What if all is not well, and the engine refuses to fire? I make it a
point to never untie my boat from either a trailer or a dock until the
engine is running.

That was to be my suggestion exactly. It only takes one time to park the
boat and trailer only to discover the boat battery has only 5 or 10 seconds
of cranking power available (ant it aint enough), then back up the hill to
get the rig to pull it back out. It's only happened to me once, and ever
since I have one of those portable battery packs to jump the boat...just in
case. Wouldn't ya know it, I've never needed it.

I single hand my boat quite often.

--Mike

"RG" wrote in message
news:H_bKe.29613$HV1.19667@fed1read07...

"Bryan" wrote in message
...
Here's my plan for my first singlehanded launch. The boat is a Sea Ray
185
Sport. Trailer has bunks.

The dock will be on the port (left) side of the boat.

Arrive and prep boat for launch. Drain plug in. Fenders over port side.
Transom tie downs removed. Stern and bow lines attached to boat. Bimini
down to allow more access to boat. Load stuff onto boat.

Back trailer down to dock (I can get real close). Back trailer into
water
until stern floats. Unhook bow safety chain. Release winch hook (or
should
I keep it attached and just let out several feet of winch strap). Grab
bow
and stern lines and walk boat back along dock and tie off to dock cleats.
Park truck/trailer. Start bilge blower. Start motor. Have a nice day
on
the water.


Other good suggestions already, but I'll add one more. I would make one
significant alteration to your launching plan. Under your existing plan,
you make no attempt to start the boat's engine until the truck and trailer
are parked away from the ramp. What if all is not well, and the engine
refuses to fire? I make it a point to never untie my boat from either a
trailer or a dock until the engine is running. It doesn't mean that you
have to sit there for five minutes and wait for it to come up to operating
temperature. Just turn it over and get it running. At that point, if it
was me, Id just drive the boat off the trailer and maneuver it to the dock
under its own power. You may be more comfortable walking the boat to its
docking place.

Another important thing to do before the boat leaves the trailer and while
the engine is running is to do a quick bilge inspection. Lift the motor
cover and stick your head where you can look for water, oil, or fuel
leaks,
and give a quick sniff for fuel vapors. This inspection should take no
more
than about 15-30 seconds, including the time to open and close the engine
access cover. Again, the time to find out that your engine doesn't want
to
start, or that it does start but is spewing a fuel or water leak, is when
the boat is on the trailer, not after the trailer is parked away from the
ramp in the parking lot. This inspection will also reveal if you've
forgotten to install the drain plug (it will almost certainly happen
someday), and again, you want to realize this faux pas when the boat is on
the trailer, rather than after returning from the parking lot and 15-20
minutes has gone by with water entering the bilge.

RG