OT: end of season adventures at da laaaake

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.

Reply to
Don Foreman
Loading thread data ...
[snip]
[snip]

Your earthy rendition of events gave me a good chuckle this morning. Hopefully I won't run into his brother or cousin today, wads breed like weeds and are found everywhere.

Wes

Reply to
Wes

Don Foreman

Nothing like overbearing people, I find they cut first then measure and proceed to throw things around. They also get done first and the work reflects it, and through some act of denial it looks and is structurally superior.

Last time I should have heeded your warning about the weather, you said it was cold and windy. Sure enough the next day here was like instant fall. The day before I was swimming in the river and the next looking for shoes and socks and wishing I had done some stuff around the house when it was warm.

Summer time only forecast, A ?

SW

Reply to
Sunworshipper

Ideally, launched together along with his vehicle. Pete

Reply to
Pete Keillor

I have to admit, I was hoping dickwad had his truck roll down the ramp into the water while he was puffing out his chest and talking on his cell phone.

Wes

Reply to
Wes

-- snip --

-- snip --

Of course, to _him_ you're "those @$$holes with the ^$#%ing pontoon boat" who got in the way, and only succeeded in getting things sorted out with good luck and bad engineering.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

I was waiting for the part where dickwad's trailer and boat got totalled? :-)

Nice story.

Chris

Reply to
Christopher Tidy

Me, too.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Around lunchtime I listen to a show on the radio called "Chapter-A- Day". They're featuring a book by James Haley called "Wolf: The Lives of Jack London". Today's chapter had him on a ship being bullied by a bigger shipmate. He won the fight finally by choking the guy purple until he got a promise to be left alone.

I'm glad that you have great restraint. Stay out of the brig.

Reply to
Denis G.

The worst I ever did was lunge at some drunk with a hot soldering iron after he barged into my room in the barracks. Missed him by ' ' much! :)

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Yes, that may indeed be how he saw it. Fortunately, such yuppie attitude is quite rare in these parts.

There is another ramp not 200 feet down the channel that was wide open with zero traffic, just as was the one we used when we arrived. The ramps are quite comparable, the choice between them arbitrary. But he apparently saw our use of that ramp as being in his way when he didn't want to wait a few minutes for his turn, or just use the other ramp that was vacant and open.

Fortunately, most MN sportsmen are able and willing to take turns. In five summers at Lake Minnewaska, that's the first instance of such boorish behavior I have ever seen at that launch.

Reply to
Don Foreman

Some things you may not be aware of:

The most common watercraft on Lake Minnewaska is probably the pontoon. The pontoon motorboat was invented in MN.

formatting link
event in the annual Waterama event in Glenwood is a parade of lighted pontoons on the lake just before the fireworks.

Bassboats aren't unusual on the lake because it is a good bass lake, but most of them are daytrip visitors while most of the pontoons are residents. Ya don't daytrip to the lake with a trailered pontoon.

You may be thinking that "pontoon" means something like a Zodiac inflatable. They're more like this:

formatting link
Handling these critters on the open lake in lumpy water is no big deal. They're stable, great for families with kids and grandkids. But they're tricky to maneuver in close quarters and non-trivial to trailer up if conditions are challenging. They're fairly big as trailerable craft go, have about no draft to resist wind drift, and have a lot of area for wind to act upon.

Reply to
Don Foreman

It can take me 30 minutes to an hour to get a fin-keel type sailboat correctly aligned on the trailer and off the ramp. Especially on fairly shallow ramps where we have to sink the trailer on a long rope to get deep enough. Even with all the best helpers one can think of it usually takes multiple tries to get the boat on just right. Usually the problem is lateral placement - getting the keel off-center is a Bad Thing (tm).

Speed boat guys just HATE to wait.

Bit the bullet today. I met a trailer builder in OKC, OK who has a 35 foot boat trailer he started on for a fellow - who got laid off and can't finish. He gave me a pretty good price on it - modified to fit my boat - as a package deal.

One of the big-deal issues that came up with our users group is popping tires. Seems like everybody who has a trailer had war stories about that.

Our bare boat is supposed to weigh 5100 pounds. Add to that all the toys (water tanks, head, motor, fuel tanks, extra rope (haven't weighed my ropes but I'd say well over 100 pounds alone!), sails, etc and we tip in at over 6000 pounds. Then the trailer probably weighs most of a ton. So each tire on a double axle rig is supporting 2000 pounds or more at something like 80 psi. These tires don't come cheap! Even the China knock-offs that were popping regularly.

This trailer I found has three (count 'em) 3500 pound torsion bar axles with waterproof electric brakes on all wheels. We need to shorten it (he said no prob as his axle system moves easily) and add pads to support the hull(eight!) It will also have an expanded metal "floor", so there is plenty of extra storage room on deck.

I'm looking forward to bringing the boat home this winter. It's so much easier to work on that way!

Reply to
CaveLamb

It probably would have only added to the tattoos that he got by magic!

Reply to
Denis G.

Na! he did the standing broad jump backwards and cleared it by a fraction of an inch. He would have made a good ten feet, if my wall locker hadn't been six feet behind him. He staggered downstairs to the CQs office to complain.

A few minutes later the CQ walked in and asked if I had lunged at him with the hot iron. When I said Yes, he simply told me that if I missed the next time, he would write me up. I told him, OK, and that I would use an extension cord the next time I was soldering in my room. :)

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

I love it when Instant Karma happens to those fools.

formatting link
?v=6fn8KH6rLEk
formatting link

-- Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Oh, I thought you were talkin'bout something smaller.

formatting link

How DO you trailer those? I've never seen one launched or seen the trailer they ride on. Do they trailer onto 2 pairs of vee runners which support the pontoons, or what?

-- Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Are you sure he wasn't a Chicagoan? ...lew...

Reply to
Lewis Hartswick

...

You just hit on the reason they aren't more popular. Unless you own a place to dock the boat for the season, they are more trouble to load and haul than they are worth.

Most trailers I've seen are home made. Its a narrow deck over flat bed trailer sized to go just between the pontoons. Many of the lake folks share a trailer for the neighborhood.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

I consider behavior like this to be proof that they were raised (poorly) some place else.

I've been a township supervisor 25 years now. On any issue of concern you can tell in the first two sentences where and how they were raised. I do believe how you are going to interact with the world is largely determined by kindergarten.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.