I did some serious damage to my trailer when I launched at Lake James, near Angola, Indiana. There are three ramps at Lake James. The best one closed to the general public a few years ago.
One is one Lake Jimmerson which connects to Lake James via a canal. You have to drive under a low bridge to get to Lake James. The trailering space is tight and bridge is so low that you have to fold the tower down so it’s not my first choice.
The last is at the Northwest Landing marina located at a choke point between two basins on Lake James. I’ve been using this ramp for the last five or more years.
I pulled up, got the boat ready to launch, paid my $7.00 launching fee, and then backed the boat down the ramp. I heard an awful scraping noise so a pulled forward and quickly put the truck in to park. As I opened the truck door I realized that I wasn’t in park, I was in reverse, scraping the trailer back the other way again. I was stuck and I wasn’t deep enough to launch. It took a lot of effort to drive the rig back up the ramp.
The ramp at the Northwest Landing is a set of concrete slabs. The first slab is at a moderate angle. The second slab is steeper. I probably got in to trouble when the trailer tires made the transition from the first slab to the second.
The trailer front cross member was pushed back, the lag bolts popped out of the bunks, the L-brackets holding on to the bunks were bent forward and down, and the welds were fractured. The second cross member was also bent but not nearly as much.
I just got back from Sun Fun Marine. While there they noted that the front axel was also bent. This is really serious trailer damage. I’m probably off the water for quite a while.
There are probably more than one lesson learned here. Although I’m very familiar with this ramp I brought a new boat a trailer to this ramp. I should have backed down very carefully. Maybe I should have had some one watch the bottom of the trailer as I launched. The top of your trailer hitch ball is supposed to be 19 inches above ground level. Mine is 17 and ½ inches, too low. At the first sign of scraping I should have stopped. Maybe tow truck or some roller jacks could have saved my trailer. Lastly I won’t go launch at the Northwest Landing unless they fix their boat ramp.
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