Best Ramp Stories – names removed to protect the not-so-innocent.

not a dock story but it still involves a boat and a brand new looking one at that,I would bet that there hadnt been five payments made on it.
the spring of 1990 I was coming home from Racine after spending a week at the Case-IH training facility taking a course in electronics and hydraulics on the then new magnum series tractors and axial flow combines.

I decided to take some back roads home that were two lane and no toll bridges when I came upon stopped traffic very near a sharp turn in the road that had a bridge over some railroad tracks just after the road straightened out.
I could see a new or near new fiberglass boat splintered all over the tracks below as I approached the scene.

from what I could make of it the boat owner had made a panic stop to prevent striking two vehicles that had collided just before the bridge on the opposite side,evidently the boat wasnt tied down properly and launched itself up and over the winch post as well as clearing the back of the pick up he was towing it with and down onto the tracks.

I wanted to laugh at the guy as he was standing there bawling his eyes out but the two stretchers being attended to by ambulance personnel took away the hilarity of the moment.

I need a Hamm’s or three after reading this thread!

I was a complete newbie 4 years ago, had never owned a boat or had one in the family. Have learned a lot in those 4 years. Our attempted maiden voyage was at White Bear Lake on a 85-degree Sunday in August. The line was maybe 10-12 deep waiting to use the ramps. I started going thru my check-list — motor up, straps off, plug in — but I’m interrupted by two drunk meatheads pummeling each other over ramp etiquette. So I figured out early on that the stakes are apparently high.

After the sheriff took care of dumb & dumber and I finally got my boat backed down the ramp (my grandpas were a farmer and a trucker, I learned how to back a trailer long ago). I launched just fine and beached her, left the wife & kids tending the boat while I went to park the truck. There were no spots to park, so I drove to a spot about a half mile away, parked and hoofed it back (barefoot of course.)

Get back to the boat and I can’t get the merc to start. A nice guy takes a look, determines I’m not getting enough fuel and then shows me that I have the wrong connector from my my fuel line to the tank. He pulls a wad of gum from his cheek and shows me how to temporarily stop the leak, but obviously we’re not going out on the lake.

I trudge back to get the truck, which had been ticketed of course, then drive back to the lake and get back in line. it was a rough start, but hey, I’ve gotten better

Lol. I’m out in the garage now enjoying a hamms and some ramp stories

2007, I had launched my New Skeeter at Terrys Boat Harbor, I was in the boat and moving the boat to the end of the dock to tie up and wait for the driver.
the wife asks me why the truck was spinning its tires on the ramp, I jumped out of the boat and started running and yelling to the driver to hold up, well he couldn’t hear me, so I see the truck pause, then the back up lights come on with a slight roll backwards. My heart sunk as I watched The Driver stick the pedal to the metal,with the Duramax in 4 wheel drive it lunges forward, the trailer popped straight out of the water. The driver drove off to park the trailer, I walked up and took a glance at the mangled crossbeam, and now repositioned trailer bunks in their altered state.

Bottom line is everyone makes mistakes, I am sure it was funny at the time, I laugh at it now. But all it would have took was for one of several people waiting in line, while standing there to say hold up a minute to the driver.

Lesson learned; it’s always better to help someone on the ramp before any problems can be avoided.

Minnetonka North Arm Landing, July, Sunday afternoon, busy as it could get. I was 50 yards offshore waiting to pick up a guest at the landing.

2WD Ford Ranger pulling an older 18′-19′ beast of a fiberglass I/O starts backing down the ramp.

NOOooooooo stopping that Ranger after the boat/trailer got some downhill momentum.

Boat/trailer still attached, truck exhaust under water blowing bubbles, pickup bed full of water, water above the floor boards…..quite the fire drill.

Someone was nice enough to tie on a strap to his truck and pull him out before he flooded the engine compartment…

The best part is an empty keg floated out of the back of the pickup into the lake – one tent short of a full circus.

Gotta admit, the driver was a good sport about it – even took a bow for the spectators.

2010 I signed up for a local taverns catfish tourny and my partner(who’s boat we were using) had to back out…..he sent a neighbor kid who was “supposed to know the spot”…..
Kid takes the other guys boat….tries to launch on the shallowest landing on the lake……backs in up to the floorboards in the muddy part of the landing….
I walk out of the truck and to the closest tavern with with wet feet….