How do I load my bass tracker boat? I think one side is "dug out" with debris and the other side isn't. Also this launch is shallow. When I go to back in my trailer, one side of the bunker goes in the water before the other side. As a result, the trailer is at an angle.

 

I have always manually (wench) loaded the boat, but this is difficult, as one side is fully submerged. Then when I wench up the boat, I need to try 4 times, as the boat floats around and it inevitably is too far on one side or the other of the trailer, so I need to back it down, and try again. (even without the uneven ramp, I have this issue - this just makes it worse).

 

Any tips? Should I just powerlaunch this? I haven't done this before, and it' super shallow. Or any ways to wench this up, and estimate (hold) the boat steady, so I am able to get the boat in the center of the trailer.

Side rails on your trailer would be the biggest help. I had a bunk support break on my carolina skiff trailer last summer. Made it behave almost exactly like this where it would slide off to one side. That trailer has PVC guide poles, so I got the trailer a bit deeper than usual and tied the high side to the guide pole on that side so it wouldn't drift over as much as I was pulling up. You could try doing something similar and tying to a guide pole/rail or the trailer itself.

^^^ This is the solution .

Compared to what you're routinely doing now, place LESS Trailer in the lake.

It will correct 2 challenges.

1. Your rigs will not 'float' to an incorrect position.

2. The trailer will guide your right to the correct position as it's designed.

Regardless of how the trailer is angled at the ramp, when the trailer is too deep, bad things happen.

Find the sweet spot, for my rig it's when the fenders are 1 inch out of the water.

When the ramp is tilted I keep one side 2 inches above the water. But one way deep never works smoothly. 

A-Jay

24 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Compared to what you're routinely doing now, place LESS Trailer in the lake.

^^ This ^^

 

Also, if the boat is not level on the trailer when you pull it out of the water, don't tighten the back straps too tight.  Leave them a little loose.  Then, drive about a 1/2 mile - or quickly over a speed bump if the ramp area has one.  Stop and check. The boat should be level now. Tighten the straps all the way.  

 

It's an old school trick, but does the job in a pinch.

Side rails and pull out slow.  Also try to back it into the water at an angle that starts to compensate for the ramp uneveness.

 

The ramp I was on last night is fairly even, but super shallow and pretty flat.  I had all 4 tires in the water before the front half of my bunks were even wet and at that depth there was no way to crank the boat upas the rear bunks were only 2" deep.  On a deeper ramp leave the front 1/3rd of the bunk out of the water, ease in until it all makes contact and centers, and then power up.  On a shallow ramp or electric motor only loading, more trailer in the water to start, get it as close as you can, then winch up.  Then pull out slow so the boat settles into the middle.

4 minutes ago, Glenn said:

^^ This ^^

 

Also, if the boat is not level on the trailer when you pull it out of the water, don't tighten the back straps too tight.  Leave them a little loose.  Then, drive about a 1/2 mile - or quickly over a speed bump if the ramp area has one.  Stop and check. The boat should be level now. Tighten the straps all the way.  

 

It's an old school trick, but does the job in a pinch.

 

For a tracker he should be able to shimmy it still at the ramp with a little wiggle from the side.  We used to do that with an 18' stratos and 150, though it was 2 people and more than a little wiggle.  With my storm I can move it 2-3" with a coule good pushes so long as the bunks are wet.

I have a 21ft barge of a glass boat and I’ve loaded it on everything from dirt and gravel to broken concrete.  Steep enough to loose sight of the trailer and shallow enough to require me putting my truck in the water up to the front tires.  I guess it’s just my bunk setup that doesn’t care if the trailer is level or not.  If one side is lower than the other, I just back in until the lowest bunk is at the right level to load.  No matter the opposite bunk is higher unless it is really extreme higher and I’ve never had that, I just glide the boat up as far as it will go, hook the bow strap and then back down a bit before I wench it up.  The further up the bunks you can get the boat initially helps but is not necessary.  If it does load crooked on one bunk once I pull out, I just back down to where it floats a little and it will correct itself.  

1 hour ago, JHoss said:

Side rails on your trailer would be the biggest help. I had a bunk support break on my carolina skiff trailer last summer. Made it behave almost exactly like this where it would slide off to one side. That trailer has PVC guide poles, so I got the trailer a bit deeper than usual and tied the high side to the guide pole on that side so it wouldn't drift over as much as I was pulling up. You could try doing something similar and tying to a guide pole/rail or the trailer itself.

