Last Updated on January 29, 2018 by Staff Writer
With Memorial day weekend quickly approaching, I wanted to write a brief but, to the point. Do’s and Don’ts article of the boat ramp. Memorial day weekend is the most popular day of the year to see everything that is bad, wrong, and down right dangerous on the water.
To be more specific, This is the weekend that hyper polarizes everything that is wrong with utilizing a boat ramp, to Individual’s who work out of one every day.
Boat ramp Do’s:
DO make sure you have all required maintenance done before you get to the ramp.
Click this link if you aren’t sure of what maintenance you should be doing to your boat.
Do get your boat FULLY loaded with gear, ropes,coolers, safety gear and put the plug in before you back it down and block of the ramp.
Do be patient and wait your turn for an available spot. and don’t butt ahead of line when waiting to load your boat.
If there is room for multiple trucks and boat to launch at once, please be courteous and stay as close to your side of the ramp as possible, so that the ramp will be used most efficiently.
For easier docking and launching observe the direction of the wind and ALWAYS use the wind to your advantage when you can.
Do Quickly launch your boat and tie off to the furthest away dock(if applicable) or rear of Boat launch dock so that the next boat will be able to immediately launch as well.
When you can have one person operate the vehicle and trailer, and someone else drive the boat so you don’t take up any dock space at all.
Come off plane and idle to the ramp so that your wake doesn’t bang everyone’s boats against the Dock. 90% of all the scratches in my hull where caused from this.
I wanted to write this so that we all can enjoy our weekend out on the water even if it’s the busiest boating holiday of the year.
DON’T do these things:
Block off the boat ramp.
Dock you boat mid dock so that nobody can utilize the space in front or behind you.
Get belligerent at someone taking their time to make sure they’re safely loading or unloading their vessel.
Race other boats that were ahead of you coming off plane to the dock
Don’t allow passengers to Jump off the boat onto the dock to assist you in docking.
Don’t come in any faster then idle to dock and load your boat.
If you’re new to boating, or just have never been taught the correct and safe way to load/unload your boat.
Please feel free to reach out to me via email or on my cell phone.
I will do my best to assist you, personally train, or give tips.
Please remember that everyone is trying to accomplish the same goal. TO enjoy their holiday weekend on the water.