Pet Peeve at boat launches....

[riverrat56]

I've done a few stupid things at the boat ramp in the last few years, usually when we are in a hurry and there are other people around, we load it up just fine and pull out of the way to finish the job, but when we have the launch to ourselves it seems to cause us problems. One time the winch rope broke, boat fell off trailer, to shallow to drive up, so i got to the back of the boat and we heave hoed till she went up. Another time I could not for the life of me get the boat to go on the trailer straight, 4 times in and out of the water, finally gave up and went back out fishing for another hour then gave it another try.

The people who i have found to bother me the most are the ones who do nothing but complain at the landings, opener was busy, but people were being nice to each other and helping out at the landing, one guy decided that even though both docks have one boat loading and one boat waiting on the end, that he needs the space because he has his big ol'Bayliner and everyone else was in a real fishing boat, so he eases up to the dock and then yells at me when i try to grab his boat and miss. Now I haddn't slept since friday morning and this was noon saterday, lets just say he got some choice words, then we pulled way out of the way and loaded up out boat and put on the cover, 2 other trailers backed into the water right by us, no problem, but then he feels a need to just freak out and say something about kids being so @*(#$ ^&)#@@ stupid these days and having no F#$@in common sence, I just asked him how many fish he caught and proceeded to then feel a need to transfer out catch to the cooler.............

[PRWoody]

Ok, I will put in my .02 cents of problems in my area.

This is the rednecks that decided that the boat landings

are the local swimming hole. They park down by the water,

let their snot-nose kids swim at the access. Then leave

garbage all over the place.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Nice thread, I can't help put post.

I was once one of those guys, with a new boat ( to me ) I am going to launch her by myself. Now I can back up a trailer with the best of them, so I get her down to the lake, unhook the safety chain and proceed to back it in futher and stop suddenly to release the boat. I've seen my dad do it a hundred times. One thing I forgot..... to tie up the rope. So now I'm standing on shore watching my boat free floating away from the ramp. Luckily for me the wind was blowing into the ramp and shortly the boat floated back. I still laugh about it.

I've seen some pretty inconciderate people at the launches, at one in particular the was a bunch of high school girls taking someones boat out for a cruise. I watch them launch it and think no problem, nice job. They then proceed to run back and forth to the truck for misc. items, all the while blocking the launch for others to get in or out. More thoughtless people than I care to see. 9 times out of 10 I fish alone, I can launch my boat and get it out of the way in about 2 minutes. I just don't understand how some people can be so oblivious to others. It's not even worth saying anything to them because you get the same response.... go f youself. PpffT.

[deeky]

My pet peeve is all boat owners, fancy or not, that think they own the landing when I am trying to fish off the dock. I may not have a boat, but I still pay taxes and license fees and have a right to be there the same as them. Don't worry, just kidding. Just trying to lighten it up a little and let everyone breath. Not using common sense is a pain, but my experience has been that sharing choice words with them only distracts them from loading/unloading and further slows them down.

[The Grebe]

We were out at Coon Lake a couple years ago and we were waiting for a guy to load his obviously brand new fiberglass rig...nice boat, can't exactly remember what kind?

The guy had his dad with him, at least I figured the older fella was his dad. The duo fought the large new boat onto the trailer, looked like they were satisified with their accomplishments, junior jumps into the SUV, the old man gives the signal and junior pulls the trailer out of the water.

Well, they obviously did'nt hook something up right, because when he pulled out, the back portion of the new boat was dragging on the lot and the old man was jigging up and down, not know which way to turn, as sonny pulled away and ground the stern off the new boat!

I felt for the guy, but the damage was done before he even realized it had started!

[dwag70]

Here a solution that might waste a little tax payer money... But what about a flyer with some quick etiquette does and dont on it they get in the mail when they need to regestiter the boat... Or maybe a sign at the launch next to the other signs... Might help just a little but please dont let some one from the state see this or they may pass another stupid law....

