Your embarrassing ramp moments

[Matt Garcia]

I thought I would start a thread on your embarrassing ramp moments after reading Joeprunc's thread. I know we have all had a few at one time. Here are mine.

The first one I had was when I owned my 2001 23V about 5 years ago. This was my first boat, before that I owned a Jet Ski so I had to learn a lot of things (usually the hard way) about owning a boat. Good thing it was used! At the end of the day my wife backed down the trailer and I was in the water with the boat. It was just us two at the time. I guided it on the trailer fine, winched it up and said for the wife to drive off. I usually sit in the bow after driving up the ramp and while driving to our storage unit. However this particular day there was 4 other gentlemen in a Baja unloading. I noticed they kept staring at me or the boat as we were driving off. After arriving at my storage unit, which is about 500-600 yards away, I noticed a noise coming from the boat. It turned out that I left the boat engine running and burned up the impeller. I felt pretty dumb and embarrassed after realizing the guys staring at me were probably wondering why I left my engine on the whole time. :o

Another time is when I first got my RZ2. It was my first time launching it and I was super nervous. Brand new boat and I had a few adults and kids on board. It felt like I had a milliion things running through my mind as I was preparing for my first launch. My brother in law backs it down and for some reason I can't get the boat off the trailer. I give it more gas and after about a minute or two of trying to figure it out I realized I left the straps on. DOH! Good thing it was during the week after work so the ramp wasn't busy. :p


Kind of funny but now that I think of it my first embarrassing ramp moment is sort of what made we want to start Tigeowners.com.

[jogoat99]

My embarassing ramp moment occured last year and I had lauched and recovered boats hundreds of times prior to this bit of stupidity. I'd launched the Tige at a sparsely used ramp and had parked the truck and trailer and was in the process of filling out the self help parking fees, when my buddy comes running up and says, "I don't think the drain plug is in the boat. I saw the bilge pump activate and asked your wife if she turned it on because there was quite a stream coming out of it. She told me she didn't turn it on." Needless to say I jumped in the truck and recovered the boat and sure enough, no plug. I let it drain on the ramp for quite a while before putting the plug in and we enjoyed the rest of our day on the water. You can rest assured that I will never forget the drain plug again.

[dogbert]

The first one I had was when I owned my 2001 23V about 5 years ago. This was my first boat, before that I owned a Jet Ski so I had to learn a lot of things (usually the hard way) about owning a boat. Good thing it was used! At the end of the day my wife backed down the trailer and I was in the water with the boat. It was just us two at the time. I guided it on the trailer fine, winched it up and said for the wife to drive off. I usually sit in the bow after driving up the ramp and while driving to our storage unit. However this particular day there was 4 other gentlemen in a Baja unloading. I noticed they kept staring at me or the boat as we were driving off. After arriving at my storage unit, which is about 500-600 yards away, I noticed a noise coming from the boat. It turned out that I left the boat engine running and burned up the impeller. I felt pretty dumb and embarrassed after realizing the guys staring at me were probably wondering why I left my engine on the whole time. :o


My son drives the boat on the trailer for me and kept getting indignant about me asking if the engine was off. "Of course it is!", he'd shout back. Well, it wasn't 2 times in a row. I got a little grumpy the second time. Now he checks.

[AustinSouthSide]

I have done all of these things since I got the Tige in 2004. Left the plug out once but noticed it before it was totally got off the trailer. Looked in my mirror and said, hey, why is the bilge pumping, oh crap, dude pull the boat back on! Then one of my boat partners (who almost never uses the boat, go figure) has left the motor on mutiple times when driving the boat on the trailer, now I yell at him EACH time he pulls the boat on the trailer and make fun of him. He doesn't do it anymore. But I did it once too, I think we all have. And the most recent was just last Thursday when I was launching at Amistad, it was the first time I ever used straps, got them for the trip. You know what happened next. As you can imagine my head was spinning from loading the houseboat and FINALLY getting on the water and I quickly backed the trailer in the water and when I went to un hook I was like, ok dude, back off. Do you have the boat in reverse dumb arse I yelled at my buddy. Then like 5 seconds later I was like, of crap, sorry dude, my bad. We had a big laugh on that one. Luckily we caught all of these quick enough not to do damage or look too stupid. I also chewed a prop on the boat ramp (my own stupidity) and last summer got my own anchor roap wrapped on the prop housing. Those two escapades cost me a couple hundo.

