Got an odd problem here and I'd appreciate some input on how to handle it. I live in an area where everyone has fishing boats, generally flat boats. They are typically used heavily throught the week and then on weekends the recreational boats hit the area and the fisherman tend to lay back. I run my boats nearly everyday, I have both a flat boat and a couple of runabouts. My flat boat trailer is basically a bed of 12 inch rollers, to load it I merely hit the throttle and since I have both bow and stern guides it runs right up the trailer. The nose is low and I can maintain sight of the winch stand/bow stop through the process. This is the accepted method around here and causes no social problems. <br /> The problem arises when I use one of the other boats. My bigger one is a tri-hull with a deep hull that makes it impossible to see the bow stop on the trailer after getting about 2/3 of the way on the trailer. I am simply not about to cram 135 horsepower of throttle open at that point and hope I don't shear the winch stand off and end up imbedded in the back of my truck so I stop and use the winch to finish the loading process. This is causing MAJOR problems. It is considered a breach of ramp protocol by the fishing boat people and there have been a few confrontations over it. I think a good part of it is the inherent dislike the fishing boat folk out here have for speed boaters. I don't sit on the ramp once the boat is all the way forward, I pull up and out of the way to strap things down, it's just the extra moment or two for the winching that's causing the problems. Am I wrong in trying to err on the side of safety here or is this just an unavoidable fisherman vs. recreational boater thing that I need to try to ignore? Your input is appreciated.
Never time to do it right, but always time to do it again
