Oh Shit

So, what can go wrong when launching a boat?

Nothing. Nothing at all. Except this.

NOTE - I drive a RED Toyota truck. This is a BLUE Chevy something. Not my shit. But still, it was painful to watch this happen.

This is what I saw when I arrived at the boat ramp. Totally by chance. I was in the general area and was having a mystery noise issue with my truck and a marine mechanic friend was in my truck listening for the mystery noise so since I was in the area I drove by the boat ramp.


What you see here is the roof of a Chevy SUV. Just the roof. Attached to the truck is a boat trailer. The owner allowed an inexperienced driver to back the boat down the ramp. The driver wen too far back and the rear tires went under. The exhaust pipe was also under water. The truck started to slide back. Instead of hitting the brake the driver hit the gas. The tires spun and the truck slipped into the SALT WATER. The rear axle of the truck was past the ramp drop off.

At this point the truck is worth $100. All engine parts are worthless. The computer is dead. The electronics are dead. Everything is dead. Worthless.


And this the SUV getting pulled out of the water. I wish I had remembered to take video of this. My phone does video, and this is a cell phone photo. The cowboy tow truck operator was going full bore at this point. As in the tow truck was doing a wheelie. The front wheels of the tow truck were OFF the ground.

But it gets better .


This is the trailer attached to the truck. The truck owner was apparently selling the boat. A small Robalo. Maybe 17 feet. A small bay boat. When the tow vehicle took a bath (in SALT WATER) the trailer was well beyond the ramp drop off. The cowboy tow truck operator did this. In the process of pulling out the truck and trailer, the axle got ripped off the trailer.

This really SUCKS for the owner of the truck, trailer, and boat. I would imagine the prospective boat buyer walked away. The seller has to eat the loss of the truck AND the damage to the trailer.


Really - it was painful to watch. Every time I launch the boat I think about this shit happening to me. So I am VERY careful. I have a wheel chock handy. I use the parking brake. And so on.

But I salvaged the mess! A friend of mine there at the time bought the trailer from the owner for $200. The marine mechanic. I told the owner that the axle was there and that the repair was going to be easy to do.

So my friend bough the trailer. And after a few beers I decided to take part in the salvage operation. So I went swimming. I got in the water by the ramp and helped find the axle with the tires still attached. I helped recover the axle from the drink, and then loaded the axle into my truck. Then the axle was moved to the outboard club where the trailer was. Two bolts later the axle was reattached to the trailer.

I told my friend he should contact the guy who sold the trailer and sell it back to him for what was paid for it. $200. Why kick a man when he is down? The guy already lost a truck. There was no insurance for the truck. The salvage operation was easy. A little swimming. No big deal. The boats were spare parts. So cut a man a break and sell him back his trailer so he can load up and move his boat. Don't kick someone in the head after they were already kicked in the nuts. It is just not right.

Just another day at the boat ramp! This shit is actually not uncommon.

And to make this even better, TODAY I plan to go fishing. With my dad. He never gets to go fishing with me. And seeing as how he did finance a share (a rather large share) of the boat one would figure he should get to use the boat more often.

So today this will happen. I am going fishing. Probably launching from the same ramp where I saw the sunken truck.

I really hope I catch something. The finance company deserves a payoff after all.

And I hope I do not loose the truck in the drink. Ill be super extra careful after seeing this.

I feel really bad for the sunken truck owner. It happens.