Boat is stuck in 1.5 feet of water!

[auto]

As someone who has both a gasser and diesel, there is no comparison. I was pulling a F350 with 15k 5er attached up a muddy incline in 4Lo until the winch cable snapped, diesel was still pulling.

Edited August 25, 2009 by auto

[wakeup]

Glad you got the boat out! At least you are no longer at the mercy of water depth, just a truck mechanic!

We have an 08 2500HD Duramax.... strongest truck we've ever owned.

[TalleyHo]

Maybe someone in the truck side of the industry will read this and see - wow -- maybe there is a need for a half-ton diesel for these weekend warriors. A 250/2500 is just too big for most of my daily needs, but my 150 is a bit on the shy side of my weekend needs. Thank God Texas is mostly flat.

Fingers crossed.

[jtrovato]

I would absolutely love to have a diesel in my tacoma. Even a decent V6 diesel would have probably given me enough torque to pull the boat out of this situation. I keep hearing rumors of it, but I doubt Toyota will ever do it. They offer it in their midsize truck overseas.

[mellen_mpz]

glad to hear your boat is fine. Once you get a full size diesel its hard to imagine ever having a "small" vehicle again!!!!

[martinarcher]

I would absolutely love to have a diesel in my tacoma. Even a decent V6 diesel would have probably given me enough torque to pull the boat out of this situation. I keep hearing rumors of it, but I doubt Toyota will ever do it. They offer it in their midsize truck overseas.

Toyota offers an awesome little V6 turbo diesel in Australia. It is also available with a 6 speed manual. Why not in the US!!! One of the guys I work with just got one. He knows I love turbo diesels and manual trannies so he had to email and rub it in since we don't have it in the states.

http://www.toyota.com.au/prado

Edited August 25, 2009 by martinarcher

[birsling79]

Glad to hear the boat is okay, sorry to hear about the truck. I pull mine with an Envoy XL Denali. Quoted with a 6300lb tow package, but I'm lucky to live in the flat midwest. 1 know one spot with a steep climb right after a stoplight, and it is still one hell of a chore to accelerate up the hill. The issue is: do you buy a diesel HD pickup just to use my boat 6 months out of the year on weekends?

[hattric73]

Glad to hear the boat is okay, sorry to hear about the truck. I pull mine with an Envoy XL Denali. Quoted with a 6300lb tow package, but I'm lucky to live in the flat midwest. 1 know one spot with a steep climb right after a stoplight, and it is still one hell of a chore to accelerate up the hill. The issue is: do you buy a diesel HD pickup just to use my boat 6 months out of the year on weekends?

YES!

[davemac]

Toyota offers an awesome little V6 turbo diesel in Australia. It is also available with a 6 speed manual. Why not in the US!!! One of the guys I work with just got one. He knows I love turbo diesels and manual trannies so he had to email and rub it in since we don't have it in the states.

http://www.toyota.com.au/prado

If anyone curious... the 2500 kg towing cap (w/ trailer brakes) converts to 5500 lbs. I'd buy one.

[jtrovato]

The towing capacity on my 4.0L gas tacoma is 6,300 lbs. I don't think you gain too much with that diesel on the Prado.

[martinarcher]

I dunno. My dad has towed my boat (probably 3800lbs w/trailer) with his 4L Tacoma and I followed in my F250 with a 5500lb travel trailer and I had to let up on the hills to let him climb his way to the top. It certainly didn't do bad with my boat, but that thing would certainly struggle in a big way with 6300lbs behind it on anything but flat and downhill. After towing my boat he won't tow the travel trailer with his truck.

[99response]

Well guys, I've started to enjoy that section of river in Lowell, its at full pool and the ramp even has a dock (which isn't all its cracked up to be I decided) and a beautiful new launch ramp with a near perfect angle.

The real plus though is those awesome jet skiers who come out in hoards and race up and down the river....but only when your pulling a skier.

-Chris

[davemac]

Well guys, I've started to enjoy that section of river in Lowell, its at full pool and the ramp even has a dock (which isn't all its cracked up to be I decided) and a beautiful new launch ramp with a near perfect angle.

The real plus though is those awesome jet skiers who come out in hoards and race up and down the river....but only when your pulling a skier.

-Chris

Not exactly a ringing endorsement....but anything would be safer & more appealing than the next ramp facility downriver from there.

[jtrovato]

I've been up to that ramp in Lowell with my boat, it's definitely a nice ramp and the river is nice up there when the jet skis aren't out. I will probably take a ride up to that ramp sometime in the next couple weeks because the water level on the lower section of the river isn't coming back up anytime soon.

