Pet Peeve at boat launches....

[upnorth]

Dan, This incident was a Lake Harriet and it was just a couple of guys, nothing special about them, just inconsiderate. I can overlook the very young and inexperienced and the forgetful older folk. I am guessing these two were in their 40s and didn't seem like newbies to the sport. They actually had it down pretty good putting the motor and such on at the base of the launch, they did it fairly smoothly

[Guest]

I pulled into a local lake last night an saw a lady parked right in front of the boat launch. I stopped about 75 feet from her, got my straps off and got the boat ready. Slowly approached the boat launch to indicate that I wanted to launch my boat. After about 5 minutes waiting for her to move so I can launch the boat, I walked up and politely said "Excuse me mam, can you please move your car so I can get my boat in the water?". She said "There plenty of room!" and mumbled some other stuff. I just smiled and got back into my truck. As so drove off furiously, she yells, "Learn how to drive!". That was my pet peeve yesterday.

[Ely Lake Expert]

Wow, I finally read this thread and all I know is that I am happy I live nowhere near the metro area.

Any "pet peeve" I could imagine has already been listed.

[backlash 1]

It's not just the metro. I saw one on Gull last weekend, 2 docks and 2 ramps between, 1 dock had a trailer launching, the other dock was full with one boat just about ready to leave, and some guy makes a 3rd lane and backs in a empty trailer inbetween. I'm going what da ----??? If he could have waited 2 more minutes either side would have been open.

The wife and I went back the next day with some beer and lawnchairs and watched for about an hour. There's some really funny stuff there, including the kid who had his winch rope tied to the bow eye, of course it was so tight he could'nt get it loose so he pulls out a bic lighter and tries to burn it off, finially one of the people on the dock offered him a knife. Most of the people actually were pretty good though.

[toonfish]

mine is slipped now ...thank god....but earlier in the year at the prior lake north launch....my wife dropped me off to go get the truck...on my walk up all I heard was two punk kids blasting their bass....with f*** this and f**** that lyrics (my kids where still in the boat with mom or there would have been words exchanged)the line was at least 15 truck and trailers deep and they were about 5th.....I went to get my trailer waited in the 15 deep line and finally got a chance to back trailer in....one of these punk kids was still holding the boat on the launch side of the dock...(there was no parking that day) finally I said something and that opened the flood gates for everybody else...I just asked him to move....others were pulling up on boats yelling...so finally he hand pulls the boat to the other side of the dock....people are still pissed....so when his bud shows up from parking the trailer...people unleash on him too...This kid has the nerve to starrt dropping f-bombs on all 30 others at the launch.....hops in his boat just as my wife is pulling towards the trailer....this (Contact US Regarding This Word) decides to buzz everybody....floors it out of the launch....and his bow popped up on him so he couldnt see where he was going...missed my wife and kids by 3-4 ft tops and the wake throws my wife off track from landing the boat...If there would have been a waverunner or jet ski near I might have gone super action hero and tried to use it to follow him and jump a wake into the back of his boat and taken him out with a mid-air karate chop to the skull.....That is my pet-peeve story...to the 16 yr old jerkoff "the world owes you nothing, get over yourself"

[Cooter]

Don't worry toonfish, its good to vent a little every now and then.

[TonkaBass]

I just have to add my 2 cents. I was once guiding a guy from Texas (Insurance agent) who said that he had fished lake fork many times and was an extreme outdoorsman. We got to the launch and he offered to back in my boat that I just bought the March before (Ranger 518SVX w/ 200hp Evinrude). Everything was going well until I signaled for him to pull ahead. I parked my boat on shore and watched as he drilled my tandem trailer right into another guys rig. Since then, I never let my clients back in my boat of drive it!

Guess I should've known better, the year I saw an Am on the bass tour total out his pro's Trailer by driving it onto the wooden fence at the Walker access on Leech Lake!

[nytelyter]

what gets me the most are those who bring their garbage back from a day on the lake and leave it at the landing NOTHING bothers me more than garbage on the landing at my favorite lakes i was always told that you take only pictures and leave only foot prints and i WILL SPEAK my mind to you if i see you littering. the game warden and the local police force are on my speed dial and those that leave baby diapers are the worst i mean you know your baby is gonna go thru a few diapers bring something to take them with when you leave enuff said IF YOU BRING IT WITH TO THE LAKE TAKE IT WITH WHEN YOU LEAVE

[backlash 1]

My wife and I went out fishing this morning. While I was parking the truck she was picking up trash left at the ramp. She lifted the lid of the garbage can to throw in the trash and there sat 2 containers with 2 dozen of the biggest jumbo leaches you could ever want, still in great shape, BONUS!!!

