So, the wife and I decided to venture out on the Kaskaskia river in our square back canoe on a lovely day. We motored up river about 6 miles and then made our way back, hitting some of the backwaters and streams that we saw on the way up. When we got back to the launch, it was a madhouse with dozens of trucks lined up to drop their loads and hit the water. 90% of the boats were pleasure craft, between 18 and 25 feet, loaded with beautiful people ready to imbibe, ski, sunbathe and wave at the fisher people.

As we wended our way through the morass, we heard a boat owner utter an expletive as he tried to start his big engine. Deader than the proverbial doornail. The dock attendant asked him to toss a line and he'd pull him over to the dock so it would clear the channel. The boat owner threw the whole line... Large boats don't necessarily mean large brains.

The doc attendant, then "properly" toss one end of the line back and pulled the angrier-by-the-minute boat owner to a safe location where he could work on his behemoth. It looked to be about 24 feet long, sleek, new and useless. As we motored past on my trolling motor, the boat owner spied the fact that I had two...count'em, two trolling motor batteries, and he inquired none-too-nicely if I'd he could use one to jump his monster...he didn't say monster...I just added that. (it should be noted, that this is the first time I ever in my life had two trolling motor batteries on hand in the canoe, but it was my first time on this river and I wanted to be prepared.) I said, sure. It worked. The guy said: "Thanks." One of his passengers, a rather lovely lass jokingly asked: "Could you follow us around for an hour just to make sure we don't get stranded?" I smiled and said, "NO, but I have a third seat available."

This is a case where David saved Goliath - and Goliath is still a prick.

You can bet he won't hear the last of that story for as long as he carries that woman around with him.

By the way, it was very kind of you to loan him a battery to get a jump.

Too many Goliaths think that the only thing that matters in this world is money and themselves.

So Goliath is a prick because he has bigger boat than you? I'm not getting it.

I think it has more to do with his attitude than the size of his boat.

He was a dumbazz that couldn't think that incidentally owned a big boat....

I think the rest of us "get it".

kwg

I guess so. Amazing how a simple trip in the outdoors rates a thread these days. Jump the guy, stop the envy, and go do it again next weekend. You know he's not the first guy to have a dead battery in a boat.

I have heard the larger the boat, the less it gets used.

I wonder if this thread would have happened if the guy with the dead battery was in a 14' Jon boat, all else the same?

Who shows up at a boat ramp with a dead battery?

I'll bet he ran the blower before dumping the boat into the water too...

No shiet. Like the guy I saw with a flat on the ramp. Who the [bleep] shows up at a boat ramp with a flat tire.

L O L, I did last year !!

First thread I've read today.
If this is gonna set the tone for the rest, it's gonna be a bitchy day.

When you back the trailer into the water, if it won't start on the trailer, it probably won't start off the trailer.

Doesn't hurt to bump the starter before you leave the house.

I have a boat with an air-cooled motor, i.e. no water pump. That one gets test started and run for at least a few seconds before I leave the house, and sometimes I start it before I back down the ramp.

I don't like to inconvenience others. Or perhaps I am simply vain and don't want to appear incompetent.

I would never consider NOT 'bumping it' prior to dropping it into the drink, agreed.

Wish I had a dollar for every time I saw someone with a dead motor (battery or otherwise) at a boat ramp. They aren't as reliable as cars. Best check it before you leave home.

I will say, the newer motors with fuel injection usually start right up with little hassle. But obviously they still need good batts, good fuel, and non-corroded wiring.

The last bass boat I owned was a 97 Champion with a 03 Optimax. The Opti was a gem; it never gave any trouble even though it was used when I bought it. The electrics often gave trouble, lots of connections heeded cleaning to make accessories work correctly.

Even though I had confidence in it, my routine was, back in, start the motor before detaching from trailer.

my boat is only 15 foot with a 50 yamaha, I never leave the house without starting it, I just want to hear it pop off! if I haven't used it in a while, like 6 weeks or longer, then it gets the water ear muffs and I run it about 10 min in the yard, I am done with fixing my stuff at the landing.

Funny Story, I had a friend years ago, we would pull up to the ramp drop his boat in the water, move it to the side by hand, park the truck and pull out the tool box.....LOL

What else is there?




