Boat Launch Comedy/Horror Stories

[syoungs]

Ran across this on fb today lol

[WapitiTalk1]

Ran across this on fb today lol

Well, his problem is obvious.  Not enough duct tape 

[MADMAX]

seen plenty
safety chain mishaps
outdrive/skag draggers
missing plugs
pulling out with motor still running, goodbye impeller
guys backing in until exhaust goes glug glug glug underwater.


I cant  stand even getting my truck rear wheels wet.

what chafes me are the guys who haul butt past where I'm pulled over to the side pulling my straps and putting my bumpers on and then doing all that on the ramp itself prior to launching and holding everyone up.
Opening morning area 9 kings at Salisbury Pt comes to mind.
rant over

[WapitiTalk1]

Saw a guy “attempt” to launch a very large boat at Solo PT on Ft. Lewis a handful of years back.  This was occurring when I was coming back in from the morning fish and was floating around waiting my turn to head to the ramp.  Well, the guy had a 2WD 3/4 ton mid 80s CHEV and launched something not much smaller than the Titanic.  This boat was huge if I didn’t mention it before.  He backed the barge into the water with his wife already on board.  As I bobbed out in the water, I saw the entire show unfold where his wife tried to start the boat once it had its stern submerged.   No start so pop jumped out of the truck, climbed a bow ladder, and tried to get the barge to start… no luck.  Oh well, he did the right thing and got back in his truck and was gonna pull the boat back out… Ooops, boat is too heavy and ramp is too slick during a lower tide.  This show went on for 10 minutes with the CHEV losing ground and eventually having its ass end in the water with the tide starting to come in.  Took another truck with a tow cable to pull the truck and boat out of the water.   

[Special T]

This thread is epic. I love a good laugh.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

[wheels]

i remember one about ten years ago i was up at larabe state park  near bellingham the launch is really steep, and one time there was a father son and grandfather cant  remember if they were launching or pulling out but they had a 14-16ft outboard well the kid about 10-12 was in the bout dad in truck grandfather signaling well i guess they were unstrapped and when  the dad pulled forward  the kid got a ride of his life back end went to the ground almost thought it was going completely over with him in it

[KenPCPilot]

I actually had a guy take his new potoon boat out and start assembling it on the launch ramp.  At first I was courteous telling him I have trailered boat so I need the launch.  He started giving me a bunch of crap that it was his launch too since it was a public access area.  I then put my 21' bayliner in gear and drove up next to the ramp.  I was impressed how quickly he was able to pull his stuff out of the way before being crushed by the bow. 

[pianoman9701]

No drain plug. Nuff said. 

[kball4]

At the public Gig Harbor launch a guy got his boat up on the trailer started pulling it out, went off the concrete launch which broke the u-bolts on his trailer springs, bent the trailer axle and broke the hub of the tire that went off the ramp.  He was pricing boat trailers on the phone when we pulled out next to him.

[magnanimous_j]

When I was 16 or 17 (late 90's), my buddy showed up at my house one morning and asked if I wanted to go check out a boat for sale that he found in the classifieds. So we drove over to the guys house and he says he bought it a couple years ago, never used it, etc. It was a late 70's Reinell inboard if I remember right. Pretty cool boat. Then he asked if we wanted to test drive it. The thought that a sane adult would let two teenage morons take his boat out alone, never even crossed our minds. We immediately accepted and hooked the thing up to my buddy's truck and off we went. Keep in mind that neither of us had ever towed or launched a boat before. We'd barely ever even driven one.

So we get to the boat launch and it's COLD. It's april and there is a storm moving in. The first thing we did was miss the concrete launch and get the truck stuck in wet mud. Luckily, a utility worker happened by and pulled us out. Next attempt, we got it right and just as it was about to touch water, I said "My dad used to have a boat, and he always made sure to put the bilge plug in." So we hopped out and looked around and couldn't find it. We decided that this particular boat must not have had one. So the boats in the water, we fire up the motor, point the bow at the middle of the sound and open it up.

