I have a 34' cruiser that probably weighs about 12,000 lbs. It is an 8 1/2' beam so it is trailerable. The trailer is about 40' long.
I was pulling the boat back from the shop after being worked on. It saves about 20 miles to use the ferry to cross the river. I used this ferry when I took the boat to the shop. When the ferry pulls up to the ramp they are at about a 45 degree angle to the ramp so you have to make a turn at the end of the ramp to get on the ferry. With an extended cab pickup and a 40' trailer you have to make a pretty wide turn. I was pulling on the ferry and watching the wheels in my mirror and I was in good shape, the trailer wheels were just going to make the corner of the ramp on the ferry when the kid directing traffic yells STOP. I stopped but my boat didn't. With the pickup on the ferry and a 12,000+ pound boat still coming down the hill behind me it pushed the ferry about a foot. Now there is no way to get the trailer on the ferry. The ferry operator tried to adjust but he just made things worse. I have a tri-axle trailer and only two of the wheels were on the ground. By the time the ferry stopped maneuvering one set of wheels were on a slant on the side of the ferry access road and the boat was tipping. The boat is very top heavy when on the trailer.
There is a marina next door to the ferry and they brought over a backhoe and a boat lift (a fork lift with very long forks). They were able to lift the boat a little with the fork lift and drag it sideways a little with the backhoe. A couple of times I thought the boat was going to fall on it side. The admiral had her cell phone and insurance card at the ready. He couldn't get the fork lift under the trailer frame so he had to put the forks under the trailer bunks. Well as you can guess at one point the forks slipped from under the bunks and the boat fell on the fork. I thought he cracked the hull but it didn't. What it did do was land on the trim tab and disintegrated the actuator. I guess the Bennett trim tabs were not designed to withstand sever thousand pounds of weight to be dropped on it
. Once they got the boat moved over about 10 feet I was able to move around and get the boat on the ferry.
When it was over I asked the kid why he yelled stop and he said he didn't know if I was going to be able hit the boat ramp with the trailer. He as on the other side so he couldn't see my wheels. He told me that a furniture truck had the same problem the day before.
The most amazing thing to me was at the beginning of this ordeal there was a woman that was waiting to get on the ferry who walked up to me and asked how long it was going to take. My truck and trailer are sitting jacknifed on the ferry ramp at this point and the backhoe and boat lift weren't even thought of yet. I didn't know how to answer so I just chuckled at her and walked away. It took about 2 hours.
Now I have a question for Tabman.
I was pulling the boat back from the shop after being worked on. It saves about 20 miles to use the ferry to cross the river. I used this ferry when I took the boat to the shop. When the ferry pulls up to the ramp they are at about a 45 degree angle to the ramp so you have to make a turn at the end of the ramp to get on the ferry. With an extended cab pickup and a 40' trailer you have to make a pretty wide turn. I was pulling on the ferry and watching the wheels in my mirror and I was in good shape, the trailer wheels were just going to make the corner of the ramp on the ferry when the kid directing traffic yells STOP. I stopped but my boat didn't. With the pickup on the ferry and a 12,000+ pound boat still coming down the hill behind me it pushed the ferry about a foot. Now there is no way to get the trailer on the ferry. The ferry operator tried to adjust but he just made things worse. I have a tri-axle trailer and only two of the wheels were on the ground. By the time the ferry stopped maneuvering one set of wheels were on a slant on the side of the ferry access road and the boat was tipping. The boat is very top heavy when on the trailer.
There is a marina next door to the ferry and they brought over a backhoe and a boat lift (a fork lift with very long forks). They were able to lift the boat a little with the fork lift and drag it sideways a little with the backhoe. A couple of times I thought the boat was going to fall on it side. The admiral had her cell phone and insurance card at the ready. He couldn't get the fork lift under the trailer frame so he had to put the forks under the trailer bunks. Well as you can guess at one point the forks slipped from under the bunks and the boat fell on the fork. I thought he cracked the hull but it didn't. What it did do was land on the trim tab and disintegrated the actuator. I guess the Bennett trim tabs were not designed to withstand sever thousand pounds of weight to be dropped on it
. Once they got the boat moved over about 10 feet I was able to move around and get the boat on the ferry.When it was over I asked the kid why he yelled stop and he said he didn't know if I was going to be able hit the boat ramp with the trailer. He as on the other side so he couldn't see my wheels. He told me that a furniture truck had the same problem the day before.
The most amazing thing to me was at the beginning of this ordeal there was a woman that was waiting to get on the ferry who walked up to me and asked how long it was going to take. My truck and trailer are sitting jacknifed on the ferry ramp at this point and the backhoe and boat lift weren't even thought of yet. I didn't know how to answer so I just chuckled at her and walked away. It took about 2 hours.
Now I have a question for Tabman.