Well the anwser is yes but the trailer will not,as I was launching my boat last wen. there was a family putting a pontoon boat in next to us (meadowmere park Grapevine),as my boat came off the trailer and my partner pulled the truck out,I dropped my trolling motor to move over to the dock,as I looked to my left this guy is in his sudurban trying to get it started,by now the water was up to his mirrows and he was going down fast,the wind was blowing him out into the lake and across the launch ramp,when it finally stopped sinking all that was visable was the top of the roof,to make a long story short we were able to get my trailer far enough into the lake that a 10'chain and a 50'strap would reach him,and then pulled him out of the lake and off the launch ramp,it was funny to watch but a serious reminder that when you are on the lake 90% of the poeple out there dont have a clue what they are doing,so I try and take the postion of they dont see me and do my best to keep out of there way,and I live for the days when there are only two or three trailers at the launch ramp and they are all fishing boats.

Any body out there remember the old
volkwagen commercial where they
said " it will definitely float but will
not float indefinitely"
MO

Its called Winter.

Of course i would have to admit that I recently tried to launch my boat with with the trailer tie downs still on. To my defense it only took me 5 seconds to realize what i had done.

[This message has been edited by BMCD (edited 07-03-2003).]

Many years ago, my brother-in-law wanted me to take him fishing at White River Lake. He was stationed at Reese AFB, training to fly jets. When it became time to go, he volunteered to back the boat trailer into the water so I could load the boat. What he failed to tell me was he had never driven a stick before. Before I knew it, he had the water 3/4 up the side of the truck doors. He knew he had put the trailer too deep and was trying to pull forward. Of course as soon as let the clutch out the truck would inch backwards a little more. So instead of going forward, he kept going backwards. I finally got close enough for yell at him to stop and put the emergeny brake on, but do not let the truck die. I crawed through the driver side door, put it in 4wd and popped the truck out of the water. I had about 8 inches of water inside the truck. What didn't pour out when we opened the doors, we had to scoop out. Morale of the story: Just because you fly jet planes, doesn't mean you know everything!

BMCD, just curious...

did the trailer float with the boat?
or did the boat stay down with the trailer?

Kevin

I started sliding on a steep, very slick (the slick part started out of the water) concrete boat ramp. Put the brakes on etc. She just went on sliding. No traction. Slid into the lake. The boat kept the rear end of the truck floating until the winch slipped. Truck settled to the bottom with about two feet of water over the roof. I still have the boat, sold the truck.

The funny part was after we got him out of the lake,he asked "do you think it will run" I told him I didnt think so but he should unhook the battery and the call a mechanic to change all the fluids,when we got back from fishing he was gone,the wife tried several times to thank us and even wanted to go fishing with us(she was very drunk also),she had also laid on top of the suburban as it came out of the lake much to the delight of most of the guys who had gathered to watch,well my brother in law and I didnt think our wives whould like us fishing with a drunk lady in a bikini so we got the !@#$ out of dodge,it was probably one of the strangest things I have been involved in at the lake,if you have never been in your boat and looked across from you in 10' of water and seen a guy trying to start his suburban it is something you wont forget for awhile.

You can't help but laugh.

We went to L Georgetown a few years ago and arrived later than usual. The gates were open so off to ramp. While driving to the launch, we saw a guy walking which is not unusual since there are campers in the area and he was just out for an early morning walk. Anyways, we got to the turn-around and noticed some lights in the right lane of the 4 lane ramp some 150ft away. They were dim lights so we thought that someone was down there night fishing with lights. Water is pretty deep just off the ramp. We backed the boat to the water and as we get closer we both noticed alot off bubbles surfacing near the lights. There was no one around fishing the lights so after launching the boat, I dropped the trolling motor and went to take a look to see what was bubbling. Looked down into about 10 feet of water and I see the distinct grill of a Jeep Cherokee with the headlights still on and bubbling away. Apparently, the guy we saw walking up to the entrance was the unluckychap who forgot to a) put it in park and b) set the brake.

Had to laugh.

Only thing to make the storys better, would be a picture capture the moment..

I had met this man at the lake one day and he asked me how fast pontoon boats should run. I told him that it depended on what size of motor, but you can only push a box so fast through the water. He said it ran about 15 to 20 mph with a 150 on it. I could tell he was'nt the sharpest pencil in the box and this was the first time he ever had a boat or had one in the water. He confirmed my suspicion when I was asking some other questions. I looked up and saw a vehicle pulling down to the ramp, he said that was his ride and started the pontoon. He pulled over to the ramp and what happened next I would have never of expected. The trailer was still hooked up to the pontoon boat, all he had done was unhitch it from the bumper and took off, the jack stand was up at least. He rehitched the trailer and pulled up. I was at lost for words, I tried to tell him in a way that might save some pride that the trailer is supposed to be left on the truck and unhook the boat from the trailer. I had to show him how the tie downs came off and how to unhook the front of the boat. Weeks later I saw him at the same ramp, he was alittle hesitant to speak but I had to find out if the little problem was solved. The answer was a heads down yes and I got to go look. If you ever down in the dumps just go to the main ramp at the lake take out a chair and enjoy the show.

This SUV didn't float!
http://home.uchicago.edu/~liam/pwc.html

That has made my day! People and the stupid s*#! they do. Wish I had been there! One of my first post here was about a boat with three women in it. They had successfully flooded their boat motor and were adrift heading to shore panicing the whole time, finally as the boat stopped against the shore the driver raised the lower unit OUT of the water to try to avoid hitting the shore with the prop ,and still she tried to start the darn thing. My guest and I told her to put it back down before she started it again, one of the women jumped in the water and tried to push it deeper, struggling against the wind so one guy on shore helped her, after it was deep enough he went back to shore to watch. I finally swam out to her boat and after several tries got it started, seems she had just bought it and it already had carb. probs, and wouldn't run very well, finally convinced her to get her friend on shore to pull the trailer to the ramp and I loaded it for them. The dealer that sold her, her first boat gave her a 30 minute get how -to session then let them go. It was a real eye opening time.

[This message has been edited by Bassr1 (edited 07-05-2003).]

On my only trip to Fork, I had backed my truck down the ramp, put her in neutral (it was a standard), set the parking brake and hopped in the boat to trailer it. In the process of motoring the boat up onto the trailer it pushed the truck hard enough to loosen up the parking brake on the truck and it started rolling backwards down the ramp in slow motion. Using my catlike reflexes, I pulled the kill switch, jumped off the bow of the boat all the way into the bed of the truck, onto the ramp, opened the door and slammed the brakes just in time to prevent a disaster. The boat of course had floated off at this point, but I was fortunate enough to have another bass fisherman behind me watch the ordeal and he was kind enough to take me to my boat. I learned to always kill the ignition and put her in gear on that standard transmission...

Oh and here is a picture of some people pulling the same stunt listed in the original post on Lake Austin back in April.

MAN! That makes me sick just looking at those pictures.