Thanks for the laugh. The time of the year is fast approaching where I’ll take a cup of coffee down to the boat launch and go watch the hijinks while I laugh my ass off. My problem with that is that I can’t watch (likely) decent people struggle without offering to help so instead of watching I wind up down at the docks helping….at least the old guys with their wife or the dad with his son I’ll always help. The guys that have $200,000 in boat and gear not including their pickup but don’t have a dimes worth of common sense between them can try to figure it out for themselves.

I’ve told this story before but one summer when I was lifeguarding at one of the local beaches I watched a kid about my age 16 or 17 with his new pickup truck launching what I assume was his dad’s 30’ brand new Mirage with twin 454 Mercruiser outdrives. It was a BEAUTIFUL setup that I was instantly jealous of as I sat in the elevated lifeguard chair and watched. The kid got out and unstrapped the tie downs INCLUDING the safety chain, jumped back into the pickup and as he started to back down the new 30’ Mirage slid off of the rollers just like greased lightning and dumped the brand new Mirage in the middle of the only boat launch available for recovering the boats already out. 😀

I figured that if in 1988 that dad could trust his son with $150,000 worth of equipment (back then) he could afford the recovery and repairs to his new boat. That’s when telecom and the software industry really started dumping money around here and “yuppies” became a thing. 😀

I'm a dry-land cowboy, and I'd bet significant money, I could do much better than that!

I watch that YT channel all the time, as well as his "Boneheaded Boaters Of The Week" just to feel better about my own ramp goofs.

Nothing like a boat ramp

That's pretty much where I stand and I operate small boats almost every day.

We have a saying...don't laugh to hard, because you're next.

This

When my buddy and his wife had their boat, they got so fed up with launching it every weekend with all the retards, they said fugk it and just got a slip at the marina. Cost more money but saved their sanity

That boat is an old Wellcraft V20 I think. Great old hull.

Water Patrol says alcohol MAY have been involved.

I moor my boat in Newport from May to November. I’m out of the hijinks.

The old fart couldn't just put it in neutral.
Either forward or reverse. Tff.

Some of the best entertainment there is. Grab a lawn chair and a cooler full of cold drinks and go hang out at the local boat ramp.

Makes a person worry about the future of our country....

Nice set of cans on the milf in the first boat.

Lived ocean front, full marina view in Marina del Rey for 5 years. It was always entertaining to sit on the balcony with a drink and watch people bring in their boats. Every weekend was a chit show.

Having said that, there were a number of guys who really knew how to handle their chit. There were some seriously smooth guys out there. But for every one of them, there were 5 who were complete disasters.

Both groups were fun to watch.

*knucklepunch* I saw them.

Back in the late 70's early 80's would come off the river and set on the tail gate watching the show at the boat ramp. A better one would be backing a trailer

I fished a lot 30 years ago from the Mukilteo boat ramp.

In the winter after blackmouth salmon, launching a hour before dawn, there were the same guys every morning.
They could launch in a couple minutes and be out of the way.

In the summer on the week end for migratory silver salmon the wait was 90 minutes.
All kinds of crazy stuff, the worst being a boat trailer with boat attached to the front bumper of a Winnebago got lose, rolled down the ramp [at low tide] and hit the dock. No one was hurt!

Good stuff at the boat ramp.

20 years ago, my brother and I went fishing with Dad in his boat. Dad was very good with a boat and trailer. He had his problems this time. He went around and around the dock like he was in a daze. It turned out that he was in the early stages of dementia and that was the 1st time we'd seen it. It was diagnosed for sure a few months later.

Usually just watching folks back a trailer down a boat ramp is entertaining enough......

Sorry to hear that, RC.

Most people like boating but don’t boat/launch enough to master the art of backing a trailer up. If I am in a hurry I help people launch.

Old fat guys shouldn't own boats.

Worst one I can remember doing is slipping on the algae and sliding all way down the ramp and into the water. I'm not immune from boat ramp mishaps.

There's a ramp on a lake near here that's super steep and in hot weather, it gets mossy. My pickup's a manual. I make sure I'm in 4wd and low range before I back down it.

Young dumb dimocommies shouldn't own guns.

