Woody Allen once said that 80 percent of success is just showing up. And while it’s tough to overestimate the value of being there, sometimes getting there is a major hurdle, especially if it involves trailering a boat.

There seems to be almost as many stories about trailering mishaps as there are about big fish catches. Like the lunker stories, most of the trailer stories seem to grow in stature over the years, even though the tellers seldom show the same pride as the guys with the big fish.

I’ve often thought that you could spend a pretty enjoyable Memorial Day at the local boat ramp. Set up a folding chair and a big cooler with some icy beverages and you’ll soon be entertained by all manner of boating mishaps as casual boater after casual boater launches without the drain plug, without unhooking the trailer straps or with the bow line still attached.

The problem with these faux pas is that we’ve all done them. What follows are the tales of a few unfortunate anglers and their worst fishing nightmares. With luck, they’ll never happen to you.

Tows the Boat Like It’s Not Even There!

Bass tournament legend Zell Rowland is not only great with a topwater bait, he’s also a master when it comes to finding adventure in a mundane task like towing a boat to the lake. Rowland isn’t known by friends and peers as the “Master of Disaster” for nothing. In more than 30 years of professional fishing, he’s proved Murphy’s Law — if something can go wrong, it will — over and over again.

One of Rowland’s most dramatic misadventures occurred near Lake Mead in Nevada.

“I was in seventh place at the U.S. Open and on my way to the lake with my partner.” Rowland said. “As we were heading toward the ramp in my van with the boat in tow, we had to go through a tight ‘S’ curve and then up a steep hill. You could see the lake below as we were driving.

“Well, we had just gotten through the ‘S’ curve and started up the hill when I turned to my buddy and said, ‘Man, this van pulls this boat so good you can hardly tell it’s back there.’ That was also about the time that I looked in the side mirror and realized that the boat wasn’t behind me anymore. All I could see were the headlights from the other vehicles behind us.”

As a veteran of more than one boating disaster, Rowland was able to collect himself enough to tell his partner is his deep, slow Texas drawl, “You’re not going to like this, but ….”

They got turned around and headed back down the serpentine road, looking for the boat and trailer all the while. It turned out that they had come off the hitch and struck a bluff wall.

“The trailer looked like a Coke can that had been stomped on with your foot,” Rowland said. “The boat had slid off into a ravine. It was a total mess. My partner asked, ‘What are we gonna do now?’”

Rowland, ever the adapter, decided there was only one thing to do.

“I told him that we might as well go fishing,” Rowland said. “I left my partner to get our gear out of the boat and headed back to Las Vegas to find another. I backed up to the first one I could find and towed it to the lake. This time I got there without losing it!”

Ramp Woes, Part I

A few springs ago, the author was on a photo shoot at a Mississippi reservoir with an outdoor photographer intent on getting some good shots of big largemouth bass. After launching, we were just about to pull away from the courtesy dock when we noticed another boat backing down the ramp, one of the anglers already perched behind the console.

Well, they were headed precariously toward the edge of the ramp and a nasty rut that had claimed more than its fair share of trailer axles, so we began screaming and waving to attract the attention of the man behind the console. Fortunately, he heard us and signaled the driver to stop before pushing the trailer off the edge of the ramp.

Disaster averted, right? Not quite. All would have been well for these guys except that the driver felt the need to step on the gas a little too hard as he ascended the steep ramp to change his angle and, you guessed it, the boat slid right off the trailer and onto the concrete ramp.

It landed with a sickening “thud” and “crunch,” and the guy behind the console was pretty shaken up, though not as much for the bounce he took as the damage that was done to his boat and motor.

It took eight strong men, a winch and a patient driver to get the rig back on the trailer, but I bet that’s the last time that angler waxed his bunk boards!

Ramp Woes, Part II

If you think getting there and getting launched means you’re out of the woods, you need to talk with Zell Rowland. In the late 1980s, Rowland was pulling one of the first enclosed trailers on the market. The rig was like a house for his bass boat and offered all sorts of storage and a great look.

On this particular day, Rowland was practicing for a tournament with fellow pro Rob Kilby, who had never seen an enclosed trailer before and wanted to drive the boat up into it at the end of the day. What happened after Kilby got the boat into the trailer is the stuff of nightmares and legends.