Can you elaborate on this part: "tied the high side to the guide pole".

 

You mean you would tie a knot (using a short section of rope) from the cleat to the guide pole, so it can only drift a few inches ( or a foot or so).

A lot of good suggestions here.  Some ramps are just difficult.  Are you able load the boat easily on other ramps without issues?  If not I would get everything figured out on a good ramp before tackling a difficult ramp.  My trailer is a pain and it took me a while to find the exact depth to back in.  I gave a lot of thought to making some of the modification suggested on this thread but I eventually figured it out.

 

While I was trying to figure out the magic depth I would error on the shallow side and then wench the boat up the rest of the way.   One trick to making wenching easier is to wench it a few feet until it gets difficult crank and then back the trailer down a little more and wench it the rest of the way.  

1 hour ago, CoryRobertLowe said:

Can you elaborate on this part: "tied the high side to the guide pole".

 

You mean you would tie a knot (using a short section of rope) from the cleat to the guide pole, so it can only drift a few inches ( or a foot or so).

Yes. The back support of my right bunk broke, so it was about 3" lower then the left. Every time I loaded the boat, it would slide to the low side as I pulled the trailer out of the water. I got the boat in position and tied a loop around the guide pole and the cleat on the high side, so that as I pulled up, there was something to resist it sliding to the low side. Once about half the boat was out of the water, there was enough weight and friction to hold it in place while I pulled it all the way out. 

 

What others have said about not backing in as deeply is also great advice. I find getting water over the back 1/3 to 1/2 is the sweet spot for loading. 

I was going to say you’re backing the trailer too far into the water but it appears others have already pointed that out 

If it's a shallow launch I wouldn't power load it.  Not only is it not good for the access itself, but you might do some damage to the prop or lower unit while loading too.

 

I would learn how to power load at another, deeper launch access instead.

Tell us more about the wenches you have at your boat ramp.

Crank a little and get into the water to lineup boat, repeat if necessary.

We have many ramps that are unlevel so learned to just get wet.

I was having the same problem until a buddy of mine looked at me and said the trailer is drive on, not float on.

14 hours ago, gim said:

If it's a shallow launch I wouldn't power load it.  Not only is it not good for the access itself, but you might do some damage to the prop or lower unit while loading too.

 

I would learn how to power load at another, deeper launch access instead.

That’s why we have holes at the bottom of all our ramps on the river. I wouldn’t dare to not power load it in the current though. 

23 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Compared to what you're routinely doing now, place LESS Trailer in the lake.

It will correct 2 challenges.

1. Your rigs will not 'float' to an incorrect position.

2. The trailer will guide your right to the correct position as it's designed.

Regardless of how the trailer is angled at the ramp, when the trailer is too deep, bad things happen.

Find the sweet spot, for my rig it's when the fenders are 1 inch out of the water.

When the ramp is tilted I keep one side 2 inches above the water. But one way deep never works smoothly. 

A-Jay

What A Jay said.  With one change. Back the trailer all the way into the water first so all your bunks are fully submerged. Let them soak for 30 seconds to a min. Then pull up until the trailer is positioned with the right amount of the front bunks out of the water and drive the boat on under power. You dont need a ton of power. Dry bunks will make it very hard to get your boat loaded all the way this way and will just be marring up your boat. Assuming they’re still carpeted bunks. 
 

What model Tracker do you have? For my 175 I position so the back of the short guide ons are just an inch or so above the water. First time loading it when the boat was new to me I had them a bit submerged and crosswind blew me so I drove up onto one of them. That was frustrating and embarrassing. 
 

 

 

5 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

That’s why we have holes at the bottom of all our ramps

 

Definitely.  On shallower accesses, the prop wash often builds up a big pile of debris just beyond where most boats load back up.  I've seen a back hoe come into some when they get really bad and remove it.  It takes them one or two swipes and the "pile" is gone.

 

Most of my accesses are of the deeper and non-river variety, so it's not an issue here.  There are a couple that can get bad during a drought though.

As mentioned, you're too deep. 

@gim everything is super shallow in the river here 😂 that’s why most run jets. I know that hump you are talking about. We have that and boulders. 

It sounds to me like the trailer needs some work to add side rails to prevent the boat moving to one side. Check the bunks to be the same height and spacing. Add an oversize wide front roller to help align the bow. You can use a longer rope to pull the onto the trailer then clip on the wench straps to finish loading, this may require you to get in the water if no dock is available. Light weight aluminum boats usually aren’t driven on trailers.

Tom