Aint that some Shizz...

I shot this picture straight across the the way the cross member is suppose to be as you can see it's maligned. So my buddy's dropping me in last night and his foot slips off the break and we go rocketing into the water. We hit with enough force that it reset my boat buddy and reattaching to the trailer. The damn trailer was so deep in the water that the guide posts were a couple feet under water. He had gone past where the concrete ends and the tires dropped off the end and thats where that cross member got hooked up. The tires are spinning and trailer wont budge, drops back a couple feet, nothing. Finally gives it one good run bam pops free. He ran it back to my house as I was leaving it in the water (good thing) and tells me the tire came off the bead. Oh no he bent the *****er when it impacted with the launch. This morning I check my tow ball and the stinger is bent back too...like I said aint that some schitt!

Booty ass rims anyway:






I really could have used more of a drop in my stinger too:

Ahhh the joy's of owning a boat. Aint it fun fixing and paying for stuff other people break.
I guess you have to look at the bright side your buddy could of stood on the break's real hard and Dry Dock launched you onto the ramp!

MAN that sucks dude!! I would loose sleep over something like that. At least the boat is ok and your truck did not go all the way in.

wow that sucks! sorry man. But sounds like one lousy designed boat ramp.

I have seen this before the only way to retrieve a trailer backed in past the ramp is to lift it back on the ramp. He must have really forced it to do that much damage. Sorry for your trouble.Check with your auto insurance it should be covered.

Damn! Demo Derby Driver.

Sounds like a lousy desinged truck/trailer driver

Hey - Watch the Demo Derby Driver remarks! I learned to drive at the 1989 Warren County Prime Beef Festival Demolition Derby. I took third place in a 1966 Chrysler Newport. That car lasted another 12 derbys and took first 6 times!

Warranty of course. "We just were launching the boat....."

Hate, that's a bummer but it could have been easily avoided at a few points.

Sorry to call it but I see this as a very good example of some serious rookie launching.

Mistake #1 - likely moving too quickly toward the water, can't imagine how it went that far out just from his foot slipping off the brake.

Mistake #2 - if your trailer doesn't want to come back up it's time to re-hook your transom straps and lift the back of the trailer up. If the transom straps don't reach use an old ski/board rope with a truckers hitch to lift the trailer up. When submerged it's not that heavy. I have even seen two guys lift the back of the trailer up with the uprights from inside the boat.

Mistake #3 - letting the buddy drive the truck instead of the boat. I always drive the truck. If the boat driver is not experienced I do that myself too. If they are experienced I stand at the front of the trailer ready to shout instructions as soon as I see something I don't like. Luckily my wife and sister are both ace at driving the boat on the trailer.

Did the same thing last month - luckily only one side dropped off and a bystander realized what happened before I did tooo much damage. We were able to pick the trailer up in the water while my wife pulled the truck forward to put it back on the ramp. Still hurt - new tire, new fender, new stinger and shifted axle forward 1/4 of an inch all told about $450. One of the rookie mistakes that Mikeski commented on but also unfamiliar ramp; heavily undercut ramp caused by powerloading (neighborhood ramp) no signage or markers showing the end of the concrete.

Won't go back to that ramp again and will do better recon to know problems in the area etc.

2 people should be able to lift the rear end of a submerged trailer pretty easily... that is probably what I would do if I found myself off the end of a ramp and hooked on the concrete slab.

Yea the bad news is you could have avoided the damage. Your your hot foot made a mess of things.

I too fell off a ramp and to my surprise I single handedly lifted the trailer while my wife pulled it forward. I don't have super man strength. The tires along with denser than air water make the trailer light. The only damage was a dented fender and ego.

Did the same thing this weekend...the water is pretty low in our lake and didn't realize the ramp was so short. Luckily we only dropped one wheel off and just got in the water and lifted it back up. At least your warranty covers it! Could have been worse for sure!

Not sure about a warranty covering the trailer for neglience, but for us part of the learning process. Definitely ways to avoid the damage but also shows the power of a V8 in a 4x4 truck...

A couple guys did try to dive down and see what it was hooked on but it was about 8' deep. This wasn't his first time launching at all and I've never had a problem before with him. If I didn't trust him believe me he wouldn't have been on the wheel. The problem with our launch is there is no room to dock up. You can fit one boat on each side and those were taken so I wasn't able to get out of the boat. In hindsight I would have found a way to get there and sort it out, I'm plenty strong to move a trailer underwater or as Mike recommended pulled it up with the boat. Good opportunity to learn from my mistake I guess.

sure sorry to see that hate. what a drag. on the bright side, at least it happened at the tail end of the season and not the beginning. hope it all gets straightened out quickly.

