Pulling a boat out of water

HoosierWolf

HoosierWolf

Member
Okay. Need a little advice here. I'm newish to manual autombiles (motorycles are a different matter) and one of my father in laws has a pontoon boat that I'm going to need to pull in and out on occasion form a nearby lake. The ramp and trailer are such that to get it on or off the trailer will require the exhaust on my JKU to be partially submerged. Not a concern if it is running but what if I fumble and kill it? Then I probably shouldn't restart it since I run the risk of sucking water into the engine (I'm guessing the level of danger depends on how much of the exhaust is actually submerged.)

I've been thinking of using 4 low to back the trailer up or pull the trailer out since I shouldn't need to clutch to shift from reverse,neutral, & 1st correct?

Feel free to tell me I'm an idiot as long as you tell me why I shouldn't be concerned/what I should do instead (other than using a pick up which will actually be the primary tow vehicle for the boat)
 
jagrubb99

jagrubb99

New member
Not sure if the 2013s are the same, but my 2015 has hill start assist which applies the brakes while switching your feet from the brake to the gas. But I would guess you should be fine. 4lo should be good enough to pull the boat out of the water as long as you keep your rpms high enough and don't kill it you should be fine
 
HoosierWolf

HoosierWolf

Member
Thanks for the quick response. :)

Honestly my concern is me or my wife killing it and then needing to restart it with 2 feet of tail pipe under water. I'm thinking there is less chance of that happening if the jeep is in 4Lo.

It really seems to me like the neck on the boat trailer is too short. I had to back his truck pretty far into the water to get the boat to float off the sliders. It's an automatic so it wasn't really a concern. I just never shut it off.


I may be thinking of this all wrong. Maybe I should be using this as an excuse to get the wife to approve a new exhaust system that puts the tail pipe closer to the middle of the jeep ;)
 
Spazbyt

Spazbyt

Hooked
You could look for a steeper boat ramp in the area. You get less of your exhausts wet but you run a higher risk of killing on the way out I guess. Better yet seance your tires are wet and your pulling a trailer up a hill rev that thing up and dump the clutch that way you wont kill it and you can do a one wheel peel up the ramp! That's bound to impress some one.
 
cozdude

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Do not put t in 4lo. If anything use 4hi. Also if you really don't need to back the pontoon that far into the water to get it off the trailer. Only about half the trailer is needed to get it on and off the trailer. Trust me lol. We have a 25' boat that's about 6500lbs and we only put half the trailer in and it slides right off the bunks.

When you get out of the jeep to get the boat off the trailer and turn it off just make sure you leave t in gear and with the hand brake on. I can't tell you how many times at the ramp I have had to help recover a vehicle that they only used the handbrake and it rolled down the ramp into the water
 
Goldeneagle1LC

Goldeneagle1LC

Member
Easy way to make sure you don't stall with the tail pipe in the water is to use the hand brake. Use the Hand break to stop you from rolling down the ramp while you let off the clutch and ease the gas in. This requires you to balance the motions of both feet and your right arm but it is actually very easy. just practice it on an incline before you are actually on the ramp.
 
Goldeneagle1LC

Goldeneagle1LC

Member
oh and if you do have to back far enough in that the tail pipe is in the water make sure to chock the wheel and use the handbrake so you can leave it running. Like Coz said handbrake alone is asking to end up in the lake
 
Red_rox_jk

Red_rox_jk

New member
A different approach that I've used on occasion... Keep in mind this does require two people. Use the boats motor (you may have to trim the motor up) to provide extra thrust when pulling out of water. Simply kill the boat motor the moment it clears the water line. This prevents any tow vehicle from rolling backwards during extraction.
 
jeeeep

jeeeep

Hooked
cozdude said:
Do not put t in 4lo. If anything use 4hi. Also if you really don't need to back the pontoon that far into the water to get it off the trailer. Only about half the trailer is needed to get it on and off the trailer. Trust me lol. We have a 25' boat that's about 6500lbs and we only put half the trailer in and it slides right off the bunks.

When you get out of the jeep to get the boat off the trailer and turn it off just make sure you leave t in gear and with the hand brake on. I can't tell you how many times at the ramp I have had to help recover a vehicle that they only used the handbrake and it rolled down the ramp into the water
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this ^ with our boats I would allow a little momentum then hit the brakes and boat would slide off no problems without submerging the exhaust. when I say a little momentum I mean the last few feet before the trailer wheels hit the water, on our boats that was enough to slide them off. And as mentioned - leave it in gear, set the brake and shut it off- I too have helped several people pull their vehicle out because it rolled into the water. 4-Hi should do the trick to get out slow and easy

funniest one I saw was a man yelling at his wife to back up more, rear of the van was already touching water ...anyway they were yelling and he called her something she didn't like so ....yeah up to the driver door she went full speed reverse! it floated for a minute though :cheesy:

seen some crazy stuff at the ramps over the years.
 
