Boat ramp failure stories

[RichM]

Maybe not a fail, but more of a WTF. Just yesterday I launch my boat with no problems. As I'm pushing off the ramp, this old jeep Cherokee comes pulling up with 2 donuts and 2 regular tires on it. The boat this guy was pulling looked like it was covered in 30 years of scum. Anyway, guy backs down and launches the boat. Next thing you know, the hood of the jeep is up. So here comes this guy walking down the ramp with the battery from his jeep! He proceeds to hook up the battery to his trolling motor and off he goes. WTF

My FIL has a big ol' Ford pickup. He has rigged a shelf in the engine compartment and added a second set of cables with quick disconnects for his trolling battery. He keeps the second battery under the hood until they get to the lake / pond / river, go fishing, and recharge the trolling battery on the way home.

 

[isaac]

BOAT. Break Out Another Thousand. Lol.

 

[krismac]

I used to watch all the folks with drive on trailers with new boats, You could tell that they never used a boat before, they would take forever cranking the boat onto the trailer. then have to do it over again because they didn't get it centered on the bunkers.
Of course I would show off and run my boat up onto the trailer, hook the safety chain, get out of the boat without getting wet and drive away.

+1...I show off the same way.

 

[OIFer]

Been there, done that. Launched my boat, tied it to dock, came back from parking truck to find boat at bottom of the lake. Not fun

 

[AHM]

Union Leader: Mass. man sued for submerging truck at boat launch during Laconia test drive

Read the whole thing.
The fail is powerful.

 

[Dennis in MA]

LOL. But shouldn't his own insurance cover the loss???

Worst story I have is about 2-3 years ago it was a drought year. Lake levels were LOW! On Assawompsett Res in Lakeville, some guy with a pontoon didn't keep moving his mooring out as the lake dropped. He was suctioned to the bottom on dry land. Had to get permission from the water authority in order to get a tractor in there to get it out.

Some folks had to drive their trucks onto the "lake" up to 100 feet in order to get get their boats trailered out.

 

[CoastieRon]

I worked a season as an Assistant Harbormaster in Gloucester when Jim was the HM. Jim was a former OIC of mine at the CG station in Gloucester, and hired me while I was between jobs.

I used to say most divorces culminate from a wife trying to direct the husband while he is trying to back a camper onto a spot. After that season at the boat ramp on the Annisquam River back in 2004, I changed my mind. Especially when people came back all dehydrated with a couple beers in them trying to get the boat out of the water.....

 

[rep308]

Nothing is better than watching the boat fights trying to get out of the Charles River lock into Boston Harbor after the 4th of July Fireworks. They should sell tickets or open a YouTube channel

 

[garandman]

I worked for the Gloucester harbor master one summer right after I left active duty in 2004. The high school ramp is the funniest place to hang put in the summer.....

With 10+ foot tide swings, NE coastal ramps are the best! Steep, often wet, and often covered with marine growth.

There is an unimproved launching area (not listed here) in Dorchester popular with jet skis and small boaters. Last summer drove by and there were headlights shining just above the water. A small pickup was a good 30 yards past the high tide line: probably 4-6 feet deep at high tide. It was gone the next morning, probably pulled out by a wrecker.

Don’t know of any vehicles that will survive salt water immersion. The electronics are toasted and that is more than enough to total one.

 

[garandman]

//How about the first time you find out just how slippery slimey a boat ramp can be when you have a rear wheel drive pickup? YIKES!!!! Thank goodness there was plenty of gravel to throw under the tires for traction. I have no idea how my father used to launch on the slimy mud boat ramps (practically woods) in the old days.//.

We launched a 21’ CC with a cargo van. Often terrifying.

 

[snowballs]

Last summer bunch of Russians showed up pulling this with a navigator limo complete with bikini clad women in high heels yelling at each other. Burr Bros is a pretty conservative yard. Bunch of local Mrs. Thurston Howell's sitting on their yachts aghast. Had to be there to appreciate the full impact.

