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Old     (bmr82)      Join Date: Jul 2008       08-06-2010, 11:53 PM Reply   
WIth the threads about the boat ramp and lauching I figured it was time to post this. Plus I had to take time get over it. You always here the stories about the family trying to launch or load the boat and the husband and wife yelling at each other. Well, it finally happened to me. I have always done the whole thing myself, backed the boat in, tied it up, park the truck, back the trailer, load the boat drive away. We live in a private community with our own ramp so there is never anyone waiting and I am pretty quick about the whole thing. I had been teaching my wife to load the boat on the trailer at my parents lake house. Long no wake cove, no wind, no traffic, no docks or anyting to avoid. And she was doing really well. Our private ramp for our community is in open water by the damn docks on each side, and you feel the full force of the wind.

We had spent the whole day out with friends, I go to back the trailer in, when I come back the boat is not at the dock and my friends are walking up. I see my wife, alone, in our boat making the circle. The wind was blowing and the lake was busy. I wade out the end of the trailer knowing this isn't going to be good. She comes in no where close to lined up with the trailer. She reverses out, turns to the left, puts it in gear. I can see she is not watching the rear of the boat. So I start yelling at her, "Watch the rear!, You're gonna hit the dock! STOPPPPP!" At that point she freezes up, throws hands up, some how misses the dock just barley. However she did not miss the barge that was parked on the other side of that dock. I heard it smack and then saw the hole above the rub rail. Looking back I thought I would be mad. It was like I had just watched someone run over my dog. I just sat down on the the trailer like a pouting kid with my head down. I wanted to cry I think..hahaha. I finally got here to put the boat in neutral and I had to swim out to her becuase she was aftraid to come close to the dock. Talked to the fiberglass guy, he said put a sticker over it and brind it in when I have the time to give him a few weeks to fix it. This happened the weekend before July 4th weekend. BTW!

Anywho, here's the pic.
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Old     (ajholt7)      Join Date: Apr 2009       08-07-2010, 12:16 AM Reply   
Hate to see that. Hopefully you have insurance. The fiberglass guy should be able to fix it up good as new.
Old     (moon)      Join Date: Oct 2008       08-07-2010, 12:43 AM Reply   
Man, that sucks. If he does have insurance will it cover something like this? My wife made a nice little nick in our boat in about the same spot by kissing the dock. She didn't bust up the fiberglass, but definitely took all the gelcoat off to it.
Old     (cdhayes2)      Join Date: Jul 2009       08-07-2010, 12:53 AM Reply   
If it makes you feel better, I'm crying right now. ha Tough luck man. Hope all works out for you.
Old     (brett564)      Join Date: Jul 2006       08-07-2010, 12:57 AM Reply   
Thank God someone finally posted a story like this. My wife can't drive a boat. She probubly never will. Nor can she back a trailer. She probubly never will. I constantly hear people posting on heer "I just teach my wife how to drive and everything works out" comments. There are those of us whose wives are good at certain things (yup!) and not others.

I completely see myself in your shoes sooner or later, holding my head at the trailer, or swimming from the dock to the boat while my wife is frozen.
Old     (brett564)      Join Date: Jul 2006       08-07-2010, 12:59 AM Reply   
Wow, just read the last post I made. Sorry, but its 1am and I'm drunk posting...
Old     (ajholt7)      Join Date: Apr 2009       08-07-2010, 1:10 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by moon View Post
Man, that sucks. If he does have insurance will it cover something like this? My wife made a nice little nick in our boat in about the same spot by kissing the dock. She didn't bust up the fiberglass, but definitely took all the gelcoat off to it.
Depends on your policy but, I did some gelcoat damage and tore up a prop loading in high winds. BoatUS took care of it with no problems.
Old     (wakekat15)      Join Date: Jul 2005       08-07-2010, 5:43 AM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by brett564 View Post
Wow, just read the last post I made. Sorry, but its 1am and I'm drunk posting...
LOL, Boo Coo!

