Launching with children
When taking kids out on your boats,where do you keep children in a safe place?I am thinking about joining morteon bay boat club,as where the boat ramp is you can push boat to pontoon.I have wife & daughter (7 years old) stand on pontoon,to tie up boat.But my son (2 years) is my concern.I thought about sitting him on the back of my ute while taking boat on & off trailer.
Any idea's ?
I'm sure I'm not the only one with children.
I would have everyone on the boat while launching fit you can so you dont have to worry when reversing as they are safe and can be monitored by the mrs.
mate - used to do it all myself with my wife holding out youngest and the catch rope - I would then park the truck and rip back and get it started and idle to the pontoon and they could all then get in. Now that they are a little older 5,7.9 they all stay in the boat with PFD1s on and catch rope on the boat. Unload the boat and my wife holds the rope till I get back, or otherwise I drive boat off trailer and she parks the rig and comes back to pontoon. My kids know now not to play with anything in the boat and usually sit and natter on..or stand. The gunnels are 750 high so thats not a drama and they all now swim like fish.
Cheers
G'day ovakil
There is a pontoon at the public ramp on the southern end of Manly Boat Harbour. Great ramp, heaps of parking and toilets as well.
I wouldn't leave passengers, especially kids, in the car when launching or retrieving the boat. They would have jackets on and be supervised either in the boat or on the pontoon.
If your wife or another adult could drive the boat or drive the car it would streamline the process. It only takes patience and practice to reverse a trailer or dock alongside at a pontoon. Good skills to have too in case of emergency.
Best of luck and take your time.
Cheers
Brad
What would Steve do?
fortes fortuna adjuvat
Hey Oval,
When launching on my own with my 5 yr old boy, i'll sit him in the center of the boat (things to grab) and launch (PFD on).
When launching with Mum or friend then he'll either be on the same seat or standing off to the side with Mum or friends.
I prefer it when he's on the boat as I know where he is. It took me a while to find a pattern that works well for us.
Regards,
Rob
My hubby and I have only just started out on our boating journey and at the river where we have been practising I put my 3 & 5yr old in the boat before we back it down the ramp. They are sitting in the 2 front seats, I've got the guide rope thingy and my hubby drives the car ... once the boat is off, I stand on the bank holding the boat whilst hubby parks the car and comes back down .. I then jump in and start the boat and he pushes us off and jumps in over the bow ...
For this particular boat ramp it works well ... will be interesting to see how we go as we progress but I think, regardless, I will still put the kids in the boat as they are safe and I know exactly where they are so they can't get run over by our car or others ...
Ovakil - I presume you are launching at Scarborough (for you wish to join the Moreton Bay Boat Club which is at Scarborough) - remember there is a second more "user friendly" boat ramp at Scarborough for it has a pontoon where the family can wait/watch while you launch your boat. It is located near the coastguard near the entrance to Scarborough
Yes put everyone in the boat before backing down the ramp, and leave them in until you drive to the rigging area after you retrieve.
Some might disagree, but no-one has ever drowned or been run over by a prop in the carpark.
Once saw a young kid about 4 years old in the back of a boat as it pulled out of a servo, seems dad forgot that his son got out of the back seat of the car and followed him into the boat as he filled it up with fuel.
Not far down the road they pulled up for him.
- Darren
Originally Posted by Mr__Bean
oh dear
my 10yr girl helps me alot she gets the jacket on her self & her little bro she helps me get the boat off, they both stand in front of it while i take the car up. when we come back to the ramp they will hold the boat while i get the car & she will start winching it up the trailer until it gets to hard than i take over, she has been doing this since she was 7, now my 5yr son is starting to help out alot. leave them standing around with nothing to do & thats when they might get into trouble.
ron.
reels screamin aboard Hyper- Active
I was only thinking of this the other day. Went through the senerio in my head and come up with "Pretty difficult at best" if you want to do it with out any risk I would think it is impossible.
1. Kid in the boat at launch and retrieve, boat could drift away whilst parking the car, kid could fall in the drink.
2. Kid in the car at launch and retrive, car could slide down the ramp into the drink (unlikely) but has almost happend to me on the retrieve by myself as I was winching up the dual cab lux started sliding towards the piss until I let the boat back off the trailer.
3. Kid on the grass tied up to a tree next to the ramp, out of the way can't run them over can't let them drift away in the boat. But can't control the seedy blokes hangn' around the dunny's whilst you concentrate at getting the boat in and out.
Look forward to hearing the solutions as I will have to do it in a year or so.
I have used that ramp before,what I like about the boat club is,it's very close to the ramp,on low tide it's about 5 metre's away.The other one it's a bit further as I wouldn't try to push boat to.
Also boat club has secure carpark for overnighter's.I think I will have to reach wife to start & drive boat.I could put them all in boat,push boat to pontoon & she can tie up.
They need a setup like Rudy Mars,quite easy to do yourself,while wife looks after kids.
g'day ovakil, a few people will disagree with me but we leave our 3yo strapped in the car at the ramp. wifey and i get the boat in the water and i hang on to it and get the motor running and warming up whilst she goes and parks the car/trailer and then comes back down to the boat with the kiddo. when we come back we do it in reverse. wifey hangs onto the boat whilst i take the kiddo up to the car and then bring the car/trailer down to load up with the kiddo strapped in. we figure that there's a greater chance of someone running over her at the ramp whilst they're concentrating on driving or backing their trailer than there is of our car (with the kid strapped in) going backwards into the drink. one thing i will add is that i keep all windows on our car open whilst doing this for that bit easier access in an emergency.
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