Boat Launch Idiots (BLI's)

[rcfillingham]

dont feel bad Pomoxis. Old timers have simply forgoten the dumb things they did as youngsters.

[TDHcrappiemaster]

Between boat ramps and campgrounds a guy can have alot of laughs just watching. I always makes it better when husbands and wives start arguing on who's fault it was... I love it unless I have to wait to load or unload the boat..

I have to admit I pulled a dosey this year. I've been loading boats on trailers fro over twenty years and this year I left my troling motor down....OOPS!!!
Oh well I wanted a wireless anyway...

[pwbuilding]

about 6 years ago my son & i were half way across a big lake when we realized we forgot to put the plug in. raced backed to the ramp & took a half hr. draining the boat after we got it on the trailor. now we take the plug out to drain & put it right back in. also got a note on windshield that says.
don't forget plug

[Southeasttackle]

I fear this is just another of those urban legends.
I have been telling this same story for years and have been hearing it from others as well.
One story goes that this guy buys a boat from a dealership and calls back the next week saying the boat has no power the dealer tells him to meet him on the lake the next day. The dude already has the boat in the water at the pier. He takes the mechanic out and sure enough no power. The mechanic tells him to put it back on the trailer and bring it to the shop. The buy responds " it is on the trailer right now."

I have heard several stories and variations of it. Do you really think someone could unhook a boat with trailer attached in the water without it going under.
I did see someone forget to detach the straps at the transom and when he backed into the water the trailer pulled the transom straight down into the water. This was a normal fiberglass bassboat. It would have filled up with water had he not immediatly pulled it out.

[Pomoxis]

I saw a video of Bill Dance and a fishing buddy do that with a smaller boat. Was funny as heck. Bill was driving the boat around with the trailer still on and drove it back up on the ramp to get re-connected to the truck.

I don't think the weight of the trailer is enough to sink most boats. I don't have that much experience but figure if a boat is rated for 7 folks at 200lbs each (ok..so they aren't real people) that's 1400lbs plus a safety factor that the boat is RATED for to operate normally/safely. Figure in the safety factor and I'd guess you could probably go 3000lbs or more in an emergency....that's a total guess tho and would require calm waters..etc.

Somewhere there's a calculation for water displacement vs weight capacity. Doing the calculation tho requires you factor in the weight of the boat/motor and all equipment on board including wire/fasteners..etc.

[Crappie Reaper]

about 6 years ago my son & i were half way across a big lake when we realized we forgot to put the plug in. raced backed to the ramp & took a half hr. draining the boat after we got it on the trailor. now we take the plug out to drain & put it right back in. also got a note on windshield that says.
don't forget plug

All you had to do to drain it was just remain underway with the plug still out. All water in the boat would have been sucked out faster than a bilge pump. Once it's all out, stick the plug back in. No need to "retrailer" the boat.

As for leaving the trailer connected to the boat, my lil aluminum boat would float my trailer with no problem. I can't see a trailer sinking a fiberglass boat.

[Southeasttackle]

I don't think a boat would sink a trailer either. With the way the boat is attached to the trailer and the trailer attached to ball hitch the boat WILL go under until the trailer is unhooked. Don't know why but it will. Saw this with my own eyes. It will pull my alu. 14 foot boat right under. But I really don't think a person would unload a trailer with boat attached and pull off.
Bill Dance has been known to try to be funny. You can bet that was staged.

[Hanr3]

The trailer wont sink the boat. Teh weight rating is the max amount of weight the boat will hold and still float even when completely full of water. Lets say your boat is rated at 1,500 pounds. You could load it with 1500 pounds of gear, gas, people, motor, and equipment, pull the plug and fill the boat and it would still float. This is a safety factor so the occupants can hang onto the boat until help arrives.


Heres the video of Bill Dance and the trailer incident.
As you can see the boat didn't have any trouble with the trailer attached. Handled like a dog, but she floated just fine.

YouTube - Bill Dance Fishing Bloopers - Dance launches with trailer

[Southeasttackle]

There is a big difference here. The load rating is simply that a load sitting in the boat not under it. I was talking about the trailer only attached to the transom via straps. The force of the truck backing the boat/trailer back and down (you know the gravity thing) will pull it (the transom) under if not only for a few seconds. Now if the trailer were sitting on top of the boat and you slid the boat down the ramp if would be ok. Things work differently depending on how they are situated. Like a live jacket - if worn properly it will stay afloat and keep you up. Now, if you sit on it the life jacket will go right under. Bouyancy works in many different ways. A truck backing down a ramp is **pushing the trailer and boat** down the weight of the truck has to be factored in as well. The load rating is negated, it was never ment to have a trailer under it and truck attached. Of course this all depends on the type of boat. A rather large fiberglass while be more bouyant than a metal material or smaller fiberglass boat.

[Little G]

All you had to do to drain it was just remain underway with the plug still out. All water in the boat would have been sucked out faster than a bilge pump. Once it's all out, stick the plug back in. No need to "retrailer" the boat.

As for leaving the trailer connected to the boat, my lil aluminum boat would float my trailer with no problem. I can't see a trailer sinking a fiberglass boat.

This is true, I had a boat that water came in faster than you could fish. I mean you had to fish for 10 minutes and run the boat for 10 minutes,lol.