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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,493
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,493 |
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!
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,400 Likes: 2
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,400 Likes: 2 |
I would never consider NOT 'bumping it' prior to dropping it into the drink, agreed. 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  )
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 15,864
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 15,864 |
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...
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 12,895
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 12,895 |
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.
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!
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 22,274
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 22,274 |
...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... 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 
"...the designer of the .270 Ingwe cartridge!..."
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 25,116 Likes: 1
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 25,116 Likes: 1 |
That's how those deep holes that swallow trailers get there.
Ya better have enough cable.
“Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die.”
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 15,864
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 15,864 |
...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... 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 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.
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,628
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,628 |
Ramp attendants? What.... 15 launch points? What.... Damn you boys need to get out of the north.... way to many people.
The worst thing ever to happen to cops is the personal video recorder... Now people can see the truth
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 17,491 |
So Goliath is a prick because he has bigger boat than you? I'm not getting it. 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 wonder if this thread would have happened if the guy with the dead battery was in a 14' Jon boat, all else the same? 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.)
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,324 Likes: 3
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,324 Likes: 3 |
Ramp attendants? What.... 15 launch points? What.... Damn you boys need to get out of the north.... way to many people. Just way too many phoucing idiots! 
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 19,505
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 19,505 |
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.
4 out of 5 Great Lakes prefer Michigan. 
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 15,864
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 15,864 |
Ramp attendants? What.... 15 launch points? What.... Damn you boys need to get out of the north.... way to many people. 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.
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 8,181
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 8,181 |
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?
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 54,284
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 54,284 |
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... 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.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 54,284
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 54,284 |
Ramp attendants? What.... 15 launch points? What.... Damn you boys need to get out of the north.... way to many people. No, they don't.
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 115,424 Likes: 13
Campfire Sage
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Campfire Sage
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 115,424 Likes: 13 |
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
Trump being classless,tasteless and clueless as usual. Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit. My young wife decided to play the field and had moved several dudes into my house
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,296 Likes: 28
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,296 Likes: 28 |
We had a 25' Carver on Lake Michigan Travis You grew up in Poland?
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time.
--Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice.
--ironbender
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 112
Campfire Member
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 112 |
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?
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.
It's a source of great pride to my family that when my name is googled, one finds book titles and not mug shots. Daniel C. Chamberlain
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 112
Campfire Member
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 112 |
[/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.
It's a source of great pride to my family that when my name is googled, one finds book titles and not mug shots. Daniel C. Chamberlain
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 7,589
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 7,589 |
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!!!!!  
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