[dogbert]

The worst one was when I owned an I/O. This time the wife was driving. I asked her if she had raised the out-drive. She gets all pissy and yells at me that she's not an idiot. I keep asking every time...she gets mad. So, the last time that happened...once again, she yelled at me. I start pulling up the ramp at Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis (the lake is way down so it's at least 100 yds. Finally someone flags me down to stop near the top. Guess what, she didn't raise the out drive and it drug all the way up the ramp. I didn't say a word. Next time out, when I asked, she politely went to the back and checked and made sure. ;)

She knew I was mad, but I kept my cool (that doesn't always happen either).

[fleetpaint]

Last weekend I backed down the launch, jumed in & the boat woul'nt turn over. I had plenty of battery,but no start!
pulled the boat out of the water, took apart the ignition, still nothing! then removed wake boards,toobs,cooler,towles,ect. & jumped the starter, the boat starts!
this all takes about an hour, and the kids & wife are all bummed out and I am mad & frustrated! I tell everyone we can go out for a while, we just cant shut the boat off.
put the boat back in the water & I notice that the gear shift is in revers...boats dont start in gear!!!
Man did I feel stupid!!

[Joeprunc]

Yea with my boat no juice in the battery has been the worst so far. I charged it over night and now the boat turns right over. I learned deep cycle batteries hold juice for a long time, but aren't able to provide that ample amount of current to start when they are low.

With the parents we definitely drug the out drive up the ramp once. Actually as I was trying to put the boat in last night, the guy next to me pulling his out, left the out drive down. He heard it and stopped no more than 2 feet from leaving the water.

Hope tomorrow goes smoother for me :D. I should be at Bullards Bar.

[Tequilasun]

haha! These are awesome.

My story of pure humility: I was 17-18ish and the family was up at lake of the ozarks. Our family friend needed to pull his boat from the water, and asked me to drive it from his dock around a cove to the neighborhood ramp. So I take off, and they take off on land. Everything is groovin, driving a nice boat, 18, tunes jamming. I spot the ramp and the truck backing down the ramp. I drive the boat on the trailer perfectly. I'm getting the stuff all ready, just waiting for the buddy to hop outta the truck and give me major kuddos for hitting the trailer in a strong cross wind.

It's at that moment the driver hops out and looks at me like I'm insane. Well I kinda was, cause it was the wrong trailer! I drove my buddy boat onto some random dudes trailer! I was completely mortified. I appologized and backed the boat off, just in time to look up to the top of the ramp and see my dad literally on his knees laughing his a$$ off! They had seen the whole thing!

To my defense, I had never seen the actual trailer for the boat, and the random dudes truck was the same color. But not the same make!

[ajholt7]

That is funny.

[Timmy!]

My wife's most embarrasing moment was last year pulling the boat on the trailer. For some reason she panicked and put it in reverse at the last second twisting the boat sideways. Luckily there was a guy standing in the water helping his wife out who had just done the same thing. He looks up at my wife and my wife's worst fear came true, it was a guy she went to High School with and he immediately recognized her and pushed the transom straight while I guided the nose back inline (she had the pickle fork stuck on the guide post). :D

[rjcruise]

Well, kind of funny in the sense that I just got back from the lake today and had an embarrassing moment. Momma is determined to learn how to drive the SUV with boat onto the dock/launch ramp so I had my patience hat on. We decided to go to Silverwood Lake in San Bernardino (SoCal area) and do some boating/tubing with the kids. Once at the launch ramp I decide that it is probably easier for me to stand outside just next to the SUV and boat and guide her/talk her down the ramp. Everything actually turns out well as the ramp is fairly wide and was not too busy (Friday I guess). She gets the boat in straight and just deep enough to cause it to start floating a bit. Kids are already in the boat, I am at the bow trying to give it a shove.

