Jassman

I keep 1/3 of the trailer out of the water, line boat up and drive on slowly, then get up a little more with slight throttle as my wife backs up slowly..turn off everything walk across the deck and climb down, hook up and winch up rest of way and if need be my wife backs up a little more to get up the rest of the way. move out the way for the next guy and then put the 4 straps on.

Knot 4 Me

Our lake has a clay bottom and to my knowledge, no ramp has ever been damaged to the point of not being usable due to powering on. If done properly, you should not have to apply much power at all to get the boat up to where it needs to be. I can see you lakes with soft/sandy bottoms would not tolerate the practice.

Gladhe8er

I winch it on. Good exercise!

CAPTAIN CHUCK

I was actually contemplating putting rollers on my trailer because all the ramps here where I live suck azz!!!
The trailer can never get far enough into the water to get the boat within 3 feet of the winch stand.
The trailer is just to long for the ramps and will fall off the end of the ramp before it goes deep enough to get the boat close enough to winch it.
Has anyone ever converted a bunk to a roller trailer?

ThirdBird

I winch it up. Only need to winch the last foot or two. Lines up nicely on the Eagle. Power loading, as said above, tears the chit out of the ramps around my neck of the woods. Most launches don't allow it.

Watched this one chick power on a few years back. Totally douched the boat in back of her waiting at the dock to take out. Mucky crap blown all over this guys boat. I had to chuckle but it's really not funny That guy was anything but happy.

spazboz

iTrader: (2)

Same here in Holland.

PJDiesel

Same here, ramp is too steep to do it any other way anyhow.

I have about 2' or less of strap out, doesn't get tough till the last 8-10".

TexomaPowerboater

I winch it up the last foot or two. If its too hard to winch just back up a foot.

Beak Boater

Something else to consider besides washing out the bottom of the ramp is the strain on your trailer. Bought a used boat that had always been powerloaded. It was on a Myco trailer that was 2 years old. Had to replace the front v bunks and some of the rear bunks. The bunks that I didnt replace I had to but new bolts in them to tighten them up. Those pieces of angle that the 2x4's or 2x6's are bolted to can't stand up to a 10,000 lbs. boat being pushed up those bunks by 1000 hp. You know what happens, if you didnt get the trailer quit deep enough, just give it a little more throttle to push it up.

Griff

Don't go to a roller trailer for a perf boat. They don't support the bottom well. They make some slicker bunk covers that might help.
Powering the boat on the last 3 feet is about what I do anyway.