Issue 25 : Jul/Aug 2002
One of the most vivid recollections of my childhood is of a boat launching at a local public ramp. A young man and his attractive girlfriend arrived in his new convertible with the top down, pulling a sleek Thistle sailboat on a trailer. While he was launching the boat, his swim-suited girlfriend stood around attracting attention and probably distracting him. For no sooner had he launched his boat, than the trailer, with the convertible in tow, followed suit. No amount of applied engine horsepower could stop the backward slide. We all watched helplessly as the rear seat, followed by the front, filled with water. Fortunately the ramp was shallow, and the car eventually settled with the water gently lapping against the lower portion of the dashboard. It took three tow trucks and a complicated pulley arrangement to extract boat, trailer, and convertible from the lake.
I don’t know if the brakes failed or weren’t set properly, or if the algae on the ramp didn’t afford enough friction to hold car and trailer in place. What I do know is that the wheels of the convertible weren’t chocked. Having this vivid recollection, and being sort of a trailer sailor (in that I launch my sailboat in spring and retrieve it in fall), chocking my pickup’s wheels is standard procedure.
However, during these infrequent visits to the launch ramp there’s a laundry list of things to do, not to do, be aware of, watch out for, and so on. While chocking wheels is one of the first activities, “unchocking” is one of the last and is sometimes overlooked. That is until the chocks are run over by the trailer, are last seen floating out into the lake, or (upon making a second trip to the ramp) found patiently awaiting my return.
To help remember to remove the wheel chocks, I’ve fashioned a line onto each chock. I attach the other end to my bumper or close it in a door. Now when I pull away from the ramp, the chocks on their tethers follow along. Once at the parking area I can complete my derigging, reconnect my trailer lights, and stow the wheel chocks. Another benefit of having the wheel chocks attached in this manner, is that they afford anti-rollback protection up until the moment I pull away from the ramp.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
