loading and unloading a jet from the trailer. how?

[jboehm]

ok, i am down the ramp,trailer in the water. how far down? should i simply throw the reverse on and back it off, or just push it off. now loading. one person said i should just push it into position. is this the perfered method? i don't have any type of winch. one advantage of living down in south texas, you can boat and race all year. hardly ever gets really cold and when it does( high 20s') it doesn't last. i should have it ready for the water in a couple of weeks.

[Danhercules]

I back down till the back of the boat is in the water, then undo the front clip, back down till the boat floats, I start it, in reverse, it somtimes takes a few seconds for the pump to load, then ya will feel the boat pull back. Loading, I drive twards teh trailer, very slow, and when my nose is close to the back of the trailer, I shut it off an put it on by hand. Just the way I do it. I dont think there is a "right way" or a "wrong way". I just try to be quick, and do all my other shit in the parkinglot.

[fourspeednup]

I back it down until the back of the boat starts to float then undue the front clip and push it off. Sometimes it is necessary to lift the bow a little if it's not in quite far enough. Always guided the boat back onto the trailer, only drive if I have to due to boats blocking the ramp. (Had to swim it over once when I ran out of gas.) Get a friend to help out and it will make the process much less stressful. Make sure they know what to do before the boat gets wet! I launch in a shallow marina full of weeds, so I hate starting it before walking her out to deeper water. Guaranteed to pull up sh!t and clog the intake.:yuk:
The sooner you get off the ramp, the friendlier everyone will be!

[fourspeednup]

Might take some experimentation to see how far you need to back the trailer down. Get a friend to help out the first few times. Once you get it, just remember how far the rear tire was from/in the water. On my rig the tires are just barely in.

[Jet City]

Going out, back in till the boat floats, unhook it, clip rope to bow ring, push boat away from trailer, drive truck away, wife holds boat at dock.
Going in, back trailer to known depth (4-6 inches of fender for mine), jump in boat and drive it on, wife lets me know when boat can be hooked (blip throttle if needed), hook bow ring, drive truck away from ramp.
Driving the boat on is easy with a little practice, just leave enough of the trailer bunks out of the water to stop the boat at close to the right spot. I have yet to see anybody faster than my wife and I at the ramps. Once the wife gets some practice backing up the trailer, we'll be even faster.

[DansBlown73Nordic]

I have found that when loading I need the tops of my fenders to be just showing.

[quiet riot]

I unhook everything and make sure I got all the crap in the boat up in the parking lot. Wifey or whoevers with me backs me down and when the ass end of the boat starts to float, I fire her up and drive away. Come back to dock and pick up the vehicle driver when the boats warmed up.
To load I drop off someone at the dock and pull away while they back the trailer in with about 1/2 the bunks wet. then I drive the boat on and let them tow me to the parking lot where I strap the boat down and go home.
I built this trailer to load this way and even if you hit it at a 45 deg when loading, it self straightens and stops when the bow eye hits the bow roller, without any side guides either. don't have to latch the bow eye before pulling it up the ramp either.
For most trailers just follow the prev posts advice, although if you set a trailer up like this, you don't need to take up dock space and waste time hooking and unhooking the boat at the water.
jd
PS. One of the most frustrating things is usually backing the trailer too deep in the water which doesn't allow the bunks or rollers to self align the boat and usually leaves it off to one side or the other. Just experiment with your setup and after a couple tries you should get it figured pretty good. The shallower the ramp, the deeper you need to back the trailer.

[fourspeednup]

I've always been a little sketchy on unhooking the bow eye before getting the boat in the water. I saw a boat come off it's trailer this summer and the thought of my boat lying sideways on the ramp scared me pretty good. I'm sure that's not the reason it fell off but......
I'm not knocking your guys methods, just never did it that way myself....is it okay? Anything to save time on the ramp.

[quiet riot]

I've always been a little sketchy on unhooking the bow eye before getting the boat in the water. I saw a boat come off it's trailer this summer and the thought of my boat lying sideways on the ramp scared me pretty good. I'm sure that's not the reason it fell off but......
If it has rollers its a definate NO! And bunk trailers also depend on what materials are used (carpeted bunks, plastic, etc and hull material (rough, aluminum, polished gel?,)) Placement of bunks and hull type also affect it. Its always better to be safe than sorry, Unless You Are In My Way At The Ramp! Then its better to just stay outta the way.
My boat stays on backing down 30 deg inclines when I make my own boat ramps at certain rivers. So I've tested it to some extreme conditions. I left a latch loosely attached to it to see what I can get away with on steep ramps while hitting the brakes and stuff, but every setup is different. And as far as pulling it out without the bow eye, if the driver guns it, it will slide back an inch or two, but the pickup will spin the tires before it will dump my boat off.
jd

[lilrick]

is this a real post? It's not even winter yet! This can't be real!