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jmvotto
04-30-2010, 09:56 AM
Attached is a photo showing how you know you have backed the boat trailer in too far. They forgot to unhook the boat from the trailer and then the boat driver gassed it hard to pull it off the trailer. The boat pulled the truck right into the water.

The boat won the "tug o War"

kaneboats
04-30-2010, 10:05 AM
Could happen to anyone. I'm paranoid about it because my parking brake doesn't work (biggest flaw on a Suburban is the stupid parking brake).

jbheuerman
04-30-2010, 12:47 PM
well...at least the boat was ok!

cab13367
04-30-2010, 12:52 PM
Attached is a photo showing how you know you have backed the boat trailer in too far. They forgot to unhook the boat from the trailer and then the boat driver gassed it hard to pull it off the trailer. The boat pulled the truck right into the water.

The boat won the "tug o War"

Joe,

There must be more to this story. I visualize where my truck is when I back the boat off the trailer and there is NO WAY my boat would pull the truck into the water even if I reversed it in full throttle with the boat attached to the trailer. Must have been a really shallow boat ramp and most of the truck was already in the water. Or they forgot to unhook the rear transom straps as well and the trailer was floating with the boat and thus pulling up on the rear of the truck.

In any case, what a bummer! But at least it looks like the boat is worth more than the truck and the boat is okay :)

Al

Ian Brantford
04-30-2010, 01:43 PM
Joe,

There must be more to this story. I visualize where my truck is when I back the boat off the trailer and there is NO WAY my boat would pull the truck into the water even if I reversed it in full throttle with the boat attached to the trailer.

That looks like an S10-based Blazer, with a curb weight of either 3867 or 4071 lbs. It's not much more than my 3740 lb 3rd-generation 4Runner... which could not be trusted to stop my XLV when backing down a coarse gravel ramp. Both trucks would be on the threshold of stopping with full brakes, so I find it quite conceivable that this MC could drag the Blazer down if only its rear wheels (via parking brake) were holding it. The angle would be good for taking weight off of the rear wheels by pulling back.

I don't think that this could have happened to just anyone. Look at that nice concrete ramp bottom! It appears to offer ideal conditions. It is hard to see how powering off was even required. It could have been just floated off. That's what I do unless the ramp is very shallow. Anyone (without a checklist) can miss a step, but "More power!" isn't the solution to everything.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is my "boat test" day, when a limited men-only crew heads out to check the function of the boat, and our memory of procedure from last year. <crosses fingers>

Sled491
04-30-2010, 03:51 PM
That's what you get for buying a MC :D

newty
04-30-2010, 09:40 PM
Kane those burb/tahoe brakes wear out quick. They do adjust up really easily. If your interested PM me and I'll give you a quick how to.

deerfield
04-30-2010, 11:27 PM
Kane those burb/tahoe brakes wear out quick. They do adjust up really easily. If your interested PM me and I'll give you a quick how to.

Hey, Newty - is that adjust thing something you can post on the forum? I got a Suburban too and am interested. Thanks. - Deerfield

jeffrogge
04-30-2010, 11:49 PM
"Oh Hell!! I flooded it!!!"

newty
05-01-2010, 02:34 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT-PxtlaX6E
Here is the link on how to replace the pads on tahoes burbs and silverado's.
These little gems I think are made of gold because they want close to $100 for a pair. :x
So before you go picking up a set try to adjust them. There is usually enough meat left on them to work for a while.
After you watch the whole video go to minute 3:00 on the video and look at the little cylinder that spreads the brake ring apart. You will see a little cogged ring, as you turn that depending on which way it will either adjust the breaks in or out. I don't recall which way you need to go but you have a 50/50 chance.:p You'll know soon enough. Once you know your going the right way make a few turns and slide the disc on. If its loose then take it off and adjust it again. Go until the there is a little resistance sliding the disc back on. Why they don't address adjusting them is beyond me. I would imagine they want to sell you they're gold plated brakes.:p
The reason these go bad so quick is they are a really soft material made to bite hard on the drums. If you try to drive with the e-brake you will quickly destroy them. Even if they are a little out of adjustment and you back down the ramp and hit the e-brake, the weight of the boat and trailer will make them slip. Everytime you do that they will get worse and worse.
If the wife likes to do try and drive with the ebrake on just tell her how much it is to fix. She will quickly stop doing it... Mine did!
Then I boldly said thank you Dear.:D

Sled491
05-01-2010, 07:20 PM
I'd like to know what was pulling that boat. If it's an S-10 Blazer like mentioned above, those people get "I told you so" from me.... It kills me when boat owners won't buy a real truck that's safe enough to tow a boat.

