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hooked or un-hooked


Vettesetter

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Depends on the ramp for me. Our usual ramp is not steep at all so i will unhook it all the way around. Whoever is with us gets in the boat and then I back down the ramp. Once i see the boat lifting off of the trailer i hit the brakes and off she goes. Any ramp steeper than that and i keep the winch strap hooked up until i hit the water!

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depends on the ramp. Normally leave the winch strap hooked and just pop it off for the boat driver before I pull out.

If it's a mellow ramp and not too many people on the ramp area itself, sometimes I go un-hooked for the super cool guy, turbo launch method. haha.

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ANd ya, i always strap the boat down...sections of I5 are like the Baja 500 with pot holes the sizes of VWs...always strap the boat down...thanks Jerry Brown and the CA legislature!!

LOL aint that the truth.. I have blown two tires in two seasons on I-5...

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Depends on the ramp for me. Our usual ramp is not steep at all so i will unhook it all the way around. Whoever is with us gets in the boat and then I back down the ramp. Once i see the boat lifting off of the trailer i hit the brakes and off she goes. Any ramp steeper than that and i keep the winch strap hooked up until i hit the water!

:plus1:

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Keep a trickle charger on the battery. Terrible to go thru the work week anticipating the weekend and time on the boat, to find out the battery is dead.

When I drop my boat in, I know it will start 100% of the time.

if accidents never happened we wouldn't have a word for it. connections get loose and can corrode, kill switches fail, lots of reasons a boat might not start in addition to dead battery.

My technique is to back in till the raw water intake is underwater, wife starts, I unhook, then back out an additional 6-10' depending on the ramp, hitting the brakes hard and sending the boat off. Can't imagine throwing it in park, jumping to unhook, jumping back in and then backing a few more feet costs me more than 40 seconds.

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Straps unhooked, bow winch hooked, and if I think of it at bigger lakes the safety chain is unhooked. We cant take any more then 45sec from the time the trailer hits the water to being out of the water, it takes more time for my girlfriend to back in ( shes still not great at it, but getting better). Back in, start the boat as soon as it is in far enough, unhook bow from in the boat, back off, girlfriend pulls out? I know there is a big issue with being speedy at busy launches that I have never encountered, but I really dont think the benefits out weigh the cons. I like to know the boat is going to start before I float off, I can't ever think of a time it hasn't started, but can assure you it wouldn't the one time I float off the trailer before starting it! I also cant imagine seeing the boat come off the trailer, let alone tie up that lane for a hour or so to fix my *@*% up. And I surely wouldn't look too cool then! ;)

But we launch off our soft, sandy beach all the time & it's so flat there is no chance of loosing the boat on it

We are in the same situation most of the time and suppose it would be ok there, but its never busy enough to worry about being real speedy there anyhow. All the other launches we visit are fairly steep and I wouldn't trust unhooking the boat for sure.

We always strap the rear also, one of the boat launches we visit has those concrete slabs with groves cut in them, laid down sideways and its very rough, one time while pulling out I had jumped out of the boat for some reason and watched my girlfriend pull the boat out from behind and saw the boat coming off the trailer, she was doing maybe 3-4MPH. Again, it only takes like 30 seconds to hook them? I'm considered a bit of a risk taker usually, and am not the "worry wort" type of person, but with my luck, and the speed I like to travel I'll take the few minutes to hook the rear and stay hooked till in the water.

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I am definitely a Hooker !

At the little dock where we hang out we hang a loop from the center fender at the dock over the tow pylon.

I also will tie a line from the dock to the rear transom tie down to hold the boat tight to the dock if we will be a while.

Many times I have thrown off the Tow Pylon line in the center, pushed the boat away from the dock , started the engine, and then realized the dock wanted to come with me.

Alzheimer's again :(

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Always leaning over as we are backing down the ramp unhooking, so when we hit the water and my wife hits the brakes it sends me straight back out away from all the other boats.

If you ever have had to push a boat off a trailer on dry bunks you wouldn't worry about loosing it. Unless you have a steep long bumpy ramp or have to get on the brakes hard it's not going anywhere.

I dare you to get on the brakes- soft - next time you are backing down unhooked, you might be rudely surprised how much an object in motion wants to stay in motion.

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I dare you to get on the brakes- soft - next time you are backing down unhooked, you might be rudely surprised how much an object in motion wants to stay in motion.

Your on. I'll get you some video of it. I think we're pullin out Saturday to head to Coeur d'Alene for the dealer's last hurrah. I'll probably put it back in Liberty Sunday & I'll make it happen for ya. I won't be surprised, done it many times already & never had the boat move at all. Should be a pretty boring video.

