Ted wanted a hand pulling his pontoon today. I do that with him every spring and fall. He picked me up this morning, we went to rent the trailer, thence back to his place to drop him off so he could drive the pontoon to the marina while I drove the truck & trailer there. We arrived about simultaneously.
As luck would have it, the wind was from the south, about the only direction that affects the marina channel. Compounding that is the matter that the launch is perpendicular to the channel which means that boats must make a hard right to line up with trailers, there ain't much room there to do it, and the wind is crosswise to the launch.
But we've done this before.
The ramp was wide open with nobody prepping to launch or retrieve so I backed in the trailer nice and straight. But Ted had a problem, had to go clear back out into the main lake and turn around for another shot. This time he came in hot, whipped the pontoon into a hard turn and hit the trailer absolutely perfectly. Not a trick for the timid or tyro. Very nice job of pontoon driving. He's not exactly a beginner.
Meanwhile, some hotshot dickwad decided that he HAD to retrieve his $40K 250HP Triton bassboat right that minute, couldn't wait five late morning on a Tuesday, he's special and important. So he backed in next to me on the left, so tight I could barely get the driver's door open enough to get out of the truck. Skillfull job of trailer backing, but it's hard to admire the skill of a boorish budger.
Once Ted hit the trailer, I really needed to pull forward a bit so the trailer could grab the pontoon while he maintained drive. We were in a bit deeper than ideal, definitely better than being a bit shallower than ideal with a controlled crash retrieval with that sort of trailer. Being a bit shallow works better with bassboats that have the power to push the glass hull up the bunks to the winchpost
-- and then push the truck most of the way to the Dairy Queen. We were retrieving a pontoon, not a bassboat. But I couldn't pull forward to do what needed doing before the wind caught the pontoon, because Dickwad's goddamned trailer was budged in downwind. The pontoon is somewhat wider than trailer or truck so Dickwad had created an interference fit sit onthe ramp by budging in.
The wind caught the pontoon, blew it sideways so it rode up on the submerged fender of Dickwad's trailer, where it hung. I quietly suggested to Mr. Dickwad that if he were to back his trailer further in, that would first straighten the pontoon and then allow it to float free. Ted had tossed a stern line upwind that I could belay to a bollard to hold it while we got it engaged with the trailer.
Dickwad, being a take-charge bassmaster competitor and quite important, didn't hear a word of it. He could trailer his bassboat so he thought he was an authority.
Any damned fool can trailer a bassboat; a pontoon in a crosswind is a rather different proposition.
My technique for dealing with jerks like that is to just shut up and let them flap for a whle. Ted also seems to prefer that practice. So we just smiled at this bassmaster whose cerebral pea is so blood-deprived by his flexed dick that basic courtesy and cooperative problem-solving are beyond his comprehension, let him flutter, flail and flap. About then a young guy showed up with a truck and pontoon trailer, obviously there to recover a pontoon, maybe one of those parked at the marina. We recognized him; he works at Minnewaska Marine and does this for a living. That's where Ted rents the trailer! We zay nottink: this is gonna be good!
He sized up the sit in about 10 seconds. He pulled his rig up facing the bollard and secured the stern line to some front part of the truck, then backed up slightly to put tension on the line. I immediately got well away from the line. He gave me a "yeah, you know what you're doing" sort of look. It was a substantial line, but even so...
Mr. Bassboat was shouting instructions which the guy completely ignored as though said dickwad didn't exist. It was obvious to all that cooperative endeavor wasn't possible with this dickwad so the only viable option was to ignore him. Young guy carefully backed up another couple of inches and the pontoon came free and straightened out. Aw right! We cranked up the trapezoidal lift part of the trailer so the pontoon was captive on the trailer, released the stern line and I was free to pull forward, up and out with Ted still aboard, which I did forthwith. Smile and a wave to Minnewaska guy and we were outta there.
We returned to Ted's where he had two rows of Arkansas planters (tires) arranged. He started to back the trailer toward them, with me outside spotting. After 10 seconds I could see a problem here: Ted still can't back a trailer for shit. We both know it, but ya gotta go thru the motions, right? "Hey, Ted, how about I back the trailer while you guide because you know where you want your pontoon on your tires?" "Great idea!" So we changed places. Zooped it in there first try, dead straight and precisely centered due to his excellent guidance. Dropped the pontoon, pulled the trailer out from under it and declared victory. He brought me back to our cabin, went back into town to return the trailer, then he and Nancy picked up Mary and me in their car to go have a nice lunch at the Water's Edge. Lovely day today, blue sky and sparkly lake, fall colors showing, crisp air, good friends ...
We'll finish packing and closing tomorrow and hit the road when we're done. It's supposed to rain all day Thursday and then be a fine weekend but we're ready to be done for the season. Better to leave wanting more than wishing there'd been less.