Newton’s Law At The Ramp

I’d been a sailor for years when I decided I wanted a powerboat. Facebook Marketplace took me to a home nearby that sported a 16-foot fiberglass 1978 Baretta I/O runabout with a roller trailer that appeared in good shape. I knew looks could be deceiving, but the boat was decent enough, the trailer looked solid, the seller was a pastor, and the price was right.

I was nervous about my first launch, not only because my trailer-backing skills were poor at best, but because this was the first time I’d ever launched a boat by myself. I watched YouTube videos and read a few articles about solo launches until I felt somewhat comfortable with the steps. I’d also had the trailer repaired and the boat inspected by a local marine shop.

One morning I was off to the boat ramp, deliberately picking an early morning launch so as to not run into a slew of other boaters. This ramp generally had early morning fishing boat launches and later morning pleasure boat launches. I’d go in between.

It was a good day; the ramp was empty. I removed the rear restraining straps, the safety chain, and loosened the bow strap (just as instructed in the videos) to allow the boat to float off the trailer. I slowly backed the trailer down the ramp multiple times before the angle was almost right. One more time forward and then straight back should do it. With great anticipation, I pulled forward only to hear a horrendous crash. Looking back, I saw my beautiful “new” boat slowly rocking on the concrete boat ramp!

What happened? Well, in accelerating forward, the boat complied with Newton’s laws of motion to remain in its precise geographical location while the rollers helped assure this compliance. Upon reaching the end of the loose strap, the resistance of the boat and sharp jerk on the more-than-40-year-old strap resulted in it breaking about a foot from the bow hook. My marine shop had missed this, and so had I!

Now what? No one was at the ramp, so no one could have videoed the move (thank heavens). I was in a quandary when another boater showed up with a few passengers. I was blocking the ramp, and my red face wasn’t from sunburn. After assessing the situation and realizing that the tilted outdrive was undamaged, we decided to push the boat slowly down the ramp and into the water. While it sounded awful, it was successful: The boat suffered some cosmetic damage to the hull, but it didn’t leak.

After a few hours on the water, I returned to the ramp, knotted the broken end of the strap to the bow hook, got the boat on the trailer, and returned home to properly assess the damage and replace the strap. Since then, I’ve become more educated and have checked, rechecked, and replaced all the tie-down rigging of my boat. I guess there’s always more to an old boat than meets the eye. And always more education needed for an old sailor!