Teaching the wife to drive the boat...

[FatGoldChain]

All have very good points and suggestions. 

I will say that I am very patient with her never get mad. Even when I had to swim about 150yds to shore get the truck, and then swim 150yds to boat to load on trailer. Didn’t say anything just smiled and laughed about how crazy busy it was at the lake.  Nor did I get mad when she rubbed the dock and gashed the decal. Just bought a new decal put it on and boom boat was fixed. Didn’t even tell her, she noticed I did that and I said it’s because it’s only a boat and can be fixed.

I like the suggestion of throwing a buoy to practice approach and also practice a rider pick up. Right now she only drives when I am in the water, which is fine and I do not correct her while she is driving but I am constantly watching and if I think it’s best I will drop myself to prevent her from panic. 

I really want her to learn to dock the boat but that sounds like it will take time. It will make everything easier since our ramp is usually quite busy.

Need to find another person to teach her to drive other than me... humm

 

keep the suggestions coming.

 

[Falko]

The resounding theme is be patient and go at her pace. She has to be comfortable with the boat, and she has to realize that accidents do happen.  My wife is 80% the reason I am currently boatless because I couldn't get her to accomplish these things. After three years of "I can't.... I won't... the boat doesn't..." etc. I gave up, boating with her was too much a hassle. Take it slow and do things to get her to just drive the boat in open water, move around a float like others have mentioned, explain to her how the mechanics of the boat work so she knows what the wheel input is actually doing. Good luck, I really miss my boat....

[UWSkier]

1 minute ago, Falko said:

The resounding theme is be patient and go at her pace. She has to be comfortable with the boat, and she has to realize that accidents do happen.  My wife is 80% the reason I am currently boatless because I couldn't get her to accomplish these things. After three years of "I can't.... I won't... the boat doesn't..." etc. I gave up, boating with her was too much a hassle. Take it slow and do things to get her to just drive the boat in open water, move around a float like others have mentioned, explain to her how the mechanics of the boat work so she knows what the wheel input is actually doing. Good luck, I really miss my boat....

Men aren't supposed to cry... but that's the saddest story I've ever read! 

[Slayer]

I'm super fortunate.  My significant other used to ski on a show ski team and learned to drive a DD when in HS.  She's had a DD since graduating college and drives like a champ!  Holds true and straight in the course like a total boss!!

[martinarcher]

Some great info in this thread.  I'm currently teaching my wife to back a trailer (not the boat) in the yard using the 4-wheeler.  If your wife is anything like mine, she gets frustrated quick and wants to quit (perfectionist).  She is also a teacher so sometimes I think she feels like she should already have it figured out.  Patience is key and it sounds like you have more than me.    

 

As far as the boat, it takes a lot of time to take someone from a timid n00bie driver to a confident capable one.  My wife has been doing it for over 10 years now and drives our inboard better than ANY of my friends.  I trust her behind the wheel more than anyone.  The only thing she still needs improvement on is confidence.  If the lake gets busy, she gets timid and when pulling a rider in that scenario, you need to be able to quickly and confidently make decisions.

 

I will also reiterate the let someone else teach her comment.  The days good friends of ours were onboard and also own inboards, they coached her while I was in the water.  One day like that you make more progress than 10x teaching her solo.  Lets face it, we're all a bit more receptive and patient when teaching/learning from someone we don't sleep with.       Good luck and have fun!  Compliment her when she does things well - that builds confidence and encourages repeating good habits.  

[hawaiianstyln]

23 minutes ago, martinarcher said:

The days good friends of ours were onboard and also own inboards, they coached her while I was in the water.  One day like that you make more progress than 10x teaching her solo. 

this is my next step this summer.  She will be towing me the first time when I have one of my good drivers coaching her.  I might shy away from doing inverts while she is towing me and learning because now I will become a timid rider due to the lack of trust.  the slight yank or pivot in direction while I'm mid invert, could get me hurt.  That trust will only improve over time IF she improves.

[Michigan boarder]

43 minutes ago, inlandlaker said:

I'm super fortunate.  My significant other used to ski on a show ski team and learned to drive a DD when in HS.  She's had a DD since graduating college and drives like a champ!  Holds true and straight in the course like a total boss!!

Ah, that makes sense!  I couldn't figure out why she would want to hold on the DD when you just picked up the VLX!

[martinarcher]

50 minutes ago, inlandlaker said:

I'm super fortunate.  My significant other used to ski on a show ski team and learned to drive a DD when in HS.  She's had a DD since graduating college and drives like a champ!  Holds true and straight in the course like a total boss!!

Why don’t you rub it in!  

That’s so awesome.  

 

[Slayer]

3 minutes ago, martinarcher said:

Why don’t you rub it in!  

That’s so awesome.  

 

Blessed, indeed!

[martinarcher]

3 minutes ago, inlandlaker said:

Blessed, indeed!

You need to allow us to fly your wife around the country and teach our wives how to be pro drivers!  Problem solved!  

[Sparky450]

LET SOMEONE ELSE TEACH HER!

Tell her to RELAX, take her time, and when it is her turn, take her time. Lets face it. We all bump docks/trailers etc. As long as we go slow it is typically not a problem. Everyone gets there time at the ramp/dock. And not worry about holding up other people. In no time she will be a pro.

