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Trinity, a near disaster


Slider

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All right, some of you may know that I am very proud of how professionally Tracie and I can unload or load our boat. Since I am proud of my successes I thought that I should share some of my not so much moments.

This weekend we met the Baumer family at Trinity in NorCal. The ramp we used to launch the boat was very steep and very long. I pull around, back up, and get out of my truck to unhook the bow tie. As soon as my feet his the ramp the door of my truck wracks me backwards as my truck with camper and boat with trailer starts to rolls straight back into the lake. Luckily the door didn't knock me down and I was able to jump in and slam on the brake just as the back tires of the truck reached the mid hub point.

Anyway we get the boat launched and as Tracie is backing the boat away she says, what just happened. I told her in a very low voice we would talk about it later because there were several people watching and joking with me about how close that had been.

Later I had to admit that I had just no gotten the truck in Park, but instead had only reached Reverse. Now I am the Wally story for someone else. Cry.gif

The weekend went great and we had no major malfunctions after my near miss at the ramp. Baumer got up barefooting on his very first try on the training boom and on about his 4th try long line off of the knee board. Tracie gave footing a valiant effort, but says she wont try again without at least barefooting shorts Biggrin.gif

Please tell me that I am not the only one to do something silly this summer. I am looking for a little moral support to ease my shame.

Joe

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...

Please tell me that I am not the only one to do something silly this summer.  I am looking for a little moral support to ease my shame.

Joe

Nope you're the only one. :)

Did you pay over $13 a gallon for gas?

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I can add a short story to join you.

my driveway is sloped down toward the road. when i pull out with the boat, the wood blocks that I use to block the trailer are put behind the wheels, so that later when I am backing up the driveway, they indicate to me where to stop. well, the other day, my five year old had moved the blocks while playing - not alot - but just enough that I backed the swim grid directly into the garage door. Ouch! nothing hurt luckily - except my pride.

wilma

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All right, some of you may know that I am very proud of how professionally Tracie and I can unload or load our boat.  Since I am proud of my successes I thought that I should share some of my not so much moments.

This weekend we met the Baumer family at Trinity in NorCal.  The ramp we used to launch the boat was very steep and very long.  I pull around, back up, and get out of my truck to unhook the bow tie.  As soon as my feet his the ramp the door of my truck wracks me backwards as my truck with camper and boat with trailer starts to rolls straight back into the lake.  Luckily the door didn't knock me down and I was able to jump in and slam on the brake just as the back tires of the truck reached the mid hub point.

Anyway we get the boat launched and as Tracie is backing the boat away she says, what just happened.  I told her in a very low voice we would talk about it later because there were several people watching and joking with me about how close that had been.

Later I had to admit that I had just no gotten the truck in Park, but instead had only reached Reverse.  Now I am the Wally story for someone else. Cry.gif

The weekend went great and we had no major malfunctions after my near miss at the ramp.  Baumer got up barefooting on his very first try on the training boom and on about his 4th try long line off of the knee board.  Tracie gave footing a valiant effort, but says she wont try again without at least barefooting shorts Biggrin.gif

Please tell me that I am not the only one to do something silly this summer.  I am looking for a little moral support to ease my shame.

Joe

Dang Joe...I drive the boat so I'm not sure I've ever backed the trailer in now that I think about it. Where is the hall of shame for pictures like this...lol Glad it turned out okay.

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wilma that had to hurt, even if it was just the pride.

I do have to say something in defense of slider before all of you start poking fun - he's an absolute pro with a trailer. He can put it in the tightest spot imaginable. The situation was stressful - the trip had taken much longer than we anticipated due to wrong turns taken by us, & not fully scoping out the route in the first place. We were hot & tired, & our nerves were shot. We had the camper on the truck, & we've only used it twice that I can think of. So all of that combined with a strange not-so-good ramp....it was interesting.

We did have a great time though. Baumer is a very natural athlete - he made the footing run look easy, like he'd done it before. The look on his face was awesome, & he was yelling to us in the boat about how cool it was. I think his next purchase for his boat will be a boom. (I was just dumb enough to try it in my board shorts. STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!) Barb got some time in behind our boat on the wakeboard & they may end up with a tower as well, it's just so different than coming off the pylon. Of course it's just for storage for all of the stuff on their little boat, right? ;) Their 7 year old girl surfed & chaired with Joe, I think she's got a crush on him now. :) All in all a great weekend, but with that start, we were a little jumpy. :lol:

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How about this one...

First trip of the year without the wife. Launch the boat with a friend driving the boat. Boat's in the water, driving up the ramp to park. Park the truck, go to the bathroom, mozey on down the ramp in no particular hurry....Look down at my wrist and realize I have the boat keys on my wrist still. Big Oops..Start running down the ramp and see the people in my boat waving frantically. I think to myself, awww, no big deal, boat is not near shore. Slow down to a walk in relief but they are still waiving frantically. Then I hear a shout, where's the plug? Start running again, dive into the water and swim as fast as possible to the boat, jump in and put the plug in right about when the water is creeping up to the carpet. Took about a half hour to drain the boat but no damage.

