Re: There's some justice after all!
It's just another case of failed natural selection.
I'm not sure much short of a heavy cable or chain would stop that van under power, it looked to me to be in reverse. Once the rear wheels were off the ramp, the rest is just fate if no one had a rope handy.
I don't know about other people, but when I'm backed down a ramp, the first and foremost thing on my mind is how NOT to let it go into the water. The fact that he sat there with it still running in reverse is bad enough, then to gun it all at once like that and sink it is another. There's no way I'd stomp down on the gas like that, period, let alone without first being 100% certain it's in D for Drive.
The simple fact that they would sink the van that far into the drink like that makes me think that it's either not theirs, or their total idiots. Even if they did get the thing loaded and out of the water, what are the chances that rear axle would have made it home full of water?
If one was to really think it out, a van with a pair of removable bunk slides on the floor and out another pair made up as a ramp out the back door would work well, and the van wouldn't have to get sunk in the water. I did that for years with a jon boat and a 4x4 pickup. I made up a pair of carpeted bunks that sat in the bed, attached to each other, and a separate ramp, made of a pair of carpeted 2x4s again attached to each other. I had a winch with a handle extension mounted to the bed floor, secured to a nut welded below the floor. I could back up to the edge of the water, attach the rear bunk/ramp, and winch the boat right up, and drive away. No ramp, no trailer needed. It was only a 12' boat but with the gate down, it was all fine. The rear ramp bunks would slide in between those in the bed. At home, I had a bed height platform made onto which I'd slide the whole boat and bunk assembly onto by hand till I needed it again. That stand also had storage underneath where I stored other items for the boat or fishing so no space was wasted.