Now, I am wearing sandals which have limited grip so you can guess where this is going. I tell momma to back the SUV a little more and that will do it. I unlatch the winch strap and am about to push it off one last time and hop on, when......wait for it......yup, footing slips on the mossy ramp and cart wheel time.....into the water I go right in front of the other boaters launching and my kids and wife. We all laughed about it once out in the water, but no worse feeling than not being able to catch yourself and know you are going in.
On the bright side, I didn't break anything and/or draw blood :D.

By the way, had a great day at the lake and the kids had a blast on that large Costco three person tube....managed to flip them once when the conditions were really rough....once was enough. Rest of the time we just chilled, listened to tunes and snacked. Conditions were too rough and somewhat windy for the kids to get up on their wakeboards. Think we are going to go back to Lake Elsinore for wakeboarding, I liked it there.

[fleetpaint]

haha! These are awesome.

My story of pure humility: I was 17-18ish and the family was up at lake of the ozarks. Our family friend needed to pull his boat from the water, and asked me to drive it from his dock around a cove to the neighborhood ramp. So I take off, and they take off on land. Everything is groovin, driving a nice boat, 18, tunes jamming. I spot the ramp and the truck backing down the ramp. I drive the boat on the trailer perfectly. I'm getting the stuff all ready, just waiting for the buddy to hop outta the truck and give me major kuddos for hitting the trailer in a strong cross wind.

It's at that moment the driver hops out and looks at me like I'm insane. Well I kinda was, cause it was the wrong trailer! I drove my buddy boat onto some random dudes trailer! I was completely mortified. I appologized and backed the boat off, just in time to look up to the top of the ramp and see my dad literally on his knees laughing his a$$ off! They had seen the whole thing!

To my defense, I had never seen the actual trailer for the boat, and the random dudes truck was the same color. But not the same make!

thats the best!!!

[TeamAllen]

We were at Lake Mohave, Catherine's Landing in November. Conditions were not favorable. It was windy and cold, but we had already hauled our boat all the way there and had never been to that lake. So I'm determined to launch our boat, see the lake and make the best of it. We are the only person launching a boat. In fact I don't see anyone else around the marina at all. That should have been a sign.

Put the boat and trailer in the water, get everybody ready and the battery wont start. Remember, no one else around. I break out the jumper cables and decided I could use the car battery out of the Suburban. I took the battery out of the car brought it back to the boat and jumped the boat's battery. Worked great! I am a hero and a genius! Let the boat warm up, my wife drives the boat off the trailer and idle around the marina while I install the battery back in the car and park it. My wife normally is the one driving the car and I the boat, but because I had to deal with the battery the roles were reversed.

Since the Marina is a ghost town I am able to park close to the launch ramp. After parking the car I get worried about the battery, in the boat, possibly needing a jump out in the water. Since my first ingenious idea worked so well, I thought I would take the car battery back out of the car and bring it with me. I carried the battery to the boat dock. Now, remember the wind is blowing.

My scared wife is doing her best to drive, in the windy conditions, around the dock. The plan is for her to bring the the boat along the end of the dock, into the wind, turn a little to the left so I can step onto the swim platform with my second car battery. She does a few practice runs and it looks good. We are good to go. She makes her final approach, everything looks good, the swim step is right there, I commit myself and the car battery and make the step, my son yells out, she is to close to the dock, she panics and gooses the throttle, while I fall into the lake holding on to my car battery.

Now. I realize I am holding my car battery and my breath. I don't want to let go of the car battery because I need it to get home. If I don't let go I will drown. I wonder which is worse? I reluctantly decide to let go of the car battery now turned anchor. I pop up and see my wife and son explaining to each other what happened. I was trying to figure out what had just happened?

I tied the boat up to the dock while I formulated a plan to retrieve my car battery. I could see it down there, so I dove down with a ski rope and tied it off to the battery. A few pulls later we had it back on the swim step. Good to go again.

