posted 04-22-2005 10:57 PM ET (US)        

I found this:

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/trailering/twoSchools.html

posted 04-24-2005 06:29 PM ET (US)            

Try to load your boat in a southerly wind at 20 knots, with an outgoing tide and a westerly approach to the dock. I appreciate it when people DO POWER load to hurry the ramp time and minimize my exposure to the shoals in the winds while some YAHOO screws around with his boat and is too worried about gettign his feet wet when he should be tying his boat to his trailer and getting OUT of the water.

posted 04-24-2005 06:38 PM ET (US)         

Roy's point is well taken, especially for those of us in Michigan using inland DNR ramps... (and, this discussion has happened at least once before here at CW).

At most of the ramps that Roy is speaking of, nobody is loading 25 foot boats, most of the boats are bass boats and smaller.. and we're not dealing with tide and wind as you are.

No need to power on....it just screws up the ramp for the rest of us...

posted 04-26-2005 09:09 AM ET (US)            

Also, it is quite easy to spin a propeller hub when trying to power load. Pay particular attention if you are using a plastic propeller hub insert, such as those found in the Mercury Flo-Torq system.

Each boat and trailer combination will have an optimum position which will promote the easiest loading. Too little immersion and you will have a long pull to get the boat onto the trailer. Too much immersion and the boat will remain floating too long, resulting in it dropping onto the trailer as you haul the trailer up the ramp. This can lead to misalignment of the boat on the trailer. I prefer to winch the boat the last 3-4 feet onto the trailer, as this generally results in the boat coming onto the trailer dead center. Also, the boat will not shift position when the trailer is pulled up the ramp.

To make loading easier and more consistent, I mark the depth on the fender of the trailer on the driver side. As I back in, I observe the depth mark in my mirror. This has worked well, even on ramps with quite different slopes. I find that when loading at certain ramps, sometimes it is necessary to change the trailer position slightly during the loading. Usually this means backing in a little further to facilitate pulling the boat with the winch the last foot or so on a really steep ramp.

The depth for launching will be different from the depth for loading. Generally on launching you will immerse the trailer into deeper water than when loading.

posted 04-26-2005 09:25 AM ET (US)            

Now you have to realize that you are not going to hurt your truck if you back it up closeto the middle of the hub on the rear axle. Many people do not do this, as to why is beyond my understanding, maybe because they are scared. I am at a close friend’s house a lot, which happens to be next to a Public Access. When we do see power loading happen we do make them aware of the fact that they are only making it worse. Unfortunately more do power load than not it seems, and it is always the ones that do not back up until the tires are even wet or the tail pipe is even close to the water.

UNLAWFUL! This is true within the state of Michigan. For those that are not on inland lakes I can understand the need to do so and this is only explaining to DBOutrage17 what should be feasible for a boat his size on an inland lake. If he is battling a tide or current like those in Nova Scotia (50ft in some places) where I once lived, then the power (driving) loading should be legal and done so.

posted 04-26-2005 09:50 AM ET (US)            

I can't understand why people are so quick to condem power loading when they are totally unfamiliar with the ramps or customs where it is done. The Calhoun county ramp I use is on the Intracoastal waterway that is dredged to a channel depth of 14' it is 4 lanes wide, has a corrugated concrete bottom, with concrete docks on both sides, and between lanes 2 and 3, concrete bottom, and metal sheeting along the sides. I watched them build it, and they first built a caisson of metal sheeting. then built the ramp, and finally removed the caisson and flooded the ramp. The ramp extends 75-80 feet out, and is about 10 foot deep at the end. Besides being used to launch a lot of offshore fish boats, including many 25-40 foot center consoles, it is also used to pull out commercial shrimping boats using a tractor and a a huge trailer with a tongue about 30 feet long that spans two lanes in width.

