When it comes to enjoying a fun day on the water, nothing beats hauling your boat out of the garage and heading to the lake. Whether you are heading out to fish or carrying the family for some sun and skiing, boating is just plain fun.
Getting to the lake or bay in your boat should not be a problem. After all, you have probably had a boat for some time and have plenty of experience at the wheel of your truck or SUV towing a boat.
But experience is no guarantee for attention. “Ah, what is that,” you say? That’s right, even the most experienced among us boat enthusiasts get complacent in our confidence. And towing a boat surely ranks at the top of the list for what I like to call, towing miscues.
If there is one thing I have learned over the years in boating, is that if I fail to pay attention at what I am doing, I usually pay for it. Ignoring some of the smallest details of life can be pretty costly, and I will tell you here and now, towing a boat is not one of the smaller details of life.
I have observed at boat ramps frequent mishaps over how people handle trailers. Probably the most common is the inability of some folks to know how to back up a trailer. This skill leads to all sorts of wonderful boating experiences for folks. Now some you are already thinking, “I never have a problem backing up my trailer,” as if the word “never” was an absolute. Almost everyone runs into backing problem, especially early on in their boating, ah, career.
Backing up a boat should always be done with a spotter. This is not just to help you navigate, but every boat and trailer generates some blind spots that could result in a calamity. A spotter, and one that is not too timid to shout out directions, will keep you from trouble. It will help the spotter if you roll down your windows. I have seen plenty of spotters shouting their lungs out, while the driver, oblivious to the hazard and enjoying the latest booming musical selection, piles into the boat behind him. Such an incident would be a miscue. After all, experienced boaters never make that type of mistake. (Take the previous sentence as a figure of speech).
If you are new to boating and the handling of trailers, take time to practice in some big empty parking lot. I know, you probably haven’t practiced driving since your father, in a rite of adolescent passage, put you behind the wheel before getting your driver’s license. You will avoid all sorts of future unpleasantries if you become proficient in backing up a boat and trailer before getting to the boat ramp.
One of the most common towing miscues is very similar to the experience boaters enjoy when they fail to put in their boat’s drain plugs. This miscue is the one that includes failing to properly latch your trailer to the hitch.
Amazingly, just hooking a trailer to a hitch does not complete the process. Although in the minds of the unfortunate, it does for some unknown reason. In these cases, the miscue results in a boat and trailer careening down the road without its required tow vehicle. While most boat owners will never reveal this to happen to them, nor are statistics compiled for this reality, it does happen. Sometimes, the boat manages to stay on the hitch, and relieves itself as the boat is tilted and backed down the launch ramp; thus launching the boat, and its attached trailer into the water. While entertaining to observers, this is just a horrendous experience to the boat owner, whose mind must now try to figure out why his tow vehicle seems so much more powerful.
Another observation from my experience in towing is that boat owners, especially those with years of boating experience, fail to keep in mind the condition of their trailers and trailer tires. After all, you could think, if the boat and trailer worked for the last ten years without mishap, it will surely work again.
Tires age. Just as we do. That means that even if they have never suffered a flat, exposure to air and the environment will cause them to degenerate. Few things in boating can end a day, before the boat hits the water, faster than a flat tire on a trailer. For some unknown reason, trailers do not often come with a spare tire, or even a jack. While it is true that a boat trailer tire could unexpectedly fail as a result of some road hazard or nail, many times the tires are just rotten.
A flat tire or sudden blowout on a trailer can result in one of those other major life issues that can discourage future boating events in a person’s life.
Trailers handle and brake poorly without their wheels, which should be a warning not to drive too fast. Many boaters, mistakenly think that just because their tow vehicle can do 90 mph, that trailers are designed for such speeds.
The reality is even more amazing. Your tow vehicle isn’t designed to pull at those speeds either. Most manufacturers are very specific on speed regarding towing. So too are the trailer manufacturers. Exceeding their guidelines substantially increases the costs that you will bear in an accident. All of this is easily avoided by keeping your trailer in good shape and reading your tow vehicle’s owner’s manual. While owner’s manuals may have as many pages as War and Peace, you really need to check it out.
Closely associated with driving too fast while towing, is braking. Driving is such a familiar experience that many boat owners forget that the distance they need to stop while towing a boat is much greater than normal. In all cases, tow vehicles, even when the trailer is equipped with trailer brakes, need much more room to stop. While the extra stopping distances are not a problem for drivers on the Bonneville Salt Flats, driving too close to another vehicle does qualify as a miscue in traffic in most towns. Considering the number of pickup trucks I’ve seen with less than perfect grills and front bumpers, this miscue is quite common.
Manufactures of boat trailers try to keep trailers simple to use and as durable as possible. But trailer maintenance is not usually well understood by the boating public. There are few trailer repair shops in most towns. So, the maintenance is up to us users. That means checking for all sorts of stuff. If you have a trailer that is made of ungalvanized steel, and you frequent saltwater environs, your trailer started rusting to oblivion the first day you launched your boat. The process is slower when boats are used in freshwater locations, but rust the trailer will.
Remarkably, rust seems to weaken most trailers. This doesn’t seem to faze some “experienced” boat owners, but if on the road you see a rusted trailer on a vehicle in front of you, give him lots and lots of space. Frame failures do occur with trailers, and tow vehicles are not designed to drag a trailerless boat to the lake without some difficulty.
Experience boat owners know that the first priority of any boat and trailer combination is to be sure that the boat and trailer remain good partners. That is, the boat should stay with the trailer at all times when on the road. While it is hard to fathom, for some reason, boat owners often fail to strap their boat to its partner, the trailer, in a way to make the partnership last.
While the boat may be attached at its bow, the stern is often left to fend for itself when left unattended without its tie down straps. A miscue results when the trailer hits a bump and the boat relocates itself on the trailer. This shifting mass can damage the boat and trailer and an angry boat may shake itself loose to escape, much like an unchained dog through a hole in the fence.
Clearly, trailering miscues are common, and space prevents me from adding more, but that doesn’t mean I have captured them all. Those of you reading this may be reminded of other trailering mis-adventures and we would like to hear from you.
The best part of any boating experience begins with safety and preparation. Towing is part of that experience, and in many ways, the most important part.