[Kab Dreamin]

Here's my latest experience at the Maxwell Bay launch on Minnetonka.

Last Friday night, my wife, I and the two kids went out to try a little bass action. As I was backing down the ramp, an old guy in a 14' lund comes whipping into the dock, ignoring the no wake signs and parks it on the dock right behind where I am launching even though there were four other spots on the side docks that he could have used. I kept my mouth shut and launched my boat and took it over to a side dock and got it out of the way of the ramp. As I went to back to the truck to pull it off of the ramp, I saw this guy cutting in front of the three boats and two guys with empty trailers waiting their turn for the ramp to clear. As I got in the truck, this guy then proceeded to begin to back down the ramp between my truck & trailer and the dock (I am on the ramp closest to the dock). Just before he hit my truck, I got out and started yelling for him to stop. He couldn't understand what I was upset about. According to him, his boat was tied up to the closest dock so he should be able to go right to the ramp and take his boat out. Under his logic, I was wrong because I had backed down the ramp when his boat was tied up there (even though I was backing down the ramp as he pulled up). Apparently, the world revolves around this guy and everything needs to come to a stop when he is ready to do something. So here we sat with 4 trailers on a three wide ramp and this guy not understanding that (1)he needed to wait in line for his turn (just like everybody else), (2)that I couldn't move my rig until he moved his and that (3)common courtesy is that you keep the dock clear until you have your trailer in the water and are ready to load.

The guy next to me saw what was going on and pulled out so I could pull over onto the middle ramp to get my truck and trailer off of the ramp.

I went and parked and by the time I got back, my wife was chewing this old guy out about courtesy. I didn't say anything to him because I figured he had pretty much suffered enough already.

[EBass]

That's sweet that your wife got into him. That guy had some you know what to pull that off. I love it when it's the 35' cruizer roped to the dock in front of the ramp. You'd think someone who could afford that had common sense. Guess not. Ahh Tonka - it's to be expected along with the people that go between you and the shoreline when you're 50 yards out from the shore.

[buzzsaw]

I love making smart aleck comments to clueless people! They usually are so naive that they don't even understand what you said to them. I was out on Orchard Lake this Saturday slowly working a reed island and this clown comes right at my boat and gets to within six feet and tossed his anchor right by my boat!! I looked at him and said "I guess I was in your spot huh"!! the man didn't even look at me and his buddy put his head down... I just trolled away.......

[John Mickish]

How about this one. A few weeks ago I took a Friday off to go early morning fishing on White Bear Lake. I have a permit to use Motoska park so that's where I go it and out of. Well after a good morning of fishing I head in. Tie the boat up to the side dock and go get the truck. As I'm pulling into the launching lane some guy with a new ski boat pulls into the out lane and then backs up to the dock I was using. There are two docks there and the other one was empty but you would have to use the passenger mirror to launch there.

Well they proceed to pull up to the water and then transfer all of their worldly good from SUV to boat. This all took about 10 minutes. They get the boat in the water then he pulls away to park his truck. I'm still waiting to put my trailer in the water because they haven't moved the boat yet. As the driver walks by he says "sorry".

I got even, as he went by I told him I didn't see the permit sticker on his boat and told him when they check the trailers out his will get towed. Well he didn't have one so they had to reverse the whole process. I ended up using the other dock. Some peoples children.

[efgh]

We went to winnie and were going to launch off the public acess at Eagles nest last sat. nite, there was a brand new Dodge 3/4 ton diesel, no plates, sticker on the window, new Lund 20-1/2 ft. boat with a 150 h.p. motor sitting there ahead of us to launch, they were putting their gear in the boat from the truck, two got in the boat, the woman along was to back the boat in, took her 3 trys to back up 20 ft.they couldn;t get the boat off the bunks by pushing, I suggested, either back in more or start the motor and pull it off, the guy tried to start the motor and discovered the battery was still in the truck box,they held the acess up for 45 min. When they did get the boat going and pulled away from the acess they went 600 ft. and tied up at Eagles nest resort. their is really no excuse for this kind of thing to happen at any acess. Have your boat ready to go, all equipment in launch and free up the acess for the next person. just had to vent a little,P.S. the boat and truck were fron Indiana. I also hope they are readers of this site and reconize them selves.

[WAG416]

A couple more pages of this and I'd say we have enough to get a seperate forum started for boat launches.