Moral of the story...never go boating without the wife...Those constant loving broken record reminders at the launch ramp...is the plug in honey? Do you have the keys? are the tie straps off? Priceless! ROFL.gif

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It's OK Joe. We are here for ya'!!! I think we all have a ramp story that could have been avoided if not for anxiety, or lack of patients. (not me though! ----RIGHT! Biggrin.gif I got a couple. But this is about you & your pain....)

Last weekend on the first run (Boat owner first---namely ME!) I had let my bro-in-law (18 yrs old) who had driven for me a few weeks ago and did just fine pull me. I let go of the rope and as he comes back to get me I see the rope pulled tight from the tower to the swimdeck. I yell to kill it and I had to swim what felt like a mile to the boat. Sure enough, the whole rope and handle are in the prop.....And the breeze was blowing us into a rocky shore.....

:) Now I have a new Fire Jacket rope and a Byerly handle. Though I really liked my Proline rubber tractor grip. (not made anymore....)

Thanks, Jake. But next time you want to buy me a new rope, I could do without the stress......

Pat

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Dang, Joe, that was a close call.

I had a really dumb-a$$ move two weeks ago, got insanely lucky that no one got hurt/nothing damaged. I keep the boat in the garage, so have to put down the tower (Titan) every time in/out. We were getting ready to go out and my oldest son was talking to me as I put the tower up. I slid the two sections together and proceded to secure the wrapped-up bimini to the front section of the tower. Got distracted and FORGOT TO PUT THE PIN AND THE BOLT IN TO SECURE THE TOWER SECTION TOGETHER!!! Trailered 1 hour away, dropped the boat in the water, ran 1/2 mile away and hit a couple of rollers. I heard a strange squeaking sound, looked up, and my mouth dropped as I saw the two sections were coming apart (with three unknowing kids in the back seat about to get clobbered by the rear hoop.) I guess the bimini being tied to the front hoop saved my butt. One of the stupidest things I have ever done, and I thank my lucky stars every time I think about it that no one was hurt.

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All right, some of you may know that I am very proud of how professionally Tracie and I can unload or load our boat.  Since I am proud of my successes I thought that I should share some of my not so much moments.

This weekend we met the Baumer family at Trinity in NorCal.  The ramp we used to launch the boat was very steep and very long.  I pull around, back up, and get out of my truck to unhook the bow tie.  As soon as my feet his the ramp the door of my truck wracks me backwards as my truck with camper and boat with trailer starts to rolls straight back into the lake.  Luckily the door didn't knock me down and I was able to jump in and slam on the brake just as the back tires of the truck reached the mid hub point.

Anyway we get the boat launched and as Tracie is backing the boat away she says, what just happened.  I told her in a very low voice we would talk about it later because there were several people watching and joking with me about how close that had been.

Later I had to admit that I had just no gotten the truck in Park, but instead had only reached Reverse.  Now I am the Wally story for someone else. Cry.gif

The weekend went great and we had no major malfunctions after my near miss at the ramp.  Baumer got up barefooting on his very first try on the training boom and on about his 4th try long line off of the knee board.  Tracie gave footing a valiant effort, but says she wont try again without at least barefooting shorts Biggrin.gif

Please tell me that I am not the only one to do something silly this summer.  I am looking for a little moral support to ease my shame.

Joe

Well, the time at Trinity started several days earlier for us, so there was no stress... When we arrived at the dock to greet Tracie and Joe we sat on the water while they got their boat ready to launch. Tracie got in the boat and Joe in the truck. They came down the dirt road that turns on to the ramp and Joe superbly backed the boat to the water ROFL.gif

All of the sudden a collective sigh arose from not only our boat, but everyone on shore, as we watched Joe's truck and boat head towards the water without a driver! Cry.gif As the door smacked Joe in the back he frantically jumped back in the truck found park and Joe saved the day Yahoo.gif

Don't worry Joe, we've had our own plug incidents... we're right there with you!

Phil and Barbara

p.s.

Even if the boat went in I think it would have come out drier than the soaking you gave it Tongue.gif

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All right, some of you may know that I am very proud of how professionally Tracie and I can unload or load our boat.  Since I am proud of my successes I thought that I should share some of my not so much moments.

This weekend we met the Baumer family at Trinity in NorCal.  The ramp we used to launch the boat was very steep and very long.  I pull around, back up, and get out of my truck to unhook the bow tie.  As soon as my feet his the ramp the door of my truck wracks me backwards as my truck with camper and boat with trailer starts to rolls straight back into the lake.  Luckily the door didn't knock me down and I was able to jump in and slam on the brake just as the back tires of the truck reached the mid hub point.