[snakes]

How many have seen a boat roll off a trailer way up the hill from the water?

[Dan Thiem]

I saw one roll off backing down one time. I knew the guy who did it and he unhooked the saftey chain to the boat figuring he could just back away when in the water. Well the person backing the vehicle down stopped quickley and the boat rolled right off onto the ramp. Baaaad Day!

[Farley]

Ha, that happened to us one time. We pull up to the lake and there are 3 good looking girls fishing at the landing, so we pull up and start up a conversation and asked if they wanted to come wakeboarding\skiing. They said they wanted to see the inside of the boat first, I guess they didnt feel safe by just the looks of us alone. So my buddy pulls the truck around to the landing and another buddy starts prepping the boat to be put in the water (there was no one else there), takes the strap off, makes sure the plug is in, unhooks the saftey chain AND the winch strap. "Ok, back her in" he yells. Keep in mind now that we have 3 good looking girls watching us to make sure we know what we are doing. So he starts to back in and the guy who prepped the boat realized what he did and yells "STOP!". As soon as the guy driving stops, the boat rolls back and ends up tipped up against the trailer with the very back of the boat 2 feet from the edge of the water. Now this boat is in rough shape already and it's not worth much anyway. I looked at the boat, then my buddy, then started laughing my arse off. I walked up and hooked the winch strap back up to the front of the boat and winched it all the way back on the trailer, all the while the driver is chewing us all out as were laughing at the situation. We are all thinking there is no way these girls are comming with but they did. Nice girls.

[Willy]

Saw one do it a few years ago at the Wisc Back channel at pool 4. We backed down and it's steep and had a little trouble holding the boat while unhooking the chains. Took 2 guys to do it. The next guy thought he had it figured out and unhooked his strap before backing down......woops brand new big Crestliner on the pavement.

[hoggs222]

I've seen a boat and trailer come unhitched at the big landing at Buffalo & go flying down the hill into the lake. Luckilly there were no no "Redneck Kids" using it as a beach at the time!

[The Grebe]

We helped a guy put his aluminum boat, with 25 hp, back on his trailer, but it was'nt at any boat landing...it was on a dirt road out by Sugar lake in Wright county!

The guy was flying down the washboard and I don't know how the he11 he had that boat fastened, but all of a sudden it was airborn and just as suddenly it was skidding down the road! Ouch!

[TSCTSC]

Well....I have had an old boat with a trailer and I have had experienced problems with loading and also starting. Fortunately, there has not been a major queue when these things happen. In any case, I am quite understanding when these things happen to other people.

I have a question tho' - what is the correct etiquette when it comes to waiting your turn on a ramp to load your boat?

For example, if it is a 2 boat ramp, and both are being used at that time to load boats, and there is one boat waiting out on the water. There is a dock for each ramp. Is it OK for someone who comes later, to go straight to the dock to unload one person, so that he can collect the truck altho the boat ahead of him is not doing that?

It does not seem to be an issue of jumping queue but more of trying to maximise time efficiency.

[BillP]

A little time in a parking lot would help most people learn to back their trailer but the grade on the ramp always tends to complicate things. I have two suggestions. One: if you are a real hot shot at backing a trailer, offer to take the wheel when it looks like someone is having trouble. Two: If you are having trouble and somone offers to help, let them. It's a lot less embarising to thank someone for their help than to keep trying to do it yourself and know you are holding everyone up.

[frabillfisher]

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I've seen a boat and trailer come unhitched at the big landing at Buffalo & go flying down the hill into the lake. Luckilly there were no no "Redneck Kids" using it as a beach at the time!

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LOL, got a good chuckle outta this one

[crappieflop1212]

What I don't like is when someone launches the boat before starting the motor. Then they just sit there in the water at the launch. I had one time where I couldn't start the motor, cranked for maybe 2 minutes. So I pulled out of the water. Parked in the lot, after about 15 minutes I discovered the problem. Yes I had to wait in line all over again, but it was the right thing to do.

