"Bob Whitaker" wrote in message
om...
Sandy wrote:

How do you get the boat back on the trailer and
then get the trailer back on the hitch ball?

You basically reverse the process... The trick is that the trailer
needs to be designed with this use in mind. It also helps if the ramp
flattens out at the top so you don't have to block the trailer wheels
while on the ramp. To retrieve the boat, you launch the empty trailer
attached to the rope, until it sinks out of sight (as when you lauched
the boat)...



I would advise extreme caution when using this technique!

You will be backing the trailer a LOT farther down the ramp than most boats
would need to go. I would make sure that the ramp extends that far before
you attempted this. If your trailer reaches the end of the ramp and the
wheels fall off the pavement you may not be able to pull the trailer back
up!

I would also advise using either chain, large nylon tow strap or a very
large rope for this process. It could be disastrous if the rope broke while
you were trying to pull the boat up the ramp.

I witnessed such an operation one time at a reservoir (Lake Havasu). A boat
had launched without first putting in the drain plug. By the time the owner
realized his mistake the boat had considerable amount of water in it. He
was able to get the plug in and keep the boat from sinking, but apparently
didn't have a bilge pump. Rather than bail he decided to put the boat back
on the trailer to drain the water out.

With the boat so heavily loaded with water he was not able to back the
trailer far enough into the water to float the boat on. The solution was to
disconnect the trailer from the tow vehicle and lower it deeper into the
water with a rope. They used ski line, which was a very bad idea. The
backing of the trailer into the water went okay. When they started to pull
the boat out of the water things went bad very fast. The excessive weight
of the boat, trailer and water caused the rope to break about the time they
had managed to get the rig just a few feet clear of the water. Now
unrestricted on its decent to the water it hit with considerable force, and
angle, which caused the water to surge up over the stern, sinking it
completely.

Now they had a sunken boat on a trailer on a paved ramp that extended a LONG
ways (this was in spring, when the water level is high, and the ramp extends
very deep to accommodate the fall when the water level can be very low).
The end result was that the submerged rig rolled past the end of the ramp
and off into the middle of the lake, requiring specialized diving equipment
(because of the depth) to retrieve it.

Rod