The safe way to launch and retrieve your boat
DRIVING/TOWING – TOWING
Boat launching is fraught with danger, to boat, 4WD and people, but it can be done safely. However, nearly everyone does it wrongly!
For a boat ramp launching, we’re assuming you’re on your own, because there’s not much point knowing only a procedure that requires two or more people, because one day you will have to do it solo.
We’re also not going into the basics of reversing a trailer, because we’ve covered that topic elsewhere in this section of the website.
What we are covering is the actual detail of launching and, more importantly, retrieving your boat.
The basics for easy solo launching you need to have on hand are: two long ‘painters’ and one shorter line.
The painters are lightweight, buoyant, strong lines – each about double the boat’s length. One of them is permanently attached to the bow cleat and the other to a port-side or starboard-side stern cleat. The bow-cleat painter needs to have a reasonably heavy lead or iron weight attached to its free end.
The shorter line needs to be long enough to tie the bow cleat to the aft cross member of the boat trailer when the boat is floating and is snug against the trailer roller. It needs to be permanently attached to the bow cleat, as with the weighted painter. It’s best formed from synthetic rope that’s easily knotted, not from floating-rope material.
Launching
OK. Put on your very grippy boating shoes – not thongs – and your lifejacket. Remove the boat tie-downs and securing shackle; put all the boating gear on board and make sure the bung is in.
Back the trailer into the water, just deep enough to allow the boat transom and prop to clear the surface of the boat ramp when the outboard is lowered after launching.
Turn off the vehicle engine; put the transmission in gear or in ‘P’ and crank on the handbrake.
Ensure the winch brake is on and then undo the bow eye shackle. The boat is now held on the trailer only by the winch cable and hook.
Slowly unwind the winch cable, letting the boat slide off the trailer. With the winch cable tension holding the boat against the trailer’s aft rollers, take the short line that’s secured to the bow cleat and run its free end around the trailer’s rear cross member, tying it in place with a rolling hitch. (Excess line length can be absorbed by tying the hitch ‘in a bight’ and that also allows for quick release.)
Next, take the weighted bow painter and walk it back up the boat ramp and across to the shore or the nearby dock. The weight will keep the line in place on a bare shore, or, in the case of a dock or pontoon, the painter can be tied off to a cleat.
Now you can return to the boat; undo the winch hook and walk it to the front of the trailer, then roll the winch cable back onto the trailer drum.
Return to the bow of the boat and take the deployed bow painter in one hand, while, with the other hand, loosening your securing hitch in the short line from the back of the trailer.
You can now drag the bow of the boat to the shore or dock, using the bow painter. Make sure the boat is secured and then return to the tow vehicle and park the 4WD and trailer.
‘Ah yes,’ I hear you cry. ‘But what if there’s heavy chop and a cross wind?’ That’s where the aft painter comes in: you can use it to control the boat’s attitude while you walk it to the shore or dock. If it’s a starboard-secured stern painter it’s easy to lead it around the port-side aft cleat and take the painter out to port, if necessary.
Note that at no stage of this launch procedure is it necessary for the operator to walk on, or inside, the trailer chassis and cross members: that’s a great way to have a fall or break some bones!
Retrieving
Slowly approach the bare shore, or a section of shore adjacent to the dock – beside the boat ramp – and, at the point of light contact, take the weighted end of the bow painter and drop it onto the dock, or onto the shore.
If you judge there’s cross-chop or wind, lead the aft painter forward on the windward side of the boat.
Alight from the boat and secure the shortened painter to a dock cleat, or lead the weighted end well up the shore. Check the the boat is resting safely, but off it’s moving around, use the stern painter, secured to something stable, to tether it. Then head up to the trailer park for your vehicle.
Go to your 4WD and back down the boat ramp, to the same depth point at which you launched, so that the boat can be brought into contact with the trailer’s aft rollers, but no deeper. That should mean you’re no more than knee-deep and won’t need to clamber onto the trailer at any time.
Turn off the engine; lock the transmission in gear or in ‘P’ and crank on the handbrake.
Walk to the front of the trailer and take the winch hook and cable to the back of the trailer; then temporarily attach the hook to the trailer.
Go back to the boat and take the painter(s) in hand, and walk the boat to the ramp, positioning it exactly as when you launched it: snug against the aft trailer rollers. Because the trailer isn’t sitting low in the water, you don’t have to wade into deep water, or clamber onto the trailer.
Now, tie the short bow line to trailer frame, as before. If there’s a cross-wind or chop, tie it to the windward side of the trailer frame. If more boat alignment is necessary, tension the stern painter to the trailer as well, to help pull the stern into alignment with the trailer. Then connect the winch hook to the bow eye.
Tension the winch cable and lock the drum brake, so that the combination of boat lines and winch keeps the boat pretty well aligned with the trailer.
The next bit is the best bit!
Get into the tow vehicle and very slowly reverse the trailer and attached boat backwards into deeper water, thus letting the boat float higher in the water. When it’s at the point where winching can be done without straining the trailer or the boat, turn off the engine; lock the transmission in gear or in ‘P’ and crank on the handbrake.