I've read everyone of these stories. Keep em comin'

This is a good thread to vent on

WAG

[Shorelunch]

I was on Tonka Saturday morning. It never ceases to amaze me how clueless or inconsiderate some boat drivers are - these are the same people who hold up the launches. These people probably don't know why one side of your nav light is red and the other is green - let alone that they should be turned on sometimes. These people don't know simple right of way, how to pass or cut 20' by your boat. Throw drinking on top of that and you've got even bigger problems.

There should be boat drivers licenses and training (just like when your 16 for driving a car) for anyone operating a boat. They should have classes from trailering, launching and operating a boat. That would eleviate some of these situations.

[efgh]

I don;t think we need any regalations or laws for launching or operating a boat, just common sense and simple courtisy ,just don;t do anything to someone else that would P.Y.O. Don;t get me wrong Shorelunch, your idea is as good as anyone elses, if enough boaters read this thread they will probley get the message, have a good launch next time Shorelunch.

[wmn luv me walleye fearme]

I got a good one but this story is about me. I was out on charlotte in wright county about 5 years ago. I had a 12 foot aluminum boat that I towed with my corolla at the time. Backed down the launch , car running. Bugs all over the place so I rolled up the windows, walked to the back and launched the boat. Then realized I had locked the car. So now i'm blocking the launch, with my car locked and my car running. Lucky for me I had the trunk open. Me and my friend ended up pushing in one of my back seats and bending the metal to unlock the door. (seat was able to bend mostly back)Took about 15 minutes and had about 3 boats backed up on that dirt landing that were all p*ssed off. Lucky for them it was an old car and I didnt mind bending a seat a little

[buzzsaw]

I agree with Shorelunch! Boating is no different than driving a car, people should be taught to do the boating thing correctly and if we all had the same training there would be less BS going on at the ramp but more importantly on the water. I also know firsthand that Shorelunch eats Sheephead.

[Shorelunch]

EFGH,

How are these people going to learn how to correctly operate or launch a boat if they aren't taught? These type of people aren't going to ask someone or sign up for a class. No, I don't believe there should more red tape, but I do believe anyone who buys or drives a boat should be taught how to do so correctly. This could be as simple as a training class at the boat dealer or it could be done by the state.

[Tom Wilson]

Wmn luv,

Well I guess I have to finally chime in since you brought that up. 5 years ago I'm out on Marsh Lake (LacQui Parle) at the Correl Landing the second weekend of Duck season. I had just bought myself a brand new Chevy Silverado complete with automatic door locks. If you've never been there, it's alot like being at the boat lauch on Prior lake or Maxwell Bay on a Saturday afternoon, when the morning hunters start wrapping it up for the day. I had only owned my truck for a week. We finished up our morning hunt, and decided that we would beat the 11:00 rush to the landing. I had my sister and brother in law up from Texas and it was my sister's first hunt. Neither of them had ever backed up a trailer so I had to do it--no big deal. I backed down the ramp and got out to load the boat--it was about 85 degrees so the windows were up and the air conditioning was on. As soon as I got out and turned to walk to the back of the trailer to load the boat...I heard it. CLICK! That's right...Automatic door locks. Designed to go off when you place the car in gear. There I stood dumfounded. I didn't have the spare key that I now carry with me. We were locked out of my brand new truck with the trailer in the water, the access completely blocked, the truck running and the air conditioning on. I had filled up with gas the night before so that wasn't gonna be an issue (I hoped). I didn't get the sliding rear window either.