I can see that some women might not ever master the backing of the trailer, or the loading of the boat, but.....unless the parking lot is REALLLLLY crowded, I would think you could teach her to at least go park the tow vehicle after launching. If it's not a crowed place, who cares if she takes 2 or 3 parking spots. That dramatically speeds up half the process of getting on and off the water.

To be honest with you, I see a lot more incidents like Bret described that don't involve women. We all have an equal opportunity to not be very good at the ramp, especially early in the "relationship" with being a new boat owner.

Bret - you are a strong man, 'cause I would have cried if my significant other did that to my Nauti! As long as no one gets hurt, I guess we can call it a decent day at the lake though!
Old     (mywakeisbiggerr)      Join Date: Apr 2009       08-07-2010, 6:18 AM Reply   
who cares its a mastercraft
Old     (bmr82)      Join Date: Jul 2008       08-07-2010, 6:34 AM Reply   
We do have insurance. Still debating on wether or not I want to claim it or just pay for it. Deductible is $500, fiberglass guy quoted me at $1000 plus or minus $100 bucks or so. At that point I think I would just pay and save hit on my inusrance. I sucks more that I couldn't be mad at her. She beat herself up pretty bad about it. She drives the boat all the time and does a great job at it. She got nervous and when then happens she freezes and turns into a statue. I just went to a local sign shop that does vehicle wraps. They gave me a small square of white vinyl wrap and it's worked great. You almost don't even notice it. We used it all fourth of July weekend, towed it to Bull shoals for brostock, and did wake the world Texas all back to back weekends.

And she does normally drives the tow vehicle to park it everywhere except our local ramp. It is so steep and long. If she froze up there for whatever freakin reason the truck would be a total loss. I will let you into my world. I love my wife but sometimes she doesn't get stuff. When she first started driving the truck off the ramp after I would load the boat. She spun out one time, and of course to her that meant she needed to push harder on the gas pedal. We finally get out and I was telling her, "hey babe, when the tires start spinning let off the the gas and let them regain traction." She said, and I quote, "which tires were spinning the truck or the trailer?"
Old     (h2ohangtime)      Join Date: Aug 2002       08-07-2010, 6:59 AM Reply   
Bret, sorry about all of this...you're definitely handling it well. I'm having the same issues with my wife...she's great at driving the boat while pulling me, but getting her to back the trailer in or pull the boat off/put it back on has been tougher. The small local lake we go to doesn't make it easier, either. The ramp is only 2-wide, it gets pretty windy, and the 5 MPH zone only extends about 150 feet from the ramp, so you end up getting rollers at the dock a lot of the time. My wife has the same problem with "freezing up" and I've told her it's just an issue of building confidence in herself--the more she does it, the less scary it will be and the better she'll understand.

Anyway, hope it gets fixed in short order.
Old     (wakesetter_WW)      Join Date: Jul 2010       08-07-2010, 7:03 AM Reply   
Bret, I hate to hear about your story. Hopefully you get it all worked out. I just have to say i understand completely on where your coming from with the quote, "which tires were spinning." Ha Ha. I've learned just to laugh and politely explain in situations like that.
Old     (chall8143)      Join Date: Sep 2008       08-07-2010, 7:03 AM Reply   
I am laughing with my wife here reading this. The quote about which tires were spinning in EXACTLY something my wife would ask. She even admits this is something she would say. Good thing nobody was hurt. And the boad can be fixed.
Old     (kko13)      Join Date: Jul 2006       08-07-2010, 7:11 AM Reply   
"which tires were spinning the truck or the trailer"= Ouch.
Well it is just a boat and can be fixed. Just be glad no one was hurt.
I work on these boats all time I dont do the gel repair we have a guy that comes to our shop. I have seen him fix alot pf this kind of thing. my guess when i first saw the pic of the damage was $500. It is always hard to tell from a pic but $1000 dollors for something he can fix in a day 2 at most seems high. I would get a second look at it just to make sure.
Old     (scharette)      Join Date: Aug 2010       08-07-2010, 7:50 AM Reply   
Hello,