Travis

usually do a fair amount of boating, I have my share of troubles with it, but have helped more folks than me needing help.

still though it happens

admittedly when my mechanical stuff ain't working properly it puts me in a sour mood.

hate mechanical or electrical problems cause I'm neither a mechanic or electrician.

don't think the size of the boat really matters, believe we're talking more about the size of the attitude at play.

this story was probably intended for me to remind me even when chit goes wrong, it's best to try and keep a civil disposition

something I've struggled with at times.


good of you to jump him Dan.


he was probably pizzed cause he didn't plan on the boat breaking down till farther away from the dock, considering the description you gave of his passenger!

we all at times seem to entertain a lil Gilligan's Island fantasy

Even being prepared isn't fool-proof. I know just about enough about boats to find myself helping out every summer. Most people are really thankful, but some feel entitled. I try to be a good example as there's usually some cute and anxious kids ready for the thrill of the open water.

Busy boat ramps can be a great source of entertainment. I once watched a fella unknowingly back his trailer in past the edge of the concrete slabs and pulled the axle from under the old rusty trailer.

Another guy with a few beers backed his F250 4x4 with large camper and try to launch his boat by stopping quickly to allow the boat to slide into the lake......the boat slid into the water alright but the camper also slid half off the truck and onto the empty trailer.

High entertainment!

I always do - and for the first start after winter storage, it gets cranked just enough to fire without starting the motor. Then at the boat launch, it fires instantly every time (or I wouldn't be there )

Watched three guys trying to launch a 30' go fast boat. They couldn't back in far enough because the sand was washed out at the end of the concrete ramp leaving a deep hole. The boat wouldn't float off, they "thought" it would be a good idea to fire up the engines, pop the drives into reverse and use engine power to get the boat off of the trailer. The DNR ramp attendant put a stop to their plan almost immediately. So these fools start jumping up and down in the boat rocking it until it slid off the trailer. I told them that's cool, but how do you plan on getting it back on the trailer? The ramp attendant laughed, said they won't be using their engines to power it back on...

Always wanted a small canoe or piroque, but I don't live in a part of the country that would see it get much use..

The one that always caught my eye was the self build one from
Uncle Johns

Looks fairly easy to build even for someone with my crap carpentry skills!

Oh neat, a Gov't employee telling people how to launch their boats, just what we need

They don't do that, even in California

That's how those deep holes that swallow trailers get there.

Ya better have enough cable.

Big signs posted on the dock post that said "No Power Loading". Some people can't read.

You should have met the launch nazi who ran Boles Harbor launch on Lake Erie. He had zero patience for idiots, even those with dead batteries. They had 15 docks, is you [bleep] wasn't right and you weren't ready to launch he sent you to the back of the line.

Ramp attendants? What.... 15 launch points? What.... Damn you boys need to get out of the north.... way to many people.

This thread had me picturing the Ballard Locks……pretty easy to sort the big boat guys from the lil' skiff guys simply from auditory clues. Thankfully many folks manage to be good people regardless of their perceptions of themselves, but it still rankles when dealing with pompous or entitled personalities.

(If anything, aquatic ventures are deserving of civility IMO; certainly anyone who has partaken much knows that Murphy loves water.)

Just way too many phoucing idiots!

2nd most registered boats in the nation, IIRC = lots of idiots.

I've never seen a ramp with attendants up here, though. Just as well, because I have little patience with small time government lackeys who get their chests puffed out because they were handed the key to the padlock at the entrance to the boat launch facility.

Three hundred seventy five parking spaces, the place fills up quickly...

Years ago I fished tournaments put on by the Flint Chapter of the Michigan Steelheaders Association. We had an early tournament on Lake Huron out of Harbor Beach the same weekend of the Bluewater Classic Salmon tournament was held. The Classic was limited to two hundred boats (which they filled) out of each of three ports. They had a shotgun start at 6:00am, we'd put another 30~40 boats on the water for our start ar 6:30am.

Never even heard of a ramp attendant until I read this thread.

Back to the OP - what kind of rig did you use to get your canoe to the launch ramp?

Wow. I've never seen a "ramp attendant". People around here power on and off as a rule. Very few float their boats off. I guess y'all need to spend a little more on your boat ramps and concrete them farther out into the lake or river.

Personally, I wouldn't be diddling around in some canoe where 24' powerboats are kicking up three foot wakes wallowing around trying to obey no wake zones.

No, they don't.

I would never grow impatient with anybody at a ramp or launch. My dad dabbled in boats most of my young life and if you were to have a recording of some of our launches or docking of our boat you'd likely laugh your ass off.

We had a 25' Carver on Lake Michigan for a few summers and holy fuggin' schit do we laugh when we talk about some of the times we spent on that boat. One of the most epic'est was an attempt at using a dock side pump station and getting pinned against the dock by some ridiculous wind. Bumpers were getting a work out.

