Learning expereince: towards "ekstinkshun"

[brucehawsker]

Another pointer for those of you out there who are not experts - actually, looking at the posts, everyone seems to be expert.......

"enywaiys i av deeleetid broocy fromm mi lisst ov ribbnobbas destind forr ekstinkshun.

i fink hee cann mannij orl bi izzelf "

Yup, Garf, you is right, my man.

We launched on Thursday evening at close to a spring low from Lymington. Since the slope on the slip was then very shallow, Paul had trouble pushing the boat off the trailer. I 'helped' by getting up from the helm position and walking to the back.

This will amuse Garfish and others. It is a bit like Hoffnung "The Bricklayer".

As he walked slowly to the back of the boat, the centre of gravity shifted slowly until eventually the boat's nose suddenly flipped into the air, and the stern cruched onto the shingle, before the boat righted itself and launched smoothly.

If I had not tried to 'help', there was enough water if I had stayed where I was and been patient and let Paul push a bit longer so she slid in more horizontal.

Result - see attached piccy.

As another pair of humourists said (Flanders and Swann)

"It all makes work for the working man to do"!!!!

broocy

[Simon B]

Isnt this a right of passage? I've done it, its a sickening crunch, anyone claiming not to have made this simple error is clearly;

Perfect; will never do it as its for Ribnobbas
Is a Ribnobba but doesnt know it yet
Has had the benefit of seeing a Ribnobba do it and thought hmm, glad it isnt my boat, I'll make more effort to check depth etc.

I'd get it repaired soon as its in a pretty vital spot in terms of the boats handling. Nice "upskirt shot" though.

[timboli]

I cant let Bruce take all the credit for this learning experience,the trailer as per normal was in just above its axle but as Bruce has already explained,the slope of the slip was virtually non existent.
Previous experience has taught me that getting the boatmoving is the hard bit and so it was this time,Bruce did actually ask me if he wanted his weight at the back which I enthusiaticly agreed with but in the heat of the moment I ignored the second hard earned lesson,when the boat starts to roll,not much will stop it,and before I knew it,the back had dug in the shingle with the bow high.
Here is where enthusiasm caused a further problem.I should have tied the painter off somewhere before asking Bruce to come forward,I didnt and as Bruce walked forward,the boat started to roll again,scraping its rear end over the shingle,until the tubes took over and the boat was afloat.
To be fair,when I recovered the trailer,I noticed that the the tide was by this time well below the axle so the fact that we launched at all was a bit of a miracle.
Luckily we launched with the outboard well tilted so the only damage was the vee of the transom.

[jwalker]

Jeez, you guys have some fun, don't you?

[Hightower]

That Damage, Bruce....Looks more damage than happened during my Ribs sea trial, before I bought it. As the guy backed it down the slipway the winch gave way and Kohaku fell, with a loud bang on the concrete slipway. By the time she had stopped skidding the trailer was well clear!

Never mind, at least you'll gain some experience of using some gell-coat filler .

Andy

[Nyarla]

Aye learning to use gellcoat is part of the pleasure of being a boat owner.

Question to you all, whats wrong with me just running the trailer down the slip as I do until the trailer is totally submerged, starting the engine, unhooking the winch and strop, motoring off and then recovering the trailer as I normally do.
Recovery the same but reversed and not as deep with the trailer to give me some centring on the trailer as I motor and finally winch on.
I normally launch and recover single handed and the trailer always gets a good wash.
Yes I know the brakes will suffer but unless you crane the boat off, the brakes F. up anyway.
Note I`ve run dive ribs with someone else picking up the tab for the last 15 years and never had any real probs with this method and am now doing this with my new toy, Apart from the make sure you pulled the ram out on the brakes and back her up before pulling forward after a hiatus, in use have never had trailer probs.

[Simon B]

A most excelent point, I have done similar however, there have been times when I've launched where incredulous on-lookers some with boat experience have rushed to tell me that I was dipping the trailer hubs in the water then worse still I was in it up to the hubs on the Landrover....muffled scream!

I pondered this...then thought

People drive their cars in the rain everything gets sopping wet, they also drive through puddles and some 4 x 4s even have a "fording depth"

Also most councils use salt in the winter.

By default both trailer and vehicle have been suitably ravaged already a bit more wouldnt hurt. Took the Landy swimming in Angelsey this bank hol. See gallery

[Rogue Wave]

Broosee I wouldn't arsk gArfies advice about recovery, he may be an expert on launching, pertikewlly rib seeking flinging missiles but he's not to good at recovery!

He's the sort of bloke that wouldn't admit it but I assisted him with the recovery of a boat when he failed to understand the word Stop resulting in muho gelcoat damage to his Ribcraft.

None of are experts it's just that some of us have learn't to cock things up less frequently.

re the damage. go to the chandlers buy some merine gelcoat filler and slap some on the boat after it's been out of the water a few days . It's important to get a seal on it so the water doesn't mess with the fibreglass, you can always make it look better in the bad weather!

[swginn]

Bruce,

I have a similar problem at one of my local slipways. No slope at all!! What happened to you nearly happened to me, but after seeing this happen before to somebody else as the RIB started to roll and the bow popped up I stopped pushing and hopped on to the bow of the RIB to keep her down. It must have been hilarious to see, my legs up in the air as the RIB slid down off the trailer.

Although the above worked, I find a more "elegant" approach is to loop the winch strap around a trailer crossmember and back to the bow eye. You can then winch the RIB off and the strap also keeps the bow down.

I also find just pulling the trailer forward a slight bit and then reversing back and jamming on the brakes works a charm also!! I've done it before in the Landcruiser, and it worked perfectly. Wouldn't be too sure about trying it in a saloon though!!
HEALTH WARNING: Just before you go and do more damage to the RIB, only pull forward 1-2 metres so that the trailer is still in the water. I'm sure we've all heard plenty of stories about people reversing flat out down the slipway only to jam on too early and launching the boat on dry land, OUCH!! This method is also very dangerous if anybody gets in between the boat/trailer and the water.

I really miss my breakback trailer!!

[The Jackeens]

Sorry to read about this latest incident Bruce.

Paul said you 'phoned but we didn't get out Thursday in the end.

Hope Farfetched gets all back to her spick & span self soon,

missus