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Now let’s get to pre-launching procedures.
When we do our pre-launch check, it starts at the stern of the boat,
and the reason is, the first thing you’re going to check is the plug in the back.
You want to make sure that that’s in.
That’s the first thing you check and the last thing.
Next, we want to undo the straps.
Next we’ll unsecure the motor. Some of them will have a little bracket
that gets latched right here; this one obviously has a big bracket
here that we’ll take off.
Before you launch, you’re going to want to make sure
you leave the engine in the up position. Otherwise,
you’ll be dragging all this expensive hardware here right along the ramp.
Boat ramps are typically very crowded places, and nobody wants to sit
and wait in line while you sit at the ramp, blocking it off,
checking out and making sure you’ve got everything ready to go.
That should be done in the parking lot.
Now is when you make sure that you’ve got your tackle onboard,
your gear is all ready to go, so that by the time you get down the ramp,
you have no worries and you’re ready to launch.
After the boat’s all checked out, now you go to the stern one more time.
This is your second check of the plug.
That’s twice. Now there should be no excuse for having the plug out when you launch your boat.
When you’re backing your trailer into the water,
you want to have the water just come up to the top of the fenders on the trailer.
That should be enough to float the boat off.
If you’re going to launch the boat with two people, then you can start unhooking it now,
put one person in the boat and the other can be in the truck.
Now, when you pull your boat out of the water, it’s just the opposite of launching it.
Back the trailer into the water nice and deep,
and then drive the boat right onto the trailer.
Now at this point, the truck and trailer are going to be pulling forward,
and you want to make sure that the boat comes along with it.
So this is the time to secure the winch to the tow ring on the boat.
So the boat is on the trailer, the winch is secured to the bow eye;
it’s time to make sure that we bring the engine up so that, again,
we don’t drag that lower unit across the ramp.
Now we can put the straps back on.
Now we either flip up our bracket to support the engine or put on our external one.
We go to the bow of the boat…
make sure that that’s latched correctly, and our safety is secured to the bow eye.
Of course, one of the most important aspects of trailer boating
is the paperwork. You need to make sure that your trailer and boat
are registered properly and insured, and that’s where Allstate comes in.
For BoatTest.com, I’m Captain Steve. We’ll see you out on the water.