PMspinner, I am not sure I would have bought a boat from that dealer. It reminds me of a car salesman who told us he never changed the oil in his automobiles. We purchased a new car from the dealer, but we used a different salesperson. Sheesh!

Notyet,
I envision an untapped opportunity for "extra_money" for you! People who have those kinds of skills ought to approach different boat dealers to teach first time boat owners in a 30 minute or 1 hour course, right there on the lot before they pull away for the first time. That is where the education should start. When you see your neighbor with his first boat, trying to get it in his driveway (before he ever gets to the lake!), it's always entertaining for a while. You finally put down the suds and walk over and offer to help him. More often than not he looks at his wife, more embarrassed than the first time he attempted changing a diaper, and gets out and let's you slide in behind the wheel and put it where he wants it. Just imagine what a business you have! Better yet, just set up a booth at your local ramp and charge $10.00 a pop for a one time demo with their own rig, $30.00 for a full lesson!.

One tip is if you are backing down a ramp and the boat gets crooked, pull foward and the trailor will line right back up. Also, when trailoring your boat on a windy day, do not back the trailor in the water as far. Once the boat is on the bunks, the driver can back down a little farther if needed. These really helped me when I was learning.

Practice in a parking lot is ok. had my wife do that plus backup all around the school parking lot and I would bet she can put a boat in the water better that most men.

One of the funniest things I have ever seen was a guy starting his boat on the ramp to make sure it would start. It was an inboard/outboard but has a water pump in the lower unit just like an outboard.

I walked up to him at the ramp and said that isn't a good thing to do. He informed me, "he has been doing it for years without any problems at all." I shrugged and walked off, got in my own boat, and drove off.

Two weeks later, the guy shows up saying his boat shut down going down the lake. When we did a compression test, found two of the six cylinders had dropped compression.

We informed him the repair cost, complete rebuilt motor, water pump, ect, $3400.00.

That is when it dawned on me who this guy was. Once he paid the repair bill, I introduced myself again as the guy on the boat ramp. He was so ashamed he couldn't look me in the eye.

If I had a wall of shame at my shop, he would definately go on it.

How about making sure the driver's side window is rolled down so when the boater starts yelling and screamimg to "stop", "pull up", or "turn right", the person backing the tow vehicle can actually hear those commands!

Too many times I 've gotten backed down in the winter or summer and my partner backing my rig down has all the windows up trying to stay comfy warm or cool.

You start screaming, and they can't hear a damn thing!

Find a slow ramp during the week and practice.

I find when using my dodge ram, helps to put down the tailgate. But after doing it so many times, I can do it with my eyes closed.

I went fishing on the coast two weeks ago. when we got through fishing we got ready to load the boat up and go. There were three of us, my uncle, cousin and myself. It is their boat and truck so it is pretty nice for me. I just get to sit back and watch. Well on this day their was an older guy in a boat waiting for his trailer to be backed into the water. When I got out of the boat the kid backing down the ramp had it totally jacknifed. the guy in the boat was screaming and yelling at him. the next thing I know he has rammed his boat into the pier, tied it up and mumbling all these words a sailor would be embarassed by, and also saying that his twelve year old can do it better than this stupid *************** 24 year old ever thought about. about the time he got his boat tied up and walked up the pier he had finally gotten the trailer in the water correctly. Where we launched at they had campers and stuff their. After all this we got our boat loaded first and out and unloading it when I looked over and the kid is now trying to back it up next to their campsite. We laughed all the way home about them!!

Fishmagnet
Thought you were talking about my 18 yr old nephew for a minute, then I realized he likes to stay cool AND test my speakers in front of the "ladies" at the ramp.

one thing that I see a lot at the ramp is when people back their trailers too far down in the water and the front of the boat will not go over the stopper. They then think they need to back their trailers lower in the water to load their boat. It does not take much water to loat your boat.

Also helps to put the tranny in N-neutral and simply let gravity slowly take you down the ramp.

In addition, your brakes and driveline will appreciate it when you slip the tranny in N-neutral before engaging the parking brake and then slamming the gear into P-park on the ramp.

Ever hear that god-awful 'CLUNK' sound your transmission makes after releasing the parking brake, and then trying to shift into D-drive....CLUNK!!!....not good, nope...not good at all!

I agree....Take it slow! You know, I think sometimes it is a race for some people to put the boat in and take it out! I say, be safe, make sure everything is in place, take it slow, and have a great day fishing!