“Everything was fine as I pulled up the ramp until I heard a loud “bam!” and looked back to see that my trailer — with my boat and Rob inside — had separated from the hitch and was headed back down the ramp at about 20 mph!

“It hit the water so hard that I swear there were four foot waves coming from it. Rob had no idea what was going on,” Rowland explained

Kilby quickly realized that the trailer was no longer connected to the tow vehicle and that he was floating — boat, trailer and all — away from the ramp. To make matters worse, the only things keeping him afloat were the air in the trailer tires, the insulated trailer walls and the boat itself. The trailer was resting on the bow pedestal seat!

As Kilby came to his senses, he stuck his head out of the trailer and asked Rowland if he should jump out and swim to shore.
“Heck no!” Rowland said. “I need you to start up the engine and drive that whole thing up on the ramp.”

That’s exactly what Kilby did. But this time, after Rowland replaced the hitch pin and was ready to pull the rig out of the water, Kilby made very sure he wasn’t inside for the ride.

Adventures in the Passing Lane

A friend from Georgia who insists on remaining nameless endured one of the most harrowing trailering incidents you’ll ever hear. He had just spent a long day chasing spotted bass on Lake Lanier and was headed for home with his bass boat behind him … at least for most of the way.

“I was cruising down this busy divided highway, and everything seemed to be OK,” he said. “I started down a long hill and was probably driving a little faster than I should have been, so I took my foot off the gas pedal. Next thing I know, my boat and trailer were passing me in the left lane!”

My friend was lucky — sort of. The usually busy road was nearly deserted.

“I watched in absolute terror as this unguided missile of a boat and trailer went across the median, into the oncoming lane of traffic and down the embankment on the far side. I didn’t even care that the boat came off the trailer and landed upside-down or that it managed to break most of my rods in the process.

“I was just glad nobody got killed!”

And that’s probably as good a standard for a successful trailering effort as any we might come up with. These stories offer some valuable lessons in proper hitching and launching practices, and such scares can make even the most battle weary boater sit up and take extra care the next time he hooks up his trailer. But the truth may be that if we fish and boat long enough all of us will eventually have a story or two to tell.

If we’re lucky, we’ll get to spend a lot more time laughing about them than crying.

Trailering Club Gets You There, Back And Much More

Well, to make a long story short, after one of my best days fishing on the Delaware Bay out of Longreach Marina, in Bivalve, New Jersey, me and my fishing buddy were on the way home thinking nothing could ruin an excellent day. (I trailer my boat from Pennsylvania to New Jersey). Then, I looked back to check the wheels of the trailer and spotted something wrong with one of the wheels.

We stopped and found that the axel was about to break. We limped along only to have it get worse. When we pulled off the road into a parking lot the wheel fell off. Looking the situation over, I didn’t continue and rely on the other axel because it seemed bad also. So I called BoatU.S. Trailering Club and told them of my situation.

Oh, I forgot to mention this was Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. I never thought I would get the treatment I got.

Thank you BoatU.S. Trailering Club!

Your people were so helpful in finding me a tractor trailer to tow my boat and trailer home that night. (And by the way, the other axel also broken.)

They had to load me on a low bed and tow my boat and trailer home. BoatU.S. found me a towing company and even picked up the bill which I know had to be a healthy one. They were so helpful and courteous. I have nothing but praise for the nice voice on the other end of my phone conversations.

I’m truly sorry I forgot the name of the young lady from Florida who was on the phone for them, but if they look at their records they should be able to find out who she was and tell her thanks again for me.

Well, BoatU.S., you made me a believer again. I’ve been a member for a long time but had to quit for a year to do some work on my boat and rejoined in September 2007.

Sure glad I did. Thank you once again.

Sincerely,
Kevin Murphy
Coatesville, PA

P.S. Join the Trailering Club at BoatU.S. ANGLER!

Do your safety checks and carry extra bearings and tires and JOIN the Trailering Club at BoatU.S. It is well worth it. They give you peace of mind on the road and water!

Editor’s Note: For more information on BOATU.S.’s Trailering Club, call 866-906-0013 or visit www.BoatUSAngler.com/trailering.

Copyright 2010 Bass Club Digest.

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