Boat Ramp Accidents

[clark9312]

Any tips on shrinking down a picture to upload?

[J Francho]

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[Bankbeater]

Not really an accident, but some years back we launched from the ramp and we were using the trolling motor to get out of the no wake zone. All of a sudden we just stopped moving. Turned out we had picked up fishing line and it had gotten wrapped around the prop. 

[WVU-SCPA]

Almost pulled an oh no Saturday.  Told myself at 3 a.m. to put the plug in before leaving the driveway.  Half asleep and mind on fishing, a plug went in a drain on the back of the boat.

 

Decided to double check right before launching and there was no plug where it should be, look over at the live well drain and there is the plug. 

 

Could have been a real mess as the meeting point was at another ramp, boat was beached for a period of time before the tournament, and it was dark for a solid hour after launching.

[clark9312]

7 hours ago, WVU-SCPA said:

Almost pulled an oh no Saturday.  Told myself at 3 a.m. to put the plug in before leaving the driveway.  Half asleep and mind on fishing, a plug went in a drain on the back of the boat.

 

Decided to double check right before launching and there was no plug where it should be, look over at the live well drain and there is the plug. 

 

Could have been a real mess as the meeting point was at another ramp, boat was beached for a period of time before the tournament, and it was dark for a solid hour after launching.

I did the same thing. I pulled up to the ramp and it was really busy because a tournament was finishing up. I saw an opening and was in a huge hurry to get the ramp. I didn’t squat down and look where the plug was going, instead I just bent down and stuck the plug in the live well drain. I dumped the boat in and took off. I hadn’t had it long and I thought it felt heavy but didn’t pay much attention to it. I got 13 miles up the lake to a no wake zone and realized the back of the boat was sitting low in the water. Opened up the back hatch and it was full. I just turned the bilge pump on and jumped in and put the plug where it belongs. 

[Way2slow]

You have a strange boat there.  As long as the boat is moving forward a few miles per hour, you don't need a plug in.  Even if you have water in it, it should pull any water that's in the boat out.  The forward motion creates a low pressure at the drain hole, it's called the Bernoulli Principle. 

Many times when camping and using a jon boat or boat that doesn't have a bilge pump, and it rains.  Rather than bail water, I just get the boat moving forward, take the plug out and let it suck all the water out, then put the plug back in.   The boat does not have to be on plane, a few miles per hour will create a suction on the drain hole.

Back in the late 60's, we water skied a couple of hours with no drain plug.  Me and a couple friends were going skiing, but  when I got to the ramp, my drain plug was missing from the boat.  It was a 45 minute round trip to town and we only had a couple of hours before sundown.  I got everything ready, cranked and warmed the motor with it backed into and lake and still sitting on the trailer.  From that point on we just made sure not to stop for more than a couple of minutes.  What water did get in then, was pulled right back out. 

 

[Sam]

On 6/17/2019 at 1:14 PM, clark9312 said:

Any tips on shrinking down a picture to upload?

Cold weather????

[Way2slow]

If the cold doesn't work.

Most any photo editor will let you resize it.  You can also reduce the resolution to a lower pixel count, something like 200 or less.

[gnappi]

Drunks and speeders at and near ramps cause havoc.

 

In the early 80's I was pulling my boat out at a ramp next to a drunk sailboater who was having problems with his lines, along came a speeder ignoring the no wake zone and up comes his hull and crashes down on mine. 

 

I started looking for a house on water soon after that. 

[N Florida Mike]

We were launching at a big creek in the area that was rapidly changing from backwoods to suburbia. I don’t remember any of the locals ever having any trouble there. It was just routine , efficient launching... until one day... a suv full of transplants showed up. Music ( if you could call it that ) blaring. Loud crowd- y’all know the type. So they spin around , take off the straps, etc, and the driver is trying to show how fast he can launch. He did back it down good... but hit the brakes before he was in the water. The whole boat ( good sized ski or racing type boat ) came crashing down on the ramp. It was an inboard motor so I don’t think he had much damage if any to the prop. But it gouged a big piece of the exterior hull out. it took all of us and them to get it back on the trailer and off they went , cursing their “ luck “.

 

My son also took my spare old pickup( without permission ) when he was 17. Went to a boat ramp down the road and for some reason backed the truck down the ramp( without a boat ) and was sitting there. When he went to leave the bald tires couldn’t get any traction and he kept slipping further in with each try. He finally went for an all or nothing try , and it just slid right on out into the water. It was a 4 speed manual tran. And he wasn’t as good with it as an auto. I kid you not, he had to swim out a window to escape. To make matters more embarrassing,an aquaintance from church was just happening to take his lunch break there. Thankfully , He had a chain and was able to pull it out after Joe dove in to hook it up , but it never ran right again after that. Finally sold it for 400.00 to a farm owner . Glad my son didn’t drown but ... ? words don’t do justice to how I felt when I got home and saw a wrecker dropping off my dripping truck!

[clark9312]

On 6/17/2019 at 1:19 PM, J Francho said:

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Found an app (image size) which allows you to resize pictures very easily!