Walk to the back of the trailer and undo the painter(s). Then walk to the front of the trailer and winch the boat into its travelling position. Lock the bow eye to the trailer post with its shackle.
Drive off the boat ramp and then secure the boat tie downs. Roll up and stow the painters and the bow line, for the next launching.
Easy, eh?
Beach launching
Towing anything through soft sand isn’t often a very good idea and that’s why we’re opposed to inexperienced people hauling camper trailers across the Simpson Desert. The same goes for towing heavy boat trailers across beaches: if there’s a hard-surface beach ramp available, use it.
However, like all generalisations there are places where beach launching is safe. The tell-tale signs of safe beach launching are ‘local’ 4WDs parked on hard-packed sand with their trailers.
When we talk about beach launching we’re not considering a small, roof-top ‘tinny’ on a lightweight trailer that tips the scales at 200kg all up; we’re referring to a sizeable boat with a 50+hp outboard on the back.
Small boats can be hand-launched using fat beach tyres on an axle that clips onto the boat transom, or walked down the beach on inflatable rollers.
Before you drive onto any beach you need to consult an on-line tide chart. Plan your beach launch with the tides in mind and aim to retrieve at high water, so that your 4WD remains above sea level.
Most ‘drowned’ 4WDs we’ve seen have been stuck below mean high water and then trapped by the rising tide, before recovery can be done. If the sand is too soft for boat trailer towing above the high water mark, it’s not a safe place to attempt a beach launching.
Beach launching is almost always easier than retrieval, because beaches by their nature slope down towards the water. This means that an easy trundle down to the water’s edge can become a real slog uphill afterwards.
Why beach launch in the first place? Because in remote areas there aren’t many boat ramps and some of the best fishing spots are well away from the madding crowd.
At first sight a flattish beach with firm-packed sand shallows may look like an ideal launching proposition, but that will be so only if your boat draws very little water. If you need the best part of a metre water depth to float it off the trailer and get the prop spinning clear of the sand you may well have your 4WD and trailer in deep water.
A beach can look fine for launching at high tide, but when you get back to the beach at low tide you may discover that the shallows go on for many metres, making it impossible to back your 4WD and trailer into the water far enough for retrieval.
Another beach may be ideal in the calm of the early morning, but have metre-high, wind-driven surf in the afternoon, when it’s time to retrieve the boat.
If you’re optimistic that you can manage a safe beach launch and retrieval, you need to prepare the 4WD, trailer and boat before you drive onto the sand. As with any foray on soft sand you need to drop pressures in the 4WD and trailer tyres.
Since your driving will be at low speed, we’d suggest dropping to 16psi straight away. The trailer tyres can be lowered even further, provided they’re not tiny little donuts.
You need to put the 4WD in low range and lock the centre differential and across-axle diff locks if you have them. Drive down the beach and swing up the slope near your proposed launch site.
If the 4WD looks like getting stuck, keep the momentum up and head for higher ground, and then choose a firmer site. When you find a spot that allows you to drive up the beach without getting stuck, you’ve found a likely launching place.
Get the boat and the crew ready for smart boarding, because the less time you spend with your trailer wheels sinking gently into the watery sand the better.
Never back the tow-vehicle wheels into the water on a beach, because wave action will very quickly erode around the tyres and you’ll be stuck in a few minutes. It’s tricky enough if only the trailer wheels start to ‘bury’, but it’s almost impossible to extract a wet-bogged 4WD and trailer combination.
Have the crew ready to turn the boat’s bow into the wind and waves as soon as it’s off the trailer and then high-tail it off the beach in the 4WD and trailer.
Retrieving the boat is the reverse procedure, with the crew holding the boat into the wind and waves until the trailer is positioned at the correct depth in front of the boat. The boat then needs to be lined up quickly with the trailer and the winch cable clipped on smartly.
When the boat is hauled up to the trailer winch post and shackled in place, it’s time to drive up the beach. There’s no need to bother about tie downs and gear transfer until the 4WD and trailer are safely on firm ground.
If you start to bog down on the water’s edge, don’t panic and bury the driving wheels. It’s absolutely essential that the 4WD remains mobile, or it’s at risk of being flooded. Get off the ‘loud pedal’ and hop out for a look at the situation.
The retrieval priorities are now in this order: the 4WD, the boat and, lastly, the trailer. Uncouple the trailer and drive the solo 4WD to higher ground, above the high-tide mark. From this position you may be able to skull-drag the boat and trailer to firm ground also, using a tow rope or a winch.
The trailer jockey wheel is no use in this manoeuvre, but some form of a skid under the trailer coupling will stop it digging in – an old piece of carpet tied in place works well.
In the worst case scenario, you may have to relaunch the boat and beach it, while you recover the empty trailer. Then it’s time to find a firmer retrieval spot.
If we’ve painted a rather gloomy picture of beach launching that’s because we’ve seen quite a few go expensively wrong.
What’s that tell you about the price of fish?
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