Yesterday I was walking my dog, Apollo, past the public launch at Washington Park when I heard the awful shaking and skidding of someone attempting to back their trailer down the launch with locked trailer brakes!
Down on the dock I could see his very nice, and also very expensive, aluminum fishing boat.
I offered to help and to even call a mechanic friend, but he said his buddy told him his brakes were rusted together and that getting the weight of the boat onto the trailer would allow the tires enough traction to break the rust free and to spin freely once again…
Any guesses how that turned out?
Well, actually better than I expected. After walking the rest of the 1.8 mile loop, I saw that indeed he had his boat on the trailer, but that he was on his cell phone with a not-so-happy expression. I asked him how it went and his reply was that the wheels were free, but that now he needed four new trailer tires! Ouch.
A couple of lessons to be learned here – first, he launched into salt water and left his trailer for six days without rinsing off the salt first. Second, he didn’t own in the Gateway program where launching and recovery are a thing of the past… oh, and far less expensive to boot!
I told him not to be offended, keep cool, and politely handed him my card – “Take four tires, read it in the morning, and call me…”
He smiled, and I bet that I hear from him – if not today, then maybe when he forgets to bring up his drive unit when pulling out next time. Hey, there are those who have, those who will, and those who boat the right way - Gateway! ;-)