I can get my trailer in the water and launch or retrieve my boat to/from the courtesy dock by myself faster than most folks can get their trailer lined up for the 1st attempt at getting close to the water.

Usually about 1x/summer I'll forget the plug and/or forget to remove one or both of the straps on the back holding me on the trailer.

Our small private marina has 6 spots to short-term park, like courtesy docks. It pisses me off when someone has momma or bubba hold the boat @ the loading dock rather than running it over to the courtesy dock so others can load/unload.

One of the best things I ever did was put a trailer hitch receiver tube under the FRONT bumper of my motorhome. I could actually SEE what the trailer was doing, and it kept the drive wheels off the slippery part of the ramp. Pushing the trailered boat through a lakeside campground to the launch ramp was a real hoot, too!

I've come real close to that a couple times myself. I never did make it clear back into the water, but I had to get a tow up the ramp once because everytime I tried to move I just slid down farther.

It'll sure crank up the pucker factor in a hurry. 😬

Ashamed to say I can't back up a trailer for crap neither.

I used to be a trucker. With the right mirrors, you can get to where you can back a trailer into a spot where you can't see well enough to drive in forward. It takes some practice. Take your trailer to a big parking lot at night and practice backing it into car parking spaces. It won't take you long to get the hang of it.

The "operators" in the video are just pathetic. Someone should have snatched the ignition keys away from them.

Tip for those readers who are less experienced or who have trouble docking, whether with wind or current:
As soon as you come alongside a dock, get the boat stopped and secure a "center spring" -- that is a dock line attached to the center cleat. Leave the bow and stern lines alone! With the center spring secured (no slack) the boat cannot go anywhere, and you can then take your time dealing with the other lines.

On backing a trailer:
You need to be able to see the towed vehicle at all times. This requires mirrors set out far enough on a wide towing vehicle (like a motorhome) so you can instantly see every reaction of the trailer.

Whenever possible, I like to setup the backing up so that the trailer is always on the driver's side.

I've backed trailers for many miles- - - -driving an 18 wheeler in Los Angeles and San Francisco freight warehouse parking lots was pretty good practice. When the tow vehicle is two feet wider than the trailer, even seeing the thing in the mirrors on a boat ramp gets to be a challenge. The front hitch solves that little problem.

My understanding of control theory is poor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory

But I know enough to see that a small trailer behind a truck with camper, using only mirrors, can not be backed down a narrow ramp. You need an observer advising from behind the camper.

Each time the trailer is off center, enough to appear in a mirror, it is too late.

Backing up a trailer has nothing to do with the clowns in the OP video.

Not true. That just gives you someone else to blame. What you need is a set of auxiliary mirrors, or wide enough marker extensions on the back of the trailer.

What is more amusing? The boats at the ramp or the trailers?

Best tip ever for backing up a trailer.....hand on the bottom of the steering wheel.

I nosed into the busy downtown Seward Alaska marina one summer afternoon...wind and logistics demanded that I stay with the boat; I nosed it into the dock so wife could run and get the truck and trailer. Presumably when it was my turn to retrieve I'd tie off, get in the truck/trailer that my wife from the parking lot and back it down. I got to my spot on the launch dock and watched in wonder as my truck and trailer swooped into the lineup and expertly backed down the ramp in one straight shot. This is with an old stickshift crewcab F350. Some dude got out and told me that my wife told him "if you want to get your rig retrieved anytime soon, you back this down the ramp".

I bet the boat launch is a good place to see some good fights. LOL

Until they outlawed them, the boathouse was sure nice.

Its not the backing down the ramp that drives me nuts. It's the people who take 10 minutes to get the boat on the trailer once the trailer is down there. I retrieve and launch offshore boats solo all the time. It's amazing how fast and efficient you can get when you do it enough.