Last year i missed my trailer while loading. I tried to do a 180 to go back to the trailer and hit a barge also.. it was my 3 time loading my new to me boat. it costed 1000$ to fix the hole. you see the repair on the photo.. its perfect.
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Old     (mikeski)      Join Date: Aug 2003       08-07-2010, 9:05 AM Reply   
bummer. wind and other's wanting to help are the 2 biggest challenges in these situations. Our wives and ourselves need to know how to handle both situations before jumping behind the wheel. My sister trained to yell at the dock helpers: "I got it, don't push my boat" when the arms or legs head toward the boat as she is approaching the trailer. Nothing worse then being on a good line only to have somebody push you off of it. Wind is even worse. With wakeboards in the racks, bimini up, tower speakers up, and surfboards up top the tower makes a great sail. I taught her how to access the wind each time before unhooking the boat.

Don't give up on her. It's going to take a while before you or her want to get back in that situation but you should or this will go down as a monumental failure in her mind.

On a side note, take it to a body shop that does fiberglass for a second opinion. The neighbor just had a similar repair done. The boat dealer wanted something like $3k to repair a damaged spot in a metalflake hull, the body shop did it for $1k. These repairs are not cheap. Yours looks like they can probably get away with buffing out the red so it should not be that difficult to match the white.
Old     (blake_hughes)      Join Date: May 2004 Location: Weatherford, Texas       08-07-2010, 9:41 AM Reply   
Lol... Spinning trailer tires! I wish I had been there for that.
Old     (bmr82)      Join Date: Jul 2008       08-07-2010, 11:39 AM Reply   
Blake, she has better ones I think I've told you before.

I'm going to get it looked at by a few other people. I was trying to get it fixed within that week, and when he told me it would be fine with sticker that was it. I am just going to wait until winter time, hopefully they are hurting for business and will do it way cheap. hahaha
Old     (Maddog10)      Join Date: Jun 2010       08-07-2010, 3:50 PM Reply   
I think my girlfriend is cheating on me witth Bret... The spinning tires comment sounds EXACTLY like something she would say.
Old     (sailing216)      Join Date: Oct 2007       08-07-2010, 6:26 PM Reply   
I think we are married to the same woman. I haven't let her yank the boat out of the water but when I told her about what your wife said - she didn't get it. LOL
Freezing like a statue and throwing her arms up is picture perfect response.

I'm 'That Guy' story"= very busy weekend, I back the trailer in the water, wife doesn't have a good line so I tell her to back it out and turn and re-do it. She throws her hands up and says she can't do it with so much going on. I say OK, throw the bumpers out and bring it to the other side of the dock and I'll get in and load. So bumpers out, lines ready to be tossed to me and she comes in HOT. I yell reverse, she throws it in reverse but not enough and the back end is pulling away from the dock, so I say throw the dock lines and I'll pull it in. Well she doesn't know how to wrap the cleats and I pull super hard and BOTH lines come off the boat and I back peddle across the dock and go over the other side fully clothed. Laughing my ASS off and so is the crowd at the dock, people on the dock feel sorry for me and grab the tower and pull the boat in. ----wife is laughing her ass off right now thinking about it.

Sorry for the damage.
Old     (rallyart)      Join Date: Nov 2006       08-08-2010, 1:09 AM Reply   
I put the boat away last season and my wife drove the truck to the ramp, which is about a mile from the cottage. As I drive up I can see the truck and trailer coming straight back down the ramp and the trailer goes in perfectly. I'm very impressed as I don't think I could have done as well. Then I see my wife and son standing near the shore and some stranger gets out of the truck.
Seems she had enough trouble that a construction woker at a house next to the ramp offered to help. She accepted immediately. She's a bright one.
Old     (wakekat15)      Join Date: Jul 2005       08-08-2010, 9:18 AM Reply   
LOL, Joe!! I got a visual on that one - thanks for sharing!