Remember more than once we forgot about the plug... Wouldn't trade any of it for anything. Great times all around.



Travis

You grew up in Poland?

Just a small trailer that I once used for a 14 foot jon boat I sold. Now it's just the square stern and a kayak when I want to get into the water.

[/quote] Amazing how a simple trip in the outdoors rates a thread these days. Jump the guy, stop the envy, and go do it again next weekend. You know he's not the first guy to have a dead battery in a boat. [/quote]

"Rates" a thread? What does it take to rate a thread? By the way, you opened it and took the time to respond, so one has to wonder why you give a shiet"

As for envy, I have what I want to have, and I took the time to come prepared, which turned out to be a good thing for him. Had I not had a second battery, the one I'd been using all day, wouldn't have had the juice to do the job.

Normally, when one does another a favor, it's customary to at least introduce yourself and say thanks. This guy was a prick. Perhaps that's why you are so "prickly" about the thread. A skunk smells its own odor first.

The "Boat Launch Follies" what great fun to watch.

They can be hilarious watching the guy removing the cable from the wench on the trailer from the boat, start to back down the ramp hit your brakes launch boat on concrete ramp not in water. Watch boat owner without a clue on how to back trailer down ramp to launch or pull boat out of water, launch boat and forget to put drain plug in.

Another interesting sport is to watch some A-HOLE jump ahead of a dozen boats waiting for their turn at the launch to remove their boat from the water. It's even funnier to see said A-HOLE back his trailer down the ramp to find his boat floating somewhere other than at the dock where he had left it.

AH, Yes the "Boat Launch Follies" can be interesting!!!!!

fugg any boat you can't put on the roof of the truck yourself. exercise in futility and rage fueled by cash.

vaginal intercourse

Even BETTER !!

http://distractify.com/Myka-Fox/double-your-pleasure-double-your-fun/

In 1982 I as launching in the dark at Mukilteo for winter blackmouth salmon. I would fish before work. The same guys were using the launch every morning and the wait was 5 minutes. Everyone was running on conditioned responses.

Then in the summer there would be a Silver Salmon run. Launching during the day was a 1 hour wait. Many of those people never would get their boat back in the trailer if not for the kindness of strangers.

But the worst is the Renton launch into Lake Washington for a Sockeye run. Thousands of boats need to launch from one spot. It can take 8 hours of jockeying with other boats to get out.

I got around the Silver salmon and the Sockeye salmon lines by dragging as small boat to the beach.

Boat ramps are places of great amusement. Recreational boaters are the worst. Love it when they pull out and block the ramp while they tie down. They remind me of hunters with see through mounts...seems neither one knows WTF they are doing.

Bass fishermen are the best at ramps. Fast....efficient. They launch or trailer 3-4 boats while the Ski Nautique types are figuring which end of the boat goes in the water first.

11 or 12 years ago my brother and I went fishing with Dad in his 16' boat. He backed it off the trailer and I pulled the truck up while he moved it away from the ramp to another dock to load us. He was having a very hard time and almost bumped into several other boats, making the owners VERY unhappy. It was a bit unnerving watching him make a fool of himself.

The rest of the story: this was one of his earliest spells of confusion because of undiagnosed dementia. He had no idea where he was or how handle a boat. We were lucky that he was able to get it to another dock so we could get aboard.

We came back to the launch after a morning of salmon fishing out on Lake Huron. Pull alongside the dock and tie off, all the other docks had boats tied up with people either launching their boat or getting ready to pull out. Along comes this idiot from Ohio with a 14' aluminum boat on a trailer. He backs in between my boat and the boat across from me. Barely enough room for him to fit...

I always carry a tire valve core removal tool in my truck. People usually have a spare tire for their trailer, never seen someone with two tires.

I was driving from WA to MT every year with a 14' boat trailer and getting two flat tires per trip.

Until I noticed [in my rear view mirror] the boat was going way up in the air when crossing cattle gates.

I slowed down for cattle gates, and the flat tires went away.

I've never seen them used but shocks would help many trailers a lot. I don't know they'd survive being submerged on a boat trailer, though.

I've never seen anything to match the boating pandemonium of the Kenai river during the height of the dipnetting season. 500-100 boats jammed in the same two miles of river. Couple that with a strong tide and some times 3-4 foot chop and wind. Makes for some interesting time on the water.

The boat launch is better now that they have some attendants but it used to be insane to watch some of the "boats" people put on the water. Surprisingly there are few serious incidents for all the craziness of dipnetting season.

Trailer tires won't hold up like car tires. Traveling without a spare is tempting fate.