Ramp stories

[pilot_ryder]

one time at alberta beach this guy was trying to load a jetski into the back of his tiny pickup. as you know he had to backup pretty far to actually get the jetski on there. but he couldnt get it on there so he backed up even more so that the water was at the very edge of his door, got the jetski on but couldnt get himself out after 3-5 min he was even deeper from the struggle of the tires spinnging but as you know everyone was now getting tired of waiting so a good samaritan got in his big old f-350 drove down there and hooked the front of the guys truck to the front towhooks of his and pulled him out of the water without even the slightest struggle. then after he got out applause! from everyone happy

[johnbandrews]

Another Ramp Story

Saturday, my son and I were at Dana Point Harbor launching our SeaDoos for a day in the ocean.

As I was walking back to the dock after parking the truck, I witnessed two guys attempting to launch their brand new SeaDoo GTXs.

One guy was sitting on one of the two SeaDoos, and the other was trying to back the trailer down the ramp. He was jack knifing the trailer ... Guy on the trailer yells for him to STOP!

They'd already untied the bow straps. Both boats went flying off the back of the trailer, landing on the concrete ramp with a crash.

Fortunately for the guy on the SeaDoo, no one was hurt. Several people came over and lifted them back on the trailer -- they seemed to suffer only scratches. Just another example of ignorance on the ramp!

Quite a site to witness though!

[Surfdad]

I have one that involved my 23V, with me at the helm. This poor boat has gone through so much including an incident where we were going through an intersection with the green light and a yahoo blew through the red and t-boned my Tige on the trailer. Totaled the trailer, but only minor damage to the boat.

Back to the story...a full day on the lake, late October so the ramp itself was empty. As we are heading up to the dock/ramp within the nowake zone, we attach bumpers and lines and get ready to tie up to the dock and run up the ramp to get the truck.

Apparently somewhere between putting everything away out on the water and coming up to the dock we blew a seal out on the V-Drive unit. We were heading in so slow that I hadn't even tried reverse until the bow was already past the end of the dock.

A quick blip of the throttle in reverse to basically stop forward motion and quess what? The boat LURCHED forward! Actually ran most of the front of the boat up on the ramp, bent the leading fin and did a little gelcoat damage.

Luckily no one was hurt, but what a scare that was!

Now, I always test reverse out in open water!!!!!

[gman]

surfdad,
how old is the boat???

[Surfdad]

Hey gman,

It's a 2003, in fact it was the 23 V Limited photo boat used for the sales literature at the beginning of that year. Tige covered it under warranty, they've always treated us well. The dealer said that it appeared the seal in the V-Drive wasn't seated properly and so it basically "popped" out, draining the fluid when it did.

[Beau McCrory]

Was at Eagle Mtn Lake in 2000 when the drought caused the lake to fall to near record levels. Boat ramp ended suspended over a 4 ft drop off. This guy in a little toyota dropped his 18ft glastron over the edge and couldnt get out. I backed up with the tandem trailered 22 ft Moomba and attached a tow chain to the 2nd axle while he connected to the toy... PowerStroked him, his boat, and my boat out of the ramp area!!!!

Like the idea of ramp watching....Memorial Day weekend with my digital camera!!!

[TeamAllen]

That's a great idea! Have a launch ramp picture contest.