Boat Ramp Accidents

[clark9312]

My face book has been flooded with accidents and screw ups at boat ramps. The best one I’ve seen (should’ve took a screen shot) was a guy literally pulled his truck into the lake! I’m talking just drove his truck into the lake with his boat behind him. No idea how that happened but it was at a lake I fish a couple times a year. Anyone on here have any good stories?

[NYWayfarer]

My father in-law and I were fishing on his old aluminum boat with a 15hp motor. On the way back to the dock on a huge lake we saw a guy in a Bass boat blow by us. He was being followed by a police boat, sirens and lights going. The cop could not catch this guy on the open water.

 

when we putt putted up to the boat ramp the cop had caught up to the guy to give him a ticket for speeding. He was cursing and muttering up a storm. He beat us to the ramp but it cost him a pretty penny.

 

[flyfisher]

there are speeding laws on lakes other than no wake areas?  i had no idea

[clark9312]

Around here there are some small lakes that are idle only but other than that and no wake zones there is no speed limit. 

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

there are speeding laws on lakes other than no wake areas?  i had no idea

Outside the no-wake zone on Minnetonka, the speed limit is 40mph lake wide. Some visitors get wake-up calls when water patrol pulls their boat over and hands them a ticket.

[flyfisher]

never knew that.  not something i worry about too much in my kayak lol 

[NYWayfarer]

11 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

there are speeding laws on lakes other than no wake areas?  i had no idea

I believe it had something to do with a floating classroom that was on the lake that day. No speeding allowed with a boatload of kids on the water. That’s why the cops were in full force.

 

This guy was over 40 mph easy. The speed limit on this particular lake is 45 mph from 6am to 9pm, 25 mph all other times. 

[jbsoonerfan]

Accident, no. But the first tournament I fished and went to back my partner in the water we were on a 2 boat ramp. The guy in the water still had his head lights on (it was still dark) and I couldn't see a thing out of the mirrors. No biggie, some people just don't know.

[clark9312]

6 hours ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Accident, no. But the first tournament I fished and went to back my partner in the water we were on a 2 boat ramp. The guy in the water still had his head lights on (it was still dark) and I couldn't see a thing out of the mirrors. No biggie, some people just don't know.

That kills me man. I know some people don’t know but guys that fish tournaments every weekend should. I’ve had this happen several times

[Oregon Native]

Most interesting thing I ever saw was while we were waiting for weigh in on the Columbia River at a place they call 42nd street was a swarm of honey bee's flew across the ramp and into the grill of a van which had been converted into a food truck that was parked at top of ramp.  People would pull out of the water and walk by this van and then it was like oh.....#@!%$.....look at all the bee's.  And yes....someone came and took em all.  Was cool.

[12poundbass]

This happened at a lake just down the road from the lake I live on.

 

[NHBull]

I was one of "those" guys.

Years ago I was into waterskiing and always had promotional Correct Crafts.  With a new boat, we were on a fast moving river with steep ramp and no dock.  I had to make a decision.......get the truck or brive the boat on.  Ski boat are by far the easiest boat to load and the Mrs had years of experience.

Long story short, I back down the steep ramp with rocks on both sides.  The Mrs approaches from down stream, places the nose near the guides and then HITS the throttle!  Drives over the trailer and has it stuck between the rocks and trailer.  I had to drive the trailer out to float the boat.  After hearing the bang, there were plenty of folks to help walk it on.

Luckily my dealer gave me a new boat....

[J Francho]

14 hours ago, flyfisher said:

there are speeding laws on lakes other than no wake areas?  i had no idea

They set up radar traps here, lol.  25 mph limit on the bays off Lake Ontario.  Right now, due to high water, it's no wake 1000 ft. from shore.

[MN Fisher]

32 minutes ago, J Francho said:

They set up radar traps here, lol.  25 mph limit on the bays off Lake Ontario.  Right now, due to high water, it's no wake 1000 ft. from shore.

Ya, on Minnetonka, Sheriff's Patrol is having a field day as with the high water the no-wake zone has been extended to 600'...some of the bays aren't twice that wide so the entire bay is no-wake.

[Brew City Bass]

22 hours ago, clark9312 said:

Around here there are some small lakes that are idle only but other than that and no wake zones there is no speed limit. 

