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| I'm committed to fishing till the end of the season this year, and that means snow/ice covered boat landings. I have a 4X4 truck, an obvious necessity, but am wondering if there are any tricks for slick landings.
Have any of you guys, even with 4X4's, NOT been able to pull your boat up a snow-covered ramp?
Thanks. |
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| Go slow. Never had a problem bring sand just to be on the safe side. Last year we fished way into Dec. [:bigsmile:] |
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| Haven't had to use it yet but some cat litter or gravel would surely come in handy if the ramp was all iced up. |
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| I've stuck with the ramps that aren't so steep later on when it's icy. For example, my home lake (Butternut Lake) I wouldn't even chance if it's icy out. It's quite steep.
Rob |
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| How about putting those traction tracks down when you pull up? I forget who makes them and where I seen the but they look like the deal to have for these situations. |
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| An army shovel is a must this time of year. Most of the time you can "borrow" a little sand / gravel from the edge of the lake for added traction. You can also shovel the snow out of your boat if it gets too deep... it's statments like that let everyone know how far gone you really are!
Craig Eversoll |
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| I put last spring up at Rainy River and there was 4 feet of ice on the ramp. 4 feet thick, the whole way up. There was plenty of sand and gravel, but I saw a couple Yukon/Tahoe types that were having trouble getting back up. I still had my Jeep, and it had no problem. Granted, that was pretyt extreme stuff, and I saw one (smart) person do a double-tow backing in and they were backing up, but they were tied on to another truck ahead of them for extra "don't slide off the edge of the ice into the 6 ft of water" security. Personally, it made me nervous as heck, and while I didn't see any rigs go in, the DNR guy at the ramp told me about two the previous spring that did. I like my ramps non-iced. |
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| Has crazy has this sounds it works not just on boat ramps but on all types of surfaces,,,if you get stuck take the floor mats out from your cab and stick them in front of the wheels that have power through them,,,it gives them traction,,,it does work!!!!! |
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All the above are great ideas. But don't forget the essential first steps - namely, PUT THE DAMN HUBS IN - and don't trust a neophyte to put the passenger's side in!!
Before you back over the bank - either launchin' or recoverin' - stick her in LOW range.
It's rude to even try a slick ramp with 2WD. I've had to unhook the trailer and tug a few out when they plugged up the ramp at recovery time. On other occasions I've hooked to somebody else's trailer to get their boat out.
We used to deer hunt PA's Kinzua Dam by boat in December when the weather was mighty quirky and launch and recovery were after dark. That time of year the Dam is at low pool and the launch ramp is a hunnert' yards long (well anyway it seemed that way!) Thank God the Corps slotted the ramps and made them nice and long even if they were steep.
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| Kitty Litter saved my hiney last fall at the second to the last day of the season. Someone launched their boat and then pulled straight ahead into the turn around )must have beenthinking they were the only nuts that would attemp being out there with 8" of fresh snow). I had to launch and load up at an angle. While loading, my truck in 4wheel drive, slid sideways into the rhubarb. Not good!!, couldnt go anywhere, kittly liter in front of the tires walked me right out.[:bigsmile:] |
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| Ranger,
Bring a couple bags of water softner salt with you, when you leave the ramp or before you launch spread the salt all around. The big pellets will stay around for a while and melt and snow, ice.
Hope this helps.
Mike Hulbert |
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| Kitty litter or road salt is a must! |
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| Don't slam me too hard fellas (a little don't hurt nothing), I'm not really trying to take anything away from any of the posts so far but.....
Aren't any of the folks here concerned about the affects of people spreading salt on boat ramps? I would think that it might have a damaging affect on weed growth when it washes into the waterway and know that salt can sure affect concrete surfaces so it would seem that the ramps themselves would be damaged.
Just currious what others think about this. |
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| Musky Mike-
Your thoughts and mine are pretty much alike the first time I heard of the salt idea. After thinking about it though, there's probably about the same amount of salt left on your trailer and boat after trailering through the snow and ice to the ramp. I guess I wouldn't worry about it too much...unless told otherwise. Besides, alot of the roadways especially north, drain towards the lakes. I know the idea when they build the roads is not to do that but it all has to go somewhere.
As far as affectcing weedgrowth... look at the sides and medians on the interstate. They dump tons of salt on the interstate around here and the grass/weeds come back every year.
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