Jaguartx: That was fun to watch and reminded me of my last few years on a major west coast cities police department. I eventually qualified for and had enough seniority to be accepted in that cities Harbor/Dive Unit.
The numbers of human errors and blunders and antics and property damage done in that cities many "boat ramps" by "boaters" was just astounding!
In fact to amuse ourselves for a time we would often position ourselves to view the antics at those boat ramps. We never had to wait long to get a good laugh.
Thankfully over the years I served in the Harbor/Dive Unit only a few serious injuries happened at boat ramps - I still puzzle over that.
It boils down to folks doing things they are not familiar with and don't do often - thus human errors are "rampant" at boat ramps!
Also this - that woman needed the next size LARGER swimsuit.
Thanks for the video.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I don't care about them taking 10 minutes to get it on the trailer.

I care about the 10 minutes they block the ramp, either coming or going, to get their whole Clampit family in the boat. Load the coolers. Strapping the boat to the trailer. Tie off their lily pad that they're going to go float on in the lake all day. Load the dog. Run back to the truck for the life jackets. Oops, forgot the sunglasses too, gotta run back to the truck. Etc. Etc. Etc.

All of that could be done up in the parking lot out of the way of everybody.

Yes, good one, and the scene at Mukilteo was like that even 40 years ago when we headed out toward Whidbey, etc.. Thanks for the memory.

"not sure why it won't start? It ran fine last fall when I put it in the storage unit" as they crank it over for the first time in 7 months as it is on the trailer in the water.

Opening day of duck season, public land ramp, 3:30 AM. Chaos.

One afternoon, I spent about 45 minutes backing and parking horse trailers for mothers at the ninilchik fair.

It started out giving helpful instructions to one lady until she got too frustrated, got out and armed d to park it. Others must have thought it was valet parking.

I have to admit that I've been in some humorous/serious situations at the boat ramp... wind and current can work wonders on a boat in just seconds. One little gust of wind at the wrong time and it's time to back off and have another go at it. Anybody that laughs at someone that backs off of a situation that is going south quickly, just doesn't know boats. Happens to everybody sooner or later.

I was getting ready to launch my 25' center console alone. I stopped on the ramp about 10 feet from the water and got out to do the walk around. Got back in my truck and started backing the boat into the water...All Hxll broke loose, the harbor master screaming at the top of his lungs, people running towards my boat....I slammed on breaks and put the truck in park. Some old guy and his wife had pulled his golf cart up and parked behind my boat, between it and the water. Not all the nuts are in the boat.

I had about 8 of my wife's girl friends on the boat for an after dinner cruise. When time came for docking, one of the ladies asked what they could do to help. Anther, that had experience with a larger boat of her own, spoke up and said..."I'll tell you what he wants us to do! He wants us to find a spot, sit down, shut up, keep your hands inside the boat and don't move." Perfect instructions, but my wife would have killed me if I had said it!

One thing I did recently that I think will help me is adding a back-up camera mounted in the frame around my cargo/bed light on the back of the pickup cab. Placing it much higher than the normal backup camera located on the tailgate. This higher camera gives me a much better view of what my trailer is doing and I can switch back to the low camera to see the trailer tongue and ball on the bumper.

I refuse to be ashamed of being crappy at backing up anything. That saves a lot of angst. . Ignore all those snickering onlookers!

Narrow ramp, I agree, Clark.

But I can do it at the not-narrow Manley Hot Springs boat ramp (20' ? wide), once or twice a year. I get out and look every few feet. My wife's "directions" just compound the problem. It helps to know that if I can see the trailer in the side mirrors some correction is needed and possibly overdue. The only way I use the narrow local-lake ramp (test-run lake, 3 miles away!) is with the camper off, or with the Expedition.

Thankfully, The Manley ramp isn't busy . I can take that 15 minutes if I need to (camper on) . And often, I need to. Plus, usually no witnesses!

Tho the last time, that float plane was parked a little too close for my comfort. But clear enough.

I'm getting better at backing trailers into my garage-attached open stall tho. Even with the highway vehicles. Mostly I use the 4-wheeler. There is a meter mount somewhat in the way, and the short wheel base is good!

Test running the boat on the local, narrow-ramp lake 3 miles away, either the camper is off or I use the Expedition. Sometimes I even make it on the first try!

This. Or after loading the boat on the trailer they pull up a few feet, put everything up, clean trash from the boat, tie it down, screw around.

Why not pull ahead to parking and get off the freaking ramp?

Hands at the bottom of the steering wheel.

