You could feel the panic set in as strangers rushed to help him out
Fishing enthusiast and Instagram user @BigBoyBass_CA recently shared his most popular video of 2021. Often heard of but seldom caught on camera, while in Cuttings Wharf, he managed to witness and film a Ford F-150 Platinum owner fail at backing his $2,000 boat into the Napa River.
Due to improper boat launch technique, gravity took over and allowed that $60,000 truck to slowly slide into the Napa River.
Check out the video clip for yourself below.
“How does somebody even?” asked @CatchaVibeFishin.
“People get into a rush.” BigBoyBass_CA commented back.
“One thing happens and panic sets in. Before you know it, boom! Once a boat goes back too far, the boat lifts the back of the truck off the ground. That’s why everyone was saying to put it in 4WD so he could get some traction, but, it was too far gone for that.”
Launching a boat down a boat ramp sounds a lot easier than it actually is. If boat owners approach a boat launch with a “I’ll figure it out when I get there” mindset, catastrophes like this happens.
Often, drivers forget to put their truck into park and, when they exit their vehicle, their truck and boat start to slowly slide down.
More often than that, drivers will also forget to set their parking brake. Relying on your truck’s parking pawl to hold the weight of your truck and boat is a recipe for disaster that often results in your truck “popping out of park.” When that happens, gravity takes over.
What happened here, as BigBoyBass_CA mentions, is this F-150 Platinum owner’s boat was still hooked to the trailer, the bow still tight to the winch/safety chain. When the boat hits the water and begins to float, the bow of the boat pulls up and lifts the rear of the tow vehicle.
Diminished traction means spinning tires.
This will often happen to boat owners who don’t want ANY help or advice at the ramp. Some boat owners learn lessons like this the hard way.
“There was probably about seven or eight people trying to help.” BigBoyBass_CA comments. “You can see a guy in the video run to his Jeep. The Jeep owner eventually winches the truck out.”