Most lakes in my area are capped at 40mph. It's for good reason though, it's Wisconsin and it's a guarantee 9 out of 10 boaters on the lake are hammered. 

[Bluebasser86]

I wasn't there to witness it, but my dad dropped his boat in the lake and had a rope tied from the boat to the trailer for self launching. Problem was, he forgot the part where he was supposed to get out and tie it to the dock before trying to park the truck. He said it took him and 5 or 6 other guys to push his boat back into the water he drug it far enough onto the ramp before the rope snapped. Thankfully he didn't do any major damage other than to his pride. 

[Way2slow]

I'm not going to use names because this person is now in the NFL Hall of Fame.  Back in the early 70's When he was first drafted into the NFL, the small town we lived in had a special day, and parade to celebrate the occasion.  A number of businesses gave him very nice gifts.  These included  chevy dealer giving him a new Blazer, and the local boat dealer gave him a new Bomber bass boat rig.

A couple days later my dad and I was coming in from fishing just as this guy was launching his new boat for the first time so we just sat there watching and waiting for him to get off the ramp.  He didn't know how to back a trailer and was taking forever.  As he finally got to the water, I noticed he still had the tie down straps on, so hollered at him to stop and I went over and took the off for him. 

After finally getting the boat in the water, and going to park the Blazer, I noticed the boat was getting deeper in the water, and looked in and saw he forgot to put the plug in.  I hollered again for him to get the trailer back down there, his boat was sinking.  When he finally got it backed down to the water, he jumped out to see about the boat.  Well, he forgot to put it in park, though he did hit the park brake, but not hard enough.  This was a fairly step ramp and it started rolling, right on down to about eight feet deep.  Pushing the boat back off the ramp and it also went down.  

I had a winch on the front of my Bronco, so I dove down, hooked to his Blazer and pulled it back up to the ramp so the trailer was still under water.  Then dove down, found his boat and hooked to it and pulled it back up and got it back on the trailer, then slowly pulled everything out together, giving it time to drain the water as it all came out.

We were the only ones there and I only lived a few miles from the ramp, (no cell phones back then) and it was 10 miles to town, so once I got mine loaded and to the house, I called a wrecker for him. 

Our paths have never crossed again, he went on to become famous in the NFL and I went into the Air Force.

He was also my wife's junior high school sweet heart and I used to kid her about it.

[WVU-SCPA]

I've saw a couple cars submerged....the most interesting one was a Jeep went to unload a pontoon.  It was surprising how many guys put the rods down to go take a look at the top of a jeep and pontoon still connected floating behind 15 feet off the ramp.  Never heard what happened to get there.

 

One the same lake but on a slow gradual ramp that is about 75 yards long.  End of a tournament with a line ready to take out.  Guy one motors boat onto trailer and the boat isn't seated right on the bunks.  Tells guy two who is still in the vehicle to go before the boat is connected to the winch.  Guy two gets the whole packing moving pretty good in the 75 yard incline without issue.  As soon as the trailer axle hit the lip of where ramp meets parking lot,  there was no longer a boat on the trailer and the lower unit of the motor was 5 feet from the boat. 

 

[Sam]

Only "accident" I can remember after all of my launches was at Osborne Landing outside of Richmond, when a guy launching his bass boat by himself forgot to put in the boat's plug.

 

After a successful launch, he walked down and then tied the boat onto the dock about 50 feet from the ramp, walked back, and parked his truck and trailer.

 

When he returned, the rear of the boat was sinking.

 

He made a mad dash to get back to his truck and trailer as we all moved out of his way and got ready to help him.

 

We helped him pull the boat the 50 feet or so along the dock to get the boat onto the trailer and after pulling it out onto his trailer and draining the water, he put the plug back in the boat, launched it again with our help moving it down the dock, parked his truck and trailer, and walked back to the ramp. The motor started like nothing happened.

 

No idea if the water messed up his batteries or charger. Never saw him again. His truck and trailer were gone when I returned to the ramp later that afternoon.

 

I always put the plug in before leaving home and just remembering this adventure makes me aware that accidents can happen to the most experienced of us any time.