[Chappy]

JT,

I had a similar situation happen to my 95 MC Prostar 190 about five years ago. We were camping on the Columbia River about 5 miles upriver from Wanapum Dam. When we went to bed my boat was anchored in about 4-5' of water and when I woke up it was high and dry about 10-15' from the water line. They had opened the dam during the night and thought it would be 5-7 days before the water level came back up. Luckily we had about 10 treated 6 x 6 posts we were using for fire wood. We soaked them for a few hours while we started digging a ditch for the running gear from the back of the boat to the water. We then rocked the boat up on the the two lines if timbers. With about 5 or 6 guys on eachside we slid down the timbers to the water. There was no damage to the prop, shaft or rudder, only some fairly minor gelcoat work from the mud and posts. I think the running gear is stronger than people realize and since it was lowered down onto the running gear very slowly it didn't do any damage so if you leave it alone you may be OK. Best of luck!

Chappy

Edited August 25, 2009 by Chappy

[TRBenj]

So I get in the truck and start to pull out, tires start spinning. Switch to 4LO which I normally never have to do but the trailer is not on the ramp now, it's in the mud off the side of the ramp. All 4 tires start spinning now and the trailer is not moving.

Im not sure why you wouldnt use 4Lo all the time when launching, but either way, it doesnt sound like your Toyota was lacking for power if it was spinning the wheels. Sounds like a traction problem- do you have decent tires on it? That Duramax is likely to be quite a bit heavier than your truck, which Im sure helped as well with the traction situation.

Ive never been on the Merimack, but I work right down the road (Andover). Its on the to-do list.

[chathamsolutions]

Wellllll.....the boat is ok, but my truck is a different story.

So I went down there at lunch and the boat was in about 3-4' of water now, so knowing that the lowest it ever got never got the hull on the ground, just the prop and rudder were touching the soft sand, I just rocked the boat back and forth a lot to loosen up any dirt that might have been near the intakes. I had no reason to believe there would be any there though because the hull really never touched bottom. So I started it up and put it in gear to check for any vibes, nothing going on there, looks like we're good to go to the trailer.

So before I got to the boat, I surveyed the ramp and noticed that there wasn't enough water at the bottom of the ramp to get the boat on the trailer, so I backed the trailer in off the side of the ramp to where the water was about a foot deeper and gave me just enough to get it on the trailer. I navigate the boat around the dock and squeeze in the area where it's just barely deep enough to get through and slide it right on the trailer. Almost there! Just have to pull the trailer out of the water now.

So I get in the truck and start to pull out, tires start spinning. Switch to 4LO which I normally never have to do but the trailer is not on the ramp now, it's in the mud off the side of the ramp. All 4 tires start spinning now and the trailer is not moving. Tried to rock it a little bit, but the tire of the trailer just got deeper and deeper. The trailer frame is now resting on the ground. So I call up my friend who has a Chevy 2500 with a duramax diesel to tell him to come down and help me, and as he picks up the phone and I'm giving it my final try, SNAP, there goes the U-joint on my driveshaft. It snapped right at the connection to the transfer case and my rear driveshaft is on the ground, still attached to the rear axle. So I tell my friend to hurry up and get there because I'm definitely not getting out without his help now.

So I hang up with him and call AAA because now I need a tow truck to get my truck to the shop. My buddy gets there with the duramax, hooks up a chain to my front tow hook and pulls my truck and boat out without even thinking twice about it. Damn I need a bigger truck. Then my truck gets loaded onto the flatbed and brought to the shop to get the driveshaft fixed. This has not been a good last few days for me!

The boat is perfectly fine though, I did a good inspection of the running gear after we pulled it out and the prop and rudder look perfectly fine. So this whole thing is only going to cost me a couple hundred bucks to get my truck fixed now.

Dang, you've had some bad luck. Is your name Andy?

[obski]

Wellllll.....the boat is ok, but my truck is a different story.

So I went down there at lunch and the boat was in about 3-4' of water now, so knowing that the lowest it ever got never got the hull on the ground, just the prop and rudder were touching the soft sand, I just rocked the boat back and forth a lot to loosen up any dirt that might have been near the intakes. I had no reason to believe there would be any there though because the hull really never touched bottom. So I started it up and put it in gear to check for any vibes, nothing going on there, looks like we're good to go to the trailer.

So before I got to the boat, I surveyed the ramp and noticed that there wasn't enough water at the bottom of the ramp to get the boat on the trailer, so I backed the trailer in off the side of the ramp to where the water was about a foot deeper and gave me just enough to get it on the trailer. I navigate the boat around the dock and squeeze in the area where it's just barely deep enough to get through and slide it right on the trailer. Almost there! Just have to pull the trailer out of the water now.

So I get in the truck and start to pull out, tires start spinning. Switch to 4LO which I normally never have to do but the trailer is not on the ramp now, it's in the mud off the side of the ramp. All 4 tires start spinning now and the trailer is not moving. Tried to rock it a little bit, but the tire of the trailer just got deeper and deeper. The trailer frame is now resting on the ground. So I call up my friend who has a Chevy 2500 with a duramax diesel to tell him to come down and help me, and as he picks up the phone and I'm giving it my final try, SNAP, there goes the U-joint on my driveshaft. It snapped right at the connection to the transfer case and my rear driveshaft is on the ground, still attached to the rear axle. So I tell my friend to hurry up and get there because I'm definitely not getting out without his help now.