I can't say any of us really enjoyed the rest of the day. Windy, cold and no car battery to get home with. Amazingly the same yellow Optima ran in that Suburban for years afterwards. I sold the car with it still working. And as most bad experiences go, they make for great stories later.

[Lamest]

Great stories. First time launching our first boat. Left the straps on the back of the boat. I swear the trailer was floating under the back of the boat. We had the truck backed so far in, there was water at the tailgate. I was pushing with all my might, blaming the wife for whatever I could think of. Some kind hearted soul walked over and told my wife that he thought our straps were still on the back.

Happily - we've learned from our mistakes, and are now a very proficient team at the ramp.

[dogbert]

This one time at the boat ramp....

My wife and I were coming into Mansfield dam on Lake Travis and she drops me off at the ramp and I forgot my keys so I tell her to toss them to me. Our boat's a run about with a cuddy cabin. She manages to bounce the keys off the bow into the water. It took me about 10 minutes to find them. Of course, this was right in the middle of the boat ramp. When we first got there, no one was there, but then all these boats showed up.

I still have all the scars on my tongue from that first year of boating with her...LOL.

[Jason B]

only left the transom straps on once, that's my only real embarassing "ramp" story....knock on wood

If you wanna talk about docking now there I have plenty, most involving my wifes driving.

[dougpaper]

When i am pressed for time the kids and i launch our boat on the river a little south of Pittsburgh( This area does have running water and electricity and i believe some sort of educational system)every time we encounter a wait while some guy is either yelling obcenities at his young kids or his wife whiles he is trying to load his boat(Never His Fault), after getting the boat on the trailer in a single only launch area, they will take 15 minutes to wipe boat down and check everything out, cant do that at the top of the launch ( Giant Parking lot with lots of open space) Have almost gotten into fist fights everytrip down. This area is where legends Joe Montana, Fred Cox, Stan Musial , Ken Griffy sr. You wont find any boating greats from this area

[gman]

Many moons ago (30+ years)when we got our first boat (I/O)about the second or third time out took it lake Piru (mud hole). After lauching I parked the car and trailer and jumped into the boat. Wife was driving the boat and I reached down to get a drink and noticed water on the floor and realized that I forgot to put in the plug. So I told her to keep movivng the boat forward and drop me off and then go back out and keep driving it so as to suck some of the water out. Got the plug, she came back to pick me up and as I jumping from the shore on the boat I let the plug go out of my hand and it rolled across the bow and into the water. Ran back , got the trailer and loaded the boat on the trailer with water comming out of the drain hole and from the bilge pump. Never been back to that lake!

[MoneyPity]

My worst one is occurred when I was in my mid twenties and my dad had just bought a used 23 foot Sea-ray, It was in cherry condition and for what he wanted to use it four the 5.0L carberated motor was fine.

My dad cannot for the life of him in those days could not back a trailer without many passes at the ramp.

Just after the original owners dropped the boat off at my dad's, he had a class II frame hitch put on his Oldsmobile land land yacht.

Since it was fall both dad and mom wanted to launch at starved rock and go downstream to view the leaves turn. The launch we used had a significant grade to it and this was my vary first time launching this boat on an EZ Loader trailer. In fact it was the first trailer that had tandem wheels and rollers not bunks.

When I was a couple of feet from the waters edge I removed the rear tie-down, un known to me my dad disconnected the winch and idiot chain. Me I am anticipating an easy launch with those rollers that once I got her in the water I would disconnect the front winch strap.

I started backing up real slow and cautious and the next thing I hear from another boater is that our boat was rolling off the trailer in 3 inches of water. If I pulled forward that would drop the boat in a couple of inches of water, I decide quickly to stay in reverse and accelerate trying to get the boat in deeper water. I did get it in deeper but now I have a boat that looks like it is a cruise missile ready to launch.

The boat was on the last bunk of rollers. I decided (actually had no choice) to winch the boat back on the trailer. Thank goodness I was still in good shape coming out of the Marines. I hand cranked the boat to the point where I couldn't get it up the last 3-4 feet of roller bunks so I locked the winch and used the rear tie downs to also keep it from rolling off again. I pulled the boat very slow until we could look at the lower unit and the transom. Since the lower unit was in full up mode it was undamaged. When we inspected the transom we could not find any damage what so ever.