[redmexican5081]

I saw 2 guys who had clearly been drinking too much power load a beautiful 25' offshore fishing center console boat.  The first guy backed the trailer in and the second guy loaded the boat onto the trailer. The whole process was extremely smooth.  The issues came when the first guy put the truck in drive and started to pull the boat up the ramp.  The second guy still had the motor running and when the prop broke the water surface the first guy stopped and yelled at him to turn off the motor.  Guy two shuts down the motor and guy one starts up the ramp again.  I forgot to mention, they had an e-z loader trailer and never connected the winch strap.  When the truck lurched ahead the trailer went with it and the boat stayed in place.  The skeg and prop served as a great anchor as the trailer was pulled from under the boat and left the boat sitting on the ramp.  They tried to use the winch strap to reload it but it broke.  They had the ramp tied up for 2 hours before a big enough wrecker came to sling the boat into the air to get it back on the trailer.

[lo n slo]

ouch

[Way2slow]

Well, it wasn't an accident but I did pull one major boner one time.  When I launch by myself, I us a tag like connected to the front eye on the boat and to the trailer so when the boat slides off, I pull the trailer up and the boat comes with it. 

I was going striper fishing one very cold, mid Jan morning.  Launched the boat and I either forgot to connect the line to the trailer or it came off.  Anyway, when I started forward with the trailer, the boat kept going the other way.  I was the only one at the ramp, the water temp was in the low 50's, the air temp was in the upper 30's so I was not about to dive in a swim out to get it. 

Thankfully, I only lived a few miles from the ramp, so I had to go back to the house and get one of the small pond boats and go back, paddle out, which by then with the wind was several hundred yards to get the boat. 

I figured someone was trying to tell me that was not a good morning to go fishing so I loaded the boat, threw the pond boat over in it and went back to the house. 

[slonezp]

I was almost one of those guys when I got my first boat. I had a 2wd truck and backed up the trailer down the ramp but I forgot to unhook the tiedowns. The boat had floated the trailer and took all the weight off my rear wheels that were partially submerged on an algae covered ramp. Thankfully I wasn't alone and the ramp was owned by a bar/restaurant that had patrons. I couldn't take my foot off the brake or I would have ended up in the drink. Sent wifey to the restaurant to find someone who could help. Fortunately someone had a tow strap in their truck and was able to pull me out before I lost the truck. 

 

I watched a co-angler crush the boaters tailgate while backing up his trailer when loading after a tourney. I don't think the co ever fished that circuit again.

[clark9312]

26 minutes ago, slonezp said:

I was almost one of those guys when I got my first boat. I had a 2wd truck and backed up the trailer down the ramp but I forgot to unhook the tiedowns. The boat had floated the trailer and took all the weight off my rear wheels that were partially submerged on an algae covered ramp. Thankfully I wasn't alone and the ramp was owned by a bar/restaurant that had patrons. I couldn't take my foot off the brake or I would have ended up in the drink. Sent wifey to the restaurant to find someone who could help. Fortunately someone had a tow strap in their truck and was able to pull me out before I lost the truck. 

 

I watched a co-angler crush the boaters tailgate while backing up his trailer when loading after a tourney. I don't think the co ever fished that circuit again.

When I bought my boat I had a 2wd Chevy and had a couple close calls. I kept it for a year and ended up getting a 4wd. I hated burning rubber coming up the ramp after taking out lol

[lo n slo]

3 hours ago, Way2slow said:

Well, it wasn't an accident but I did pull one major boner one time.  When I launch by myself, I us a tag like connected to the front eye on the boat and to the trailer so when the boat slides off, I pull the trailer up and the boat comes with it. 

I was going striper fishing one very cold, mid Jan morning.  Launched the boat and I either forgot to connect the line to the trailer or it came off.  Anyway, when I started forward with the trailer, the boat kept going the other way.  I was the only one at the ramp, the water temp was in the low 50's, the air temp was in the upper 30's so I was not about to dive in a swim out to get it. 

Thankfully, I only lived a few miles from the ramp, so I had to go back to the house and get one of the small pond boats and go back, paddle out, which by then with the wind was several hundred yards to get the boat. 

I figured someone was trying to tell me that was not a good morning to go fishing so I loaded the boat, threw the pond boat over in it and went back to the house. 

i did something similar a couple years ago. unhooked everything but the safety chain and backed her down. when i hit the brakes i heard a pop, looked in the rear view and there goes my boat. i hustled down the dock only to watch my boat float by about a foot outta reach. i stripped to my tightie whities and dove in. the water temp was in the mid 60’s and it was still quite a shock. i don’t want to do that again.