My first instinct was to yank it out but I realized it was not going to work. That's when I tried and successfully lifted the trailer.

It's easy to get into trouble while trying not to be "that guy" holding up things at the ramp but this one of those excusable delays. How can anyone tell there's a potential problem unless you know the ramp or witnessed someone else drop off.

If I had seen this post before, I would have known and not dented my fender. Maybe others will avoid damage knowing this.

That sucks man! I usually do the boat and truck launch myself then have the gf drive the truck and trailer up to park it. Glad it wasnt worse! Hopefully you have insurance and they will get you a new trailer. Those trailers are the biggest, poorly designed piece of schnits i've ever seen!

Something I did not see mentioned, do not have your transmission in reverse while going down the ramp, after you are down the hill put it in neutral and drift down the ramp, accidently letting off of the brake will then not do this, then maybe just drift another foot or two.

Quick question related to Dave S point - I have seen guys actually put their trucks in drive once they are going down the ramp. The weight of the boat pulls them backwards. They say they do this just in case they need to go forward quickly.

So my questions is - would this mess up your transmission or something else.

(Message edited by lakesurfer on September 24, 2009)

JKW,
Most likely no, your torque converter will mostly slip enough where you are not damaging clutches or anything like that. If you have an older variable pitch torque converter you could screw it up, but it is a very high probability that you don't have one of those.

Sorry to see that Hate. I know you help out a lot of people on here, including myself, and it sucks when other people mess up your gear...better the trailer than the boat though.

So we tried to fix it but not even close so I decided to file an insurance claim on it. I'll let you all know how it goes in case it happens to you. I'm with Progressive so it should be fairly easy but hell they're still an insurance agency. I'm interested to see if they fix it or fully replace it since essentially the whole thing is a frame and its bent.

To the peeps that put it in gear and let the boat pull them down the ramp: we saw a big duelly launching a jet ski that went from neutral to putting it in gear when he started to slide and when he hit the gas he lost all traction and the truck went completely under. Mind you it was a 2 wheel drive truck but he would have been fine if he just hit the brakes and the bed hitting the water would have stopped the momentum. 4-wheel is ok though.

His wife was glad she wasn't driving.

Hate: Fellow boater did that last year before the season and insurance replaced the trailer to the tune of $6500. His wasn't as bad as yours, just broken welds and one bent cross-member.

All: don't ever let kids be in the car when launching/retrieving a boat. I think it's illegal in our state.

UPDATE: It's starting to sound like they are gonna total the trailer which is what I'm pulling for at this point. Weird thing, if my company totals it out I don't have to pay a deductable.

Well that would be cool. Hello new trailer!

Hate
Call Owen at Boatmate in Tenn.
He can build you a custom trailer with all the bells and whistles.

[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/suprahunter/Nautique210004.jpg[/IMG]

HAHA everytime I envision my new trailer I think of that picture of yours in the snow. I'm gonna see what I can put together with very little outta pocket.

I dropped mine off the end of the ramp once at low tide (it's marked... ish). I tried going forward hoping it would pop over the lip but only managed to bend my fenders. Fortunately I had two buddies with me who were able to lift the trailer and I drove it back on the ramp. Pulled fenders back out and no damage to axles/springs/hangers/tires. I figured if it wouldn't go with a light bump there was no sense forcing the matter.

I only made the mistake of letting a friend drive my truck on the ramp once. Not even backing the boat, just pulling truck up to park. The shift pattern insert on the shift knob just snaps in loosely so will spin a bit. That time it was upside down, so for some reason, despite shift pattern being upside down, he put it where there was an upside down 1 (which was reverse) before figuring out the shift pattern was upside down. Scared the crap out of me watching him move backwards down the ramp twice before going forward! Never again. Besides, I don't think any of my friends understand heel-toe to use all 3 pedals at the same time. At low tide any rolling back of the trailer could put it off the ramp, no room for error. I just do it myself so nothing bad happens.

Hate, I PM'd you about some stuff on your trailer, good luck with getting a nice new one!!

So a little update on this my insurance is totaling it out. Luckily I have total replacement so I get a 2010 out of it. I can't believe how much the trailer is though. Even the freight on it is retarded.