Re: Lanching my pontoon
Just build an extension. Here's how. Find a piece of the square tubing, the proper size to fit inside your receiver hitch. About five foot long should do it (how long it is depends on how much tongue weight you've got, although I have seen people buy a spare wheeled trailer jack and put it on the extension). Drill a hole to correspond with where the pin fits on your reciever hitch. On the other end, have the correct size trailer ball welded on.
THIS IS NOT FOR TOWING - simply for launching and retrieving your pontoon. Pull into the ramp area. Chock the pontoon. Unhook it from your truck. Remove your towing hitch and install the extension. Hook up to the pontoon. Back in, unload the pontoon, pull your trailer out to the trailer parking area, unhook your extension and toss it in your truck. Mine straps to the trailer.
It takes more time to describe this than it does to do it. It's very simple, very fast, a no-brainer. Just remember, THIS IS NOT FOR TOWING THE BOAT, just for launching and retrieving. When you load the boat you can use this to pull up to the prep area. It's not like you can't tow a short ways - it's just not a highway deal.
This takes all the grief out of launching and the whole thing didn't cost me 20 bucks. If you need pictures, let me know.