[EBass]

I got one from last night on Medicine.

Some jet skiiers has some engine troubles or whatever so they put the ski on the trailer and pull it out of the water but still stay in the launch lane and try to fix it. They could've went to the parking lot.

I am still amazed on how many people pull the strap to the end of the trailer and wind the boat all the way up.

Or how the person doesn't know how to back up and takes up two lanes. His truck is at a 45 degree angle on the ramp, but hey the trailer is in the water. Get a clue!

Sorry had to vent.

[Swimmer]

This one takes the cake. I pulled into road leading to the small landing on a metro lake, and there was a truck and trailer taking up the ramp space with no boat, or human, in sight. I squinted accross the lake and saw several anchored boats, and then comes the yahoo racing around this island. It seemed like looked at me and the waiting rig, but proceeded to go around the island again! Not only that, he finally slowed his boat down and sat in the water adjusting something about 200 yards from the landing with my not so subtle girlfreind waving and yelling the whole time. So half an hour later, with this guys rig taking up the landing, he finally comes in. He had the nerve to say, "sorry, just got a new boat and was fine tuning the equipent". As if that's an excuse to leave his trailer in the water. Well I didn't need to say anything cause the girlfreind took care of it. The arse is lucky he didn't leave his keys in the truck. Seemed like another case of I got a new 19' skeeter w/250 hp on it so I don't have to trouble with the lesser folks. Had a "W" sticker on the back window too.

[Ole1855]

I've got several funny ones but here's my all time favorite.

Three of my buddies and I had fished the Mississippi down by Red Wing, we had just come off the river and put our boats on the trailers. We hear this boat coming in to load and they were hooting and hollering, obviously quite drunk. Since there was quite a bit of current we decided this would be fun to watch these guys load their boat. The three of them were all in their late teens to early twenties and running a brand new Ford F150 and a brand new Tuffy, so I'm guessing they were using Daddies stuff. They got the trailer backed in okay, but with the current, the guy trying to drive the boat onto the trailer was having a heck of a time. All of a sudden he yells out, "get out of the way, I'll get er on this time". He motors out into the river and cranks the throttle, not only did he get it onto the trailer, he went all the way into the back of the truck!! Yup, he drove the winch through the bow and the bow went all the way into the tailgate and topper. After he picked himself off the floor of the boat he says, "there, she's on the trailer now"!! Can you imaging what Daddy had to say when he got home??

[The Yeti]

Ya. I have a pet peeve at boat launches. Particularly the new grays bay launch. They have 5,000,000,000 spots for boats and trailers (it's a launch, I understand that), but only 5 or 6 spots for vehicles without trailers. Don't tell me I'm part of only a small # of people that might be in a situation where I want to go out quick after work and make plans to be picked up at the launch.

This was the situation the other night. I make plans to drive there after work, and get picked up at Grays Bay. All "vehicle without trailer" spots are full. The kid working says "you can park over there in the old launch lot by the bridge or the parking garage in Wayzata"

WHAT!?!? The old launch by the bridge was full and it's only 3 hour parking. So now, I have to battle back into traffic, park in Wayzata, and walk to the lake with my gear. I was not happy.

They should have more spots for vehicles without trailers.

[Swimmer]

Ole, these are the guys that help you make a living!

[Bubbadust]

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Had a "W" sticker on the back window too.

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At least he had one redeeming value...

[Swimmer]

Ya, sorry, but I just had to say it.

[MNmikew]

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Had a "W" sticker on the back window too.

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The people with the Kerry/Edwards stickers are too busy hogging up the passing lane of the freeway to be launching boats.

[hip_hop_fisherman]

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I am still amazed on how many people pull the strap to the end of the trailer and wind the boat all the way up.

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how about the people who power load when the access clearly states "NO POWER LOADING" I have no problem with this one what so ever. I can wait 15-30 seconds for someone who doesn't feel comfortable power loading their boat. Better to be safe than try and hurry too much when you aren't comfortable.