Neighborhood boat ramp rules
 

At the last neighborhood community meeting I and a couple other were asked to put together some kind of boat ramp rules package. Never had any over the last 50 years but due to a lot of outsiders using it and parking issues we have to put something together so we can get some sort of order.

So if you have neighborhood boat ramp rule please pass them on. :santa:

Seems like an effort in futility. Who is going to be there to 'enforce' these rules?

The only 'rule' you should need is:
1) Have some consideration for your fellow boaters while launching, parking, retrieving, etc.

However, the likelihood of the majority of people following that rule sounds like its slim to none since you are already having issues.

who owns the ramp / parking now ?

If your community/subdivision does, then sell annual parking passes + guest (daily) passes.

designate parking (lines, stripes, lanes, etc.), empower a towing company to enforce. Think of what it would cost to pick up your truck and trailer if they move it 10-15 miles away for violation....yikes. A good tow company would only need to make a couple of passes thru each weekend day to make a small fortune.

it wouldnt take long before the word gets out and those that cannot abide, dont come back.

Rule #1 - have you boat packed and loaded before you back down the ramp!!!

Rule # 1 Make sure your boat is sea worthy, will start and has the drain plug in before it comes off the trailer !!!!!

There is a community boat ramp at our river house but we use the marina's because it is next door (about 100 ft away). They put 2 poles in at the top of the ramp and keep a chain padlocked across the ramp with all paying members having a key to the padlock. People are pretty good about dropping the chain to launch/retrieve and locking it back up. Parking is scarce but most of the people that use it are regulars and are considerate. I wouldn't be surprised if the problems were outsiders.

Our lake ramp just had to add a large sign that swimmers at the end of the dock at the ramp don't have right of way can you believe :cartman:

turn headlights off when backing down and retrieving until clear of the ramp area. bump them if vision is impaired until you reach the top of the ramp and clear of other boaters trying to launch

My neighborhood marina has an 8 page set of documents, but it is mostly related to the slips, the waiting list for the slips, and the rules for slipholders (if you want a copy just PM me).

Concerning the ramp. At the beginning of each year, you have to register with the neighborhood and pay a small fee ($30). They give you a key to the chain that blocks the ramp (they have it changed every year). But as others have said, it does not seem to be the people living in the neighborhood; either people loan out their keys or somebody waits for an authorized person to unlock the chain and they just follow them in.

Of course if there was any common sense and courtesy left in the world you wouldn't need rules.

to preserve life of the ramp ,winch the boat onto trailer instead of power on. my buddys marina ,has to work on ramp all the time from prop wash making holes behind/under concrete slab.