If using mirrors to back down, move your hands in the direction you want the trailer to go.

Don’t be shy about talking to yourself out loud.




P

How about that 'cheeky' lass trying to throw the line to the guy on the dock? Tremendous arm.

No doubt - WAY easier!

A 7 to 8' stick or pipe laid across the stern of a boat with flag on each end gives you something to see and makes backing it much easier.

LOL I thought this post would be about Iowans

I'm getting a lot better about backing down the launch ramp, and also better at getting the boat to the ramp and onto the trailer. My biggest challenge, however, is backing the boat into my storage unit. I have nowhere at home to keep a boat, so I rent a storage unit. Backing a black boat into a dark unit from daylight is a genuine booger, let me assure you. I am VERY fortunate that the location of my unit is at a T intersection that allows me to get almost lined up to begin with. If I had to make a big swooping turn into the unit, I'd be there all night.

Maybe run your boats night running lights while backing in?

K, get your boat lined up straight to back down the ramp.

Hold the bottom of the steering wheel with your driving hand. Back up slow looking in rear view. Turn the steering wheel a bit the way you need to go as you back up.

I have no troubles what so ever backing up a boat trailer, snowmobile trailer, dump trailer, etc. but if you give me a 4 wheel hay wagon and ask me to back it up I will be there all day!

We have had small power boats (16-22 ft) for the better part of 30 years. To this day, my wife is in the boat, can pull off and on with minimal guidance and I am the driver. With only lake traffic, the wind and waves are some impact, but she is pretty good. I laugh (well scream) all the time when we see folks that cannot spin the trailer correctly, load or unload without multiple issues or, wait until the are at the water to tie up the ramp completely while they remove straps, put plug in and get ready to launch. Boat launch entertainment is a favorite when I'm not in a hurry.

Keep one of my boats in a lift at a marina for 20 years. The boat ramp was the entertainment after a mornings fishing.
It got so bad the owner of the marina told us to stop watching and laughing. It was costing him business.
The marina also had an overhead crane to lift boats and set them in the water. The blacks always used the lift.
Hasbeen

The chit show I watch him and Fred the gator

I thought I was pretty damn special in terms of getting the boat on the trailer. That was a boat with an outdrive. Then I got a boat with a jet. That adds a whole new level of complexity. When you cut the throttle, there is no skeg in the water to keep you straight, so any puff of wind or current sends you sideways. Now I keep the trailer a little high and come in a little hot. That takes a lot of practice to get right. I'm sure my first few attempts were painful to watch.

Yep, 30 years ago(teenager) I read an article on stock trailers, how to pull, back-up, etc..


The thing I remember most.


Turn the bottom of the steering wheel the direction you want to trailer to go. Incredibly simple yet very handy advice!


It's been 20 years but boat ramps are a piece of cake.


Backing up stock trailers or bale processors in the mud or snow can get a little tricky. Hardest of all is backing a short hitched home made irrigation pump down towards the river on sandy landing and having to be within a couple inches to get the fixed discharge pipes lined up to the buried pipeline. That is tough. But just remember, don't be afraid to pull ahead, straighten out and get control of your 'aim' rather than try and fight it.

So when do we see some of your great photographs again. Like on the river with a beer or fish?

Jag, I need to get a new camera, not a fan of the smart phone!

If you want to see or experience ‘nuts’ try running a kicker motor in the ocean bay, at the jaws of a jetty, during salmon season.

It’s absolutely combat fishing, trying to troll and fish. Then when a boat hooks into a fish, if people aren’t paying close attention, you have cut lines, tangled lines, boats trading paint, dudes yelling at other boats to pay attention or move out of the way. It’s a hoot!

You’ll never be more tired after running a trolling motor for 7-8 hours salmon fishing the jaws.

🦫

Sam, I get kidded about my pictures, but it's me not the camera. I carry a Panasonic DMC CE1731. It fits nicely in my shirt pocket.

Ex big rig and cement mixer driver here, so I can back up anything with minimal fuss.

But backing up my boat with a quad runner humbled me.

The guy taking video at the boat launch in the OP thread could have a field day here. The last weekend in April is our Walleye Festival to celebrate opening day. The boat launches are lined up well before midnight with guys waiting to be the first one in the river at 12a Saturday morning. An absolute zoo complete with the DNR parked to the side looking for violators.

That's why the good lord equipped tractors with separate wheel brakes. Otherwise, yep, darn near impossible for any distance at all.

Backing the truck in under the camper is a whole different ball game. It needs to be absolutely straight, and it has about 2 inches clearance to each wheel well. There are a couple bumpers up front that the camper has to fit between - with pretty much zero clearance - maybe 1/16" or so on each side, if centered. Fortunately they are a little tapered on the nose. That helps. It's taken me over an hour sometimes to get that SOB just right- Ram 3500 club cab with 8' bed. Once, just once, in the last 17 years I nailed it on the first try.

I swear someday I'm going to lay out some sunken concrete wheel grooves or some such. If all 4 wheels are in the groove when I drop the camper, it should work the same way putting it back on, right?

As a teen, doing it all the time, I got pretty good at that, even with two hay wagons- a LOT trickier! Now, I muchly doubt it.

Practice, practice, practice makes one good.... It's us guys that launch boats about 3 times a year .......

And by the way, that "it's closer than it looks" mirror is no prize when backing up either.

I can drive just about anything, minus a boat lol. Ive tried. Im not good

Boats ramps are a piece of cake when you grow up backing up bottom dump almond carts over the conveyer.
Just to up the level of difficulty, one would have Dad and Grandpa watching ready to rip your azz if you screwed up.
Yeah, boat ramps aren't anything to get stressed about.

For a lot of years I was on the water from ice-out to freeze up, 3 to 5 days a week. As well, I was frequently hauling quads, farm equipment or horses somewhere. I would rate myself as better than average at hauling a trailer. I've always made it a point to have the boat ready to go when I back down the ramp. Also, if someone is with me, before I back down to the ramp I tell them to get out of the vehicle and stand on the dock: if something goes wrong, I don't want to worry about someone being in the damn truck. I also make it a point to tell them I don't want any help. I do this alone all the time, I have my ways of doing something, someone "helping" would just get in my way. I back in until the boat is floating, step from the bed of the truck into the boat, and start the motor before I unhook the boat from the trailer. That way if, for some reason, it doesn't start (never had it happen yet) I don't have a dead boat to get back on the trailer and off the ramp. Motor starts, go forward, lean over the bow, let it loose, unhook and move the boat over to the dock. Look the springline over a cleat, go up to the truck, pull the trailer out park the truck and trailer, back to the boat and I'm off.

I realize a lot of people only launch a boat infrequently. Up home, a lot of people went to the boat ramp in the spring, put their boat in, took it to their dock/boathoiuse/boat lift at home or their summer place, and took it out again in the fall. Other people launch a boat once every two or three weeks in the summer. You can't expect those people to have it figured out like some of us do. I started working at my wife's grandfather's marina when I was 16. I learned to tie up a boat from an old bootlegger we used to duck hunt with so, "..when they're right behind you, you give it a yank here, and you're gone!" RIP Harold.

I'm thinking some of those people who struggle so with boat trailers can probably do a few things better than I can.

We used to goto the boat launch to watch the drunks try to launch their pickups trying to load their boat. Saw one lean out the door so far he fell out. Only hit one car and boat. His pickup had alittle of the front of the hood above water. Entertaining.

That is something I have never seen!



I'll take notes when you back up....lol



Those are bush whacker tractors and the tires are something else as well.

Boat ramp action: reminds me of the wheels go round and around.

That's not how it goes.

This is how it goes.

Check my sig line \/ \/ \/

I've had years of practice. If I can see the trailer in my mirrors, I can back it in. When I move a trailer with my Razor, I can't ever see it right and can't back it anywhere.

I used to be a roofer. The boss had a large generator/welder on a small Harbor Frt type trailer with a tongue shorter than mine. It was too narrow to see in the mirrors and with that short tongue, it was impossible to back. By the time it came around enough to see in a mirror, you'd already lost it. It was easier to just get a couple guys to move it by hand. Boat trailers usually have long tongues are are very easy to back as long as you can see them in the mirrors.

We just offer to help.