AN UPHILL BATTLE; IF YOU'RE CARELESS, BOAT RAMPS CAN GIVE SINKING FEELING.Byline: Jeremy Bagott Latitude 34 Martha Wetmore has seen the human misery caused by floating a boat off a rubber and steel platform. From her perch at the boat house at Lake Havasu Landing Resort, which she manages, Wetmore has just about seen it all. ``A few years ago,'' she said, ``a man was yelling at his wife at the boat launch. He was having trouble launching his boat and he was taking it out on her.'' Finally, said Wetmore, he barked at her to get in the car and park it and the trailer. She got in the car all right, and drove it straight back to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . ``I have no idea how he or the boat got home. I guess he had friends,'' said Wetmore. While most boat-ramp dramas are less melodramatic, the ramps on any given weekend at local lakes, places like Castaic, Pyramid, Casitas and Piru, can look like the 101-405 transition at rush hour, but they don't have to. Most boat-ramp bottlenecks, say marina managers, are caused by avoidable delays. A few skills, some common sense and a little etiquette and your trailer rig won't be someone else's ball and chain. Lake Perris Lake Perris State Recreation Area, or simply Lake Perris, is a reservoir that was completed in 1973. It is the southern terminus of the California State Water Project. It is situated in a mountain-rimmed valley between Moreno Valley, and Perris. , near Riverside, with its steeper ramps sees its share of problems. ``Five times this summer big RVs have gone out to the ramps, backed their boats up and the entire RV and boat have gone in,'' said Nick Cuda, store manager at Lake Perris and unofficial chronicler of trailering tales. ``The RVs are so heavy and the ramp is so steep that the tires lock and the RVs go under. They need to be towed out and usually sustain flooding damage and water in the gas tank, and that's just the RV. There is usually damage to the boat as well.'' The most common boat ramp problems can be classified as followed: Inexperienced boaters who haven't learned to properly back a boat up to a boat launch, and disorganized dis·or·gan·ize tr.v. dis·or·gan·ized, dis·or·gan·iz·ing, dis·or·gan·iz·es To destroy the organization, systematic arrangement, or unity of. boaters, who waste your time loading supplies, fiddling with motors, drain plugs, Porta Potties and anything else they can think of at the launch ramp instead of in the parking lot or at home. ``One of the things I see happen,'' said Gordon Dumbeck, a sales associate at Newport Boats Sea Ray in Oxnard, ``is people putting their boats in the water after forgetting to put their drain plugs in.'' For the uninitiated un·in·i·ti·at·ed adj. Not knowledgeable or skilled; inexperienced. n. An uninformed, unskilled, or inexperienced person or group of people. , trailerable boats usually have drain plugs at the base of their transoms. The plus is removed when the boat is taken out of the water. If the plugs aren't in when the boat is launched the next time, you have water coming into the cockpit and delays as boaters scramble to get the bow tied to the trailer or stand with a finger in the proverbial dike Dike, in Greek religion and mythology Dike: see Horae. dike, in technology dike, in technology: see levee. dike Bank, usually of earth, constructed to control or confine water. while said boater's wife fishes around in the glove compartment glove compartment n. A small storage container in the dashboard of an automobile. Also called glove box. glove compartment Noun a small storage area in the dashboard of a car Noun . ``I tell new boat owners to make a checklist,'' said Dumbeck. Stage the boat in the parking lot and go through it. Most things can be done before you put your boat in the water.'' Dumbeck also tells novices trailering to take a morning off during the week, drive to the nearest boat ramp and practice backing the trailer when the place is empty. ``If you have a truck or SUV,'' he says, ``lower the tailgate A conversion layer that lets IDE devices connect to the IEEE 1394 Firewire interface. or raise the back hatch while you back the trailer in, so you can see things directly. It'll make you less reliant on the mirrors, which can be confusing.'' And while most damage at boat launches is limited to lost tempers and missed fishing opportunities, major expense lurks around the corner. One recurring problem at Lake Havasu, says Wetmore, is boaters who fail to properly secure the boat trailer to the vehicle. The boat and the trailer go down into the water without the car. Sometimes the boat floats the trailer. Sometimes the trailer wants to turn turtle. Sometimes everything sinks to the bottom. ``The trailer will go down the ramp beautifully,'' said Wetmore. ``Hopefully someone's around who can help them fish it out and secure it to the vehicle. A lot of people get in a hurry and forget things, and it's not just the beginners.'' ``I'd say three times a summer, someone will lose their brakes and the vehicle, boat and trailer will all go in,'' said Wetmore. When an elderly couple, who had never been on the water before, untrailered a boat and proceeded to plow into her gas dock at full throttle Full Throttle can refer to:
``You have to exercise common sense,'' she says. ``If this means practicing backing your boat into your driveway, do it. And it never hurts to ask for help if you lack the skills or knowledge. ``Some of the things we see could be on `America's Funniest Home Videos America's Funniest Home Videos (often simply abbreviated to AFV, previously AFHV), is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. .' We have people in the boat house who put chairs out and judge boaters on 1-to-10 scale. Some days, it's the best ticket in town.'' And the entertainment isn't limited to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, waters. Al Golden of Baltimore was calling on a marina in southern Maryland Southern Maryland in popular usage is composed of the state's southernmost counties on the "Western Shore." This region includes all of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties and southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties. and waiting for the owner while he described operating procedures to some people who had just purchased an outboard runabout from him. They had already launched the boat, and moved the trailer, and the brand-new station wagon to which it was hitched, to a parking lot above the ramp. ``We began our conversation,'' said Golden, ``while watching the ladies go out for a little spin. As they came back toward the launching ramp, we could see the operator trying to the get the motor to shift, but had apparently forgotten the part about throttling back before attempting to shift. Her steering was absolutely perfect though, and she hit the ramp dead-center. The boat continued up the ramp and impaled her beautiful new wagon about dead-center.'' BALL AND CHAIN The boat trailer leads a hard life. How to increase its longevity: Repack Re`pack´ v. t. 1. To pack a second time or anew; as, to repack beef; to repack a trunk. s> wheel bearings and check break linings. Shake frame for loose hardware. Inspect hitch cup and ball contact. Test trailer lights and turn signals, check tires for dry rot dry rot, fungus disease that attacks both softwood and hardwood timber. Destruction of the cellulose causes discoloration and eventual crumbling of the wood. and bald spots, inflate tires to recommended pressure. Apply waterproof grease to winch winch, mechanical device for hauling or lifting consisting essentially of a movable drum around which a cable is wound so that rotation of the drum produces a drawing force at the end of the cable. bearings, gears and lock, keel-roller assembly, bracket pivots and all other moving parts Moving parts are the components of a device that undergo continuous or frequent motion, most commonly rotation. "Parts" only include the mechanical components which does not include fuel, or any other gas or liquid. . Check safety chain; replace if it's worn anywhere. Follow manufacturer guidelines. CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box PHOTO (1) Ramp backups can be avoided if boaters do their prep and load work at home or in the parking lot before heading into the water. (2) These boaters are breaking a cardinal rule: loading their boat in the water. (3) Bad ramp etiquette can lead to two-hour backups such as this one at Castaic lake Castaic Lake is a lake on Castaic Creek formed by Castaic Dam, in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, near the town of Castaic. The 323,700 acre foot lake (399,000,000 m³) is the terminus of the West Branch of the California Aqueduct, though some comes from the 154 mi² . Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News BOX: Ball and chain (see text) |
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