We got about 100 feet before the motor died. We turn around and the the back end is under water and going down fast. No other option except to bail out and swim for shore. The drop off was very gradual and we were probably only in 10 or 15 feet of water. So my buddy tries to pull this boat toward shore before it hits the bottom. He assures me that he's got it and I swim for the shore to get the truck.

Remember, I've never towed anything before. In my panic to get this trailer back down the launch, I cut it way too hard and with a groaning sound, the torsion twists the trailer into a mangled, bent up mess. Completely wrecked. My friend loses his battle with the boat and down it goes. He swims to shore. Soaking wet and freezing cold, we just stared at the situation in total silence for about 10 minutes. We had just completely destroyed this guy's boat AND trailer.

We thought the guy would be furious, but he just wanted us to get the hell out of there. Later I decided he was probably terrified that our parents were going to sue him. They didn't.

For all I know, the boat is still down there.

[Tom Tamer]

Saw a couple hippy chicks, park their Subaru sideways in front of the launch blocking both lanes, get out proceed to take their kayak off the top of the car set it down and commence to loading everything in their car onto the Kayak. Wife and I tell them to park off to the side and pack their 10' plastic canoe down to the lake.

[westsidehntr]

When I was 16 or 17 (late 90's), my buddy showed up at my house one morning and asked if I wanted to go check out a boat for sale that he found in the classifieds. So we drove over to the guys house and he says he bought it a couple years ago, never used it, etc. It was a late 70's Reinell inboard if I remember right. Pretty cool boat. Then he asked if we wanted to test drive it. The thought that a sane adult would let two teenage morons take his boat out alone, never even crossed our minds. We immediately accepted and hooked the thing up to my buddy's truck and off we went. Keep in mind that neither of us had ever towed or launched a boat before. We'd barely ever even driven one.

So we get to the boat launch and it's COLD. It's april and there is a storm moving in. The first thing we did was miss the concrete launch and get the truck stuck in wet mud. Luckily, a utility worker happened by and pulled us out. Next attempt, we got it right and just as it was about to touch water, I said "My dad used to have a boat, and he always made sure to put the bilge plug in." So we hopped out and looked around and couldn't find it. We decided that this particular boat must not have had one. So the boats in the water, we fire up the motor, point the bow at the middle of the sound and open it up.

We got about 100 feet before the motor died. We turn around and the the back end is under water and going down fast. No other option except to bail out and swim for shore. The drop off was very gradual and we were probably only in 10 or 15 feet of water. So my buddy tries to pull this boat toward shore before it hits the bottom. He assures me that he's got it and I swim for the shore to get the truck.

Remember, I've never towed anything before. In my panic to get this trailer back down the launch, I cut it way too hard and with a groaning sound, the torsion twists the trailer into a mangled, bent up mess. Completely wrecked. My friend loses his battle with the boat and down it goes. He swims to shore. Soaking wet and freezing cold, we just stared at the situation in total silence for about 10 minutes. We had just completely destroyed this guy's boat AND trailer.

We thought the guy would be furious, but he just wanted us to get the hell out of there. Later I decided he was probably terrified that our parents were going to sue him. They didn't.

For all I know, the boat is still down there.

Wow!! That guy learned a lesson! And you guys! 

[WapitiTalk1]

When I was 16 or 17 (late 90's), my buddy showed up at my house one morning and asked if I wanted to go check out a boat for sale that he found in the classifieds. So we drove over to the guys house and he says he bought it a couple years ago, never used it, etc. It was a late 70's Reinell inboard if I remember right. Pretty cool boat. Then he asked if we wanted to test drive it. The thought that a sane adult would let two teenage morons take his boat out alone, never even crossed our minds. We immediately accepted and hooked the thing up to my buddy's truck and off we went. Keep in mind that neither of us had ever towed or launched a boat before. We'd barely ever even driven one.

