A tip for trailer boaters. . .

[gravygraham]

. . don't do as I did this afternoon and unhook your bow from the trailer before reversing down the slip. Yes, you guessed it, brakes on at the bottom and the boat continues on it's merry way, unmanned.

Luckily we got hold of it quite quickly (and without much of an audience) but not before getting waist deep in the North Sea, fully clothed. This one's going to give me nightmares.

 

[Lakesailor]

Good tip is to have your bow line attached to the trailer even when you start launching. Then you can make an unintentional launch look like it was planned. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

erm. as long as you remember to transfer it to a cleat on the jetty before you drive back up the slip, that is /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Major Catastrophe]

You are not the only one.

A friend of mine did his first ever launch at Ronnies on the Menai Straits, where the friendly tractor driver takes your boat down to the water's edge and then tips up the hydraulics so the boat is in the 'life boat' launch position.

He had unclipped from the trailer and bust his transom as the boat hit the deck.

 

[landlockedpirate]

I think you were lucky. I have seen a few people do this and lose the boat before it gets to the water. I would rather have wet pants than a hole in the boat from sliding down the slipway. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif