Ramp etiquette for a newbie

[Bandit1]

Sounds to me like your son was faster at getting your truck than that guys partner was & he must have thought you should have waited on them. Which I don't see why you should have to. Even if they were driving down the parking lot & he had room to get out in front of them safely. Just my thought. But you did nothing wrong. You can't help it if they are slow or parked much farther away. Just enjoy the day fishing & don't worry about it. They will get over it, whatever it was that they THOUGHT you did wrong.

Jason

P.S. Welcome to the board. A real good bunch of guys on here.

[DJD]

Welcome aboard!

[Duayne]

You say they had drivers are were tied up to both sides of the docks? It's one thing to tie up if you are by yourself, they are the ones that need to be muttered at if they had drivers and were taking up dock/ramp space..

[markmac60]

Nothing wrong as far as I can see. Two other points that a lot of people screw up on though. 1. At night, turn headlights off when backing down the ramp and leave them off while loading. Keep parking light on though. 2. Load your stuff from the truck to the boat before you get in the ramp line. Once boat is on the trailer, get out of the way before loading from the boat to the truck. Welcome aboard.

[Col Forbin]

You say they had drivers are were tied up to both sides of the docks? It's one thing to tie up if you are by yourself, they are the ones that need to be muttered at if they had drivers and were taking up dock/ramp space..

This is dead on - the only time I every tie up to a dock, is if I am by myself, or if my wife is with me (she wants no part in backing the truck or operating the boat). Sounds like you did nothing wrong at all. Common sense and common courtesy go a long way at the boat ramp, a great deal of people are lacking one or both of those.

Welcome!

[mhall]

You say they had drivers are were tied up to both sides of the docks? It's one thing to tie up if you are by yourself, they are the ones that need to be muttered at if they had drivers and were taking up dock/ramp space..

Only time I ever tie to the courtesy dock is if I'm by my lonesome.

[DYNATRAK]

Only time I ever tie to the courtesy dock is if I'm by my lonesome.

ditto. and even then sometimes i can unload/load quicker than the others.

[stoner]

Sounds to me like your son was faster at getting your truck than that guys partner was & he must have thought you should have waited on them. Which I don't see why you should have to. Even if they were driving down the parking lot & he had room to get out in front of them safely. Just my thought. But you did nothing wrong. You can't help it if they are slow or parked much farther away. Just enjoy the day fishing & don't worry about it. They will get over it, whatever it was that they THOUGHT you did wrong.

Jason

P.S. Welcome to the board. A real good bunch of guys on here.

Ditto, and welcome aboard!

[basshuntin]

Sounds to me like you didnt do anything wrong at all. Thats pretty much the way my partner and I do it all the time. One thing you should be careful of though,,,if your night fishing and pulling your boat on the trailer,,,,make sure its your trailer that your pulling up on!! I admit I tried to pull on the wrong trailer once at the end of a night tourney. The guy drivin the truck got a kick out of it. He just stepped out of his truck and asked if I minded till he took his boat home before he came back and got me. Hey , it was the same model and color truck and the trailer was a good fit!!

[DYNATRAK]

now that's funny right there.

nice segway into the funny ramp stories that everyone has. i swear, it'd be worth it to just get an ale-8, pull up a lawn chair and just watch folks at the ramp. just some seriously funny stuff that goes on.

husband yellin' at the wife to 'line it up'.

the guy that forgets to flip the switch on the tow ratchet and the boat comes halfway off the bunk on the way up the ramp.

the hurry up and go guy that forgets to put the plug in and starts takin on water right at the ramp.

good stuff for sure.

[bmck25]

Sounds to me like you didnt do anything wrong at all. Thats pretty much the way my partner and I do it all the time. One thing you should be careful of though,,,if your night fishing and pulling your boat on the trailer,,,,make sure its your trailer that your pulling up on!! I admit I tried to pull on the wrong trailer once at the end of a night tourney. The guy drivin the truck got a kick out of it. He just stepped out of his truck and asked if I minded till he took his boat home before he came back and got me. Hey , it was the same model and color truck and the trailer was a good fit!!

LOL! I have done the same thing. I will admit though it was because I have bad eyes. Now my partner blinks a flashlight at me to help me out.