Can't say I disagree with you on that one.

Hoopskier
05-01-2010, 07:41 PM
I'd like to know what was pulling that boat. If it's an S-10 Blazer like mentioned above, those people get "I told you so" from me.... It kills me when boat owners won't buy a real truck that's safe enough to tow a boat.

From looking at the picture, I believe it is a full size chevy pickup. I'm guessing somewhere from 1999-2006. Harder to tell with the front underwater.

You can tell it is a pick up, it just has a topper/cap on the bed. Look at the rook lines. You will see to black lines running length wise then stop halfway and then a seem run cross wise.

I guess this guy did not have a prelaunch routine/checklist prior to going to the ramp. Plug is in...Boat Keys...Transon straps... bow strap...ect. Some days I sit at my locate ramp on a busy day and just watch the comedy.

viking
05-01-2010, 07:47 PM
probably something simple like not getting it completely into park.........got out to unhood the bow and away she went. Anyway you cut it it was a bad day!!

kaneboats
05-03-2010, 10:51 AM
Kane those burb/tahoe brakes wear out quick. They do adjust up really easily. If your interested PM me and I'll give you a quick how to.

Sent the PM. I'll take photos and post the HOW TO on this b/c it's pretty important.

jeffrogge
05-03-2010, 09:14 PM
I'd like to know what was pulling that boat. If it's an S-10 Blazer like mentioned above, those people get "I told you so" from me.... It kills me when boat owners won't buy a real truck that's safe enough to tow a boat.

no kidding, I second that. At the very least I don't want to have to replace my tranny every 5 years. There is a guy at my lake that pulls a huge cabin cruiser with a s-10. There is a guy here also that has an international scout that is painted flat back and its job is to move his boat from the storage area at the lake to the ramp and it looks badass.

jeffandkaren
05-03-2010, 09:59 PM
Thats what you get for not buying a Moomba!!!

newty
05-04-2010, 12:15 AM
Something like "more money than sense" comes to mind. Lol. What sucks is, it was probably the boat owners buddy just trying to "help out".
I often have to tell people, you know its better if you don't help. But thanks.

Sled491
05-04-2010, 07:24 AM
To think you know what your doing and to know what your doing are 2 dofferent things.

moombadaze
05-04-2010, 07:37 AM
mitsubishi montero ?

sailing217
05-04-2010, 09:57 AM
We saw a newer 350 duelly go in the drink launching a jet ski last year. The story was he usually 'pops' the jet ski off by throwing it in drive. Rear wheels on algea didn't work and instead of digging in with the brakes, he tried to gas it even more. The bed hitting the water helped but he never hit the brakes. A bit over-confident.

Tires and 4-wd plays a part in launching...and common sense

kaneboats
05-04-2010, 09:57 AM
it was probably the boat owners buddy just trying to "help out". I often have to tell people, you know its better if you don't help. But thanks.

You want to help? Bring extra beer and ice. Better yet, meet me at the gas station with your credit card.

Ian Brantford
05-04-2010, 11:58 AM
We saw a newer 350 duelly go in the drink launching a jet ski last year.

Yep. When I speculated that the truck in the photo was one of two Blazers, I was taking the hint from the name of the file ("mc blazer.jpg"). I did not notice the roofline indicating that it was a pick-up. A pick-up can be rolling thunder when someone is driving it, but if the truck is parked and the bed unloaded, it doesn't take much of a pull to take it down a ramp.

In light of this, I'll take back what I said about the choice of vehicle playing a significant role here. I still think that the mistake was procedural. Even when my previous vehicle slipped while braking down the ramp, all motion stopped as soon as the boat started to float a bit. It takes some assertive buffoonery (or a brake failure) to actually drag the truck completely into the water.

Sled491
05-04-2010, 02:58 PM
You want to help? Bring extra beer and ice. Better yet, meet me at the gas station with your credit card.

Love it :D

NCSUmoomba
05-04-2010, 05:34 PM
I think the saddest part is that is a Tournament Team Prostar, made specifically to pull tournaments. People that own those aren't ususally weekend wally's.

mbkillin
05-06-2010, 11:22 PM
Sometimes ya gotta sink the truck to het the insurance money to pay the boat note .

zegm
05-07-2010, 08:37 AM
That's what you get for buying a MC :D

I don't know those X2 look pretty good! I mean if I had to pick again...... :cool:

zegm
05-07-2010, 08:39 AM
It takes some assertive buffoonery (or a brake failure) to actually drag the truck completely into the water.