My wife does fine with the boat. However when we first started boating, 32 years ago, she said "teach me to back the truck, you take the boat"  Now, when she does help me, the trailer isn't in the water for more than 30 seconds, I give her a Thumbs down, for deeper, Thumbs up, for shallower. She does not worry about trailer depth. That is my job. All she has to do is get the trailer straight.

I actually took a friends wife out in the boat multiple times until she was comfortable around docks. I  picked a floating object (in the delta there are plenty) and made her treat it like a dock/person etc. Then I rode in the truck with her a few times launching/retrieving. Now, she is more relaxed than he is.

[Slayer]

1 minute ago, martinarcher said:

You need to allow us to fly your wife around the country and teach our wives how to be pro drivers!  Problem solved!  

As long as someone else pays her airfare.....and doesn't mind me coming along for a few sets. 

[Michigan boarder]

3 minutes ago, martinarcher said:

You need to allow us to fly your wife around the country and teach our wives how to be pro drivers!  Problem solved!  

...and show them that engines in the middle are not a bad thing...

[martinarcher]

Sparky reminded me of something I tell my wife all the time.  Don't approach anything....trailer, dock, etc any faster than you are comfortable bumping it.  It's just a reminder, slow is better when approaching objects.  A slow bump won't do much if any damage, you hit something hard and it is a different story.  

[jk13]

1 hour ago, martinarcher said:

Some great info in this thread.  I'm currently teaching my wife to back a trailer (not the boat) in the yard using the 4-wheeler. 

Funny enough after so many years of backing with trucks I found backing with my Dad's ATV sightly difficult at first. Backing with truck is super easy--grab bottom of wheel and turn it the direction you want the trailer to go. For some reason there was a disconnect when grabbing handlebars and turned around instead of a round wheel and mirrors for a few minutes.

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by jk13

[05hammerhead]

1 hour ago, hawaiianstyln said:

this is my next step this summer.  She will be towing me the first time when I have one of my good drivers coaching her.  I might shy away from doing inverts while she is towing me and learning because now I will become a timid rider due to the lack of trust.  the slight yank or pivot in direction while I'm mid invert, could get me hurt.  That trust will only improve over time IF she improves.

This.  Now if someone can teach my wife how to balance a boat, then we are really in business.  She hates nothing more than me asking her to move lead around the boat.  Shouldnt be near the problem with the new boat as it was with the old one.

[FatGoldChain]

How many of you guys have your wives do the truck portion?

i still would rather her do the boat but thinking this could be an option for scenarios where it’s too much chaos at the dock.  Trying to figure out which would be easier from a stress standpoint so the trips are still fun for all. 

[FatGoldChain]

Although now that I say that in scenarios where the dock is busy, you get a bunch of idiots out there in their trucks, which could be even more stressful. I’d rather it be me in the truck in case...

[mackie12]

My wife prefers the boat for that exact reason, too many people at the launch. 

[oldjeep]

20 minutes ago, FatGoldChain said:

How many of you guys have your wives do the truck portion?

i still would rather her do the boat but thinking this could be an option for scenarios where it’s too much chaos at the dock.  Trying to figure out which would be easier from a stress standpoint so the trips are still fun for all. 

My wife has zero interest in driving my truck without the trailer attached

[ahopkins22LSV]

My wife prefers the truck and trailer portion because the area our ramp is super tight in the water. It is at an angle that points directly to a marina dock and you don’t have a ton of space to back the boat off or line it up to the trailer. That said, the truck part of our launch isn’t easy either but that’s what she likes doing and it’s fun watching people watch her!

[efjeld]

Teach her open water driving and try to get her comfortable driving the trailer.  It took a season for me to teach my wife to drive in open water and be proficient pulling someone.  It took a lot of coaxing to get her to not power turn to pick up a skier, always approach with the skier on the right, wait for rollers to pass instead of smashing through them.  Our usual system goes as this....I back the trailer down the ramp, jump in the boat.  She backs it the rest of the way down the ramp and I drive off.  She parks the trailer.  When we pull out I'm doing everything since she's not proficient enough to get the trailer lined up and backed all the way down the ramp.  That's next on my list.  Honestly I'd rather have her learn to drive the truck/trailer than teach her to navigate in tight shallow areas around docks.  

[Sparky450]

1 hour ago, FatGoldChain said:

Although now that I say that in scenarios where the dock is busy, you get a bunch of idiots out there in their trucks, which could be even more stressful. I’d rather it be me in the truck in case...

That is why she just waits her turn and does her thing. We have a small two lane ramp. It can get very busy. My wife is the one that waits for the whole ramp and we just do it. At first people get mad, then when we are gone in 30 seconds no one cares!!

[efjeld]

4 minutes ago, Sparky450 said:

That is why she just waits her turn and does her thing. We have a small two lane ramp. It can get very busy. My wife is the one that waits for the whole ramp and we just do it. At first people get mad, then when we are gone in 30 seconds no one cares!!

The crazy thing is that even when I back the trailer into a launch lane, run over to the boat while the wife loads the kids in the car and I drive the boat on the trailer we're still out in less than two minutes from the time that I set the brake on the truck to the time that I pull out of the water.  The struggles others have at the launch is beyond me.  It's loading a boat, it's not rocket science or figuring out the pythagorean theorem....

[Michigan boarder]

1 hour ago, FatGoldChain said:

Although now that I say that in scenarios where the dock is busy, you get a bunch of idiots out there in their trucks, which could be even more stressful. I’d rather it be me in the truck in case...

Do you own Sperrys?