in the boat and no dock lines. After banging around a bit, it was discovered the drain plug was not in. Yikes!!

[Orangecrush]

So today we took the pontoon boat out to the lake. I back in while an older lady is backing her husbands pontoon. in the water.

She gets it jack knifed essentially stopping me from pulling my pontoon off the trailer because she is so far over. (See pics)

After several failed attempts, I decide I would ask if they could use a hand. She happily agreed telling me this was their maiden voyage. She apologized and I told her “no need to apologize, we all had to start sometime”

I asked her husband if everything was disconnected. He promised it was so I backed him in and he water.
Several more attempts and another guy standing at the rear of the boat looked down and asked if the rear tie downs were removed.

THEN we were able to continue. LOL

Mark

[asquared]

My favorite story did not involve alcohol but rather a brain that was rather tired from working that day. I was trying to back my old TT into a tight campsite at a wooded state park. DH and I have a good system of using walkie talkies and saying passenger side/driver side. DH kept telling me to go more to drivers side. I kept going toward the passenger side trying to figure out why in the heck he was putting me in the bushes. When I pulled forward to adjust for the 3rd or 4th time, DH wanted to know what the heck I was doing. It was at that point that we realized my brain was processing drivers side as passenger side. I got the tt into the site on the next try with a line of 2 trailers waiting to pass and go to their site. That was my back of shame as I could usually get that trailer into a site with 1 attempt.


This year at the Mayberry FROG rally we had a little contest that members were not necessarily aware of in advance. We sent out parking judges to try and catch people getting into their site. We handed out a certificate and award to the most entertaining parker and the runner up. Most entertaining took about 6 or so attempts, walkie's failed, they had to then discuss it in person, jokingly acknowledged the parking judges with the number one signal and so on. Runner up knew he was being watched and not only pulled into his pull through site, backed out of it for us with his 40 or so foot 5er and then pulled around to back into his pull through site on the first attempt. We had a lot of fun with that little competition and all competitors were good sports going along with us. The winner even did the walk of shame to get their certificate and prize.

[rocksolid]

[themounties]

Originally Posted by rocksolid

Attachment 180856

That's awesome, I love it

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by katkt

Almost drove straight into a lake. At night. It was dark.
Class C towing a Festiva on a dolly. On our way home from working out of town at a Job in Kentucky for a week or so, and decided to stay at a state park. It was late, and dark.
We pulled in and started making the rounds. The office was closed, with a "find a spot and pay in the morning" sign, or sumsuch.
I later came to realize the boat ramp at this place was one of those wide easy sloped afairs that 4 or 5 people could back down at the same time. About like launching a boat in a parking lot.........did I say how dark it was?
We were taking our time, making slow turns, and looking for an empty spot. I suddenly realized I wasn't seeing light reflected off of anything. No trees, no road, and no water because it was dead calm, and the ramp was sloped slow enough, so the head lights were looking out, not down. It was dark!
Anyhoo, I stopped. In time. My wife and I still get a chuckle out of it.
I actually had to get out of the cab, and walk ahead a few feet to the edge of the water before I could see it. Just that ticklish little sensation that something wasn't right, is the only thing that kept us out of the lake.

Sounds like Cumberland Lake. I think they roll up the sidewalks at dark. They got some snall scary spots in parts of that CG.

[Orangecrush]

Originally Posted by rocksolid

Attachment 180856

Absolutely love it!!

Mark

[Karenys]

5 years ago when we bought our first 5th wheel - we did a shake down trip to Bass Lake, CA. When we pulled into the RV park and found our site, I got out of the truck and informed the people watching that this was our first trip out and to laugh or give advise as needed. Wonderful man next to us showed us tricks with setting pins into the level jacks and about the silicone gasket thing for the hitch. We still have a few problems in tight spots that we have to back into but know there are newbies out there that go through what we did and we help and laugh as needed.

[CampingGator]

Originally Posted by rocksolid

Attachment 180856

What a hoot! I need one.

[JKVenero]

I retired from a Sheriff’s Office in Florida and worked a zone with a busy boat ramp. I would often make my way to the boat ramp about the same time the afternoon thunderstorms would start building up. It was quite comical watching as people tried to race in before the storms. People that drive boats forward may not necessarily know how to back a trailer. On occasion I would have to investigate a crash on the boat ramp.

[gondrej]

My husband prefers to back the trailer in and set it up solo. I let him enjoy himself and I usually arrive after him. One day I was checking into the campground and the lady said: "aren't you lucky, he did all the work and you show up for all the fun". I told her: "he likes it like that because he does not always appreciate my supervision."


We have only had our pontoon boat for a few years. Launching the boat was never a problem, but loading it took some practice, especially on a windy day, and resulted in a few heated discussions.

[gondrej]

Originally Posted by The Newsoms

I also have learned to pay attention at the Cracker Barrels!

I have done similar in Walmart when we are traveling. I have walked into the restroom the thought "why are there urinals in the women's restroom?"

[Karenys]

https://therockin.com/products/sorry...SABEgLJ9PD_BwE - link for the shirt