This past week, I saw an all too common practice at boat launches for which occasionally I have been guilty. The practice is called “power loading.” This happens when a boat trailer is not backed down the boat ramp far enough to allow the boat to glide onto its cradle until it reaches the front bumpers on the trailer. Instead, the boat is stuck on its cradle only partially up the trailer and the motor is revved up to push the boat the remaining distance onto the trailer.
During a power load, the motor’s propeller is generally further from shore than the end of the boat ramp. As a result, the propeller washes away lake bottom just past the end of the boat ramp. After many power loading events, a hole is created at the end of the boat ramp.
I asked the individual loading the boat if it would have been easier to just back further down the ramp. The response was that I had to be kidding because, “There is a hole there that my tires will drop into and I will never get out.” Then the person quickly added, “There’s on at every ramp I go to. Someone should do something about it.”
Hoping you keep safe on the lake,
Joe Roach
