launching boat with motor off a dock options

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jartzh

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Since my dropping my motor in the lake incident I am must more cautious about installing and removing my motor.
Basicly I store my boat and motor on a covered deck about 2-3 ft above the water(depending on the ever changing level of lake). I used to slide the boat in and then lay the motor on the edge of the doc and get in the boat and lift it up and let it down on the transom.
I need a better way.
I cant put the motor on the boat and then slide it in because its too steep and water comes over the sides. and the same when pulling it out.
I can think of 2 possibilities: 1. build a davit to lift the motor or 2. build a temporary ramp to slide the motor off the doc.

This has to be a one man operation. 14ft light weight jon boat, 9.9 2 stroke mercury motor.

Its my brother in law's boat house so I can make a permanent anything. I would have to make the ramp removeable when not in use.

Thoughts?
 
Is there a public launch on the lake....if it were me I'd find a cheap old trailer and keep it on a trailer and launch it that way might be a little more of a pain but it's better than dropping your motor in the lake. Plus you could go to other lakes if needed.
 
After launching the boat can you beach it and walk the motor on from bow. When camping at evergreen lake I'll beach my boat at the campsite and switch the johnson 5.5 and evinrude 9.9 by myself without to much of a problem. I only do this a couple times a year to make sure the johnson is used and in good order. To many things can go wrong loading a motor from a dock to the boat. Like mentioned above a trailer is a very handy when fishing by ones self.
 
Why don't you just leave the boat in the water with the motor on it and tie it to the dock? Or build use some 2x6's to build a kind of ramp to pull the boat up on out of the water (assuming its your dock your talking about).
 
No beach. all bulkhead.

I use the boat about once a month and need a way to have it dry stored then get it ready to use and store it in a short amount of time.
I like the ramp idea if my brother in law would let me attach it to the his dock. If you build a ramp out of 2x6s would the boat just slide up the bare wood or should it be covered with indoor/outdoor carpet. I would like the ramp to attach and detach from the deck so it wouldnt be in his way. Some kind of hinge setup to let it swivel and be removeable?
 
I see them here on the creek in Fl that are just bare wood. Sometimes at the top they have a winch (hand crank like they got it from an old boat trailer) to pull it up and hold it in place.

there could be one board thats hinged across the top with three 2x4's or 2x6's running like bunks down to another board thats attached to a float (foam, barrel, whatever). that way the "ramp" would go up and down with the level of the lake.

Im going out tomorrow and Sat weather permitting and will take a few pics for you.
 
If there is a clear area close to the dock, and clear area on the shore, then I might have a solution for you. You could build a wooden ramp that would be partially submerged at waters edge with it ending up on shore. Then on the end where it is on shore, you could make a mounting bracket for a hand winch to pull the boat onto the ramp. To launch, just unhook the winch and push it down into the water. That system would give you a place to keep the boat out of the water when not in use, yet readily available. Just make sure you TILT THE MOTOR UP when bringing it onto the ramp and vice versa. Also a good idea to chain it up and secure it with a lock. Once the boat is all the way up the ramp, you would have easy access to the motor and no worries about dropping it into the water.

Matt
 

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