Within two minutes of this happening here came the first of many boats. This is in the middle of nowhere for you guys that have never been there. There is one house about 400 yards from the landing (the next closest is about 6 miles away) so I decided to go see if anyone was home. (I had no cell phone at that time) Luckily there was someone home, and they were very understanding and helpful. The first call I made was to the local service station in Appleton, It was sunday morning, so I was told that they were closed until tomorrow, and that she could'nt get hold of the tow truck driver. I then used their phone to call the police to come and unlock the door. I walked back to the landing and when I got there I had 3 boats waiting, one of them was pretty ticked off and there was my sister... (well I can't repeat it, but I assure you he didn't say anything else to her). After explaining to the guys what happened they were all forgiving and would wait the short time it would take for the police to get there. 45 minutes later, the homeowner comes over on a tractor and informs me that the police department that I called decided that it wasn't in their jurisdiction, and would not be coming and they called the homeowner back to let them know. The homeowner then called the neighboring department and they would be right there. WHEH!! these guys were getting impatient. There were now 6 boats waiting to get out. The guy that was mad already decided to try and reason with me. You've got insurance right, just throw a rock through the back window, and get off the ramp. I had three issues with this. 1-we were on a 3 day stint and this was the first day. 2-that was my brand new truck...no way! 3-I really didn't care how much longer he had to wait. The other guys I felt really bad about, and apologized profusely to them, and even the hour and half we had already been there seemed to still be understandable. 2 of the guys decided that they wouls just go back out and keep hunting. this now left me with 4 boats, but another was coming across the lake. 20 minutes later the police show up. He doesn't have the tool necessary to get into my vehicle. Back to the homeowners phone. I remembered that I had a deal from Chevrolet that gave me a year of emergency services. After a half hour on the phone with a Chevy dealer and then to that actual place that handled the emergencies, I was confident that it would soon be over. 30 minutes later...yep! homeowner and tractor. "they want your VIN # so they can identify your warranty" Back we went to the homeowners house with the vin #. Then it was another 15 minutes on the phone as the woman wanted me to give her the numbers off of the warranty paperwork that was contained in the glovebox. (This was hard for her to grasp) Anyways, she said that she had what she needed and help would be on the way. 2 hours later a tow truck from Appleton arrived on the scene, turns out that the people from Chevrolet were able to get a hold of him on a Sunday, and from what he told me, it sounded like when he told them what it would cost them, he would be taking the whole week off. finally after 4+ hours it was over, my truck was unlocked and it didn't even overheat. When finally done there were 7 boats that needed to get out, and at least 5 boats still out on the water that didn't even know what happened. Funny thing was that in all of the hassle and aggrevation, and not being sure what we would have to do to fix the problem--we never loaded the boat. By this time, everyone had agreed to let the mad guy go first after me, the funy thing was that after all that time--he still had to wait on me to load the boat.

[buzzsaw]

OH MY GOD!!

[Dave]

I've enjoyed reading all of these posts and that was a good one, Tom. For those that have vehicles equipped with this type of auto-lock system, I believe you can deprogram it. Read the vehicle's owner manual.

[Tom Wilson]

It was done the day I got home from that trip!

[katoguy]

I would have put the rock through your window for you. Definitely.

[GoodToGo]

I was up at Rainy by myself a couple of weeks ago. The ramp was busy when I went to pull my boat. I felt kind of bad, you can only make it happen so fast when you're by yourself. The boat ahead of me was out of the water, but the truck was still in front of the ramp. Three guys were standing around saying "where's Bob?" or whoever, the guy had the keys and was no where to be found. I was able to back my trailer in at an angle to get behind their boat and into the water. I was kind of glad at their incompetence, it gave me some cover for tying up the launch a little bit myself.

[Swimmer]

Just your typical forgot to put the plug in story. Busy metro area ramp. Proud of myself for my loading/unloading efficiency. Backed her in just right, grabbed rope, moved boat deeper (so others could load in front of me), tied it up, and ran back to the truck to move it/park -- took about 50 seconds in all. Problem was...some jackA with no trailer parked in the close spots. So I parked about 100 yds away. As I was walking to dock, some kid came running up..."mister, you better hurry". Of course it was too late. My boat was up to the gunwales in water. Food, tackle boxes, ect. floating around. I didn't really know what to do, so I kind of started laughing. Others waiting then kind of opened up and had a laugh at my expense. While they could still launch, barely, I sure didn't make it any easier. Anyway, a couple of kind hearted kids gave me a hand actually lifting the boat slightly up (to clear the gunwhales of the water line) while I ran the bilge pump. With the batteries, wires, ect. completely submerged I couldn't beleive that thing ran perfectly. About 20 minutes later I was dry! Gave a lot of people a laugh that day. Remember, you won't beleive how fast that sucker will fill up with water...although I'm sure some of you do.

[Tuber]

I ran across one of my pet peeves on Sunday at a North Metro lake this past Sunday. As we were pulling out of the lake and putting the transom straps on, a car pulled into one of the boat trailer parking spaces. He proceeded to unload a family, a cooler and lawn chairs and walk toward the park. My wife kindly asked him if he knew he was in a parking space that was for boat trailer parking. The person proceeded to tell my wife that he would move out of the boat trailer parking lot when another space opened up in the car parking area. He also mentioned that it was really none of her business. This didn't sit to well, so she called the appropriate people at the non-emergency number to have them take care of the "person that doesn't have to abide by the rules". Sadly I missed the whole thing behind the boat. My better half is pretty good about not taking guff from anyone, especially someone that is clearly in the wrong. One last note, as we pulled out, we noticed that the north lot was half empty. The guy just didn't want to walk to far with his cooler and lawn chairs.

