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Launching a boat out of the back of a truck

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I have a 10 ft flat bottom Jon Boat. I also have a 97 Ford 4x4 I will be hauling it in. Whats the best way for me to launch it at the ramp on the lake? How should I situate the boat in the back of the truck? Nose in first or rear in first. Should I have the outboard attached when its in the back of the truck and launch it attached,or should I launch the boat and pull it back on shore and then attach the outboard and trolling motor? I wil be launching this boat alone without any assistance. The outboard is a 4hp Chrysler

A 10 is light enough to fully lift alone so you're fine.  Load it stern against the cab w/bow sticking out.  Most secure position.  Put motor in middle section, on floor.  

Unload it, get it in the water and then attach motors and load with gear.

Have fun

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Whatever you do, don't get lazy and back the truck in the water.  Saw a full-size Nissan p/u do that this spring at a local lake.  He back it in until the about half the bed rails were under water.  He also backed off the end of the ramp and almost flooded his cab.

The way I always did it with my 12' jon was to load the bow in the front (lighter, easier to lift up to the tailgate alone).  Slide it in, put a ratchet tie-down along the stern to hold it in.  Load all of my gear (except battery) into the boat.  I would put the battery in the cab (easier to do that than load/unload it from the boat 2 or 3 times while launching.

Off hand, I would say my 12' weighs around 200-250 lbs.  It wasn't the easiest thing to unload alone, but I managed several times.  Didn't hurt any that I was using a long-bed pickup.

If you were so inclined, you could even rig up a winch system to put in one of the stake pockets and lift the boat up into the bed with that.  There are a lot of options.  The main thing is to not hurt yourself.

When I unload my canoe, I back the truck up so when the canoe comes out it lands of the grass next to the concrete of the ramp.  I load up and launch from the dirt not the concrete.

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