Spending a day of vacation on the water is a very enjoyable thing, and the perfect ending of the day is to be able to retrieve your boat without stress, including successfully putting a boat on a trailer. But it is not easy, this requires skill.
- First drive the boat slowly to the end of the dock. Then let others disembark, especially the boat trailer driver, because he is responsible for driving the trailer over. If there is wind or current, you can attach a line to a bow cleat, and one to the stern.
- Move the rig into place to back up before the ramp. Then fix the rope and park the boat out of the reach of the trailer.
- Turn your gaze to the boat trailer driver. At this time, signal the vehicle driver when the trailer has backed far enough down the ramp for loading. He/she should put the vehicle in park, engage the parking brake, and leave the engine running.
- Drive the boat or tow it to a trailer. There is not much trouble in this step, and many crafts can be floated on the trailer. However, if your boat is large, then slowly driving onto the trailer will allow you to control it better. During this process, please do not set the throttle to “power load”, because this would wipe away the material under the ramp’s terminus, causing it to collapse.
- Winch the boat onto the trailer. You or the trailer driver need to stand on the tongue of the trailer and hook the winch rope or belt to the bow eye of the boat so that the boat can be fully loaded on the trailer. After the bow is close to the winch column, fasten the safety chain.
- Allow the driver to carefully draw the boat up the ramp, pausing to raise the outboard or sterndrive if required.
- The last step is unloading and draining. Remove the plugs to empty all live wells. This is to reduce the possibility of the spread of invasive species. Doing this action first give it time to drain while you pack your gear into the tow truck, fasten the transom, lower any antennae, or do anything else that has to be done before the boat can begin to be towed and reached the highway. Remember to turn on the trailer lights!