[montanagriz]

Here's a classic...I was at the Fish Lake launch in Maple Grove a couple weeks ago where I witnessed probably the 2 worst consecutive launches I have ever seen in my life.

Launch #1 - So after waiting close to 2 hours to get into the park (all the trailer spots were full), I finally pull up right before the ramp to take off my straps, unplug the trailer lights, remove the safety chain, etc. As I was doing this, a guy probably in his early 30's with slicked back hair with his hot wife pulls along side me in a brand new, black Yukon Denali with 20" chrome rims with a Jet Ski. He asks me if I am waiting to launch my boat and I tell him yes. He then says, "You mind if I go ahead while you are getting your boat ready?" So I'm thinking... sure, why not, there is nobody around right now and he'll be in and out real quick with his jet ski anyway. So the guy goes ahead and backs his rig down to the water. Meanwhile, I pull up above the ramp and am ready to back in as soon as this guy is done. Fish Lake has a decent ramp, although it's a little tight for 2 boats launching at the same time, so I just figure I'd wait...I mean he has a jet ski, so it shouldn't take long right? Wrong...I couldn't see what he was doing, but after 5 minutes or so, I just decided to launch along side him even though it was going to be a tight fit. As I back the boat in the water, I look over and the wife is in the driver's seat and the guy is sitting on his jet ski (which is still on the trailer by the way) reading his owner's manual I'm thinking to myself, is this guy serious?? I was by myself, so I quickly drop my boat in, beach it, and go park my truck. When I get back to my boat, the guy is still sitting there reading his manual like he's got all the time in the world. Eventually, the wife starts getting impatient, and starts yelling, "what do you want me to do!" The guy yells back, "Just hang on a minute!!!!" He then starts yelling at her to back it up...and boy did she do just that. The guy was trying to get the jet ski to slip off the trailer, and he must not have thought he was deep enough. At this point the tailpipe of the Denali is completely submerged and the water line is over the bumper. Any farther and the water is going to start rushing in the through the rear door. He finally gets the jet ski off and the wife pulls up just in time. I would say the whole ordeal lasted more than 20 minutes. Thank God nobody was waiting in line or there might have been a fight. But I'm not done....So I get in my boat and am waiting a several feet from the dock as I plug in my graph and turn my radio on when the guy in the jet ski takes off full speed no more than 4 feet from my boat in the no-wake zone. I have a big boat, so it's not like he was going to swamp me, but I mean come on. So I say, "Thanks" and give him a wave as he flies by and looks back at me with a confused look on his face like, "What did I do?" This guy was the probably most oblivious person I have ever seen in my life.

Launch #2 - After I got my electronics up and running I noticed my neighbor and his family were sitting in the grass near the landing, so I decided to beach my boat next to his and go talk to him. As we are talking, this guy and his young son launch their boat and have it hooked to a short rope. After they launch, they pull it around to the front of the dock and I assume were going to jump in and head out into the lake. Well, that would the logical thing to do.....but they went with plan B. I see them began to swing the boat directly behind my new 18' Lund Explorer, which is beached next to the dock. My neighbor and I then decided to walk down to see what this guy is trying to do. At this point I can't figure out where he is going because my neighbor's boat is beached right next to mine...there was nowhere to squeeze his in. As I step on the dock he mumbles something to me I couldn't understand (he barely spoke English) and proceeds to hop into the back of my boat, barely holding on to the end of his short rope. I say to him, "Sir, what are you doing, why are you in my boat." He then walks to the other side of my boat, jumps in the water, climbs into the back of my neighbor's brand new Ranger, walks to the other side of it, jumps in the water and pulls his boat on to shore. The whole time he narrowly misses bumping his boat into both of ours. My neighbor and I look at each other in disbelief and my neighor says to the guy, "Did you get it alright??" The guy again mumbles something we didn't understand and then starts fiddling with his boat.

I couldn't believe these 2 unbelievable launches happened consecutively. Let's just say it was an experience I won't soon forget.

[katoguy]

Tuber - so did the appropriate non-emergency number make the guy move? What phone number would a person call?

This is my pet peeve, also. There are signs clearly marked stating that accesses are for parking watercraft trailers only. (Not sure of exact wording) I think the signs refer to the statute.