Anyway we get the boat launched and as Tracie is backing the boat away she says, what just happened.  I told her in a very low voice we would talk about it later because there were several people watching and joking with me about how close that had been.

Later I had to admit that I had just no gotten the truck in Park, but instead had only reached Reverse.  Now I am the Wally story for someone else. Cry.gif

The weekend went great and we had no major malfunctions after my near miss at the ramp.  Baumer got up barefooting on his very first try on the training boom and on about his 4th try long line off of the knee board.  Tracie gave footing a valiant effort, but says she wont try again without at least barefooting shorts Biggrin.gif

Please tell me that I am not the only one to do something silly this summer.  I am looking for a little moral support to ease my shame.

Joe

Well, the time at Trinity started several days earlier for us, so there was no stress... When we arrived at the dock to greet Tracie and Joe we sat on the water while they got their boat ready to launch. Tracie got in the boat and Joe in the truck. They came down the dirt road that turns on to the ramp and Joe superbly backed the boat to the water ROFL.gif

All of the sudden a collective sigh arose from not only our boat, but everyone on shore, as we watched Joe's truck and boat head towards the water without a driver! Cry.gif As the door smacked Joe in the back he frantically jumped back in the truck found park and Joe saved the day Yahoo.gif

Don't worry Joe, we've had our own plug incidents... we're right there with you!

Phil and Barbara

p.s.

Even if the boat went in I think it would have come out drier than the soaking you gave it Tongue.gif

ROFL.gif

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Joe,

It is all a matter of time before we have a OH S#%^ experience. Chock it up as one and move on. Glad to hear there was no major incident.

Baumer and family are great people, I am sure you had fun!

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Not this summer, but several summers ago. I rushed home to hook up my boat and meet some friends at the ramp. This is something that I can do in my sleep, and apparently did that day. I backed up to the boat and cranked the jack down until the hitch was on the ball and I locked the hitch, put on the safety cables (crossed, of course), attached the lights, put in the safety pin, and lastly attached the emergency brake cable. I was making record time. I hopped in the truck and headed off to the marina about 2 miles away. Windows up, air conditioner on, radio playing, on my way to the lake - the way life was meant to be. As I pulled up to the ramp, I noticed that more people than usual were admiring my boat - I'm a proud boat owner and just smiled back. Got to the top of the ramp and got out of my truck to quickly prep the boat and load up my friends who were waiting for me. That's when I see that my trailer jack was still securely in place keeping the weight off the back of the truck - it's just a half ton, I didn't want to weigh it down too much. Lucky it's such short trip and smooth roads, the jack stand was not bent at all, but I did have to invest in a new jack wheel, apparently they just aren't designed for 50 mph, who knew? Crazy.gif

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I do have to say something in defense of slider before all of you start poking fun - he's an absolute pro with a trailer.  He can put it in the tightest spot imaginable.  The situation was stressful - the trip had taken much longer than we anticipated due to wrong turns taken by us, & not fully scoping out the route in the first place.  We were hot & tired, & our nerves were shot.  We had the camper on the truck, & we've only used it twice that I can think of.  So all of that combined with a strange not-so-good ramp....it was interesting.

As being a backseat driver while we went to the lake w/ ya I concur!!!

Mike,

Now you reminded me of a time gone wrong. We we’re launching our boat, one of the first times, and I calmly slide off the trailer and mosey out while the wife parked the trailer. As most, I started to cue up some tunes and got the biminy up and so on. A friend sitting in the rear mentioned that water was coming from under the engine cover…oh #$@%@ So I yelled at the wife whom was almost to the dock, to get the trailer. Not realizing that the plug was in the cup holder initially so before she got back I put the plug back in under the engine and bilged for what seemed like hours. Since then it’s never happened again!

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p.s.

Even if the boat went in I think it would have come out drier than the soaking you gave it

Some of you who know me know that I occasionally like to give others a hard time all in the name of fun. Well Barb was driving our boat while we were wake surfing, the kids were trying to talk her into dipping the nose for the boat to get them wet. (I had done this earlier in the day on accident.) She says to them "you don't need to worry about it I'm a good enough driver not to swamp a boat". Well in our boat with full surfing ballast it takes a very good driver not to ever take a little water over the bow. About 10 min later Barb gets crossed up with multiple huge rollers and take a tidal wave over the bow. I had a great time poking fun at her for about an hour, at which point I took my second huge roller over the port side of the boat. Yum crow is so good. :blush:

Joe

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They were doing some noisy dredging work at a local launch (2 launches side-by-side) when we were pulling out a few weeks ago. I was in the boat, my buddy was in the truck. He pulled out of the launch and I jumped out of the boat to begin wiping down. With all the noise of the dredging work going on, I didn't hear the engine still running (it's a Nautique). Caught it in time before roaching the impeller thankfully...

