Steelflex Warning!

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RBuffordTJ

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Location
Norris, SC
It is very slick! :!:

Yeah, I know...DUH!

On the first day of our 4 day fishing trip to the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers in High Springs, FL, Jaunary 1, 2010, we were reminded of exactly how slick....the painful way. This is how our revelation/reminder unfolded.

Backing up to the top of the ramp my cousin Steve and I, the one who helped me put on the coating (you can see linked in my signature below), were getting things ready to launch the boat. He began to tie a rope to my front cleat, for the first time thinking he would not ride the boat into the water but just hold the rope and pull it to shore as it floated free. :?: Not sure why...but I figured he knew what he was doing...the first breakdown in communication.

"Steve, don't bother tying off to it, the rope has a large knot in the end just feed it through the cleat and you can pull it to shore when it floats off man."

Steve looked at me a little strange but fed the rope through the hole in the cleat and I turned to head to the truck to start backing down the ramp. Breakdown in communication #2....why you ask?

As I was jumping back in the Bronco Steve unhooked the main strap from the boat.... [-X .....a big NO NO!

You see, Steve was thinking he would just hold the rope as the boat backed down and floated off but he had totally forgotten about the SteelFlex on the underside which was resting on the carpeted runners of the trailer.

...wait for it.....

I began to back down the ramp and suddenly saw the bottom of my boat up in the rearview mirror. :shock: I saw the rope Steve was holding go tight then snapp slack as the knot (not meant to sustain that kind of pressure) popped through the bottom hole of the cleat and then the sickening *CRUNCH* as the back of the boat smacked the ramp and slid a couple feet. #-o

I jumped out and he had a very surprised look on his face, one that said "What happened", "I'm sorry" and "Don't hit me" all in one. :lol:

A quick inspection revealed no broken welds at the back and the motor was up so it only tapped the ramp when it hit. Thank you Lord! [-o< We quickly hooked the strap to the boat and winched it back onto the trailer and noticed some of the SteelFlex had shatterd off at the back edge when it hit. Oh well, could have been MUCH worse. The other loss was my bait caster rod got smashed and broken when the 15# river anchor went airborn and landed on it as the boat hit the ramp. :(

That was the official start of our 2010 fishing season! Any bets on if we will survive it? :lol:

Oh, and as for the fish, Steve caught a couple small Suwannee Bass and a couple small black river bass, two of which had leaches in their mouthes. Me? Not the first nibble for 4 days on the river. :roll: It was too cold, the temps were between 15f and 38f our whole trip with the Suwannee water temp at 46f.

We are going to go back when it warms up, because that is a beautiful river system, and there are many fish there that need to be caught.

Hope you all enjoyed the story, got a chuckle and cringed a few times like I did!
Later Taters,
Bufford in Orlando
 
That sux, We busted a 15hp in 2 last Sunday, very similar experience, we just didn't think about the ice on the bunks from the previous day.
 
It's amamzing sometimes how one lapse in judgement can lead to a series of events that can only end in disaster. I had the brilliant idea to take my buddy's 1436 off the trailer and put it in the back of the truck by myself. It was all good going off the trailer into the truck. However, it was not so good going from the ground into the back of the F250 had to call a buddy to come help after I came close to breaking a few bones. Glad to here there were no injuries and damage to the boat was minimal. I do have a question though. Does the steelflex make it more difficult to launch the boat by yourself? I just bought a nice 1436 and will most likely steelflex the bottom, but if it makes the boat harder to lauch with one I will leave it off. I fish by myself most of the time, so the launching and recovery of the boat is all me.
 
If you get the regular steelflex you'll have no problem.. I back my boat down the ramp all the time unhooked, I surely wont do it with ice on the bunks now tho.. Was a friends boat we busted the motor in half on.
 
gunny146 said:
It's amamzing sometimes how one lapse in judgement can lead to a series of events that can only end in disaster. I had the brilliant idea to take my buddy's 1436 off the trailer and put it in the back of the truck by myself. It was all good going off the trailer into the truck. However, it was not so good going from the ground into the back of the F250 had to call a buddy to come help after I came close to breaking a few bones. Glad to here there were no injuries and damage to the boat was minimal. I do have a question though. Does the steelflex make it more difficult to launch the boat by yourself? I just bought a nice 1436 and will most likely steelflex the bottom, but if it makes the boat harder to lauch with one I will leave it off. I fish by myself most of the time, so the launching and recovery of the boat is all me.