Since I could not go any further up the ramp for fear of dropping the boat I decided to back it in further until the transom was free floating. I had my dad get in boat and hand me 2 lines and to turn on blower and bilge just in case.I tied off the stern as far back on the dock that I could and did the same for the bow. I then backed up another foot or two and the boat was off the trailer.

When I got back to the boat and lowered the i/o drive and started her up I was literaly shaking from the near disaster my dad helped cause.

Bottom line after going upstream and downstream for 1/2 mile where we could still see the ramps we checked for a leak and that no water was entering the boat and going to the bilge. We decided to head down he Illinois River for a few miles and put the boat back on the trailer. I pulled the boat out with no more mishaps.

When we inspected the hull for damage we could not find a scratch. As the saying goes we dodged a bullet that day and that SeaRay build one heck of a boat in those years.

Dad kept that boat for 20 years before he sold her. The family that bought had young children and were looking for a clean older boat with high gunwales. Two interiors and 25 years that SeaRay still looks great when she is clean and polished,

[scoot18]

These are great stories: Esp the wrong trailer loading.

I haven't had to many my self, a few drain plug mishaps, once with the tige', close call but it just had slid off the trailer when the bildge pump came on, drove it right back up the trailer, winched it up a bit, pulled back up the ramp, drained, installed plug, back in the water, and away we went.

2nd was with my first boat an I/O before the tige'. We were launching at a very busy ramp for the Chesapeake bay launching, dropped the boat in and went & parked the rig. The parking lot is kind of long, I noticed the stream of water comimg out of the bildge port as I was walking back to the ramp & "Oh s%$#" - coming back with the trailer wasn't an option because of the launching traffic after me, I sprinted to the dock, hollered for someone to get the spare plug out of the tool box quickly, got in the boat, shirt off and in the water I went with the plug in my hand. I got it in, but I must say it is a difficult task to do in the water when your heart is racing and your mind is frantically freaking out!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scoot18]

Here is another one, not from me though, not even a boat mishap.

One weekday last summer we launched at our normal spot, only a few rigs in the parking lot. I was walking to the dock & passed a Tahoe with empty trailer, the windows were down and the engine was running. I looked around for someone, the place was a ghost town, no one was around. After a pretty good search of the area I couldn't find anyone. I thought about reaching in and turning the engine off, but with the crazy litigous sue happy minds out there now adays, I opted not to.

Once on the water I would wave down boats and ask them if they had that Tahoe parked where I launched. About 2 hrs on the water I encounered a couple in a nice Searay with their small children & I asked if they had that Tahoe, yeap they did. Well guess what, you left it running with the windows down at the ramp. They had been out on the water for several hours, couldn't believe they had done that, they were quite humiliated.

[TJRiver]

Six, count em, six go arounds to get the boat on the trailer straight at Elsinore here in So. Cal. In my defense, there was a 20 knot on-shore wind blowing and everyone was having some issues......:cool:

[evil0ne]

Once on the water I would wave down boats and ask them if they had that Tahoe parked where I launched. About 2 hrs on the water I encounered a couple in a nice Searay with their small children & I asked if they had that Tahoe, yeap they did. Well guess what, you left it running with the windows down at the ramp. They had been out on the water for several hours, couldn't believe they had done that, they were quite humiliated.

How do you forget you left your truck on the launch ramp when you can see it as you leave the marina.

[Jason B]

only left the transom straps on once, that's my only real embarassing "ramp" story....knock on wood.

DAM you Karma!! Launched without the plug yesterday.:mad:
....should have known better than to say anything!! I was with a new crew and out of my routine and just never thought about it until I parked the truck and saw it sitting in my cupholder.:confused:

[da.bell]

DAM you Karma!! Launched without the plug yesterday.:mad:
....should have known better than to say anything!! I was with a new crew and out of my routine and just never thought about it until I parked the truck and saw it sitting in my cupholder.:confused:

Well, at least you noticed it before something bad happen. I haven't forgot my boat plug since Memorial Day :D

[Timmy!]