 

[Mark from MA]

Watched two guys launch an old 70's or 80's tri hull ski type boat at Wallum lake in Douglas. They backed off the trailer, got out about 60 yards and realized the drain plug was not in and no where to be found. Then they found out rather quickly the boat would only go in reverse, after trying several times to jam it in forward, while sinking, they just tried to go in reverse back to the ramp. They sunk pretty much before they got there.

I threw them a line from shore and pulled the mostly sunken boat as far as I could in with my truck.

 

[Dennis in MA]

I've dropped my boat in a couple of times without a drain plug. Always from my ramp and not from a boat ramp. Now I say, "PUT IN THE DRAIN PLUG" out loud in order to remember if it's been sitting for a while.

 

[Tooth]

Brother in law backed the boat in. I have no troubles doing it, but he drove a tractor trailer at the time. I tied up the boat and noticed a wheel stuck pretty deep in the sand of the ramp. I pointed to the wheel and said to my brother in law "good thing you didn't hit that". He responded "hit it, it's yours". Friken wheel bearings went and the wheel came right off the trailer. Fortunately on the ramp, and not on the road.

 

[Fixxah]

In the early 90s, a buddy had been restoring an olde town 18' with a nice outboard merc. The transom was rotted out and it ended up at 16' when finished. He moored it in Marshfield. Well, we were cruising along Brant Rock and his chocolate lab puppy went into the area in front where gear is stowed. He says to take the wheel and while I am steering from the port side and he goes to get the dog. I looked down for one second and when I look up we are about to die. There was a whale shark twice the size of the boat and I yelled holy fvck. We were going to turn the boat into toothpicks and splatter a whale shark.

Somehow, as we went over it there was inches of clearance and when my friend came out asking wtf I turned around pointing as there was about 7 feet of tail out if the water as it started to dive. I needed new shorts. He couldn't believe what he saw.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

I've dropped my boat in a couple of times without a drain plug. Always from my ramp and not from a boat ramp. Now I say, "PUT IN THE DRAIN PLUG" out loud in order to remember if it's been sitting for a while.

I clip they plug to the strap at the buckle with a D-ring. I never forget it anymore.

Bob

 

[BrianWilson]

I worked a season as an Assistant Harbormaster in Gloucester when Jim was the HM. Jim was a former OIC of mine at the CG station in Gloucester, and hired me while I was between jobs.

I used to say most divorces culminate from a wife trying to direct the husband while he is trying to back a camper onto a spot. After that season at the boat ramp on the Annisquam River back in 2004, I changed my mind. Especially when people came back all dehydrated with a couple beers in them trying to get the boat out of the water.....

Fished the heck out of that place several seasons back in the day. We used to sleep in a slide in camper right in the lot. With no dock or nothin', I would nose the Ol' Seacraft right up to rocks on the bridge side of the ramp and stick it in reverse as soon as Paul leapt for the rocks. Did that 100's of times, he only fell in once. I'll tell ya what though...we launched and hauled there every day while the fishing was good there, and quite frankly I can drive a boat with the best of them, but with all that current and not a whole lot of margin for error that ramp is (was?) a tough one. Ranks right up there with Pamet River on the outgoing and a stiff SW breeze.

 

[Fixxah]

Forgot to add the mishap when we pulled the boat ou to get it back to his shop in Norwood.

There was a bungee cord that was on top ot the rug covered runner that the boat rides on when going on the trailer. I took it off so that it wouldn't get broken. When we got back to the shop the boat was sitting a little bit tilted down on the starboard side and when he looked at it, the metal channel that the runner was sitting in had gone through the side of the hull about a foot. Of course the bungee cord was not there to hold the runner in place. Oops.

 

[W.E.C]

Last summer bunch of Russians showed up pulling this with a navigator limo complete with bikini clad women in high heels yelling at each other. Burr Bros is a pretty conservative yard. Bunch of local Mrs. Thurston Howell's sitting on their yachts aghast. Had to be there to appreciate the full impact.

Where’s the good pics?

