On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:33:33 -0400, "William Andersen"
wrote:

The dock is not adjacent to the launch ramps I use; you have to drive the
boat from the trailer to the dock to park your tow vehicle or pick up your
crew.
If I have crew, I get to board the boat while trailered and turn on the vent
blower. When the trailer is backed down the ramp, I start the engine and
lower the drive. When the engine's idling and I'm reasonably sure it won't
stall, I release the winch safety chain and strap and back off the trailer
and over to the dock. While the crew turns on and checks all the electronics
I park the tow vehicle.
If I'm alone, I have to get my feet wet to get into the boat once the
trailer's backed up. Once at the dock, I have to run back and park the tow
vehicle.
I normally only use a bow and stern line as the boat is seldom tied up for
more more than 45 minutes when unattended. I normally only use two fenders.
I have three more lines available for tieing up or alongside towing, 200' of
tow line for stern towing, a pair of fenders on a three foot line to use as
walking fenders -usually to protect other boats from my ski tower, and five
more fenders to protect hulls.
All of my lines have an eye at one end. When tieing up at a dock, the eye
goes on my cleat. If tieing up with another boat, they get the eye and I
keep the bitter end so that I can untie if necessary.
I don't use any caribiners because I consider them a danger to fingers.


"HK" wrote in message
...
wrote:
On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:29:43 -0400, John H.
wrote:

do you add extra lines to the bow ring and another to the stern ring, or
do
you use the bow and stern dock lines on the boat?

I generally launch and retrieve alone
I have a fairly long utility line on my boat for various uses. Snap on
one end, eye spliced in the other.When launching I put the eye over a
cleat on the boat, coil the line loosely on the deck and snap the
other end on the winch crossbar. Then when the boat rolls off I can
swing the snapped end over to a couple dock posts and tie it off to
the stern cleat. You never "lose" the boat that way. Even if the stern
gets away from you, you still have a line on the
boat. If I see the wind is going to fight me I will attach a long
stern line and tie it off to the dock "down ramp" a ways before I roll
off the boat so I can pull it in after launching.
I assume the rules are different at a busy public ramp but we have a
private ramp in our neighborhood and most of the time I never see
another soul when I launch or recover. Even so this still goes pretty
fast.


What you are doing isn't much different from what I do, except I tie off
the bow and stern. The long lines help where I launch because the finger
pier next to the ramp is long, and I can tie off the boat where I want it
to be for launch and retrieval. The ramp is about 20' wide, and I always
launch and retrieve in its center.


I think being unafraid to get your feet wet is a key to efficient launching
and retrieval operations. A pair of beat up sandals are great for both
operations.