HoosierWolf

HoosierWolf

Member
Thanks for all the responses guys. These make a lot of sense. Well, maybe not peeling out going up the ramp. As much fun as it sounds like there is usually a DNR officer parked by the ramp so I might have some 'splainin ta do. ;)

I also did some research and it appears the ramp we were using has a really shallow angle. Next time we are at the lake I'm going to check the other ramps. I'm sure some are steeper and would make this a lot easier.

Also not having my father in law there trying to put the boat in the water would help. I'm clueless but he's worse. Finally I practically had to direct him out of the way so my wife and I could launch his boat. Not sure what he'd have done if we weren't there. Hopefully listened to some of the other folks there launching their boats that tried to offer him help before we got there.
 
DWiggles

DWiggles

Caught the Bug
It sounds to me like you need a parking lot with a hill to practice... this isnt an issue of loading/unloading a boat... its the issue of stalling. Swallow your pride and go practice in a parking lot with your trailer :thumb:
 
HoosierWolf

HoosierWolf

Member
DWiggles said:
It sounds to me like you need a parking lot with a hill to practice... this isnt an issue of loading/unloading a boat... its the issue of stalling. Swallow your pride and go practice in a parking lot with your trailer :thumb:
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There is a lot of truth to this. :)
 
Hammmerhead

Hammmerhead

Member
Flat Top said:
I'm interested in the no 4Lo comment. What is the logic here? As long as you are not turning the wheels on pavement and pull straight, 4Lo would be a positive I'd think.
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I would use low way before I would keep it in high range. Much less stress on everything Just dont lock the diffs.
 
jeeeep

jeeeep

Hooked
The issue with four low on a boat ramp is if your tires Spin and then grab as they tend to do on a boat ramp you could do a lot of damage to the gears. they are not designed to spin fast and then grab hold of something, too much torque. 4-hi is designed to allow for slippage.
You don't need a lot of running room to pick up enough speed to get the boat to slip off its trailer. Once the back of the boat hits the water it's pretty much floating just needs a little persuasion
Backing up with a little speed and hitting the brakes works great even in a shallow ramp, your jeep has pretty good height before the exhaust is under water
 
jagrubb99

jagrubb99

New member
jeeeep said:
The issue with four low on a boat ramp is if your tires Spin and then grab as they tend to do on a boat ramp you could do a lot of damage to the gears. they are not designed to spin fast and then grab hold of something, too much torque. 4-hi is designed to allow for slippage.
You don't need a lot of running room to pick up enough speed to get the boat to slip off its trailer. Once the back of the boat hits the water it's pretty much floating just needs a little persuasion
Backing up with a little speed and hitting the brakes works great even in a shallow ramp, your jeep has pretty good height before the exhaust is under water
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That makes sense with the gears in 4lo. Thanks for the reply.
 
Brute

Brute

Hooked
cozdude said:
Do not put t in 4lo. If anything use 4hi. Also if you really don't need to back the pontoon that far into the water to get it off the trailer. Only about half the trailer is needed to get it on and off the trailer. Trust me lol. We have a 25' boat that's about 6500lbs and we only put half the trailer in and it slides right off the bunks.

When you get out of the jeep to get the boat off the trailer and turn it off just make sure you leave t in gear and with the hand brake on. I can't tell you how many times at the ramp I have had to help recover a vehicle that they only used the handbrake and it rolled down the ramp into the water
Click to expand...

I've been launching boats for 40 years...1st, do not use 4low...if you need 4whdrive, use 4hi. 2ndly, if launching the trailer requires you to get your rig that far into the water, use a section of rope to the trailer (this will require q tongue jack with wheel) and keep your rig dry on the ramp...or fabricate an extendable tongue for the trailer (try a smaller box inside the tongue box that slides out and use a bolt or large pin through both boxes)
 
Brute

Brute

Hooked
Another good reason not to back your rig that far into the water on the ramp...make sure the breather tube on your rear diff is high and up out of the water...if you launch fairly close to the time you towed to the ramp, your rear diff will be hot; plunging it into the water will cause a vacuum inside the pumpkin, and if your breather tube is under water it will suck water into the diff (also if your seals are not in good shape, same thing will happen).

Like Cozdude said...usually you don't have to get the entire trailer into the water to float the boat off...and you might be able to pull the boat off with the boat motor in reverse...and drive it back onto the trailer when pulling out. This all takes practice if you haven't done it a lot (gee...just like wheeling)...
 
cozdude

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Brute said:
Like Cozdude said...usually you don't have to get the entire trailer into the water to float the boat off...and you might be able to pull the boat off with the boat motor in reverse...and drive it back onto the trailer when pulling out. This all takes practice if you haven't done it a lot (gee...just like wheeling)...
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That's exactly what we do. For the past 12 years of me boating the only real way I know how to get the boat off the trailer is to drive it off and back on. Only a few times has the ramp been so shallow that we have to use ropes to get it on.
 
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