At this ramp, the people who don't power load are in the minority by far, and they are the guys who usually have the small aluminum john boats, or flats scooters. The two man process Jim mentioned is most often used where the driver backs the trailer, then exits the tow vehicle to attach the cable and winch the boat up the last 6 inches or so while the boat driver runs it up. Typically, there is a cross current of 1-3 knots unless you hit slack tide, so you crab in until you get the boat between the docks, then straighten it just before you run up the trailer. Done this way, a typical trailer loading takes less than a minute. The driver then pulls up and parks in a staging area where the boat can be unloaded further.

posted 04-26-2005 12:46 PM ET (US)            

Our northern contingent Lake bound brothers are correct to assume that "power loading" will cause erosion and other ills in the placid confines of a quite lake.

The other side of the coin, is those of us that launch, and recover in Salt Water, ICW or other tidal areas. Power Loading is not only the norm, the ramps are built to accomodate it.

posted 04-26-2005 01:13 PM ET (US)            

Michigan generally has a LOT of state-owned ramps. We have a ton of boats too, with lots of lakes and big lake access points. Perhaps it's for this reason that the ramps are constructed differently (plus we don't have to suffer the devastating erosional effects of tropical weather and tidal surges).

I'm not saying that some ramps in Michigan aren't busy - they are...but I can also understand the frustration in a coastal location where the ramp might be the only one for miles and EVERYONE has to use it, so the lines are long and the time taken to hand-winch a boat onto a trailer can slow the whole situation down quite a bit, and because of the construction (as described above) does not really benefit the environment.

In Michigan, the ramps are concrete- but often a slab that merely extends to a specified depth. When the water clarity is good, you can usually see the end of the ramp, about 5 feet underwater. In some cases, when people have been powerloading, you can see the effects of this on the ramp - the concrete ends (in jagged fashion where previous loaded trailers have broken off the end) and there is a 1-2 foot dropoff to the bottom from where the sand has been eroded by propwash. It's not pretty...so you can start to understand the passion behind the comments from the Midwestern contingent..especially if you've ever backed your trailer down a ramp and watched the back tires drop off that edge and heard the axle hit concrete.

It's the same feeling as walking out to your car and from the end of the parking lot row, you can see the glass on the ground from someone breaking in to steal your radio.

posted 04-26-2005 02:12 PM ET (US)            

I think both of us should-- as you stated "Your mileage (and ramp) may vary, so don't condemn that with which you are not familiar with, Please!" Which had put something into perspectives after having read the link that- DBOutrage17 had on his question-which never stated were he uses the boat.

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/trailering/twoSchools.html

and even the thread

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000552.html

However, I did do the research and DNR will give you a fine in Michigan and Travis County Parks will not (and I am sure that goes for all that are built in the means that you describe) - I stand corrected and hope you take the time as I have done to read the above links.

While writing this Buckda and Knot at Work replied and I agree and have learned. Which is what a forum in for.

posted 04-26-2005 07:15 PM ET (US)            

Lake Erie is where I boat. The ramp is on a river, no current, no tide, fresh water and it has a dock down the middle of a launch side and retrieve side. No rules posted on the dock whatsoever but I'll have to read the ticket closer next time to see if it says anything at all about power loading. I doubt if it does, because there's power loading going on there all the time.

posted 04-26-2005 08:22 PM ET (US)            

Because of this design, it is very common that when loading the boat's engine and propeller will be over the natural lake bottom and not over concrete. The thrust from the propeller can dig a hole at the end of the concrete ramp, and even more annoying, build up a mound just a few feet out. I have launched at a ramp, then backed out into a shoal created by power loading, damaging my propeller in the process.

Ramps in areas where there is diurnal change in water level or very wide seasonal change in water level are often built to be very long. We just saw a ramp out in Arizona on an impoundment lake where the lake level was anticipated to change about 50-feet. Needless to say, this "ramp" was very, very long, hundreds of feet really. Depending on what time of the year you were using it, the bottom under your boat could be concrete for 500-feet after you left the trailer. In that situation there is not much concern about bottom erosion from power loading.

The fluctuation in water level also tends to make having docks at the ramp more difficult. In Michigan we almost always have courtesy docks alongside each ramp lane. In areas with tidal or large seasonal variation, it is very common to not have a dock for each ramp lane, and perhaps to only have one dock. If there is a dock, it is situated more to be out of the way of the ramp and to be used for temporary mooring of your boat while you fetch your truck and trailer.

I explained some of the difference in the article