I never- ever powerloaded, nor would I. I wait for the tide to be the right level, and the times when it is not I crank like hell, on a good winch, with good, cable. The 34' Phantom is easier to winch up on the trailer than the 27' Magnum was. I was and am the labor at the boat ramp.

I have had a trailer drop the end of the ramp when unloading, becasue of the other boaters that powerloaded and washed out the back of the ramp and made quite a drop off, which at the time I did not realize there was that much of a drop off. Had to unhook the boat and trailer and bring in a forklift to raise the bow of the boat and trailer and push the trailer down the ramp until the boat floated. Sounds easy but it was an ass heavy Magnum, and the fear which would happen first the boat floating or taking on water over the transom. So I do not like the affects that power-loading has on boat ramps, grow biceps, crank that f*cker on the trailer.

We had carpet over the bunks with the Magnum, and while it made the trailer aesthetically nice, that carpet was one tough mother to crank the boat over. After years of that my father went with the poly over the wooden bunks, it may not be pretty but it works, and the bottom the boat is unaffected. And, the guide posts may not be pretty either, but they work, and make life easier. Both trailers had rollers*

* (the poly bunk and roller are an example not the exact model that is on the trailer)

Had the same thing at south haven 2 years ago,,,,,,,in forward ,,,,,at idle and had an interesting " conversation " with Mr Sherriff,,,,,,,,,I said this is not power loading ,,,, this is idle,,,,,, he goes on to tell me how long he has been doing this ,,,,blah blah blah,,,,, I said obviously not long enough because he still doesn't know anything about boats,,,,,,,,,,,,he then proceeded to damn near run into Mike,,,,,real professional

Yeah...at least he left after he almost hit me, cuz I pretty much power loaded the $hit out of my boat right after...

As I launch and retrieve solo I take advantage of high tide. I float the boat off (35' bow line).
Retrieving is also done at high tide. I do get wet. Trailer goes in part way to get the boat started on the bunks.
I attach the cable and slowly wench it in with the remote to the RC30 wench while even more slowly backing up
until the boat is fully loaded. I've practiced enough that I can get this done quick enough to not cause a
problem with others. For me, the power wench with the remote is the key.

I need to get my hands on some of the non-caloric silicon-based kitchen lubricant for my bunks..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rMcRJVY1-0

Just be careful with those power wenches. I hear they will suck a man's wallet dry in no time flat!




Power WINCHES on the other hand...they are great for retrieving your boat.

That post is fricken great! I think I need some for my hull. Then maybe I can break 81mph