Your First Launch

Have you recently joined in on the boating lifestyle and bought yourself a new boat? Now you have your boat sitting on a trailer in your driveway and you are ready to take it out on the lake. Do you know what to do?

Before you put your boat in the water, there are things you need to do to prepare your boat, trailer, and you for the launch. The first thing you will need to do in order to have a successful launch is to familiarize yourself with the ramp. Park your boat and truck in the parking lot and walk over to the ramp. Check to see if there are designated lanes for launching and retrieving and walk to find the end of the ramp so you know how far back you can go.

When you get back to your truck, use this time to pack your boat. You don't want to hold everyone up doing this on the ramp. The time has finally come that you are ready to launch. When backing up, make sure that you pick just one lane. Don't go down the middle of two lanes which could hold up traffic.

Have a boat buddy stand outside by the trailer to help you with direction and distance. Roll down your windows, mute your radio, and slowly start to back your boat down the ramp and into the water. Keep your speed low and try and say straight. If you find yourself making an error, it is best to pull yourself back to the top of the ramp and start again.

Once you get your trailer and boat where it needs to be in the water, put your tow vehicle in park with the emergency brake on. Walk back to the boat and disconnect the winch cable from the bow eye. Lower your outdrive/outboard, double check your drain plug is closed and push the boat off the trailer into the water. Have your boat buddy ready to use a tow line to pull the boat over to the dock where you can have everyone else hop on board.

Go park your truck and empty trailer and head over to the boat. Get on board and get going to open water to enjoy your day in the sun.