Don't see why...but I have never launched by myself by unhooking the trailer strap either...I won't do that on ANY boat.

Loggerhead Mike said:
any pics?? :wink:

we've all been there

LOL...while typing this I wished I had taken one of it jacked up in the air....but no, we were in too much of a hurry trying to fix it before anyone else showed up to the ramp..... :oops:
 
NEVER unhook the strap! i should have posted that last month, HUH?

My bunks are topped with poly (cutting board plastic) the boat can, and will, slide off like it is on ice. It slides on just as easy which is why I choose this method over carpeted bunks

anyway, i never release the sucker until the stern is in the water
 
Dang, glad no one was hurt and the boat only rec'd minor damage.

Since I semi-mastered the art of launching by myself this past summer, I try to make sure I'm at the ramp before others, because I've had some blood-pressure raising/embarrassing moments. I got the brilliant idea once to tie-off the rope to one of the rear tie-downs in the bed of the truck (tailgate down) and everything was going fine. As the boat floated out from the trailer, finally reaching the maximum length of the rope, it snagged on the trailer jack handle almost ripping it off. I don't launch that way anymore. :shock:
 
Captain Ahab said:
NEVER unhook the strap! i should have posted that last month, HUH?

My bunks are topped with poly (cutting board plastic) the boat can, and will, slide off like it is on ice. It slides on just as easy which is why I choose this method over carpeted bunks

anyway, i never release the sucker until the stern is in the water

Bump to that


I have no problem pushing it off once the boat is already afloat... just tests my balancing skills on the tongue... 8)
 
dyeguy1212 said:
Captain Ahab said:
NEVER unhook the strap! i should have posted that last month, HUH?

My bunks are topped with poly (cutting board plastic) the boat can, and will, slide off like it is on ice. It slides on just as easy which is why I choose this method over carpeted bunks

anyway, i never release the sucker until the stern is in the water

Bump to that


I have no problem pushing it off once the boat is already afloat... just tests my balancing skills on the tongue... 8)


In an attempt to limit going for an unexpected swim, I found some 3" wide adhesive-backed non-skid tape (comes in a roll) at Lowe's and put on the trailer tongue. It's pretty "grippy" and hasn't let me down yet. [-o<
 
dyeguy1212 said:
why didnt I think of that?

See...this is why I love coming here to share my ideas...and my screw ups. I get awesome ideas I never thought of to avoid more of the latter.

I can always use a little help and some good advice.
 
RBuffordTJ said:
dyeguy1212 said:
why didnt I think of that?

See...this is why I love coming here to share my ideas...and my screw ups. I get awesome ideas I never thought of to avoid more of the latter.

I can always use a little help and some good advice.


That non-skid tape I applied has been wet quite a few times, and hasn't shown the slightest hint of coming loose yet. I wax my trailer, so I had to use a little dish washing soapy water to remove wax from that section. Sticks like a charm! :)

Note: Do not wash your vehicle with dawn dishwashing liquid (or any brand I guess), because it'll strip the wax right off. Unless you want to intentionally strip the wax, lol.
 
Thanks for the tip, but I'm not too worried about wax getting stripped... If anything, my paint needs to be stripped. I think someone puked on my hood when I was in college, so theres a nice splotch right in the middle of it. 8)

I'm not too worried about looks, as my on-going project is keeping my 2001 GMC Jimmy running.. with 290,000 miles. Thats not a typo. Still runs great, not rough or anything like that. Its a testament to the fact that you need to change your oil every 3,000 miles.

Theres my tip for the day... as if you didnt know already :mrgreen:
 
Wow, that sucks. Mine doesn't have inclinations to slide off even though I have the UMHW on it. I just looped the end of the line and hook it over the winch pedestal on the trailer. Back off and the line (5/8 climbing rope) springs the boat back to the ramp as I pull out.

Jamie
 

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