www.iFourWinns.com

I'm not sure if it will be worth the insurance claim in the long run or not.

My deductable is $250 on collision. I'm usually reluctant to make a claim if I don't need to. If the estimate for repair were $500 or less I wasn't going to involve insurance.

This incident was obviously my "fault". I guess that is how they would "justify" upping the rate next year. I'm going to call and talk to them to get a feel for how easy a claim would be.

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Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

Does that include the damage to the trailer? If you file a claim get it all included....doesn't mean you have to repair the trailer. I have never used that method of launching a boat solo, but that doesn't mean your method is wrong either.....crap happens. I can attest to rookie at the tow vehicle can be a costly error.....my old boat got drug up the ramp with the skeg digging in - i was shutting it off and pushing the trim button and hollering at my bud to stop....you are correct in that simple things are not common sense to everyone....of course I gave him a beer afterwards and told him he needed it...then asked if he needed help opening the top or did he plan on dragging it behind the truck for a while first.

hey aguyindallas,

Are you calling me a fatass b insinuating i will bend the metal beams for the guide post by stepping on them??? Well my friend you would be correct, but still not nice to point out .... I do need to rig out some kind of step cuz i don't want to continually have to use the stern ladder to get on the boat while on trailer.

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi

hey - $ 500 plus dollars is $ 500 plus dollars.....that's why you have insurance and your rates are not going to go up that much if any at all. I would turn it in and include the trailer damage as mentioned. If not, you might as well bump your deductible up to $ 1,000 if you pan on not turning anything less than that amount. You can even do that to reduce your rate too.

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi

Completely agree. I have a friend that has had at least 3 crazy accidents (all his fault) and somehow his insurance hasn't dropped him. This is why we have insurance. Sorry this happened to you. Hope they can fix it fast and have you back on the water.

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Norris Lake, Stardust Marina, Andersonville, TN
2005 Four Winns 230 Horizon 5.7L Volvo Gi/DP
2001 Maxum 1900SR 5.0L V8 (Sold)
2011 Nissan Armada Platnum

Thanks for the advice guys.

I went ahead and made a claim. I am trying to cooridinate getting an adjuster to look at the boat yet this week. After that, I hope to get it to the shop and get it repaired in the next couple of weeks.

_________________
Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

First off, I do empathize with what happen. I received a couple battle wounds a few years ago when a skiff wasn’t paying attention to the tides the back corner of his boat starched my sides all up when we were anchored.

I have to agree with Mike. Just because this is the way you have been doing it doesn’t make it right. What would have happen if you had tied the boat to the dock, parked the truck, then hoped in the boat and boom, battery dead, or whatever and the boat doesn’t start. That is a sure way to piss a lot of people off cause I am sure it takes you at least 15 mins to take the boat off and tie it up and then park your truck, now the boat is going to be tied up for another 15 minutes.

Just do like the rest of us; back the truck in, start the motor, float the boat, drive the boat off the trailer and then park the truck. If you have 2 people the driving the boat off the trailer and parking the boat can be done simultaneously.

I am not trying to be cynical, I just hope you think about changing your ways.

Again, I feel your pain.

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2007 H220 5.0L
2007 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9L

While it's in the shop with the keel repair....you may consider having them slap on a keel guard. Of course I would want to see their repairs first to make sure they are not covering up a crap gel repair. Not that expensive and nice to have just in case.

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi

Wow. Now you really have my blood boiling.

Please go and re-read my first post. It is obvious you don't understand at all what happened or how I launch my boat.

I had the boat floating, dock lines over to the dock, motor running and was pulling the trailer out about 1 - 1/2 mins. after the boat hit the water. Had this incident not happened I would have had the the truck parked and been in the boat backing away from the dock 5 mins. tops from when the boat hit the water.

For some reason you and Mike assume everyone has 2 people that can operate the boat and tow vehicle. The way I launch my boat is not that much different than the way you do it. The only difference is that I only had one person that could operate the boat and tow vehicle. Therefore the boat was "tied" to the dock for the brief time required to to park the truck. The lines weren't even tied. They were wrapped around the posts once. The loose ends were held by my friend.

_________________
Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

I have considered a Keel Guard. Although, honestly, I'm not a big fan of them. I always think they look "funny". That said, I may end up getting one eventually.

_________________
Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

Realizing that there may be some confusion about how this incident happened, I decided to make a quick sketch:



As already noted the bow line had enough slack that it was close to the water. When the trailer came forward and up the ramp the rear trailer guide caught the rope. I admit making an error. I had too much slack in the bow line. If It had been more taunt this would not have happened. Other than that I will defend that I was launching my boat in the most appropriate manner possible for this particular ramp/dock.

_________________
Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

Here is a view/map of the ramp I was trying to use. Play with the birds eye view to get a feel for what the ramp is like.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=r37556 ... 37ADF0!124

The channel that leads to the ramp is very narrow and the shoreline is a combination of rocks and shrubs. The backside of the dock only has about 1' of water. The ramp side of the dock is about 2' of water.

This was my first time at this particular ramp. I will not be going back.

_________________
Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the way you launch your boat. Your procedures are exactly what I do every time. It's the only way with either no crew or very limited (i.e. my wife and our 2 year old). I would say 95% of the people I see launching their boats also fall into this camp. Unless I have to park in the back forty and have a long walk back to the boat, I can normally be in and gone in less then 5 minutes.

The only exception is the Gun Lake ramp, which totally sucks. They don't allow you to keep your boat tied up to the dock while you park your truck. I personally feel I spend much more time occupying the ramp by screwing around trying to find a place to anchor up my boat near the ramp before I can even pull my truck out then it would be if I could just leave it tied up, park the truck, walk back and then take off.

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http://youtu.be/-4ckF7u1iNk
2003 PowerQuest 260 Legend SX
2014 Lund WC 14

2007 H210 Volvo 5.7 Gi/SX (sold in 2012)
2007 H180 Volvo 3.0 (sold in 2009)

So. The insurance claim has been pretty painless so far. I already have a check in hand. I'll be bringing the boat in to the shop on Monday.



Yeah. The ramp itself is really nice. The way the force you to "park" your boat away from the dock is a pain. I don't launch at the State Park unless my wife is with me so she can pull the truck out. Usually if we are at Gun Lake we are heading to a family home on the lake so I usually just bring the boat over there and my wife drives the truck/trailer over.

The Allegan County Park on the South West shore is actually a little nicer in some ways. The "beach" there is nice and sandy so you can actually beach your boat if you need to.

_________________
Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

Hmmm ..... you sure don't have much dock length there, do ya?

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

Bud = after seeing your diagram I see the problem....you have square wheels!!! With that dock the boat is already close to the ramp regardless of what you do. It is a pain to have to launch/retrieve alone for sure - you would think some young entrepanuer would offer a valet service:)

I didn't understand what you were doing really until I saw the pic of the setup. Where I launch the dock is far from the ramp....you would have to let out 200 feet of rope to have a conflict. Where my bro puts in it's even worse than the dock you were at....the actual ramp is like an alley with the docks on both sides. Prob is that it's only wide enough for one boat so everything is blocked if you dock/or launch. Someone must have been drunk when they figured that thing out.....not to mention you have to back the boat out of that alley aout 30 yards.....easier said than done if theres a wind kicking....we just get on both sides and walk down as he backs just in case we need to bump it back to the middle.

Yours was just a freak deal plain and simple....if your bud had figured it out real quick he could have just let go of the line and all would have been fine.....but thats arm chairing it and i know he was holding on trying to protect your stuff.

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http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o71 ... wqm355.jpg


08' H210SS
VP 5.7Gi