So I hang up with him and call AAA because now I need a tow truck to get my truck to the shop. My buddy gets there with the duramax, hooks up a chain to my front tow hook and pulls my truck and boat out without even thinking twice about it. Damn I need a bigger truck. Then my truck gets loaded onto the flatbed and brought to the shop to get the driveshaft fixed. This has not been a good last few days for me!

The boat is perfectly fine though, I did a good inspection of the running gear after we pulled it out and the prop and rudder look perfectly fine. So this whole thing is only going to cost me a couple hundred bucks to get my truck fixed now.

Dang, you've had some bad luck. Is your name Andy?

Hah, we haven't had a good Andy story in quite a while.

I thought of you when we spent a week at Trinity a couple of months ago. We had a great time.

[jtrovato]

So I get in the truck and start to pull out, tires start spinning. Switch to 4LO which I normally never have to do but the trailer is not on the ramp now, it's in the mud off the side of the ramp. All 4 tires start spinning now and the trailer is not moving.

Im not sure why you wouldnt use 4Lo all the time when launching, but either way, it doesnt sound like your Toyota was lacking for power if it was spinning the wheels. Sounds like a traction problem- do you have decent tires on it? That Duramax is likely to be quite a bit heavier than your truck, which Im sure helped as well with the traction situation.

Ive never been on the Merimack, but I work right down the road (Andover). Its on the to-do list.

I've never had the need to use 4LO, or even 4HI, it pulls out just fine in 2WD. I have BFG All Terrains on it with a ton of tread left, can't get much better traction than those things! There were a few things that lead to the demise of my driveshaft. 1: The trailer was up to the frame in mud on one side, making it like trying to pull a house with my little Toyota to get the wheel out of the hole it was in. 2: The truck was on the concrete ramp which at this point was pretty steep because the water level was so low, probably about a 30 degree incline, if it was flat ground I might have been able to muscle it out myself. 3: The transmission and torque of my truck are nothing compared to the duramax, so while it may not have been actual power that I was lacking, if I had a lower gear ratio and a little more torque, I might have faired a little better. The duramax has the allison transmission and a hell of a lot bigger driveshaft than mine!

The duramax was on pretty flat ground when he hooked up to me to pull me out because he was at the top of the ramp, so traction was a little easier for him to gain. And that thing can pull a house anyways, so no big deal for a truck with over 500 ft/lbs of torque (he has a Banks kit on it).

Aside from the water level due to the meatheads working on the dam, the Merrimack is a great place to go boating. I'm out there pretty much every weekend, the water warms up quick and you can always find some nice water to ride, ski or surf on.

Jay

Edited August 26, 2009 by jtrovato

[Baddog]

So I get in the truck and start to pull out, tires start spinning. Switch to 4LO which I normally never have to do but the trailer is not on the ramp now, it's in the mud off the side of the ramp. All 4 tires start spinning now and the trailer is not moving.

Im not sure why you wouldnt use 4Lo all the time when launching, but either way, it doesnt sound like your Toyota was lacking for power if it was spinning the wheels. Sounds like a traction problem- do you have decent tires on it? That Duramax is likely to be quite a bit heavier than your truck, which Im sure helped as well with the traction situation.

Ive never been on the Merimack, but I work right down the road (Andover). Its on the to-do list.

I've never had the need to use 4LO, or even 4HI, it pulls out just fine in 2WD. I have BFG All Terrains on it with a ton of tread left, can't get much better traction than those things! There were a few things that lead to the demise of my driveshaft. 1: The trailer was up to the frame in mud on one side, making it like trying to pull a house with my little Toyota to get the wheel out of the hole it was in. 2: The truck was on the concrete ramp which at this point was pretty steep because the water level was so low, probably about a 30 degree incline, if it was flat ground I might have been able to muscle it out myself. 3: The transmission and torque of my truck are nothing compared to the duramax, so while it may not have been actual power that I was lacking, if I had a lower gear ratio and a little more torque, I might have faired a little better. The duramax has the allison transmission and a hell of a lot bigger driveshaft than mine!

The duramax was on pretty flat ground when he hooked up to me to pull me out because he was at the top of the ramp, so traction was a little easier for him to gain. And that thing can pull a house anyways, so no big deal for a truck with over 500 ft/lbs of torque (he has a Banks kit on it).

Aside from the water level due to the meatheads working on the dam, the Merrimack is a great place to go boating. I'm out there pretty much every weekend, the water warms up quick and you can always find some nice water to ride, ski or surf on.

Jay

Had you ever thought to take the boat off the trailer then reposition the trailer out of the hole?

[jtrovato]

I did think of that, but I couldn't due to the angle the trailer was at and where the dock was. Try to picture this, one wheel of the trailer is a foot deep in mud while the other is on solid ground and I had to turn as I was coming up the ramp to so that if the boat could have slid off the back of the trailer, it would have backed into the dock. And I couldn't even get it back in the water far enough to get the boat back off the trailer either. The tire didn't sink into the mud until I had pulled out about 4-5' and I couldn't even back up back to where I started. It was a mess.