So we get to the boat launch and it's COLD. It's april and there is a storm moving in. The first thing we did was miss the concrete launch and get the truck stuck in wet mud. Luckily, a utility worker happened by and pulled us out. Next attempt, we got it right and just as it was about to touch water, I said "My dad used to have a boat, and he always made sure to put the bilge plug in." So we hopped out and looked around and couldn't find it. We decided that this particular boat must not have had one. So the boats in the water, we fire up the motor, point the bow at the middle of the sound and open it up.

We got about 100 feet before the motor died. We turn around and the the back end is under water and going down fast. No other option except to bail out and swim for shore. The drop off was very gradual and we were probably only in 10 or 15 feet of water. So my buddy tries to pull this boat toward shore before it hits the bottom. He assures me that he's got it and I swim for the shore to get the truck.

Remember, I've never towed anything before. In my panic to get this trailer back down the launch, I cut it way too hard and with a groaning sound, the torsion twists the trailer into a mangled, bent up mess. Completely wrecked. My friend loses his battle with the boat and down it goes. He swims to shore. Soaking wet and freezing cold, we just stared at the situation in total silence for about 10 minutes. We had just completely destroyed this guy's boat AND trailer.

We thought the guy would be furious, but he just wanted us to get the hell out of there. Later I decided he was probably terrified that our parents were going to sue him. They didn't.

For all I know, the boat is still down there.

Whaaaaattt   . That is priceless.  Thank you for sharing your adventure. 

[pd]

When I was 16 or 17 (late 90's), my buddy showed up at my house one morning and asked if I wanted to go check out a boat for sale that he found in the classifieds. So we drove over to the guys house and he says he bought it a couple years ago, never used it, etc. It was a late 70's Reinell inboard if I remember right. Pretty cool boat. Then he asked if we wanted to test drive it. The thought that a sane adult would let two teenage morons take his boat out alone, never even crossed our minds. We immediately accepted and hooked the thing up to my buddy's truck and off we went. Keep in mind that neither of us had ever towed or launched a boat before. We'd barely ever even driven one.

So we get to the boat launch and it's COLD. It's april and there is a storm moving in. The first thing we did was miss the concrete launch and get the truck stuck in wet mud. Luckily, a utility worker happened by and pulled us out. Next attempt, we got it right and just as it was about to touch water, I said "My dad used to have a boat, and he always made sure to put the bilge plug in." So we hopped out and looked around and couldn't find it. We decided that this particular boat must not have had one. So the boats in the water, we fire up the motor, point the bow at the middle of the sound and open it up.

We got about 100 feet before the motor died. We turn around and the the back end is under water and going down fast. No other option except to bail out and swim for shore. The drop off was very gradual and we were probably only in 10 or 15 feet of water. So my buddy tries to pull this boat toward shore before it hits the bottom. He assures me that he's got it and I swim for the shore to get the truck.

Remember, I've never towed anything before. In my panic to get this trailer back down the launch, I cut it way too hard and with a groaning sound, the torsion twists the trailer into a mangled, bent up mess. Completely wrecked. My friend loses his battle with the boat and down it goes. He swims to shore. Soaking wet and freezing cold, we just stared at the situation in total silence for about 10 minutes. We had just completely destroyed this guy's boat AND trailer.

We thought the guy would be furious, but he just wanted us to get the hell out of there. Later I decided he was probably terrified that our parents were going to sue him. They didn't.

For all I know, the boat is still down there.

How long did it take you to tell your folks?

[cbond3318]

I dumped my Alumaweld Sled onto the pavement launch at Windust opening morning of rifle deer season 4 or 5 years back. Was used to launching by myself at a launch much flatter and unhooked everything to send er' in.

luckily just the tail end came off and it only broke the reverse bucket. If one of you were in line behind me that morning......sorry, that was me!