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[. . . my pickup, trailer and boat all slid backwards until my boat was floating once more, and my exhaust was making bubbling noises.
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Frank, I was lucky that mine only slid enough to dunk the trailer axle, but it sure got my attention! This was one of those days where everything went wrong . . . I was launching by my self, had backed down the ramp, set the rear chocks, but when I released the winch clutch the boat only rolled back 2-3' and I couldn't push it back any further. I discovered that the 20' stern line, which I had uncoiled and run up fwd along gunnel so I could grab it after launching, had fallen off the boat as I was backing down the ramp and was under the trailer tire! [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] So I jump back in truck, pull up enough to free the line, and then then let it roll back against the chocks. There was probably a lot more truck weight up on the chocks than normal, so even though the boat slid off the trailer quickly as I launched it, that brief uplift on the hitch as all the weight shifted to the aft rollers evidently unloaded the rear tires enough to cause it to slide! Lesson learned: 2 chocks aren't always enough if you get careless!
I've used that ramp in Lake Park . . . it's quite a bit steeper than the NPB village ramp, except at low tide, so it's not hard to get in trouble there! Denny