This would explain how a the mother of a friend of my daughters pinned her self again a fence with her Silverado? Something about not quite putting it in park???

jmvotto
05-07-2010, 08:51 AM
Yep. When I speculated that the truck in the photo was one of two Blazers, I was taking the hint from the name of the file ("mc blazer.jpg"). I did not notice the roofline indicating that it was a pick-up. A pick-up can be rolling thunder when someone is driving it, but if the truck is parked and the bed unloaded, it doesn't take much of a pull to take it down a ramp.

In light of this, I'll take back what I said about the choice of vehicle playing a significant role here. I still think that the mistake was procedural. Even when my previous vehicle slipped while braking down the ramp, all motion stopped as soon as the boat started to float a bit. It takes some assertive buffoonery (or a brake failure) to actually drag the truck completely into the water.



Ian, sorry i sent you on a goose chase but i renamed the file on my desktop as it was sent by a freind an i quicklt guessed as the name. I should not be suprised as how analytical everyone was bout how this"buffoonery" occurred? LOL maybe two many pops on the way to the ramp.;)

zegm
05-07-2010, 09:38 AM
Ian, sorry i sent you on a goose chase but i renamed the file on my desktop as it was sent by a freind an i quicklt guessed as the name. I should not be suprised as how analytical everyone was bout how this"buffoonery" occurred? LOL maybe two many pops on the way to the ramp.;)

Years ago we used to keep our ski boat at my in-laws lake cabin during the summer. We usually drove our truck down during the weekends to launch the boat but for some reason one time we took the wifes Porsche 911. Not a problem as my father in law has 2 pickup trucks, I will just use one of them. So we get there and we findout my father inlaw just purchased a new Chevy Silverado to go along with his old worn out S-10. When my wife and I ask him to borrow the new Silverado to put the boat in the lake he says no I don't want you to use it, take the old S-10 (it always just used to sit there). Ok I guess this is not a problem as the ramp in just next door in the neighbors yard. They just had a little dirt ramp. So we hook the boat up and head to the neighbors yard. I get the boat aimed down the ramp and start backing it up with the wife sitting in the boat ready to power it away. So I am backing down the ramp and she says "OK" and I slowy hit the brakes. Has anyone every driven a vehicle that had a master cylinder going bad? Well the peddle just goes to the floor and the truck is still going backwards into the lake. Luckily the ramp is very shallow and I slammed on the pedal again and this time I got some pressure (by slowly putting pressure on the pedal on the brake fluid just went past the seals on the pistons in the master cylinder, by slamming it on I was able to force the seals to work some) and was able to stop the truck. Yes the back half of the truck was in the water but she did stop and we used the boat and trailer to assist it back onto dryer harder ground. Man was I pissed off. Had we taken the truck a longer distance I might have realized that the master cylinder was bad but I might have found this out when we kissed a tree or another car, by just going a about a hundred yards across someones lawn I never used the brakes until I started backing up. So in the end nothing was damaged but now I check the brakes before I tow anything. As far as a couple of pops, yes when I got back to the their house I might have popped a couple then, wouldn't you too! :smile:

Ian Brantford
05-07-2010, 11:29 AM
Ian, sorry i sent you on a goose chase but i renamed the file on my desktop as it was sent by a freind an i quicklt guessed as the name. I should not be suprised as how analytical everyone was bout how this"buffoonery" occurred? LOL maybe two many pops on the way to the ramp.;)

Ha! No worries. A couple of years ago a buddy and I got into an argument over a similar photograph. He challenged me to explain why a boat could not just drag a truck into the water without something else going wrong. After giving several aspects of technical details, I summed it up with "boats float". :-)

Membrain
05-07-2010, 10:42 PM
OMG! What can you do or say after something like that?

Last summer, my wife drove our XLV right up into the back of the truck while I was teaching her how to load the boat! She gave it full throttle as we crept into the cradle of the trailer. As soon as she GASSED it, she turned her head and closed her eyes and ran to the back of the boat leaving me up front to watch the rear windshield of my truck approaching at mach 35 or something. The boat was in the back of the truck!!!
Maybe that will help knowing there are more of us out there than should be allowed


Nobody got hurt except for my feelings and a trashed winch post!!!!!!!!!!! I invented a few words that night as they gracefully flowed effortlessly from my mouth! For the next two weeks!!!

Wow, it really sucked to be you that day, huh!?

Membrain
05-07-2010, 10:43 PM
Oh, and trashed tailgate!!!!!!!!

