Anyone use tire chains to pull boat out of the water when ramp is iced up,?

 

Been drizzling here and the boat ramp is iced up pretty good.

 

Wondering if tire chains are good enough to allow backing down and then pulling the boat out?

And I mean 'really good enough.....I don't want to have an issue.

Never used chains, but I have shoveled and salted a ramp.  

Getting down would be alright, I'd be leery of trying to get back up with the added weight?

And I doubt you have rock salt down there? 

sand and 4 wheel drive is all I have ever used.

never felt the need to buy chains.

ice melt is the chosen product in this region.

6 minutes ago, Russ E said:

sand and 4 wheel drive is all I have ever used.

never felt the need to buy chains.

I have 4wd...can get sand and ice melt I do not want to be a youtube video 

You can use a long flexible hose and put over you tail pipe and melt the ice that way?

Just don't get drunk like some of our higher IQ'd people up here do and put the hose inside the car to warm up. 

They can't understand why they wind up in a different home...like a funereal home. ?

All jokes aside, I hope you get your boat out safely.

Sounds like a good way to die just like a couple of guys did here a few years ago.

I’ve done it before, I would recommend your chains have ice cleats tho. Wouldn’t want to back down an icy ramp w/out chains. Things get ugly in a hurry sliding down an icy ramp.

I have never been desperate enough to try to fish in those conditions. Too many things can go wrong to quickly. 

Chicken grit helps traction a ton....but if it is super slick you risk sliding back

1 hour ago, Log Catcher said:

I have never been desperate enough to try to fish in those conditions. Too many things can go wrong to quickly. 

Same....Risk vs Reward just doesn't seem like it would be worth it. It's not like it's prime fishing right now.

I’d be willing to do it if I had a winch attached up somewhere at the top of the ramp as a back up.

8 minutes ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

I’d be willing to do it if I had a winch attached up somewhere at the top of the ramp as a back up.

Forget the winch - I'd want a D-7 Cat with tow chains...

Just now, MN Fisher said:

Forget the winch - I'd want a D-7 Cat with tow chains...

and perhaps have this guy standing by - just in case. 

A-Jay

I decided to leave the boat on the lift in the boat house until next week.

 

The temps have not been cold.....until this week.

Temps around 20's with drizzle to make ice.....temps

are going to drop for the next week.....then forecasted to have sun and temps up to 40 and 50's.  This is like the only week with cold temps like this for this long sine the 80's.

 

I just picked the wrong week to buy a boat.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

You should consider that if there is ice that bad on a ramp there will ice on the water somewhere and no fun to hit at speed.

I think that jus using sand would be better then salt  for the boat ramp especially if enough of the salt gets used and ending up in the water 

On 2/11/2021 at 8:01 PM, A-Jay said:

and perhaps have this guy standing by - just in case. 

A-Jay

Scuba Steve!!!

2 hours ago, slonezp said:

Scuba Steve!!!

I imitated him one time and developed the nickname ’Scuba J’ that night. It has stuck for almost 20 years! 

I've had to deal with an icy ramp one time.  That convinced me I don't want to be near again.

One winter while striper fishing, it started to rain and the rain quickly turned into sleet.  The stripers were hammering everything we threw at them so we were not interest in quieting.    When the boat had developed such a sheet of ice that it was dangerous to move around in, we decided, want to or not, we had better call it a day.

Well, we had not thought about the fact that if ice was building the boat, it was also probably building on the ramp, that was probably at least a 15 degree incline.   Even in a four wheel drive with positive traction front and rear axles and large tires, I still ended up using the winch.  Pulling 3,200 pounds up hill on ice when it was wanting to slide backwards easier than going forward was not fun.  As soon as the back tires came out of the water onto the ice, it would slide back.