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p.s.

Even if the boat went in I think it would have come out drier than the soaking you gave it 

Some of you who know me know that I occasionally like to give others a hard time all in the name of fun.  Well Barb was driving our boat while we were wake surfing, the kids were trying to talk her into dipping the nose for the boat to get them wet. (I had done this earlier in the day on accident.) She says to them "you don't need to worry about it I'm a good enough driver not to swamp a boat".  Well in our boat with full surfing ballast it takes a very good driver not to ever take a little water over the bow.  About 10 min later Barb gets crossed up with multiple huge rollers and take a tidal wave over the bow.  I had a great time poking fun at her for about an hour, at which point I took my second huge roller over the port side of the boat.  Yum crow is so good. :blush:

Joe

You weren't supposed to tell that part Surprised.gif

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I sunk a Toyota truck :)

And earlier this year I was called a "wally" cuz I slipped on a slippery as snot teak deck. Only to find out later that others had done it earlier in the trip Mad.gif

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I was up at Roosevelt Lake in AZ but helping someone else put there boat in. My son had ours. He yelled over to back it in while we were waiting for our turn. I said ok and asked him if it was ready, he replied, "YES", with a dirty look. Payback for a smart mouth, he forgot to release the transom hold downs and we had to pull it back out. Of course I had to say something like "I thought you said it was ready". He said he thought his buddy took them off. I told him, never, never rely on anyone. Check it yourself, always. He was a little red faced (wally faced) on the busy ramp.

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Funny thing....after we cleaned the boat all up from our consecutive weekend trips to both WOW & Trinity, I had done a cleanout on the bilge, & of course pulled the center plug to get all of the water drained out. I never pull that plug & so when we put in today to spend the day on the lake....I was a little surprised to see the bilge come on almost immediately. Pop the engine cover & see my mistake. This is where I got really lucky - the plug is sitting on the bench in the garage at home, but I had remembered to put the tool box in the boat that carries spare plugs galore. I didn't panic & lose my head, & got the plug in with no difficulty. The bilge ran for a while & Joe hooted & hollered from the dock, seeing the bilge running & the motor box up, but it was a happy ending.

Got to stop with these wally moves, I'm not exacty a rookie after all. :lol:

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It is soley because of this site that I have introduced the whole Wally concept to my family. My wife has gone so far as to accuse me of being a bigot on the issue. Needless to say, yesterday I had a real life Wally encounter.

I drove up to the two-wide ramp to prep for launch (unhook the lights and remove two transom straps, 65 seconds max). When I drove to the ramp there were no other trailers in sight and one boat tied to the end of the dock. As I prepared to back in, Wally drove up beside me and proceeded to back in ahead of me. Since I AM in New Jersey, this will just not go un-noticed, so I backed faster and straighter than he. However, being the nice guy I am, I backed in as far away from the dock and his boat as possible (cm from the rocks on the side). He apparently had no confidence in his backing ability and had always fully planned to take up the whole ramp no matter what, so he waited. Took me all of 1.5 mintues to launch (due to being solo).

I parked my vehicle and walked back down to the ramp and here is Wally with the trailer in the water too far, ~12 people standing around with their thumbs up. . . . , and Wally coming onto the trailer at ramming speed. He's off center but what the heck. As the weight of the boat hits the trailer, The truck starts reversing about 18 inches. I calmly asked the thumb sticker upper near the driver's door if it was in Park (thinking of Slider of course) and received a sneer, so I left. He did get the boat out of the water and proceeded to do the tie down stuff at the middle of the ramp, of course. As I walked over the rise I looked back once more at the boat and, you guessed it, saw that it was in fact a Bayliner.

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It is soley because of this site that I have introduced the whole Wally concept to my family.  My wife has gone so far as to accuse me of being a bigot on the issue.

:lol: Mine too. Mine thinks I'm a boat snob. I just think that it is inconsiderate to show up at a busy ramp, block multiple lanes of said ramp, and then tie up the dock for 15-20 minutes just because you haven't gone somewhere out of the way to practice backing a trailer or learned how to control your boat at slow speeds.

Nothing to do but get up early and be done before they show up... :)

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Things that make you go hmmm...

- Wakegirl and Slider have beautiful D drive

- Everything works great

- They order a V drive

- Truck almost sinks

- Boat almost sinks

Is there a lesson in here somewhere? Crazy.gifTease.gif

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Things that make you go hmmm...

- Wakegirl and Slider have beautiful D drive

- Everything works great

- They order a V drive

- Truck almost sinks

- Boat almost sinks

Is there a lesson in here somewhere?  Crazy.gifTease.gif

The only time I ever forgot to put the plugs in (there are two on the '90 Skier) was the day I signed papers for the new Response. Boats know...

Edited by Clay
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