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Your on. I'll get you some video of it. I think we're pullin out Saturday to head to Coeur d'Alene for the dealer's last hurrah. I'll probably put it back in Liberty Sunday & I'll make it happen for ya. I won't be surprised, done it many times already & never had the boat move at all. Should be a pretty boring video.

I wouldn't think it would take too much of a movement to get it moving on wet or treated bunks, dry I'm not sure? Be interesting to see. Sometimes at a steep ramp I will not get the boat on the trailer all the ways and not realize it untill its out of the water and I'm hooking the rear straps, the 1500LB electric winch I have will easily pull the boat the extra 3-4 inches ahead while out of the water, of course this is while the bunks are wet?

Somewhat on subject, has anyone tried the Caliber Marine slides on there bunks? I bought some this summer and have never got around to putting them on. Between the trailer configuration, (home built) the uneven ramp we usually load at, and no guide polls, its become common for us to leave the trailer a little bit more out of the water and winch the boat on further to center it easier, but this scuffs the bottom of the hull 2-3ft in front of where it sits on the bunks. I am constantly buffing that area. The Slides are suppose to not scratch and be much slippyer?

My link marine slides

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Unhooked. I back the trailer/boat down a fairly steep ramp and splash the boat with my wife captaining. She starts the motor and waves me on after the motor fires up. Been doing this for ten years with three different boats. All of them on bunks, though.

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Hooked until there's water under the boat.

Has ANYONE ever seen their vdrive or dd slide off the trailer while loading or unloading?? I would think it would have to one pretty damn steep ramp to slide off.

Yep. :yes: Mine. Well, it didn't slide off but it slid until the slack was out of the winch strap. I unhook the transom straps and remove the additional safety strap that I use on the bow eye (no bow chain) but I leave the bow winch strap connected. If I put a little slack in the winch strap the boat will slip while backing down the ramp.

Hooked until winch is straight above where water starts. One or two dock lines out attached to dock. very gently then back in till she'll just about to float. Push boat out, tie up to dock. Drive trailer away.

Takes me more time than others but I hope people at ramp have patience.

Our lake has one, single lane boat ramp. You would not be very popular at our ramp. :lol:

Unless there is a REALLY steep ramp, the boat isn't going anywhere.

Our ramp is not very steep and my boat will slip. Maybe it's different for different boat / trailer combinations. One of the ramps at the next lake over from us (Englebright) has a very steep ramp. That ramp has a lot of gouge marks in it from boats landing on the pavement. :cry:

I dare you to get on the brakes- soft - next time you are backing down unhooked, you might be rudely surprised how much an object in motion wants to stay in motion.

If I touch the brakes at all it gets to sliding. :shocked:

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Amazing how people play the odds here.

People commenting, "never happened to me." :) Sounds like a recipe for disaster for sure. Like I said, many people have seen it happen before and that should be enough shouldn't it? Oh well.

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With the winch strap hooked, I back the trailer down the ramp to the point the trailer tires are just about to get wet. Stop, unhook, unplug trailer lights and load boat driver in the boat. Continue into the water.

It's been my ritual for 25 years and hasn't failed me yet. Except for that one time I left the blower on from the previous outing and drained the battery. Had to walk the boat back onto the trailer. But thats another story.

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Hooked. We prep everything at the top of the ramp, I jumpt in the boat, the wife backs it down the ramp :rockon: , as she nears the water, I reach over and unhook the winch strap. She backs in a bit further until the raw water intake is in the water, then I fire it up. She backs a bit more and I drive it off. It takes us maybe 30-60 seconds to do this.

I'm not that old, but old enough that I don't need to look any cooler than we already do. We are quicker than 90% of the people at the ramp anyways.

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I'm thinking now, after reading all of this, that I may start leaving at least the safety strap on while backing down. It's easier to take that off than the winch strap and will keep the boat from falling off it my wife ever has to hit the brakes hard. :thumbup:

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I'm thinking now, after reading all of this, that I may start leaving at least the safety strap on while backing down. It's easier to take that off than the winch strap and will keep the boat from falling off it my wife ever has to hit the brakes hard. :thumbup:

I'm thinking the same, :rockon: I always have that horrible feeling on steep ramps... :( "what if it DID start sliding off? :cry: ... maybe I would speed up.... :dontknow: Maybe that would put the brakes on.... :Frustrated: maybe that would not be good.... :oops:

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Your on. I'll get you some video of it. I think we're pullin out Saturday to head to Coeur d'Alene for the dealer's last hurrah. I'll probably put it back in Liberty Sunday & I'll make it happen for ya. I won't be surprised, done it many times already & never had the boat move at all. Should be a pretty boring video.

We believe you Bill. So, just in case it's one of those one in a million things. For gosh sakes be careful.

Steve B.

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