Now. I realize I am holding my car battery and my breath. I don't want to let go of the car battery because I need it to get home. If I don't let go I will drown. I wonder which is worse? I reluctantly decide to let go of the car battery now turned anchor. I pop up and see my wife and son explaining to each other what happened. I was trying to figure out what had just happened?

Wow! Hopefully you never have a moment to compete with that one!

[Matt Garcia]

Wow this thread is hilarious!

[AustinSouthSide]

These are great stories and Dogberts keys story reminded me of one. A few years ago my buddy and I launched at the Pace Bend ramp on Lake Travis. For those that don't know it is essentially a one lane ramp cut into a cliff without any docks or easy access to the boat by the driver. The driver has to either swim out to the boat or balance on a rocky shore and jump in the nose of the boat. Well my buddy had his keys in his hand and when he put his hands on the bow he dropped his keys in the water. The drop off is really steep so after swimming around for an hour trying to find them they were lost. My buddy had to call AAA and they setup a locksmith to come out in a few hours. We went ahead and boarded while waiting and then I dropped my buddy off while he waited another two hours while the guy get into his truck and made him another key. I just pulled back out on the lake and floated while listening to tunes, swimming and drinking beers while they worked. Cost my buddy about $200 but did not ruin our day on the lake.

[philwsailz]

For me, a holiday weekend was the time... My Stingray I/O was new to me; a coworker buddy and his daghter had been over the previous evening to admire the new boat.

Fast forward to the next day. Again, it was a holiday weekend.... We are backing down the ramp. It is a buddy/boat mechanic driving my truck; we can be on the ramp, loaded or unloaded, and off of the ramp, typically in less than a minute. I hear the trailer tires splash, and I know I can start the motor, with the low-water pickup on the nose cone of the drive. We are that good.....

But, the boat will not start. Brand new boat. Will not start. Long line, people waiting... We bail on the attempt. Up the ramp out of the way, under the "hood"...

Well, that visit of the previous evening... My coworker's daughter had flipped the switch that the safety lanyard was connected to... hah hah hah...

It only took about 2 hot hours of trouble-shooting at my camper until we found it....

Add that to your checklist, right after turning on the bilge blower.... :D

[Timmy!]

Add that to your checklist, right after turning on the bilge blower.... :D
Good call on that one!

[Jason B]

I forgot to mention Saturday night I had to take the tower down to get under a low bridge to where the nice calm and cleaner water is. Freaking hand knobs for the tower legs should have a safety line of some sort on them....or be smart enough to carry a spare.:o
That tower swayed back and forth like a hula girls hips with only 1 screw in it! No, we didn't board off of it, we used the pylon.

Mcmaster-Carr got a beefy order of knobs on Sunday morning. lol

[Kvon]

AustinSouthSide with a bad ramp story!! Can't believe that! Personally knowing this dude, he is really good at the ramp. Well, I had my first launch and load of my new Z1 this past Saturday and well.... it was interesting. Getting off was a piece of cake, getting it back on after a nice morning on the water was another. First of all, 30+ people hanging out by the boat ramp and a couple of guys waiting to put in. One of the yahoos waiting to put in had a couple of XP Seadoo's, that might give you a little glimpse of what is about to happen :). Well, after missing my first attempt and turning around to try again, this dude proceeds to back his trailer up about 1/2 a foot from my rig. He almost hit my trailer with his SeaDoo's, which had his teenage daughters on them! After getting everything up and set to pull out, I look back and those two kiddos where out doing doughnuts right at the no wake bowie! Fun stuff

[AustinSouthSide]

Kvon - You backed in the trailer when I dinged the prop on the ramp at Camp Perdenales, remember that day? Good times!

[Kvon]

Your right! That wasn't my fault though :). That trailer was as straight as an arrow and just below the wheel wells.

[AustinSouthSide]

nope, that was all me.