Sled491
05-07-2010, 11:00 PM
Holy Crap Dude, are you serious? That's an amazing story. I saw a guy load a snowmobile once that got away from him. Pinned another guy hard against the rear windshield of his truck. Again no one was hurt, but was amazing to watch unfold in front of my eyes, much like you felt I'm guessing.

zegm
05-07-2010, 11:02 PM
Wow! How long was it before you spoke to her again?
About 5 years ago I decided to let my young son drive the boat. Luckily he was sitting in my lap. He pretty much put the throttle all the way down which wouldn't have been a problem but we were facing the bank about 50ft away that was covered in trees. Somehow, someway I managed to snatch the throttle out of his hands and throw her in reverse at full throttle. I think we kissed the end of a branch.

viking
05-07-2010, 11:04 PM
OMG - glad no one was injured. How could it not have trashed ur Moomba??

newty
05-07-2010, 11:05 PM
OMG! What can you do or say after something like that?

Last summer, my wife drove our XLV right up into the back of the truck while I was teaching her how to load the boat! She gave it full throttle as we crept into the cradle of the trailer. As soon as she GASSED it, she turned her head and closed her eyes and ran to the back of the boat leaving me up front to watch the rear windshield of my truck approaching at mach 35 or something. The boat was in the back of the truck!!!
Maybe that will help knowing there are more of us out there than should be allowed


Nobody got hurt except for my feelings and a trashed winch post!!!!!!!!!!! I invented a few words that night as they gracefully flowed effortlessly from my mouth! For the next two weeks!!!

Wow, it really sucked to be you that day, huh!?

2 weeks! Haaahahah. That sucks, did she learn? Or better yet did you?

zegm
05-07-2010, 11:12 PM
You know I am wondering what it was like to live in that house for the next couple of weeks?

I am sooo lucky, my wife can drive the truck, back down the trailer, drive the boat on and off the trailer, pull me down the slalom course and.....well.... beat me on the Slalom course too!

Membrain
05-08-2010, 10:39 AM
Luckily the boat suffered no damage!? I guess it was the rhino liner on the tailgate? HA. Last summer was tough on the boat and us. Memorial day weekend, we hit a stump. $5K to get it repaired and missed all of last June. Backed the trailer off of the ramp and caved in the fender in so bad that it was digging into the tire, and last day of last summer we were out we were loading the boat and the prop hit the end of the concrete launch. Lakes were so low.

So, there ya go, we exist, we are out there, be afraid, be very afraid, and please stay clear of us, ‘cause we might end up getting you too!

viking
05-08-2010, 11:04 AM
Luckily the boat suffered no damage!? I guess it was the rhino liner on the tailgate? HA. Last summer was tough on the boat and us. Memorial day weekend, we hit a stump. $5K to get it repaired and missed all of last June. Backed the trailer off of the ramp and caved in the fender in so bad that it was digging into the tire, and last day of last summer we were out we were loading the boat and the prop hit the end of the concrete launch. Lakes were so low.

So, there ya go, we exist, we are out there, be afraid, be very afraid, and please stay clear of us, ‘cause we might end up getting you too!

Sweet!! and such good humor about it all. I wish I had your patience and calmness :)

zegm
05-08-2010, 03:34 PM
Luckily the boat suffered no damage!? I guess it was the rhino liner on the tailgate? HA. Last summer was tough on the boat and us. Memorial day weekend, we hit a stump. $5K to get it repaired and missed all of last June. Backed the trailer off of the ramp and caved in the fender in so bad that it was digging into the tire, and last day of last summer we were out we were loading the boat and the prop hit the end of the concrete launch. Lakes were so low.

So, there ya go, we exist, we are out there, be afraid, be very afraid, and please stay clear of us, ‘cause we might end up getting you too!

Hey you didn't name your boat and then later rename it did you? :p

Sled491
05-10-2010, 07:40 AM
Hey you didn't name your boat and then later rename it did you? :p

Funny I was just thinking the same thing :)

Membrain, you must have ticked off some water god that's for sure!!

kaneboats
05-10-2010, 10:01 AM
Never should have named that boat "Poseidon's Nemesis".

aook23
05-10-2010, 10:10 AM
just a lil further hunny .... whooooAAA ! thats far enough .. well you said a lil further !! lol

Membrain
05-11-2010, 07:19 PM
It’s bad luck to rename a boat! HA . We finally got out for the first time last weekend. It’s going to be a good summer, because I didn’t shred the bumper pad on the trailer guide pole! Didn’t even leave a mark. whooya! First time out last summer, I shredded that thing loading the boat. It was a bad omen.

bslide
05-12-2010, 07:37 PM
How many of you have named your boats?

mmandley
05-12-2010, 08:45 PM
Just read my Sig. I dont have the name on my boat though. Fierah = Untamed Beast.

jmvotto
05-12-2010, 10:18 PM
How many of you have named your boats?

Dooon't do it...:rolleyes:

Sled491
05-13-2010, 09:25 AM
2nd JV

just say NO!