Bret - that question regarding which tires spinning is PRICELESS!!
Old     (bzubke1)      Join Date: Feb 2010       08-08-2010, 12:24 PM Reply   
Bret- Saw you're from granbury did this happen on the lake? You said you live in a private community, is it the water ski lake in timber cove?
Old     (bmr82)      Join Date: Jul 2008       08-08-2010, 2:32 PM Reply   
Brandon, no we live in Pecan Plantation. All happened at that ramp. They are building more slips there and had the barge parked next to the dock. I have riden on that private ski lake though, it's ok.
Old     (scottymc261)      Join Date: Mar 2009       08-08-2010, 4:24 PM Reply   
Women just dont get the "no brake" thing! I thought about taking out the brake on her car to teach her how to drive a boat.
Thank God my 10 year old daughter, 13 and licenced now, kepted bugging me to drive our boat cuz my wife was so bad even in open water i yelled "fine!", and she has been great ever since!!! She is now loading my boat when conditions are ok. My wife would just panic or freeze like u guys are talking about.

You know us guys that go out all the time forget how many calculations we are making just turning the boat around to pick up a fallen person:

1 Looking out for boats,
2 Passingers standing up,
3 Adjusting the tunes
4 wind
5 wakes, waves
6 watching rope
7 keeping it fun
8 remembering who s next
9 answering peoples dumb questions politely
10 many many more....

We make it look easy but it isnt really. we get alot of experience from our jobs, dirtbikes, knowing how things work, and even growing up playing in with our toy boats in the gutter, girls dont get much of that.

IF you do want to teach your wife how to drive a boat you REALLY need to do it off season too. Go when it is to cold to do anything so you dont care how long it takes.
Old     (britshorty)      Join Date: Jun 2009       08-08-2010, 5:05 PM Reply   
Scott, you really just summed up the process pretty nicely! Its amazing what you don't think of subconsciously when you are out there but all of those things have to be going on to keep everyone safe and dry. You have to be parying full attention to all of the little details
Old     (mike2001)      Join Date: Feb 2008       08-09-2010, 9:32 AM Reply   
"Women just dont get the "no brake" thing! I thought about taking out the brake on her car to teach her how to drive a boat."

So wrong but hilarious!
Old     (bzubke1)      Join Date: Feb 2010       08-09-2010, 10:13 AM Reply   
Bret- Where do you usually ride on the lake? idk if i've ever seen youre boat and i ride out there like 2-3 times a week.
Old     (ord27)      Join Date: Oct 2005       08-09-2010, 2:10 PM Reply   
I'm sorry about your boat!
I am fortunate enough to have wife that can trailer a boat better than I can. She is also on of the best drivers when it comes to pulling me on the wakeboard/surfboard (that took a few years to teach)

but! if I were in your shoes, my boat would get fixed considerably quicker than I could repair the damage done by any negative conversation that could have taken place with my wife! (that took a few years for ME to learn)
Old     (radikal)      Join Date: Feb 2004       08-09-2010, 8:59 PM Reply   
ouchhhh that hit my hard right in the stomach.

honestly i think the most important thing when you are docking or loading, even if there is wind, a lot of traffic or people watching is :

Stay calm, never panic, even if something dont go like you want think fast and act smoothly, because all the incident happen when people panic and the think the situation is not reversible and they fail.
Old     (bmr82)      Join Date: Jul 2008       08-09-2010, 11:12 PM Reply   
Brandon - We stay over by the damn, or that run under the high lines. I don't go past the "sandy beach" party area. That's wierd, we are out there 2-3 times a week as well. Haven't been in a few because I am out of town for work. Where do you ride at? We used to live in those apartments on the water across from the Hilton. I miss riding over there. The water is always calm and nobody goes there.
Old     (bzubke1)      Join Date: Feb 2010       08-10-2010, 10:54 AM Reply   
Oh yeah i very rarely go down to that part of the lake but i have ridden that line under those power lines it's nice and deep. We are just north of the business 377 bridge, last year we always found good water by those apartments downtown but this year its over run with tubers and jet skiers, i guess cause the lake is up. We mostly just go up to the river now cause it's worth the trip.

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