 

[smokey-seven]

The last boat I had, I installed these on the hubs. They are pressurized with air and have a gauge on the hub so you can see if it is holding air pressure. Air-Tight Hubs: Categories

 

[garandman]

Last summer bunch of Russians showed up pulling this with a navigator limo complete with bikini clad women in high heels yelling at each other. Burr Bros is a pretty conservative yard. Bunch of local Mrs. Thurston Howell's sitting on their yachts aghast. Had to be there to appreciate the full impact.

Burr Bros in Marion? Oh So Social.....

The dudes who started Vineyard Vines went to Tabor,

I clip they plug to the strap at the buckle with a D-ring. I never forget it anymore.

Bob

I used to keep a spare drain plug.

Now I keep two... “Two is one, one is none.”

 

[LuvDog]

I put my SeaDoo in once without the drain plug. I was in a huge hurry. My buddy was already there with his and a couple of girls we were taking out.

So I launched it, he jumped on to keep it in the dock area. I parked and came back to the dock and it was half sunk.

Ran back and got my truck and put it on the trailer before it sunk. Never did that again.

Luckily for me, I was good at backing up a trailer and it was a fast operation

 

[mothybee]

Side note, death of same car came 6 months later, related?

At least you got it dried out.

 

[AHM]

I used to keep a spare drain plug.

Now I keep two... “Two is one, one is none.”

Sailboats that may actually return to harbor
have tapered wooden plugs
tied next to every single through-hull fitting.

 

[DPR]

LOL. But shouldn't his own insurance cover the loss???

Worst story I have is about 2-3 years ago it was a drought year. Lake levels were LOW! On Assawompsett Res in Lakeville, some guy with a pontoon didn't keep moving his mooring out as the lake dropped. He was suctioned to the bottom on dry land. Had to get permission from the water authority in order to get a tractor in there to get it out.

Some folks had to drive their trucks onto the "lake" up to 100 feet in order to get get their boats trailered out.

I’m sure they covered his loss and paid him. Now they are trying to cover their loss.

 

[Coyote33]

Watched two guys launch an old 70's or 80's tri hull ski type boat at Wallum lake in Douglas. They backed off the trailer, got out about 60 yards and realized the drain plug was not in and no where to be found. Then they found out rather quickly the boat would only go in reverse, after trying several times to jam it in forward, while sinking, they just tried to go in reverse back to the ramp. They sunk pretty much before they got there.

I threw them a line from shore and pulled the mostly sunken boat as far as I could in with my truck.

Man, stuff a rag in it at least! Or have your buddy stick his thumb in there while you paddle back to shore. Where is the thinking on their feet?

 

[garandman]

Not ramp related but we had a bunch of folks out on the motor boat when we slowed down and the boat became sluggish. Then the temp started to rise.

Shut down, tilted the engine up, and a plastic shopping bag had wrapped itself around the lower unit, blocking the water intakes....

 

[garandman]

I worked a season as an Assistant Harbormaster in Gloucester when Jim was the HM. Jim was a former OIC of mine at the CG station in Gloucester, and hired me while I was between jobs.

I used to say most divorces culminate from a wife trying to direct the husband while he is trying to back a camper onto a spot. After that season at the boat ramp on the Annisquam River back in 2004, I changed my mind. Especially when people came back all dehydrated with a couple beers in them trying to get the boat out of the water.....

Must have been an epic summer! Gloucester has a large collection of “local color” to begin with, then add all the drunks trying to anchor off Wingarsheak Beach, shoal areas in the canal, houseboaters, kayakers and YC members, awesome!

We usually go up for the Schooner races on Labor Day weekend.

 

[smokey-seven]

On hard tides, it is amusing to watch sailboats with little kickers try to avoid the drawbridge.

 

[42!]

Nothing is better than watching the boat fights trying to get out of the Charles River lock into Boston Harbor after the 4th of July Fireworks. They should sell tickets or open a YouTube channel

Beats pulling it out in Watertown at 2am.